the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Isaiah 10:1-23
The last three paragraphs of ch. 9 and the first of ch. 10 show us all the reasons why God’s anger "is not turned away" from Israel and his hand is stretched out still" (Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 9:17; Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 10:4). This hand now holds a formidable rod to punish the guilty nation: it is Assyria as already mentioned. There was an Assyrian in history (Sennacherib and his armies: see Isaiah 36:1), but he was only a pale image of the terrible prophetic Assyrian who will invade the land of Israel shortly before the reign of Christ. In His indignation, God will order this attack against His people. But the attacker will take advantage of the situation to attribute his success to himself and even to magnify himself against God (vv. 13, 15; cf. 2 Kings 19:23). What madness! The tool is nothing apart from the hand which uses it. As a result, having finished using this rod, God will set fire to it in the same way that a person burns an ordinary stick (v. 16; Isaiah 30:31-33).
Let us learn from this extreme example in order to remind ourselves of what we are, even as Christians: just ordinary tools, without any power or special wisdom, (cf. v. 13) which the Lord can lay aside or replace as He wishes.
The final thought of God is not judgment but grace: . . . a remnant will return (vv. 21, 22 quoted in Romans 9:27).
