The God Who Tests Motives

So if the glory of God was not the motive of the Assyrians, what was? In verses 7-14 Isaiah is clearly laying out the mind-set of the Assyrian empire builders: their purpose was to destroy and cut off many nations for their own glory and pleasures. They arrogantly boast that all of their commanders are like kings (v. 8), and Samaria (Israel) is no different than any of the small nations they have already conquered (Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, and Arpad; v. 9). Verse 12 makes plain the arrogance in the hearts of the Assyrian king and his commanders—they have a satanic pride bordering on self-worship. They believe that everything they have accomplished militarily has been done by their own wisdom and strength for their own glory (v. 13), giving no credit to the God who held in his hand their life-breath and all their ways (Dan 5:23). Their arrogance is breathtaking, and God will not allow it to go unpunished.

Isaiah 10:15-19,24-34

God makes it plain in verse 15 how offensive Assyria’s pride is in his sight. Assyria is merely a tool in God’s omnipotent hand, like an ax he’s using to chop down a tree. How, then, can the ax boast against the one wielding it? How ridiculous is human pride, when apart from God we can’t even take a single breath! We are merely like a wooden rod in his hand; he is the true actor in history. So God speaks his verdict against arrogant Assyria: they will die by a wasting disease; all their powerful warriors will burn up by fever and die in a single day (vv. 16-18). Later, in Isaiah 37, we will have the fulfillment of this judgment. But it is this passage that tells us why a hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians died in one night at the hand of the angel of the Lord. The result of that wasting and burning disease will be that Assyria’s “forest” (warriors) will be so few that a child could count them (v. 19). This is something God will do out of zeal for his own glory (v. 17).

God then comforts the remnant of his people in verses 24-34 with details of Assyria’s defeat. He tells them not to be afraid of the Assyrians because God will deal with them in the end (vv. 24-25). God’s anger against his people will abate, and his wrath will then turn to the destruction of Assyria. On the day that God deals with Assyria, the yoke of Assyrian tyranny will fall from their necks. Verses 28-32 give a travelogue of the impending invasion of Judah, as step by step the Assyrian juggernaut gets closer and closer to Jerusalem. But all they will be able to do to that protected city will be to shake their fist at it (v. 32). God will slaughter them before the very walls of Jerusalem as a forest is laid low by an ax.

Isaiah 10:20-23

By contrast, God will preserve a remnant of his people. The word remnant appears in each of verses 20, 21, and 22. The remnant is chosen by God’s grace (Rom 11:5), and it is for their benefit that God does all of this. After the Assyrian invasion, the godly remnant will have learned never again to trust in the power of human armies. By the eternal plan and sovereign power of almighty God, a remnant would return to the Lord (v. 21). Tragically, though the physical descendants of Abraham were as numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant would return because God had decreed an overwhelming and righteous destruction.

These words are incredibly significant in redemptive history. The apostle Paul quotes them in Romans 9:27-28 to explain why only some Jews were believing in Jesus. Throughout Israel’s history, only a small portion of the nation were genuine believers. Unbelieving physical descendants of Abraham have always been as “godless” as the Assyrians and all the other pagans. And in Isaiah 10 God makes it plain that he will wipe out both the godless Hebrews and the godless Gentiles alike. But in Christ there is a remnant chosen by grace from both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 11:5; see also 9:24). That remnant will return to a genuine and lasting trust in the Lord and will dwell in the perfect and final “promised land”: the new heaven and new earth.

The Old Testament context of this chapter can obscure how timeless these themes are. Every single day, the sovereign plan of God is unfolding. In God’s mind, that plan has been worked out down to the smallest detail, even before the foundation of the world. It involves many evil people doing things that are contrary to his laws, but all of them part of God’s wise and complex plan. The most evil thing that has ever happened on earth is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Many evil people did many evil things to bring about Christ’s death—all of them were planned by almighty God before he created the universe. Isaiah 10 tells us quite plainly how God could ordain that Judas Iscariot could betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, and yet he could condemn Judas for such an act. Jesus said concerning Judas, “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!” (Matt 26:24). How could that be just? How could Judas act in the preordained way (“just as it is written”) and still have the “woe” stated over him, having it be said by Jesus, “It would have been better for him if he had not been born”? According to Isaiah 10:7, it all has to do with Judas’s motive: love for money (John 12:6). God judged him for his motives, just as he will do to every person who ever lived. Our biggest problem is that we cannot survive such scrutiny. Our motives naturally are no better than those of the “godless” Jews or the vicious Assyrians or the money-loving Judas.

The greatest yoke of bondage (v. 27) in human history is sin. In Christ alone can that yoke be broken and fall from our necks. Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead is the true deliverance that he works for the remnant chosen by grace. Amazingly, God will then judge the remnant based on Christ’s motives and actions (not ours), his perfect righteousness imputed to us by faith.