The Problem of Evil and the Providence of God
December 03, 2006
Pastor Matt Black
Evening Service
Isaiah 10:5-13
Introduction: Open your Bible to Isaiah 10. We are going to be looking at verses 5-13. The title of tonight’s message is “The Problem of Evil and the Providence of God”. We are going to be looking at verse 5 and following. For sake of time, we will read them as we go along.
“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.”
In this verse we learn that even the mightiest nations do not control their own destiny. They receive their power from the Lord, just like the godly, and “all things work after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11). We all believe that we are acting in our own strength, and to some degree that is true. But what we must all come to grips with is that our life and breath come from the Lord. As Psalm 100:3 commands, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves”. God has made us, and therefore the ultimate first cause of everything is God.
All that we do has been foreordained by God, and to Him we are responsible. In other words, God is sovereign, and man is responsible. If you mishandle either of these two truths, you destroy the orthodox view of the God of the Bible. If you have only sovereignty, you have fatalism which has killed the fires of evangelism in more churches than I care to mention. If all you have is man’s responsibility, then you produce liberalism, and man becomes the standard of truth. In everything we do we should look to Him and acknowledge His greatness. It is His power that maintains every breath of life we take—and that goes for every creature on this earth!
I want you to meditate on several verses from Proverbs that instruct us in this truth.
Ø The first is Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”
Ø Along with that is Proverbs 19:21, “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.”
Friends, this is the doctrine that reveals to us that God is God. He is the Creator and sustainer of all things. Look at Isaiah 46:9-11, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”
Again, Jeremiah prayed this way in Jeremiah 10:23, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
Look at what is going on in our text.
“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.”
As it says in Proverbs 20:24, “Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?”
So God raises up Assyria. Verse 6 gives us the reason why, “I will send him [Assyria] against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” God for years sent prophets to Israel. God is a missionary God. God sent His Son Jesus to rescue us and sent His Spirit to seal and sanctify us. God will send prophets and preachers to you. But there comes a time when He also sends plagues.
Once God called Israel “my people” (10:2), but now he calls them “an hypocritical nation” and “the people of my wrath”. We all comfort ourselves and tell ourselves that we are the people of God, but we must constantly examine our own heart and the fruit of our lives. Many who are called God’s people today are not His people at all, but are “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” Listen to this warning from Hebrews 10:26, “If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
There is coming a day when we shall all fall into the hands of the living God, and it is a fearful thing. God will judge you according to the fruits of your life. Your life will tell much more than your mouth whether you have been purchased by the Holy Son of God and sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Do you cry to God, “Holy Father”? It is better to carefully examine your life now than to be found lacking on the Day of His wrath.
We read verse 6 again and learn that those who call themselves His people must live like it or face a certain fearful judgment from the Lord: “I will send him [Assyria] against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” Assyria would do whatever wickedness they wanted to do to Israel. Look at the utter lack of concern that Assyria has for Israel. God gives Assyria “a charge”. Do you know what that is? It is a commission. Assyria was doing the will of God.
Israel could have been protected by God, but those who insist on being identified as God’s people, but refuse to do His will shall ultimately be cast out. That was true in Israel of old, and that is true of the Lord’s church today.
What was it that Assyria would do to Israel? They were “to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets”. The Assyrian army was feared for many reasons—one including the use of iron in their weapons. The Assyrians had the most advanced weapons of their time. The Assyrians used excessive brutality to show that resisting them was futile. They were the first great army to use the “Shock and Awe” strategy. Ashurnasirpal, one of the great Assyrian kings documents one such case. He writes of one of his sieges,
“I built a pillar over against his city gate, and I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins; some I walled up within the pillar, some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes, and others I bound to stakes round about the pillar; many within the border of my own land I flayed, and I spread their skins upon the walls; and I cut off the limbs of the officers, of the royal officers who had rebelled.”[1]
God allowed Assyria to inflict His judgment on those who called themselves “His people”. But God revealed who they really were, “the people of my wrath”. You see if you are God’s you are in the hand of God, and God is your protector. David trusted in the Lord when Saul was chasing him and seeking his life for probably more than 20 years! During this time he wrote in Psalm 18:2, “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.”
God protects His own, but those who are part of the “hypocritical nation”, God will judge.
The interesting thing about Assyria, is that they are totally unaware that they have been raised up for this very purpose. Look at verse 7. It is said of Assyria, “Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few”. Assyria is the “rod of God’s anger”, but Assyria “meaneth” this not to be so. It is not at all Assyria’s intention to fulfill God’s purposes. “Neither doth his heart think so”. Assyria wants to cut off many nations…to “to destroy and cut off nations not a few” (verse 7). Assyria’s motive and intention is to rule the world.
Look at how proud this wicked nation is. Look at how Assyria boasts in verse 8, “For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?“ The king of Assyria here is so proud he takes the place of Christ. This statement is basically the king of Assyria saying—I will rule over all—my princes are the provincial kings of the world. We conquer nations, and I set them up as kings, but I, the king of Assyria am king of all kings.
You see, he was taking the place and role that belongs to Christ alone. You see Assyria thought that God was powerless. They thought that the Lord of hosts was just another idol. Listen to the king boast in verses 9 through 11, “9 Is not Calno as Carch[ay]mish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
Calno was taken by Assyria in 738 BC, Carchemish on the Eurphrates in 717BC, Hamath in 720BC, Arpad in 720, Samaria in 722BC, and Damascus in 732BC. So the dating of this prophecy must be after the fall of Samaria (northern Israel) in 722, and after the fall of Carchemish which is mentioned here and fell in 717 BC. Assyria is drunk with its own power and pride, and lusts after the conquering of Jerusalem. He says, “I’ve conquered the world—the God of Judah will fall just the same as the rest of the idols”.
In 701 BC, the Sennacherib the king of Assyria (whose name means “the moon god”) sieged Jerusalem whose king was Hezekiah. 2 Kings 19:35 and following tell us that during the night, the Angel of the Lord smote 180,000 of the Assyrian soldiers! Sennacherib went back to Ninevah, and the next day his two sons murdered him.
So let’s look at Isaiah 10:11, and give an answer to this question. Assyria asks, “Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?” The answer—no—the true and living God is in Jerusalem, and He is no idol! He Himself rose up against boastful Assyria and smote them! Listen to verses 12-13, “Wherefore 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, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:”
Conclusion: God is over all. He will work all things after the counsel of His own will. What we have trouble with is trust. We see evil and think we must stop it. Listen evil begins in the heart of man. God is able to convert. Our job is not to change people. Our job is not to change situations. It is God alone that is able to change anything. Pray! Pray! Submit you heart to God! Are you proud? Do you think you have all the answers? Some of us are more holy than God is! Some of us have pride! Let God be God! Trust in Him. He will NEVER fail you!
Closing Hymn: 81 A Mighty Fortress is Our God