The Prophecy of Isaiah - Part 33 Discussion

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Isa 7:17- The Lord Shall Bring Upon Thee... The King of Assyria

Isa 7:17  The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

Remember that from Isaiah 6 onward​ is what Isaiah has been sent to tell God's people as per God's commission to Isaiah in that chapter. The preceding five chapters have already established that Isaiah was sent to "Judah and Jerusalem" to show them just how far from their God they now are. Isaiah 1:1 and verse 21 reveal that the great harlot of scripture is "Judah and Jerusalem", and here in chapter seven we are being told that because Jerusalem has become a murderous harlot, the Lord is sending "the king of Assyria against Judah and Jerusalem in judgment for her infidelity and her promiscuity. Judah and Jerusalem were not willing to be faithful to Christ, her legitimate and lawful husband. Therefore:

Isa 7:17  The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.

...from the day Ephraim departed from Judah

What is the spiritual significance of "from the day Ephraim departed from Judah"?

The breakup of the kingdom is, in effect, the beginning of our spiritual judgment. Israel did not depart from Judah without a reason. Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon was not a man who cared for either his subjects or his Creator. His self-​centered greed brought about the breakup of the kingdom into the nations of Judah and Israel (also known as Ephraim). Israel had God's name but did not want to wear His apparel or eat His bread (Isa 4:1).

The phrase "from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah" signifi​es that the beginning of our judgment is signaled by some deceitful, distressing experience in our lives which is only "the beginning of sorrows". Christ tells us what we need to understand about the beginning of our judgment:

Mat 24:5  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Our judgment begins when we are deceived into believing that Christ's death was in substitution for our own death. We are in effect told that Paul lied to us when he said:

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

Here is what precipitated the judgments which the Lord brought upon Israel,​ which were the sorest judgments since "the day that Ephraim departed from Judah":

1Ki 12:12  So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
1Ki 12:13  And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him;
1Ki 12:14  And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
1Ki 12:15  Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

It is of utmost importance for us to notice that all these words are addressed to those who claim to have a relationship with their God. But instead of being merciful to the Lord's people, the rulers of the Lord's flock just naturally tend to abuse His flock. That is what Rehoboam did to the Lord's people,​ and that is what we all do to the Lord's prophets and the Lord's true disciples.

Just as He had done with self-​righteous Job, the Lord began to take down the hedge He had about Israel during the reigns of Kings David and King Solomon. Spiritually speaking the Lord was in type and shadow 'Gone into a far country for a  long time':

Luk 12:45  But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
Luk 12:46  The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

Luk 20:9  Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.

It was during this time that the Lord sent Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, and all His prophets to Israel. As "types of us" Israel first must hate the Lord's prophets:

Act 7:52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

In her negative application, ​Israel ​is the great harlot with whom we at first are made to be so drunken with her false doctrines that we cannot see our own rebellious sins and iniquities. It is such strong delusion that we do not even realize what is taking place when the Lord begins to punish us for our sins:

Pro 23:35  They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

Jer 5:3  O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

In the outward realm, also​,​ many orthodox Christians are at this moment rejoicing in the election of our new president here in the United States. They are in total defiance of the doctrines of Christ and are so drunk on the doctrines of the great harlot that they are praising God that He has given them a leader who has promised to be the hero both of the Christian community and of the LGBTQ community. That is exactly where ancient Israel stood when the prophets were sent to her to show her her own nakedness and sins.

Eze 5:1  And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
Eze 5:2  Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
Eze 5:3  Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
Eze 5:4  Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
Eze 5:5  Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
Eze 5:6  And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
Eze 5:7  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
Eze 5:8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. 
Eze 5:9  And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
Eze 5:10  Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.
Eze 5:11  Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
Eze 5:12  A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Eze 5:13  Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. 
Eze 5:14  Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
Eze 5:15  So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
Eze 5:16  When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread: 
Eze 5:17  So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.

The repeated phrase "a third part" tells us this is the long process of being judged. With no spiritul bread or any spiritual water (Eze 3:1),​ Israel is so promiscuous that Isaiah tells us that God considered His own symbolic wife to be a harlot:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

God's elect cannot compromise as a harlot does, and for that reason they are "hated of all men" and "lie dead" in the streets of that great harlot city (Mat 10:22 and Rev 11:8).

In the Lord's time and in His order (1Co 15:23), we who are called "Jerusalem above... the Israel of God" as well as physical Isr​ae​l will be judged and will eventually be brought to repentance and be restored to Him.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

But according to the scriptures, this all involves "a long time", and in making that point, we must take note that the Lord had a relationship with His "husbandmen" before He "went into a far country for a long time". We also need to realize that the rebellion of His husbandmen takes place during this "long time" their Lord is away from them.

