Isaiah 9:8

The Lord sent word unto Jacob, and it is lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in the pride and the stoutness of their heart, the bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him and join his enemies together, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is outstretched still. (Isaiah 9:8–12)

Before the joy of Messiah could come, a fourfold judgment would fall on a prideful people who would not turn—yet whose unchanging God still speaks the same way today.

From the Prophecy of Light to a Word of Judgment

Isaiah chapter 9 began with that great prophecy about the coming of the Messiah. It spoke of the darkness and dimness upon the region of the northern ten tribes, but how a great light would shine there, bringing joy to the people of that region. We know this is fulfilled in Jesus—we see it in Matthew chapter 4, literally fulfilled in His coming and His ministry around the Sea of Galilee, Galilee of the Gentiles.

In verse 6 it is very clearly prophesied that this coming light would be a man, a child: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." There it is—that great comforting prophecy that the Messiah would come to that region.

But as we continue through the rest of Isaiah 9 and into Isaiah 10, we see that before that prophecy of comfort would come to pass, a fourfold judgment would fall upon the children of Israel, specifically the northern ten tribes.

A Divided Kingdom and a Word That Falls

After the reign of King Solomon, a civil war took place under his son Rehoboam, and the nation split in two. There were the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the northern ten tribes, often called Ephraim or by their capital city, Samaria. Isaiah was a prophet primarily to the south, but he also had a stern warning for the north.

This judgment proclaimed against the northern ten tribes was also a warning to the south: I will judge you as well if you don't listen up and receive the word I'm speaking to you. So God sends a word into Jacob, and it falls upon Israel. And all the people shall know it—everyone will see that God's word comes to pass.

Pride That Will Not Repent

God begins to outline why He will judge them. These people say in the pride and stoutness of their heart, "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones." In another translation it reads, "The bricks are fallen, let us hew stones, and cut down sycamores and cedars, and build for ourselves a tower." The idea is: God has already judged us, but we are just going to build stronger than ever.

They didn't even see it as God's judgment—only as an invasion of the enemy who had trampled their cities. They said, "This devastation we've experienced, we're going to build stronger and better than ever." Isn't that the heart and mindset of people who go through devastating events? When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, people said, "We're going to build stronger and better than ever." When the towers fell in 2001 in the terrorist attacks, within days the American mindset was, "We're going to build stronger and better than ever as a sign to the world that we will recover."

It's a sign of pride. There is a hint of national pride in it. But we should recognize that perhaps God is sometimes seeking to speak to us through devastating events.

What Jesus Said About Tragedy

In Luke chapter 13, a group came to Jesus and asked about devastating events that had happened in their day. Jesus said, "Do you suppose that those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell were more sinful than the rest of Israel? I say no, but unless you repent, you will also likewise perish."

Jesus was calling their attention to the fact that when devastating events happen, they happen as a result of sin—because of the fall of humanity, the fallen condition of this world. That's why there is death, suffering, and tragedy. He says: do you think it happened to those people because they were more wicked than the rest? No—but unless you repent, you will likewise perish.

Here God was clearly trying to speak to the northern ten tribes, judging them because of their sin, one of which was this pride and stoutness of heart. Instead of falling on their faces in contrition and repentance, asking God to heal their land and bring true transformation, they were only focused on a very superficial transformation. That is the great danger of any people who encounter the effects of sin in this world. We should see sin for what it is, confess it, and ask God to bring cleansing—but often we just superficially build stronger to make it look like everything's fine.

The First Judgment: Enemies Turned Against Them

This nation had suffered a moral devastation. They had turned from the Lord and were experiencing the effects. God was saying, "I am punishing you for the purpose of purification. I'm seeking to turn you in repentance back to Me, but you won't listen."

"Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; the Syrians before, and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour Israel with open mouth." Prior to this, the Syrians were an ally to the northern ten tribes. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 7: "Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah... king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not prevail." The northern tribes were confederate with Syria against Judah.

But now God prophesies that the Syrians will turn against the north and gather with the Philistines to devour Israel. From a purely political standpoint, this looks like one group turning against another. But through a spiritual lens, God was allowing and even directing this as His judgment.

