Christ is Lord of our good and bad days
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| The Reformed Church of France, Paris, France (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
When God destroys a nation, He is doing two things: He is exercising judgment on a sinful people and He is displaying His love for His church by showing that even the greatest nations cannot keep Him from caring for His people. In this first part of chapter 33, Isaiah is proclaiming judgment against the Assyrians and perhaps the Babylonians, for these were great nations that exercised power throughout the known world and were considered by many to be invincible. They believed their boundaries marked, their strongholds secure, and their prominence in the world eternal. But God had another plan. They would be brought down in a great display of God’s justice toward His enemies and mercy toward His most cherished people.
Interpreters are not certain whether this prophecy denotes the final ruin of the Assyrians or whether it refers to the defeat of King Sennacherib when his army was destroyed by the hand of an angel before the walls of Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35). Most believe Isaiah’s prophecy had to do with this latter event, though John Calvin believed it had a broader reference and pointed to the fall of the entire nation (particularly the monarchy of Nineveh), as well as Babylon.
So great is the Lord’s love for His people that He will not spare any nation from His judgment, no matter how many worldly achievements it might have to its credit, no matter how glorious its arts and literature, no matter how “advanced” it might seem to be. If He is not exalted in the nation and if His people are oppressed, then that nation could be liable to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that the plunderers will be plundered.
This is a great contrast to the prophecy of the former passage, which described the just reign of King Hezekiah. And this must have seemed unbelievable to the Jews of Isaiah’s day, because the Assyrians were so powerful while the Jews were so weak. But the great can be brought down quickly and the humble can just as quickly be exalted; God is prone to do just that, as He has evidenced throughout history. We must remember that whatever the circumstance, whether it be destruction or exaltation, God will be glorified. By judgment, the power of God will be made manifest, and by the exaltation of the humble, God’s love for His people will shine forth.
When you read of good things that happen and then read of bad things, or if you see diverse news accounts that swing you from joy to sadness in only 30 seconds, do you see God’s hand in it all? How about your own life? Pick two events in your life, one difficult, one joyous. Praise God that He is glorified in both.
