Isaiah 10:13

The Bible says in Isaiah 10:13-19, “For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.” Verses 13 and 14 are quotations from the country of Assyria. These statements from Assyria demonstrate why the Lord brought judgment against them. The Lord had given strength and victory to Assyria, but they did not give glory to God for what God had done. They took all the credit to themselves. Assyria said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.”

God begins speaking in verse 15, and God makes clear the fact that He is greatly displeased when people are ungrateful for the things that God has done for them. God is good, and He is the giver of all good things. The Bible says in Isaiah 10:16, “Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.” If good things have happened to you, it is because God caused them to happen. If you think the good things happened because of your own ability, or your own wisdom, or your own strength, then you stand in danger of the wrath of God. It is good that God be praised for the good things that He has done. It says in Psalm 100:1-3, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 10:20-34, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages: They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.”

There are some important phrases to notice in this passage of scripture. The first phrase to notice is in Isaiah 10:20 that says, “And it shall come to pass in that day.” We know when we look closely at the context that this is one of those passage of scriptures that has an immediate fulfillment in the days of the Old Testament, but it also has a reference to the last days. The phrase “in that day” is a statement of this fact. This passage is a strong reminder that God has a wonderful future planned. Things may be bad now, but a wonderful future is always in store for God’s children. That has always been His promise through Christ, and God keeps every one of His promises. The Bible says in Revelation 21:3-4, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Isaiah 10:20 speaks of “the remnant of Israel.” Thank God that He has a plan that allows for a “remnant.” The word “remnant” speaks of a small number. Compared to the great multitudes, a small number will be saved. This is the same teaching that Jesus gave in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” It does seem sad that only a remnant will be saved, but that speaks of the hardness of man’s heart. One would think that after hearing of the love of God through the good news that is in Jesus Christ that the multitudes would come running to bow at the feet of Jesus to believe and receive His forgiveness. But in most generations that does not happen. Something gets in the way and keeps people from serving and living for Jesus. Whether that lack of repentance is due to the pride of man, selfishness or sinfulness, false religion, or some other bad influence; people choose to not come to Jesus. Jesus taught a parable about this in Luke 8:5-15, “A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Concerning the Messiah who will save the remnant, the Bible says in Isaiah 11:1-5, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” By saying that the Messiah “shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots,” we are being told that the Messiah will come in the lineage of King David. That is why the Holy Spirit had the writers of the gospels make it very clear that Jesus was in the lineage of David both through Mary, his mother, and through Joseph, his step-father.

Isaiah chapter 11 tells us about the Messiah’s human lineage, and it also tells us from where the Messiah obtains his wisdom and power. It says in Isaiah 11:2-3, “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD.” The Messiah obtained His wisdom from the Spirit of God. When Jesus came to the earth as Mary’s baby, He lived the life of a human being. He gave up His divine prerogatives, He gave up His godly throne, and He came to this earth and lived on this earth as a man for about thirty years. It says about Jesus in Philippians 2:7 that He “….. made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

Since Jesus lived as a man on this earth, what accounts for the great wisdom and power that He had? The answer is “the spirit of the LORD.” The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jesus and stayed with Him. That is what the word “rest” means. It means to abide and to remain. If the Spirit of God comes upon you in this way, it stays with you. The same thing happens in the Christian life. Once we become saved through faith in Jesus Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is never taken away. He comes to stay. That is why it says in First Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” It also says in Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” If Jesus, the divine Son of God, relied upon the Holy Spirit in His life on this earth, then of course sinful human beings need to do so also. Remember that He is called the “holy” Spirit. Believers are told to not “grieve” the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:30, and to not “quench” the Spirit in First Thessalonians 5:19. We will not have the wisdom that we need, and we will not have the strength that we need to live for God without the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are told in Isaiah chapter 11 that the Messiah received both wisdom and might from the Holy Spirit, but the emphasis is on “wisdom.” In addition to mentioning “wisdom,” we are told of the Messiah’s “understanding,” His “quick understanding,” His “knowledge,” and His “council.” Only God is wise, so only those who are in tune with the Spirit of God have the wisdom that is needed to serve God in this world of sin and unbelief and human self-will. Thank God that we have a merciful Savior to whom we can go and find all the wisdom of God.

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