Luk 20:9  Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
Luk 20:10  And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:11 And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.
Luk 20:12 And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out.
Luk 20:13  Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him.
Luk 20:14  But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.
Luk 20:15  So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them?
Luk 20:16 He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.

"Let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours" is typified by Joseph's ten brothers wanting to kill him:

Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams [his inheritance], and for his words.

Gen 37:20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams [his inheritance].

As a part of all mankind ​we​ must live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4 and Luk 4:4). The blood of all the prophets is required of "this generation [meaning of the generation of] he that readeth" (Luk 11:50-51; Mat 24:15). For that reason we must all be Joseph's brothers before we can become Joseph. We must all first be those of whom is required the blood of all the prophets and of the Heir Himself, the blood of Christ, before we can become "Jesus of Nazareth" (Act 22:8). That is why it is so appropriate that Saul of Tarsus was "breathing out slaughter against the [Christ of Christ]" before he was stricken down on the road to Damascus and transformed into a mighty soldier of Christ. Saul of Tarsus typifies me and you.

But when Christ apprehends us and begins to destroy the wicked, rebellious, self-​willed husbandman within us, His judgment is not at that exact moment over and done. Christ Himself makes that very plain:

Joh 15:2  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Judgment begins at the house of God, but it does not end just because we are struck down on the road to Damascus and apprehended by our Lord. Our judgment does not end just because He catches our eye while we are denying Him before this world for the third time (Act 9:1-22 and Luk 22:54-62). The Truth is that after we are apprehended our judgment begins in earnest.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

That is the spiritual significance of "from the day Ephraim departed from Judah".

The LORD shall bring upon thee...the king of Assyria

So who and what does the king of Assyria symbolize? It will help us to understand who and what the king of Assyria symbolizes when we notice where the exiles of the Lord's people, Israel, with its capital of Samaria, were sent by this king of Assyria:

2Ki 17:6  In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

But look at another city that was part of the Assyian empire at that time:

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

Babylon at this time was under the dominion of the king of Assyria, and we are told that the Lord sends "the king of Assyria" to chasten and scourge His unfaithful harlot wife. But​ the king of Assyria is soon to be subdued by his own rebellious city of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. Of course it was Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar,​ who would later carry away Judah and Jerusalem into Babylonian captivity for the same adulterous reason Israel was carried away into Assyria.

Yet Isaiah tells Judah and Jerusalem that He will bring "the king of Assyria" against Judah and Jerusalem. He can say that simply because these two cities are the same pe​ople. They are "the king of the north"​,​ and judgment comes out of the north (Eze 9:2).

So who do these two kingdoms symbolize? A better way to ask that question is what do these two kingdoms symbolize?

This is the function of those who are used by our Lord to correct His unfaithful, and promiscuous people:

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

There it is! The rod of the Lord's indignation is "the king of Assyria [and] the king of Babylon", who are one and the same people. They symbolize the judgment that comes upon Christ's apostatized people in all ages.

Now that we know who and what these kings symbolize, let's look at what the Lord's indignation accomplishes:

Eze 21:31  And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

Eze 22:31  Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. 

Zep 3:8  Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

The Lord's symbol for His indignation is this "King of Assyia", who later is replaced by the king of Babylon. It is through this symbol that "all the earth shall be dovoured with the fire of [His] jealousy".

When we put these verses together with the verses in the book of Revelation, which also tell us of a harlot woman who​m​ the Lord has ordained to bear rule over all nations, we find that the Lord uses the same symbolism:

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Who is this woman who "reigns over the kings of the earth"?

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Lo and behold! This woman who deceives and rules over "the kings of the earth" and who is "drunken with the blood of the saints" is also called "Mystery Babylon The Great", and it is through this woman we are told the Lord will "gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy" (Zep 3:8).

While it is true that a few of the Lord's people do come out of Babylon, those who choose to leave Babylon to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of the Lord are few and a mere fraction of those who were there in Babylon. And even then, many of those who did return to Jerusalem brought their Babylonian ways and their Babylonian wives with them and had to be purged of that unacceptable position in which they found themselves, and in which we find ourselves.

Ezr 9:1  Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, [who had been brought there from Babylon and other Assyrian cities] doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
Ezr 9:2  For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

This very condition is the fruit of the Lord's wrath against His adulterous people. It is by the agency of the kings of Assryria and Babylon that He chastens and scourges His own people, and,​ as we read in Zephaniah, it will be with this same symbolic people, those who symbolize all religion in opposition to Christ, that Christ will chasten and scourge "all the earth", as we have already witnessed and as we are still witnessing outwardly every day:

Zep 3:8  Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

So we now know that the king of Assyria symbolizes "the rod of [the Lord's] indignation". That is why in our next study the Lord tells us:

Isa 7:18  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.