"His Hand Is Outstretched Still"

"For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." We saw this exact phrase in Isaiah 5:25, after God proclaimed destruction against His people for their sin. It's as if God is getting ready to spank them. He spanks them once, and they do not repent, are not chastened. So God says, "I have struck you once. My hand is outstretched still. I'm ready to strike again. I want you to turn back, but you refuse."

The very next verse confirms it: "For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts." Throughout Isaiah we see that God's punishment is for the purpose of purification. He disciplines a people, or an individual, to draw them back to Himself, to restore fellowship.

How many of you were disciplined as children? I was. One of my mom's favorite verses was, "Beat your son, he will not die." Discipline came because we broke the rules, and when there is disobedience there is no koinonia, no fellowship. You cannot have close relationship with the lawgiver if you've broken the rules. Discipline comes as a way to restore relationship. Hebrews 12 tells us, "Whom the Lord loves, he chastens." He desires strong fellowship with us, but we are sinners. So often the Lord allows the consequences of sin to come about, to stir us to come back and confess, and to see relationship restored.

Second Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face... then will I hear from heaven, and will heal their land." Had the northern ten tribes humbled themselves at this time, God would have heard their prayer. But they would not.

The Second Judgment: Leaders and False Prophets Cut Off

"Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day." Many times when we read a verse like that, we wonder what it means—and people get stuck on one verse for days. My advice? Read the next verse. "The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail."

God says He will cut off the leaders—the ancient and honorable—and the false prophets. As you read through Kings and Chronicles, you find hundreds of prophets who prophesied lies, like the company of prophets given a spirit of deceit who lied to the kings in the account of Jehoshaphat.

"For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed." Never in the history of the northern ten tribes, from the time they split, was there a good king. Wicked men ruled and caused the people to follow after false gods, drunkenness, and all kinds of wickedness. Yet the people had a choice: follow the wicked leaders, or follow the one true God. Tragically, they followed their leaders right into the worship of Baal and Asherah.

No Mercy on the Defenseless—Because All Had Sinned

"Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly." It's hard to imagine God showing no mercy upon the fatherless and the widows—the defenseless of a nation. God constantly commands that we defend the cause of those who cannot defend themselves.

James 2:13 says, "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." Even a merciful God will judge without mercy those who show no mercy. As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

Why would God's judgment reach even the defenseless here? Because every single one had become an evildoer and a hypocrite; every mouth spoke folly. The sin had penetrated every aspect of society from the top down. The entire nation had rebelliously turned away. And once again: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

The Third Judgment: Wickedness as Fuel for the Fire

"For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns... Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother." The wickedness was so great that it was like fuel for the fire of God's wrath—like gasoline. His wrath would come through like a burning wildfire.

Notice the briers and thorns. The first time we ever see thorns in the Bible is Genesis 3—a result of the fall, part of the curse because of sin. So thorns and briers often represent sin and wickedness. God's refining fire comes through to destroy the trash and wickedness, because His punishment is for the purpose of purification.

When the judgment comes, it will be every man for himself: "No man shall spare his brother." They'll bite and gnash at one another in great selfishness. "Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." The love of many will grow cold; no one will look out for another.

The Fourth Judgment: Woe to the Unjust

"Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees... to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!" The nation was so corrupt they were given to bribes; whoever could best pay off the judges found "justice." God says, "What will ye do in the day of visitation... to whom will ye flee for help?"

On the day of God's judgment, having sinned so greatly, what will you say for yourself? Imagine standing before the holy God on the day He sits upon the throne of judgment with no one to stand in your place and plead your case. "Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain." Even there, God gives an opportunity: if you turn to Me, I'll plead your case. But they would not. "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still."

The Same God Today

I wonder if, reading these things in context, we see our own nation in them. Sometimes God's judgment comes in a very physical, earthly way. It's not politically correct to say it, but what if terrorism in our day is God allowing judgment upon our nation for its sin?

When the Assyrians rose to destroy the northern ten tribes, it was God who directed them—the rod in His hand. When the Syrians and Philistines turned against the north, when the Babylonians destroyed Judah (as in Habakkuk), God used one nation to stand against another for judgment, then judged the nation He used. And God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus said, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." The very last book of the Old Testament says, "I am the Lord, I change not."

