2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Lord leads me to continue sharing citations that reveal Him as El Elyon, the God Most High. In yesterday’s message, we saw how He is sovereign, supreme, and consistent. That will be seen in today’s message too. Today we will look at some interesting citations that focus on His relationship with Assyria, its capital at Nineveh, and Babylon to see how El Elyon reveals Himself. Keep DN 4: 17 in mind, the citation that reminds us that God has “power over human kingdoms and can give them to anyone He chooses, even the least of men.”
You may remember that Isaiah’s ministry was about 300 years before Christ [739-690 BC] and prior to the Babylonian captivity of Judah [605, 597, & 586 BC in 3 waves]. At that time, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem and Israel in the north with its capital at Samaria. El Elyon was using Isaiah to deliver messages of warning to the Israelites to stop their idolatry and disobedience before it was necessary for Him to punish them. IS 5 is the Song of the Vineyard, a kind of parable by Isaiah designed to deliver this warning in a way to which the people could relate. IS 5: 5-7, “ ‘Here is what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge around it, break down the wall that protects it, and let wild animals eat it and trample it down. I will let it be overgrown with weeds. I will not rim the vines or he the ground; instead, I will let briers and thorns cover it. I will even forbid the clouds to let rain fall on it.’ Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines He planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.” IS 10: 5-19 is a passage on how the Emperor of Assyria will be used as an instrument of God. You will remember that Assyria was allowed by God to capture the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. IS 10: 5-8, “The Lord said, ‘Assyria! I use Assyria like a club to punish those with whom I am angry. I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made Me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample the people like dirt in the streets.’ But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations. He boasts, ‘Every one of my commanders is a king!’ “ IS 10: 24-25, “The Sovereign Lord Almighty [El Elyon] says to His people who live in Zion, ‘Do not be afraid of the Assyrians, even though they oppress you as the Egyptians used to do. In only a little while I will finish punishing you and then I will destroy them.”
In looking at these verses, it would be easy to assume that God is just a chess master amusing Himself at the expense of His creation. However, we know better than that, because we are taking the time to put these citations in their proper historical and spiritual context. The exercise of His sovereign right to punish His people and to put limits on the evil of their enemies is absolutely necessary if God is to demonstrate His righteousness [RO 3: 26]. If He didn’t do this, it would be like a parent who never disciplines his child. In that case, the child grows up to be a criminal without a conscience, which simply isn’t acceptable. In actuality, God’s decision to punish His children is His only choice and reveals His ultimate compassion. Remember that God wants nothing more than to see as many as possible have joy and eternal fellowship with Him in heaven. Each must be successfully sanctified before he can be glorified. This is serious business! IS 45: 6-7, “I [El Elyon] do this so that everyone from one end of the world to the other may know that I am the Lord and that there is no other god. I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the Lord, do all these things.” Back in IS 14: 13-14, God points out that Satan thought he could ascend above God, but he couldn’t. IS 14: 27, “The Lord Almighty is determined to do this [allow Israel’s enemies to punish her for a time]; He has stretched out His arm to punish, and no one can stop Him.”
Later on, El Elyon also asserted His sovereign right to punish Babylon for its misdeeds in IS 46: 9-11, “Remember what happened long ago; acknowledge that I alone am God and that there is no one else like Me. From the beginning I predicted the outcome; long ago I foretold what would happen. I said that My plans would never fail, that I would do everything I intended to do. I am calling a man [Cyrus of Persia] to come from the East; he will swoop down like a hawk and accomplish what I have planned. I have spoken, and it will be done.”
The minor prophet, Nahum, wrote a poem celebrating the downfall of Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s enemy, Assyria, in the seventh century BC. It is seen as the judgment of El Elyon on this cruel, arrogant nation. Please read NH 1: 1-3: 19 to see how God’s sovereignty and supremacy is revealed here. His consistency is as well, because the citations we already saw in Isaiah are supported here. Note these highlights: (1:2) “The Lord tolerates no rivals…punishes those who oppose Him…never lets the guilty go unpunished.” Remember EX 20: 5? (1:14) The Lord has decreed the Assyrians will have no descendants to carry on their name…He will destroy their idols…They don’t deserve to live!’ (2: 10) Nineveh is destroyed, deserted, and desolate! Fear abounds. (2: 13) God is its enemy, who will burn her chariots, see its soldiers killed in war, and take away its ill gotten gains. (3: 4) Nineveh is a whore being punished. It enchanted and enslaved nations. (3: 19) There is no healing for Nineveh’s wounds, no remedy for it. All those who get news of its destruction will clap their hands in joy, for none of them escaped its cruelty. More support for God’s ultimate omnipotence and sovereignty is given by ZEPH 2: 13 and 15, which I hope you will read.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have given us the message of Your sovereignty, supremacy, consistency, righteousness, and omnipotence because You want us to see how fairly You have applied them over our past history. If we have acted evilly, then it is Your wish to frighten us into changing our ways. If we have acted with righteousness and obedience to You, then You impart the peace that goes beyond human understanding to us. We can take comfort that You have the power to punish and even kill enemies of those who believe in You. That is how we can learn that You also have the power to protect Your children. You let us see this part of Your word, so that we might understand our need to expunge sin, particularly idolatry, from our lives. That is why even these stories of past conflicts are so vital to our understanding of You. So, Dear Lord, we have not wasted our time in examining them today. Instead, we have given You the power to motivate us to make You the Lord of our lives. We humbly offer You our thanks, adoration, loyalty, worship, honor, glory, trust, obedience, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
There are more citations concerning God as El Elyon which I feel quite led to share with you tomorrow. I am learning that there is a relationship between the importance of a concept and the number of Scripture writers who talk about it, and the number of contexts in which the concept is demonstrated in the Bible. The attributes that God reveals in these El Elyon citations must be very important indeed. So we don’t waste our time in examining them. That is a measure of how much God loves each and every one of us. I don’t apologize for often repeating in my writing that He wants nothing more than to see as many of us as possible attain eternal joy and fellowship with Him. We are blessed by the profundity of His compassion and love for us. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn