Reading Scripture should help us see the character of God revealed there based on what He says about what He does. What is God doing in the world and how does He work? What can we learn about how God speaks and acts according to His Word? These are some helpful questions for us to keep in mind as we read this section of Isaiah.
(A) God plans and speaks (Isa 14: 24-25)
The oracle in this section is about the Gentile nation of Assyria. It addresses God as “the LORD of hosts”. English translated Bibles denote “LORD” to refer to the word YHWH or the personal name of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. But here, God is not just the LORD (which speaks of His eternal, self-sufficient nature) but also His unfathomable power and right to rule with authority. We get that from the name used: “The LORD of hosts”, or “ LORD Saboath” (a term used in Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, for instance). The LORD of hosts is the eternal king and His rule and reign is highlighted here. He is attended to by heaven’s mighty armies.
This LORD of hosts has sworn and given assurance by a promise with an oath (Isa 14:24a). As we read about what God will do to the Assyrians in His land (Isa 14:25) and God’s relationship with Assyria.
The couplet in Isaiah 14:24b shows us how God' works in the world — “as I have planned it, so shall it be” and “as I have purposed, so shall it stand”. We see how God is absolutely sovereign according to His Word. Whatever He says will happen happens!. God does not just respond but actively plans, decrees, and does what His Word says! God is very deliberate and purposeful.
This verse also tells us that God’s speech reveals and unfolds His prior plan. Consider this: if God had a purpose and plan but didn’t speak, we wouldn’t know that His plans were happening as He intended. There would be no way for us to know. Indeed, God is capable of making all things happen by thinking but look at what He actually does: He expresses His will in speech. This is why it says that He has sworn. The important thing we need to know is that all these things will happen as God has spoken. The historical events are a reflection of God’s character: purposeful and powerful. As things unfold in reality, even war and other calamities, are not just human actions randomly occurring in time and space. All things happens as God decrees, and according to His Word.
This is why Psalm 119 is so important. Located almost at the middle of our Bible, it is a long Psalm — the longest in the Bible, with 176 verses. It basically records the psalmist’s declaration that God is a speaking God and the psalmist loves His Word. In Psalm 119:89-91, notice that God’s power proceeds from His Word. His Word is eternal and governs all time and space. Everything happens according to His will. This is a celebration of God’s sovereign Word. The psalmist is full of awe considering the value of God’s word (c.f. Ps 119:127).
This God has revealed Himself: the God who plans and speaks. What then have we done with His Word? What is our attitude towards the Bible? Does it excite you? Does it give you joy? Do you look forward to knowing God and His will as He has revealed Himself, or just the personal application for our lives? This is a call to read God’s word to know Him and to value His word because we value Him! There is nowhere else to turn to to know Him! In times of crisis, the value of precious gold goes up. Is your valuation of God’s Word greater than gold?
Some of us have been in the church for a long time but our knowledge of God according to the full revelation of the Bible may have stalled. Have you met with the God of Ezekiel or worshipped the God of Jude? He has revealed Himself that we might know Him; He has spoken that we might know His will.
(B) God acts and none can resist (Isa 14:26-27)
What is the scale of God’s purpose and the reach of His hand? His purpose concerns the whole earth and His hand is stretched out over all the nations (Isa 14:26). God’s purposeful sovereignty is not limited by geography or political control. In Psalm 2, we read of a God that cannot be controlled or limited. Though the nations rage and their leaders make plans to break free from God’s control, these actions are in vain (Ps 2:1-3). Their plans are pitiful: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. (Ps 2:4)”.
Isaiah 11:10-16 has also shown us some of what God’s plans for the world are at the scale of the vast array of nations: God will lift up the root of Jesse as a signal for the peoples so that the nations will inquire of this root (Isa 11:10) and seek to know Him. God will gather the remnant of His people from all the places where they have been dispersed (Isa 11:11) and bring them all back into His promised land. There will be unity between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms and this united kingdom will be great, with dominion over their enemies from the east and west (Isa 11:13-14). These enemies of God who harass Israel will be defeated, and God will gives His people rest. To understand the scale and specificity of these wonderful promises, we need to be familiar with the word of God. Knowing these wonderfully expansive promises helps us know the scale of God’s power and might.
Isaiah 14:27 uses a negative form to drive the oracle’s key message home: who can cancel and annul God’s purposes? Who can tell God to remove His outstretched arm? God acts and none can resist.
But what about free will, someone might ask? The passage does not remove moral responsibility from the individual or indicate that we are pawns on God’s chessboard. But in Isaiah, a wider perspective is adopted. It is a cosmic level view of the nations that makes the free will of the individual vastly insignificant by comparison. The truly “free will” described here is God’s free will to do as He plans and pleases. Another word for this freedom is God’s sovereignty. We are tempted to focus on our realm of personal agency but Isaiah reminds us to consider God’s realm of agency. Knowing the scale of His power, we come before Him in worship humbly bowed on our faces.
In Acts 5:29-39, when Peter and the other apostles are proclaiming they run afoul of the Pharisees. Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, spoke up to the Pharisees and cautioned them against what they were doing “for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Acts 5:38b-39).
Gamaliel’s words challenge us to ask ourselves Isaiah’s question: who would be foolish enough to oppose God’s plans? Gamaliel’s theology told him that if God is behind the apostles’ ministry agenda, nothing could stop it much less the Jewish religious order. Do we share a similar view of God’s power? Does the God you believe truly set the agenda for your life? Time will tell if God is in what you do and if our lives truly reflect alignment with His will and agenda or if our religion is merely outward ritual. We could lose interest in church or find ourselves drifting from God’s people whom we once treasured so much. Time will tell if our love for His Word and people are true. Time will also tell what God is doing in this world through both the big and small things.
Isaiah 14 shows us how the LORD of hosts plans and speaks by the sovereign decree of His own Word. What is your attitude towards the Word of God? Does seeing how God works in the world make you uncomfortable? Do you struggle to trust this sovereign and irresistible God?