Yet many think the God of the Old Testament was different—some angry God like a punk in his teenage years, ready to throw down. Then He "grew up" and Jesus is meek and mild and chill. We have an American Jesus in our minds with a sweet goatee, flowing hair, and blue eyes—which makes no sense for where He came from. But read Revelation: His eyes are a flame of fire, a sword at His side, ready to judge the world.

Jesus came the first time as a Lamb to destroy the work of the devil, sin, and death. But He comes a second time to judge. John 5 tells us the Father has committed all judgment into the hands of the Son. His judgment will be without mercy—completely justified and righteous, against the sin of this world. He's made a provision that we can turn to Him in repentance and escape the wrath of God, but the wrath will come. Romans 2 says the wicked are storing up wrath for the day of wrath—as if there's a warehouse of God's wrath being filled for that day.

How God's Judgment Works in the World

I do believe there are times we see God's judgment in the world today. This can be misunderstood. A couple of weeks ago, when the earthquake hit Haiti, a well-known Christian leader stood up and said it was because of a pact they made with the devil. That's complete lunacy. God did not bring an earthquake because of some supposed pact.

But earthquakes, death, war, famine, and pestilence are generally the result of sin—the fall of mankind. When the sin of a people becomes so great, those judgments do seem to increase, because God can have no fellowship with sin and so He removes His hand of protection. It's not God in heaven scheming, "How can I judge these people?" Rather, God removes His hand of protection, and the enemy is able to come in like a flood.

We see this clearly in Job. God removed His hand of protection, and in one day Job lost everything, including his children—by very earthly methods: a windstorm destroyed the house, and thieves stole his goods and killed his servants. It looked like random wickedness, but it was God removing His hand and the enemy flooding in. The same thing here: God removed His protection from the northern tribes, and their enemies came—God using it to purify His people, longing for them to turn. But they wouldn't.

Assyria: The Rod of God's Anger

"O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation." The empire ruling the world in the 8th century B.C. was Assyria, grown to great power under Tiglath-Pileser, who reigned from 745 to 727 B.C. (you can read of him in 2 Kings 15 and 16). Through four kings—Tiglath-Pileser, Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, and Sennacherib—they devastated the nations, conquering city after city.

The Assyrians were known for their cruelty. Their capital was Nineveh. They were the first to crucify people and developed some of the most severe torture tactics. There's much talk of torture in our day—waterboarding and the like—but the Assyrians would impale a body on a pointed stake with weights, letting it slowly slide down. They were known for "scraping," skinning a person alive beginning at the fingers. They set up pyramids of skulls outside conquered cities; near Nineveh (modern Mosul, Iraq) archaeologists have found stacks of skulls—just to say, "We're number one."

Yet the Assyrians were nothing without the hand of God. "I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath." God called His own people a hypocritical nation, "the people of my wrath." That's exactly what Isaiah's son's name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, meant—"speed to the spoil"—for the Assyrians would come quickly to take a prey.

Assyria's Arrogant Heart

"Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so." Tiglath-Pileser had no idea the one true God was empowering him. His heart was simply to destroy and cut off nations, to conquer the world. "Are not my princes altogether kings?" he boasted—his cabinet members greater than other kings. "Is not Samaria as Damascus?... Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem?" The gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Samaria didn't save them, he reasoned, so the gods of Jerusalem won't either.

But God says, "It shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria." Assyria was raised up to judge God's people right up to Jerusalem, and when that work was done, God would destroy Assyria. History bears this out: they conquered the world until they came to Jerusalem—and there, as we'll see in Isaiah 36 and 37, God destroyed 185,000 of their army in a single night. In the annals of Sennacherib in the British Museum, he boasts of every city he destroyed and that he shut up Hezekiah "like a bird in a cage"—but says nothing of losing 185,000 soldiers. After that, Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and no longer went conquering, because God had finished His work with the Assyrians.

Can the Axe Boast Against the One Who Swings It?

The king said, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent... my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people... and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped." Look how strong I am, he thought—when really the only reason it happened is that God opened the gates.

