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God’s Judgment & Grace

Isaiah 10:1-12
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep
writing oppression, (2) to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob
the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and
that they may make the fatherless their prey! (3) What will you do on
the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom
will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? (4)
Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the
slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched
out still. (5) Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is
my fury! (6) Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people
of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread
them down like the mire of the streets. (7) But he does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to
cut off nations not a few; (8) for he says: "Are not my commanders all
kings? (9) Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is
not Samaria like Damascus? (10) As my hand has reached to the
kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of
Jerusalem and Samaria, (11) shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as
I have done to Samaria and her images?" (12) When the Lord has
finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish
the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful
look in his eyes.

Intro
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Story about Dino being caught stealing money.

We had experience more severe discipline from our parents…
We are going to talk about an aspect of God that we rarely talk about,
because we do not want to hear about this aspect of God. We would
much rather hear about God’s love, His mercy and grace. But rarely do
we want to hear about God’s justice.

Biblical Context & Historical Background

Isaiah Chapter 10 is a prophesy given to Isaiah by God on what was about
to happen to the kingdom of Israel. We will remember that during this
time, the nation of Israel was divided into two after the death of King
Solomon. The kingdom of Israel to the north and the Kingdom of Judah
to the south. Both kingdoms were ruled by imperfect, and in many cases
evil kings. And the northern kingdom, Kingdom of Israel had a far
greater share of evil kings.
Isaiah wrote these words around 735-732 BC, some 300 years after the
reign of King David. And so much have gone wrong in the kingdom of
Israel. It was being ruled by King Pekah, and together with the king of
Syria, they were plotting to overthrow the king of Judah, King Ahaz so
as to install a puppet regime, so that together they can have a united front
against the growing threat of the empire of Assyria.
But God’s favor was on the kingdom of Judah. And because the sin of
Israel has reached its peak, God through Isaiah declared that judgment
was to be rendered unto the kingdom of Israel.
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God’s Demand for Justice

This is the pronouncement of God upon the leaders of the kingdom of
Israel.
Isaiah 10:1-2
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep
writing oppression, (2) to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob
the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and
that they may make the fatherless their prey!
Isaiah has laid out the charges against the leaders of Israel. The picture is
not pretty. The people of Israel most likely prided themselves of being a
religious people. But their religion, especially that of its leaders did not
translate in righteous living and justice. They were hypocrites through
and through.
The people whose job was it to write laws, their legislators, were making
wicked, unrighteous laws. These include those who make the decrees,
and those who write the actual laws and enact them. Rather than make
laws that serve the interest of the people, the laws they write oppress
them. This is evil by design, by legislation.
Those whose job it was to try legal cases and render justice are accused
of turning aside the poor and needy, denying them justice that they seek.
Instead, the justice system was being used against the poor, especially
those who are helpless and vulnerable, such as widows and orphans who
become subjects of exploitation by the powerful. Their estates are taken
away from them, leaving them with nothing.
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The kingdom of Israel, the people who had the privilege of receiving the
Laws of God through Moses, the people that God desired to be His people
so that He could be their God, were blatantly violating the righteous will
of God. The leaders of the kingdom who were given the responsibility to
ensure justice is given to all, are the first to inflict injustice on the people.
God told them, through Isaiah: “Woe to you.” Because a day of visitation
was about to come to them, a day of reckoning, the day of judgment. And
not one person will escape judgment. God had been patient for far too
long. His patience had run out. His hand was about to strike, with his
rod of anger.

God’s Judgment
There was certain ruin and destruction awaiting the kingdom of Israel.
Isaiah 10:3-4
What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come
from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave
your wealth? (4) Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or
fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his
hand is stretched out still.
God gets angry. God may be slow to anger, but there is a limit to his
patience. When His patience has reached its limit, God does pour out His
anger.
God would use a more powerful nation to be His instrument of justice,
His “rod of anger” against Israel. God would use the ascendant empire of
Assyria
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Isaiah 10:5-6
Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! (6)
Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath
I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down
like the mire of the streets.
God is the sovereign ruler of all the earth. All rulers and authorities are
subject to his rule. God can use anyone, even evil kingdoms or godless
rulers to accomplish His purposes.
And in this case, God used the empire-building kingdom of Assyria to
destroy the Kingdom of Israel as punishment for all its iniquities before
the people of Israel, especially the poor, and their sins against God
Himself.
The Kingdom of Assyria, without knowing it, is God’s instrument of
judgment against Israel, and it will completely destroy Israel.
I have heard it argued by pastors from the South that the president is an
“instrument of cleansing”, “rod of judgment” against the spread of drug
use and the prevalence of criminality in almost every area of the country.
Perhaps. After all God allowed Mayor Duterte to be elected under the
platform of a “War Against Drug.”
So yes, I am willing to accept that just as God used a godless empire like
Assyria to implement His justice on Israel, God can use a godless
president to implement justice in our country.
But let us remember, that the key word here is justice. Rendering to
everyone that which is his due. And that goes for everyone, including
God’s instruments of justice themselves.
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God’s Judgment on His Instrument of Justice

