“But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation. He will say, ‘Each of my princes will soon be a king. We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath fell before us as Arpad did. And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus. Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria. So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods, just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’” After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. He boasts, “By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it. I have broken down the defenses of nations and carried off their treasures. I have knocked down their kings like a bull. 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.” But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself? Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops, and a flaming fire will consume its glory. The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night. The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land; it will waste away like sick people in a plague. Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive— so few that a child could count them! In that day the remnant left in Israel, the survivors in the house of Jacob, will no longer depend on allies who seek to destroy them. But they will faithfully trust the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return; yes, the remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return. The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people. Yes, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, has already decided to destroy the entire land. So this is what the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, says: “O my people in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you with rod and club as the Egyptians did long ago. In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them.””
Isaiah 10:7-25 NLT
God’s sovereignty is a topic of much debate among men with a modicum of power. However, what these men do not understand is that the scope of their power is small, the nature of their power is derivative, and the source of their power is foreign. In short, their power is borrowed and fragile. The scripture is very clear that power belongs to God. It is given and taken at his will and pleasure. If it were to be our only pursuit, as it is for some, our only solace would be that he is a god who is benevolent. He wants us to have agency. He wants us to reign with him and to share in his glory. But we must not conflate these things with our own reign or glory. The scripture is very clear that this information is transparent and anyone who seeks to bypass God, on any level, is culpable for their own destruction. It is also clear that though majority will be intoxicated by the thought of their own power and reign, apart from God, there will always be a remnant who acknowledges him. The ranks of this is ambiguous, save the quality of their mindset. As people with agency, it is here that we can find power. Do we seek to be part of this remnant and align ourselves with the quality of their heart, or do we fall with the majority? Choose this day where you will stand.
JOSH McGARY.COM 