Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 8:5-10 The King of Assyria…Shall Pass Through Judah

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Isa 8:5-10  The King ​o​f Assyia... Shall Pass Through Judah

Isa 8:5  The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,
Isa 8:6  Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;
Isa 8:7  Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
Isa 8:8  And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.
Isa 8:9  Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Isa 8:10  Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

To understand the Lord's message to His creatures we must first understand the meaning of these words:

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

There is simply no way Ahaz, a type of us, can see an invisible God as more powerful than the threatening king of Assyria.

A good example of how our flesh cannot accept God's promises to protect us is this statement:

Job 12:22  He [the Lord] discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

Christ discovers the deep things, out of darkness, and "He brings out to light the shadow of death" because He is doing just that at this time only for His elect:

Isa 45:2  I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isa 45:3  And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Isa 45:4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Isa 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: [Eph 2:2-5]
Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Which means:

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Christ's 'name' and His 'face' are His doctrines and His Words.

I am well aware that Isaiah 45:1-7 is addressed to Cyrus, the king of Persia. But that is just the outward, the letter, the earthly application of those words which actually speak to you and to me concerning what the Lord has in store for those who believe His Words in this age. He is 'going before us' to accomplish the very same things, only this time it is being done in a permanent and spiritual sense:

Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

The point is that it is Christ's own words by which He "...created the darkness, [and by which He] commands the light to shine out of darkness". But because our natural thoughts are not His thoughts, our "light [is] darkness [and] how great is that darkness"!

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

That darkness is so great that we believe "the first man Adam", the deceived, rebellious, epitome of spiritual darkness, was in reality created in physical and spiritual perfection. We do not know that it was God's own hand which created Adam in that darkened state. It is in that darkened state, which we consider to be light, that the Word of God itself is twisted to maintain our false doctrine of a man who was created in physical and spiritual perfection because we are told:

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

And, after all, are we not also told:

Gen 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Yes, "the first man Adam is "the... very good... son of God" but that does not make him a physically and spiritually perfected Son of God. Satan himself is a son of God inasmuch as God is called "the father of spirits":

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

It is because of the false doctrine of the fall of man, which is considered to be 'the light' and the truth of scripture, that our so called 'light' has blinded our eyes so that we cannot see these clear statements of the Word of God:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked ["first man Adam"] for the day of evil.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Joh 12:40  He [God Himself] hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious ["very good"] had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

We cannot see that Pharaoh's hard heart is also a type of our own hardened heart which has been hardened and blinded by the words of Christ Himself:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Isaiah makes it clear that Pharaoh's hardened heart is just a type of what the Lord is doing in all of His people:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy waysand hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

But all these truths are considered by the natural man to be lies and falsehoods, because at first our light is actually darkness, and we simply cannot see or understand how a just and loving God could possibly create evil or make wicked men for the day of evil. We simply cannot, as immature Christians, accept the Biblical doctrine which tells us:

Joh 12:40  He [God Himself] hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

We simply cannot see or understand how "Adam, the son of God" could possibly have had a relationship with His Father and at the same time be in total spiritual darkness. Neither can our immature "carnal... babes in Christ" minds understand that the ancient nation of Israel also had a relationship with God while being in total spiritual darkness.

Yet that is exactly what we have been shown in our studies in Isaiah. Chapter one sets the tone for this entire prophecy:

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

But wasn't Isaiah sent to Ahaz with comforting words concerning the destruction of the two kings who were seeking to destroy the house of Ahaz the son of David and the kingdom of Judah? The answer is, yes, he was, but God's physical blessings are used throughout scripture to blind us from seeing our impending judgment. It is Christ Himself who tells us:

Ecc 8:11  Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

That verse describes how we have all dealt with sin in our own lives in the past, and it also describes how King Ahaz reacted to God's blessing of mercy upon him and his rebellious kingdom. It tells us how we react to God's patience and His mercies upon us while we are in our sins. We tell a lie, and nothing happens. We steal something, and it seems we got by with it. We hate our brother, which makes us a murderer, and we seem to get along just fine (1Jo 3:15). "The waters of Shiloah... go softly..." and we rejoice when we see others who are 'reaping what they have sown'.

Isa 8:5  The LORD spake also unto me again, saying,
Isa 8:6  Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

What Ahaz and Judah rejoiced in concerning Rezin and Remaliah's son was that they had fallen prey to the king of Assyria. Ahaz certainly was not rejoicing in what Rezin and Remaliah's son Pekah were attempting to do to him and to Judah. Isaiah 7 and the first four verses of Isaiah 8 are all concerned with how the Lord was about to judge the northern kingdom of Israel, also called 'Ephraim' after Israel's most populous tribe. Israel, which was also called Ephraim, is symbolized by "Pekah the son of Remaliah", its king, and Samaria as its capital. Pekah was allied with Rezin, the king of Syria, against Judah and Judah's king, Ahaz.

Isa 7:1  And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
Isa 7:2  And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his [Pekah's] heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.

"His heart was moved... as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind" means Ahaz and his people were 'shaking in their boots', to use a modern English idiom. But the Lord delivered Ahaz, and instead of repenting of his own apostasy and sins, he and his people gloated over the fall of Samaria to the extent that Ahaz went to Samaria to meet the Assyrian king who had destroyed his fellow Israelites.

Ahaz and we are commanded never to rejoice when the Lord chastens our enemies. These words had been scripture for many years before Ahaz came along:

Pro 24:17  Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Pro 24:18  Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Isaiah's admonition to Ahaz and the kingdom of Judah was not to rejoice in the fall of Samaria and Damascus, rather his admonition to Judah is to repent of their own sins and to obey God and place their trust in His gentle waters. But Ahaz, as a type of us, much preferred to put his trust in the rushing mighty waters of the kingdom of the Eurphrates, the king of Assyria, and he refused to trust in the invisible God of His Fathers.

