CHAPTER TEN
The Punishment of Assyria
From the "New Living Translation"
5 Destruction is certain for Assyria, the WHIP of my anger. Its
military power is a CLUB in my hand. 6 Assyria will enslave my
people, who are a GODLESS nation. It will PLUNDER them, TRAMPLING
them like dirt beneath its feet. 7 But the king of Assyria will
not know that it is I who sent him. He will merely think he is
attacking my people as part of his plan to conquer the WORLD. 8
He will say, "Each of my princes will soon be a king, ruling a
conquered land. 9 We will destroy Calno just as we did
Carchemish. Hamath will fall before us as Arpad did. And we will
destroy Samaria as we did Damascus. 10 Yes, we have finished off
many a kingdom whose gods were far greater than those in
Jerusalem, and Samaria. 11 So when we have defeated Samaria and her
gods, we will destroy Jerusalem with her."
There was a FIRST fulfilment of this prophecy, and it was
the intention of the Assyria Empire to continue into Jerusalem
and conquer not only all of Judah but the great city Jerusalem as
well.
Continuing with the above translation:
12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his
purposes in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria
and PUNISH him - for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts, "By
my OWN power and wisdom I have won these wars. By my OWN strength
I have captured many lands, destroyed their kings, and carried
off their treasures. 14 By my greatness I have robbed their nests
of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No
one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest."
15 Can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is
the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a whip strike
unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself?
16 Listen now, king of Assyria! Because of all your evil
boasting, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a plague among
your proud troops, and a flaming fire will ignite your glory. 17
The LORD, the light of Israel and the Holy One, will be a flaming
fire that will destroy them, In a single night he will burn those
thorns and briers, the Assyrians. 18 Assyria's vast army is like
a glorious forest yet it will be destroyed. The LORD will
completely destroy Assyria's warriors, and they will waste away
like sick people in a plague. 19 Only a few from all that mighty
army will survive - so few that a child could count them!
In the first original fulfilment, it was the Lord who
intervened with His mighty power and the Assyria army was cut
down, destroyed, and could not take Jerusalem. All the House of
Israel and MUCH of Judah did fall and was taken captive, deported
from their land.
In the SECOND and last fulfilment, BOTH the
House of Israel and the House of Judah AND the city of Jerusalem
WILL ALL FALL, will ALL be taken captive and deported to many
nations. Jesus spoke about the time when ALL that is written will
come to pass, in Luke 21. Note especially verses 20-24. The
abomination of desolation (see Mat.24:15) is interpreted for us
in Luke 21:20. No need for human interpretations that have led
many into false prophetic teachings, the Lord Himself through
Luke interprets it for us. The abomination that makes desolate is
the end time event when Jerusalem is compassed about by armies.
The armies of the LAST resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, now
rising in Europe, with Germany (Assyria) as its spear-head. This
KING of the NORTH (Daniel 11:40) will strike against the King of
the SOUTH (a united Arab empire) just before the Great
Tribulation is to start, entering the last 42 months, 1260 days,
of the book of Revelation. The King of the North will defeat the
King of the South, but will not STOP there, this Beast Power,
with a WOMAN church, and a miracle working false prophet will
march into the Holy Land, will compass about the city of
Jerusalem. Jesus says, when you see this happen, the people
living in Jerusalem and Judah, had better FLEE to the hills, for
"these be the days of VENGEANCE (JUDGMENT by God) that all things
which are written may be fulfilled" (verse 22). As Jesus went on
to say, there shall be WRATH and distress upon the land of Judah,
they shall fall by the sword, and shall be led away captive into
all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (verses 23-24).
For 42 months, 1260 days (of Revelation) the Gentiles of the
Europe Beast Power will tread down Jerusalem, when those days are
fulfilled, the end of the age is about to come, and Jesus will
return with the armies of heaven to fight the Beast, the False
prophet, the armies of the East, at the battle of Armageddon
(Revelation 16).
I covered in detail all this prophecy in the New Testament
Bible Story as we went through the book of Revelation, on my website.
