Assyria and Philistia Broken

Isaiah 14:24-32 

24 The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying,

"Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass,
And as I have purposed, so it shall stand:

25 That I will break the Assyrian in My land,
And on My mountains tread him underfoot.
Then his yoke shall be removed from them,
And his burden removed from their shoulders.

26 This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth,
And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed,
And who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
And who will turn it back?"

28 This is the burden which came in the year that King Ahaz died.

29 "Do not rejoice, all you of Philistia,
Because the rod that struck you is broken;
For out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper,
And its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent.

30 The firstborn of the poor will feed,
And the needy will lie down in safety;
I will kill your roots with famine,
And it will slay your remnant.

31 Wail, O gate! Cry, O city!
All you of Philistia are dissolved;
For smoke will come from the north,
And no one will be alone in his appointed times."

32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation?
That the LORD has founded Zion,
And the poor of His people shall take refuge in it.

After the fall of Babylon of old and to come, the word of the Lord through Isaiah turned to the enemies of His people who had oppressed them, Assyria and Philistia.  God’s sovereign work against both is a picture of all who oppose Him through His chosen people, of Israel and the Nations alike called in Christ, the Branch of Jesse and Messiah prepared as announced.  As God thinks, it will certainly happen.  As He purposes, so it shall stand so nobody can alter it (Isaiah 43:13).  This is His sovereign predetermined purposes as He plans, which holds for world events we call history as well as personal lives called eternally to Himself which cannot be snatched from His almighty hand.  There is absolute certainty in God’s purposed plans and work from beginning to end which we only see the edges of as He chooses to show us in the scriptures (Ecclesiastes 3:11, Isaiah 46:10, Job 26:14, Deuteronomy 29:29).  He broke Assyria and took His people out from under their cruel and oppressive rule and dissolved the Philistine rule even as they rejoiced in being set free themselves from other oppressors.  God’s purposes are in all the earth for His people and against His enemies who are set in opposition to the people He calls to Himself.  He is absolutely sovereign over all nations by the power of His outstretched hand.  What He says will happen will.  Nobody can turn His hand back.  The enemies of the people of the Lord are protected eternally, but the enemies who find another enemy removed according to God’s plan can become as those of Philistia, turning from vipers to dragons to their demise.  He ended them through starvation and destruction of their remaining numbers in His sovereign purposes, and will do it again in the ultimate end of the rule of all evil in the judgment day (1 Corinthians 15:24-25).  Just as Philistia was burned up and its smoke rose from the destruction, so will the spiritual Babylon in judgment (Revelation 18:8-10).  All these things happen by God’s will in His times as planned from before time itself in His sovereignty.  Yet God has prepared a refuge in Zion for His people, a picture and type of the New Jerusalem where all in Christ will find eternal refuge from sin and death in God’s very presence forevermore.  Nobody can snatch us out of the hand which lead us through the narrow gate into those streets of gold; our victory is in Christ according to His work which we trust is true (John 6:28-29)!  The nations of the world will all be broken as Assyria and Philistia, but our Kingdom is an everlasting one (Psalm 145:13, Daniel 4:3, 2 Peter 1:11) and we are not broken.  Hallelu Yah!