Isaiah 10:4
4 Without me they shall [biltiy] bow down [kara`] under the
prisoners, ['acciyr] and they shall fall [naphal] under the slain. [harag]
For all this his anger ['aph] is not turned
away, [shuwb] but his hand [yad] is stretched out still. [natah] KJV-Interlinear
4 Nothing
remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of
all this His anger does not turn away, And His hand is still stretched out. NASB
There are fundamental
mandates the Bible makes and expects of each individual while living in this
world. These expectations are all
centered on truth and that means dealing with reality in truth rather than in
delusional thinking.
The basics of Gods
mandates is to look to Him who is the source of truth, and in looking to Him
one is expected to believe in His plan, which is supported by truth.
Gods plan is centered on
Jesus Christ. So rejecting Christ is the
same as rejecting God, and rejecting God is the same as rejecting Christ, and
rejecting either is the same as rejecting truth.
That leaves one open to
lies and nothing more.
When truth is rejected,
then bad things occur. People select bad
leaders or allow bad leaders to come to power.
When truth is rejected,
then leaders write bad laws, make bad legislation, begin the process of creating
favored portions of society at the expense of others. The strong take advantage of the weak. Society on the whole, from top to bottom functions
within the scope of false beliefs and opinions and attitudes. Society rejects establishment principles and
pursues alternate patterns of life, alternate patterns of society structure,
false concepts in liberty and justice and freedoms. Abuse of such power and authority results.
Society becomes weak as
loyalties and patriotism vanish, and arguments against the security of a nation
result. And that makes a nation weak,
especially in the eyes of other nations.
As a result, a nation that practices power over the weak, becomes
subject to that same treatment from foreign nations.
Invasions are inevitable.
All of the important
things that people look to, ones wealth, ones property, ones things, become at
risk of loss.
And now for our verse.
Without God, without
truth, without a legitimate spiritual life, then you have only two choices in
life. You will either find yourself in with the captives, or in with the
dead. Your precious things, your precious
attitude will be for naught and gone.
Captors take your things, and captors care nothing for your opinions.
And when God begins the application
of His wrath on a nation, He will generally allow another nation, even if it is
an evil nation, to become the tool of His bidding.
And when punishment is
imposed, it continues and continues and continues until Gods justice is fully
applied.
Gods outstretched hand
symbolizes the application of an action, and that actions does not stop until
it is completed.
This applies in history
and will apply in the future.
Samaria and Judah were
negative toward God and they were crushed by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians,
by the Persians, by the Greeks, by the Romans and they have been negative
throughout history, receiving crushing blows from time to time throughout
history.
When the Tribulation
begins, the entire world will be an unbelieving world, and the judgments will be
horrendous. But not until that future
time, will Israel finally turn to Christ.
And the judgments against them, though crushing, will turn against their
enemies across the world, but not before Israel is thoroughly crushed.
The example is in the past. The prophecy is in the future.