But God answers: "Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?" Therefore the Lord will send leanness among Assyria's mighty ones and kindle a fire: "The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day." Literally fulfilled in Isaiah 37:36. He will consume both soul and body—remember Jesus' words: do not fear him who can take your life, but the One who can destroy both soul and body. God says He will cut down Assyria's mighty forest until only a few are left, "that a child may write them."

A Remnant Shall Return

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel... shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth." When the Syrians and northern tribes came against Judah in Isaiah 7, King Ahaz sent money to Tiglath-Pileser instead of trusting the Lord. But after God destroys the Assyrians, the people will no longer trust in Assyria; they will trust in the Lord.

"The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God." Remember Isaiah 7:3, where God sent Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz—Shear-jashub means "a remnant shall return." In verse 21 the original language says Shear-jashub: after God judges by the Assyrians, only a remnant remains. "Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return." The punishment was for purification, decreed and overflowing with righteousness.

"Be Not Afraid of the Assyrian"

This work of God would unfold over an eighty-year period. "O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod... For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease... and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian." God says: do not fear, though the Assyrian comes with the rod and with judgment. In a little while it will be over, for it is for your purification. The Lord will destroy the Assyrians just as He destroyed the Midianites by Gideon's hand in Judges 7, and the Egyptian army at the Red Sea in Exodus 14.

"Because of the Anointing"

"His burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder... and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing." Underline that—because of the anointing. God says He will defend Jerusalem and destroy the Assyrian army, not because the people are so good, but "because of the anointing." Because He has placed a seal upon Jerusalem, because He made a covenant with the house of David that Messiah would come through David's line, ultimately coming to Mount Zion—that is the only reason He protects this city.

The closing poem in verses 28–34 traces the Assyrian advance: through Aiath, Migron, Michmash, Geba, Ramah, Gibeah of Saul—the people fleeing, "O poor Anathoth," the nation's heart fluttering in fear as the army surrounds Jerusalem. And then God says, "Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled." First He uses Assyria to judge the north, then nearly all of Judah right up to Jerusalem, and then He miraculously destroys Assyria.

God Is Involved in the Affairs of Men

We'll see the same pattern with Babylon in Habakkuk. Habakkuk cried out, "God, my nation is wicked, when will You do something?" God answered, "I'm raising up the Chaldeans to destroy you." Habakkuk protested, "They're more wicked than us—how could You use them?" One minute he says, "We are so wicked," the next, "We're not quite that wicked." Then he set himself on the rampart to wait and see—and God promised to judge the Babylonians too.

God is involved in the affairs of men even today. I have no doubt that the economic collapse of October 1, 2008—which happened to fall on the Feast of Trumpets, when the stock market dropped 777 points in one day—was the Lord speaking. Why do you trust in something that is not the Lord, America? Perhaps the Lord allowed it for a purpose, to shake people's trust in earthly wealth and cause us to consider the God who is more valuable than anything we could ever have.

So when these things happen in our world, may we take note that perhaps God is trying to speak to us, just as Jesus spoke in Luke 13. Do you suppose those who died in the Haiti earthquake were more wicked than the rest of the world? No—but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Do you suppose the devastation in New Orleans in 2005 came because it was a more wicked city? No—but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. God is calling out to the people of this world to repent and turn to Him.

Closing Prayer

Father, it is sometimes hard for us to imagine that You speak through these earthly events. But Lord, I pray You would quicken our minds and spirits to take notice, to consider that You may be calling out to us. Lord, I also pray we would remember this passage as we look at our nation and the things happening around us—the message You spoke to Your people: that if we would just turn to You, humble ourselves, seek You, and pray, You would hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

Lord, as our president gives the state of the union tonight, I'm sure he speaks of great things accomplished and great ambitions ahead. But from a spiritual perspective, the state of the union is terrible. Our nation is in desperate need. We are a people of unclean lips, a people of great sin—if we told the sin of America tonight it would take another week to go through it all. But Lord, we pray You would stir our nation by whatever means necessary, that we would repent, humble ourselves, pray, seek Your face, and turn from our wicked ways, that we would find Your mercy and grace. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.