Even the tyrants of this world are subject to God’s justice. The world’s
most powerful rulers, have power and authority only that comes from
God alone. This is what the Lord Jesus himself told Pontius Pilate, that
could have no power against Christ unless it were given him from above
(John 19:11).
The problem with powerful people who do not believe in God is that
they do not believe they are subject to God. They overreach their divine
mandate and do more than what they meant to do by God. Why?
Because they do not listen to God. They think they are better than God.
And so even as God would use a godless kingdom like Assyria, even
Assyria would not escape judgment from God from its own sins. Hubris,
arrogance, pride of the leaders of Assyria will do them in.
Isaiah 10:7-11
But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his
heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; (8) for he says: “Are
not my commanders all kings? (9) Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not
Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? (10) As my hand has
reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater
than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, (11) shall I not do to Jerusalem
and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?”
Assyria would not be satisfied with invading Israel and the other
neighboring kingdoms in the near east, it will train its sights on the
kingdom of Judah as well. Now this would be beyond God’s mandate to
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Assyria. Judah up to this point was still under God’s grace, its rulers were
relatively more righteous than the leaders of Israel. So Judah was meant
to be spared from the wrath of Assyria. But because Assyria’s arrogance
will drive it to threaten even Judah, even Assyria would not escape
judgment from God.
So this is what God has declared on Assyria
Isaiah 10:12
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on
Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of
Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
Isaiah 10:16-19
Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send wasting sickness among his
stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the
burning of fire. (17) The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy
One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one
day. (18) The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the LORD will
destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes
away. (19) The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a
child can write them down.
Assyria’s powerful army will fall due to a wasting disease, and will fail to
invade the kingdom of Judah, all by the work of God. All of these would
happen during the reign of King Hezekiah (1 Kings 18).

There are powerful people in our day and age who believe they are not
accountable to anyone, not to the people who elected them, and
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certainly not to God. And so they commit crimes against the people with
impunity, they murder and strike fear in the hearts of people, just
because they can get away with it.
There are people in the church today who say, it’s ok. They are God’s
instrument of judgment, God’s “rod of anger”. Perhaps.
But they should understand that every time God’s instruments overstep
their bounds, when their acts violated God’s will, they will be subject to
God’s judgment themselves. They will reap what they sow. The evil and
violence that they sow, they will certainly reap in God’s due time.

God’s Grace to the Remnant

Is there hope for God’s people? Is there hope for a people that
experiences God’s judgment? Yes. Somehow, God’s grace shines through
in the midst of judgment. After destruction, there will be restoration.
And it may not happen to everyone, it may happen to a few.
In the case of the people of Israel, God promised that a ‘remnant’ a small
portion of God’s people will return from exile.
Isaiah 10:20-21
In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob
will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (21) A remnant will return, the
remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
Whenever God executes His judgment on His people, it is always with a
view towards restoration. God may become angry and pour out his wrath
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on people who deserve judgment, but after they have suffered, those
who have humbled themselves will be restored in right relationship with
God. God is loving and merciful to His children, and He desires that we
are reconciled to Him whenever we lose our way.

What This Means for Us

So many people come to the Lord knowing that he is a God of love and
mercy. They are attracted to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and how
they are saved by this amazing grace, forgiven of their sins not by who
they are or what they’ve done but because of who Jesus is and what he
did on the cross. I get that. I fell in love with Jesus myself because of this.
But what most us have forgotten, or perhaps conveniently ignore, is the
Justice of God. Justice is a big word, but in very simple terms, it means
God giving us what is due to us. And He gives us what is due us, based
on what we do with our lives.
We forget that those who call Jesus Savior, also must call Him Lord. And
that means we are to submit ourselves under the loving rule of Christ.
He is our King. And because He is our King, we are live by His standards,
so that people would know who our Lord is. We are His ambassadors,
representing Jesus our Lord wherever we go.
This is the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Gospel of God. The royal
proclamation of the rule of God in Christ Jesus.
When we live lives that are honor God, and God is glorified by people
who meet us, know us, God is pleased, and He will reward us. But when
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we live lives contrary to the values of God’s Kingdom, when our lives
dishonor God, then I tell you, expect some discipline from God.
Because as the Apostle Peter said, “it is time for judgment to begin at the
household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for
those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)
God allows suffering not as a punishment, but as a means to discipline
us, as a means to cleanse us. We all go through suffering in life.
Persecution is something we signed up for when we decided to follow
Jesus. And yet unlike the suffering of other people, our suffering is
allowed by God to produce result, it is meant to transform us to be more
like Jesus our Lord.
Now, if we, who claim to follow Jesus rebel against God, and refuse to
follow his will, then I believe the justice of God will bear itself on us, just
like how God implemented justice on His people Israel. And how He
deals with you depends on how much you know about God’s will, and
how long you’ve been rebelling against God’s will. The more you know
about the rule of God, the more you know Scripture, of course the bigger
the accountability. And because God is patient and longsuffering, we do
not get what we deserve immediately. But the longer you holdout and
rebel against God, the heavier the discipline is going to be.
And all of this is subject to God’s mercy of course, because God never
gives us what we deserve, for according to the Psalms (Proverbs 3:11-12)
the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he
delights. We are disciplined as children (Hebrews 12).