But, there is MUCH prophecy in all the prophets of old, that
expand and expound more of the details. The Great Tribulation
BEGINS when Jerusalem is compassed about with the armies of the
END TIME Assyria/Europe Empire - the LAST fulfilment of Isaiah 10
is that God will use the Assyria/German people to once more, for
the THIRD time, come against the Jews, Judah, and the peoples of
the House of Israel, the nations of North-West Europe, the
British Commonwealth and the United States of America. This time
around, the Assyrian/German nation will NOT be PUNISHED UNTIL
AFTER it has been the battle ax in the hands of the Lord to
PUNISH His people Israel and Judah!!
THEN AFTER that punishment we read:
Hope for the LORD's People; continuing with the New Living
Translation:
20 Then at last those left in Israel and Judah (Heb. house of
Jacob) will trust the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. They will no
longer depend on the Assyrians, who would destroy them. 21 A
REMNANT of them will return to the Mighty God. 22 But though the
people of Israel are as numerous as the sand on the seashore,
only a few of them will return at that time. The LORD has rightly
decided to destroy his people. 23 Yes, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
has already decided to consume them. 24 So this is what the Lord,
the LORD Almighty, says: "My people in Jerusalem, do not be afraid
of the Assyrians when they oppress you just as the Egyptians did long
ago. 25 It will not last for very long. In a little while my ANGER
against you WILL END, and then my ANGER will RISE up to DESTROY
THEM." 26 The Lord Almighty will beat them with His whip ....
27 In that day the Lord will END the BONDAGE of His people. He will
BREAK the JOKE of SLAVERY and LIFT it from their shoulders.
The words of Isaiah now go back to that present day of his day,
in the fulfilment of the FIRST type marching of the Assyria war machine
into Israel and Judah (verses 28-34). The Assyria army was coming,
people were fleeing, running, terrified. The enemy shakes its fist at
Mount Zion and Jerusalem, ready to destroy, but the Lord intervened in
that day, and Assyria was not allowed to take Jerusalem.
BUT it will not be so the SECOND TIME of fulfilment!
Jerusalem will be compassed about by the Assyria/Europe armies,
and it WILL FALL!! It will be the time when as Jesus said, ALL
that is written SHALL COME TO PASS.
Israel and Judah will be PUNISHED! God will need to do it
for they will NOT it seems REPENT of their sins and iniquities
and lawlessness. God will use an Empire that is NOW FORMING in
Europe, an Empire that will have a great and mighty WOMAN CHURCH
ruling and guiding it, a mighty false prophet that can work miracles!
It will be an Empire spear-headed by the GREAT GERMAN NATION! After
the Lord has used that mighty nation to punish His people, then for
the stoutness and vanity of heart they have, the Almighty will punish
Germany and Europe. This was brought out as I went through the book
of Revelation, chapter 9, in the NT Bible Story. The men of the EAST,
the GREAT Empires of Russia and China and those with them, will,
after being attacked by the Holy Roman Empire of Europe, (the 5th
TRUMPET sound) will counter-attack, and will kill and destroy a THIRD
part of men (the 6th TRUMPET sound).
Then we will have arrived at the 7th TRUMPET to sound, and
the RETURN OF CHRIST to this earth, to put a stop to the wars
that would, if not shortened, destroy all human flesh from off
the planet (Mat.24:22).
Its may all seem very unreal, just not possible the destruction can come on modern day Israel and Judah. Can such an Empire as the nations of north-western Europe, the Anglo- Saxons of the British Commonwealth, and the mighty power of the USA, be defeated, and taken captive? It may seem impossible that such could ever happen. Well the great empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, seemed to them it could not be possible to destroy such world powers in their day. But IT DID HAPPEN— THEY WERE DESTROYED!! SO ALSO WILL MODERN ISRAEL AND JUDAH BE DESTROYED! IT COULD BE 20, 30, 50 years or more from now. And in that time MUCH will turn to happen to Germany/Europe, and the nations whom she shall conquer and take captive. So KEEP WATCHING GERMANY AND EUROPE!!!
We then come to the WONDERFUL chapters of Isaiah 11 and
12. And we shall rejoice in them next time.
..................
To be continued
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