Here is the story of Ahaz. Here is the story of your flesh and my flesh:

2Ch 28:1  Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
2Ch 28:2  For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim.
2Ch 28:3  Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
2Ch 28:4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
2Ch 28:5  Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
2Ch 28:6  For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.
2Ch 28:7  And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house, and Elkanah that was next to the king.
2Ch 28:8  And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.

Notice now the mercy and patience the Lord shows toward Ahaz and Judah:

2Ch 28:9  But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.
2Ch 28:10  And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God?
2Ch 28:11  Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.
2Ch 28:12  Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war,
2Ch 28:13  And said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for whereas we have offended against the LORD already, ye intend to add more to our sins and to our trespass: for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.
2Ch 28:14  So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation.
2Ch 28:15  And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brethren: then they returned to Samaria.

This now is how Ahaz responds to this act of God's mercy toward him and his nation. This is how our flesh first responds to the mercy we are shown at this time in our "one event" (Ecc 9:2):

2Ch 28:16  At that time did king Ahaz send unto the kings of Assyria to help him.
2Ch 28:17  For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives.
2Ch 28:18  The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Bethshemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there.
2Ch 28:19  For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the LORD.
2Ch 28:20  And Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria came unto him, and distressed him, but strengthened him not.
2Ch 28:21  For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: but he helped him not.

"He made Judah naked" means that Ahaz removed all restraints in Judah, and set an example of lascivious living for the whole nation. All of God's patience and mercy is despised and taken for granted as weakness on the Lord's part. Our returning to our own vomit is the fruit of the false doctrine of substitutionary atonement. We accept His mercy as the healing of a very deadly wound, and we actually feel confirmed to continue serving the beast with whom we are convinced we cannot do battle and expect to win.

2Ch 28:22  And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. [This is our own flesh]
2Ch 28:23  For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. [The whole world seems to be doing well, so I will just throw my lot in with the world, and avoid the shame of bearing the cross of Christ]
2Ch 28:24  And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
2Ch 28:25  And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
2Ch 28:26  Now the rest of his acts and of all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
2Ch 28:27  And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

Ahaz, a type of you and me, was convinced that he could not withstand the power of the king of Assyia:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? [Who can make war with the kings of Assyria and Babylon?]

In time Judah's king was carried away by the Assyrians into Babylon, just as the Lord had earlier done to Israel:

2Ch 33:11  Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

Isa 8:7  Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:

Under King Ahaz Judah is not yet being judged as severely as Samaria and Ephraim. Nevertheless, Christ is speaking to both Israel and Judah as we read in this same chapter:

Isa 8:13  Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Isa 8:14  And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The Lord still sees Jerusalem as the capital of both nations, and He is intent upon judging both. In the sense that Judah is also rejecting Christ and His laws and His protection, she is also rejoicing in Rezin and in Remaliah's son. Both Israel and Judah "refuse the waters of Shiloah that go softly", preferring instead the waters of the mighty Euphrates, preferring the doctrines and the protection of the king of Assyria over the protection of an invisible God who insists that Israel separate herself from all other nations by being obedient to Him and to His laws.

Isa 8:6  Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;

Since "both the houses of Israel... refuse the waters of Shiloah that go softly... therefore...  the Lord brings upon [both of the houses of Israel] the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria," who will take them completely out of the land and place them in the cities of the Chaldeans, and the Babylonians.

Isa 8:8  And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.

"O Immanuel" lets us know these words are for us. All of this has already been written in Ahaz's and Judah's books (Psa 139:16). Nevertheless, the Lord always uses our sins for the occasion He is seeking to destroy the kingdom of our old man and to humble and, through that humiliating destruction, bring forth a new man who is conformed to the image of Christ.

But before the total annihilation of our old man we will conspire against our very Creator in an effort to maintain our own will and to retain the kingdom of the beast within our hearts and minds. The wild beast, which we are by nature, is loathe to relinquish the throne he has held for so long. Nevertheless, fortunately for us, it will all be in vain, and all of our attempts to retain the ability for us to continue to satisfy the man of sin will all come to nought.

Isa 8:9  Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Isa 8:10  Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

Outwardly we are determined to 'make America great again' while we remain in our sins as a nation. We think 'The Art of The Deal' will work by making the great red dragon our ally. But "it shall come to nought... and it shall not stand" because Christ Himself has "spoken the word", and "God is with us" who prefer "the waters of Shiloah that go softly'.

Our "covenant with death" will be annulled by Christ Himself at the appointed time:

Isa 28:15  Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
Isa 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

All of our efforts to retain and rule our world for the rebellious wild beast who sits in the temple of God declaring himself to be God will also come to nought, and the kingdom of the beast within us will be completely destroyed by the brightness of His coming and the understanding of His doctrines.

2Th 2:6  And now you know what holds back, for him ["the abomination that makes desolate" Mat 24:15] to be revealed in his own time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of lawlessness is already working, only he is now holding back until it comes out of the midst.
2Th 2:8  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming, (MKJV)

This is all being done and is being accomplished through the process of being judged and dying daily to all these things of the flesh which are shown by the example of King Ahaz being within each of us in our own time:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

We bring nothing to the table. Our part in God's plan for mankind was written before we were born, and He was working our lives while He still had our hearts hardened and was still making us to err from His ways (Isa 63:17).

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

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