[Note: This is the prepared text for a sermonette given to United Church of God congregation in The Dalles, Oregon, on Sabbath, August 26, 2023, and to the United Church of God congregation in Portland, Oregon, on Sabbath, September 9, 2023.]

When we are faced with biblical prophecies, we are faced with a couple of contrasting approaches that we can take to these passages, which together make up about a third or so of the Bible as a whole. On the one hand, we can see these passages as being historical in nature and not see them as particularly relevant to our lives. Alternatively, we can see these passages as being prophetic, neglect the historical fulfillment of these verses, and view them as being relevant to the near future. Ultimately, in many cases, we need not see these passages as only being historical or prophetic, because God tends to work in patterns in such a way that historical fulfillment and prophetic fulfillment follow along the same set of actions by mankind and God that work together to create a familiar situation that we can see in history and also see in the future. When people present us with the false dilemma of whether prophecies in the Bible refer to the past or to the future, we can respond that in the vast majority of cases we can expect both layers of fulfillment to exist.

I would like to look at one relatively concise example of this pattern today. The passage we will be looking at in this brief message, Isaiah 10:1-23, is not the only example of this pattern. We find the same precise pattern, with the same precise order of events, in the book of Habakuk, to give but one example of this pattern. Still, the pattern of Isaiah 10:1-23 is worth exploring because of what it says, and how it portrays the actions of three separate actors who appear over and over again in matters of divine judgment. Not only are these patterns of interest when we read the Bible as history, but they are also worthwhile to study when it comes to God’s prophecy, and give us a sense of both warning and encouragement when it comes to the expectation we can have about divine judgment. With that said, let us now turn to Isaiah 10:1-23 and examine it briefly passage by passage.

The first part of the pattern of divine judgment that we find in Isaiah 10 takes place in Isaiah 10:1-4. Isaiah 10:1-4 reads: ““Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory? Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.” When we look at this passage, we see that God’s anger at Israel is often triggered by the injustice at the corrupt and evil behavior of Israel’s rulers, who perverted justice to deny the proper rights that were due to vulnerable people like the needy, the poor, widows, and the fatherless. Israel’s exploitation of the vulnerable and defenseless prompted God to promise them that these corrupt elites would bring punishment, desolation, and judgment upon the nation of Israel as a whole. This is the beginning, and not the end, of God’s wrath.

When we continue along this process of seeing God’s wrath, we see that God’s wrath is not only promised to the corrupt and rebellious nations of Israel–especially their wicked rulers–but also to those nations that God uses to punish Israel. That is what we see, for example, in Isaiah 10:5-11. Isaiah 10:5-11 reads: ““Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will give him charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations. For he says, ‘Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ”” Here we see that God’s wrath is not only against wayward Israel and Judah for their ungodliness, but also against the pride of the nations that God uses to punish His own people. Instead of recognizing that their success comes from God’s allowing His people to be punished, those who bring judgment upon Israel think it is because of their own power and might.

And what kind of judgment will God give to those nations who forget that they are but tools of discipline in God’s hand and consider themselves to be the source of their power and greatness? We read this in Isaiah 10:12-19. Isaiah 10:12-19 reads: “Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.” For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; also I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries; so I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; and there was no one who moved his wing, nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”” To this God replies, “Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood! Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send leanness among his fat ones; and under his glory He will kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. And it will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they will be as when a sick man wastes away. Then the rest of the trees of his forest will be so few in number that a child may write them.” This is a fearsome judgment for those who boast about their own might and power and do not regard God’s might or judgment.

What is the purpose and end result in all this judgment though? What is the point of it all? We see that in Isaiah 10:20-23, our final scripture for today. Isaiah 10:20-23 reads: “And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return; the destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of all the land.” That is where this prophecy, and where prophecy in general, ends, with a righteous and repentant remnant returning to God and finding His mercy and His grace extended towards them, restoring them to a place of honor where they can once again serve as the model for the world around them. All is not doom and gloom and harsh judgment, but rather temporary punishment, with the goal that people should learn to follow God rather than rebel against His ways.

Let us therefore conclude by asking why it matters that prophecies like Isaiah 10, which we have discussed today, or Habakuk, have dual layers of application in history as well as prophecy. If we do not see the past, we do not recognize the patterns that God has acted in before with Israel and Judah, and we lack the reality of what God’s judgment to His people as well as to those nations He uses to judge them, like Assyria and Babylon, have looked like in the past. And if we neglect the future application of these prophecies of judgment and restoration, we do not see the real relevance of the Bible in providing us with knowledge and insight about the likely and potentially soon-coming end of our own unjust and wicked societies in the present day, where we can see ourselves in that initial stage of this process of divine punishment and restoration. But if we see both the past and present, we can see that God has used and will use again in the end times a process by which His wicked and wayward people are punished for their rebellion against Him, and where His punishment then falls upon those nations that He uses to punish Israel for their own pride and their own injustice, and where ultimately God brings a righteous and repentant remnant back into a loving relationship with Him and restores to them His blessings and care. Knowing this pattern then, we do not need to fear what times will come, for God has a purpose and a plan in working with humanity to teach all people that He is the source of the blessings and riches and power that anyone has on this earth, and that He gives success to those whom He wishes, for His own purposes, and according to His own plans, and that those plans are ultimately for our own good, and everyone else’s who repents and seeks to follow God’s ways.