June 3, 1915

Deliverance From Assyria

(Concluded.)

EGW

Hezekiah was not left without hope. Isaiah sent to him, saying: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodging of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.RH June 3, 1915, par. 1

“But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.” 2 Kings 19:20-28.RH June 3, 1915, par. 2

The land of Judah had been laid waste by the army of occupation; but God has promised to provide miraculously for the needs of the people. To Hezekiah came the message: “This shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.RH June 3, 1915, par. 3

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.RH June 3, 1915, par. 4

“Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.” Verses 29-34.RH June 3, 1915, par. 5

That very night deliverance came. “The angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand.” Verse 35. “All the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria” were slain. 2 Chronicles 32:21.RH June 3, 1915, par. 6

Tidings of this terrible judgment upon the army that had been sent to take Jerusalem, soon reached Sennacherib, who was still guarding the approach to Judea from Egypt. Stricken with fear, the Assyrian king hasted to depart, and “returned with shame of face to his own land.” Verse 21. But he had not long to reign. In harmony with the prophecy that had been uttered concerning his sudden end, he was assassinated by those of his own home, “and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.” Isaiah 37:38.RH June 3, 1915, par. 7

The God of the Hebrews had prevailed over the proud Assyrian. The honor of Jehovah was vindicated in the eyes of the surrounding nations. In Jerusalem the hearts of the people were filled with holy joy. Their earnest entreaties for deliverance had been mingled with confession of sin and with many tears; in their great need they had trusted wholly in the power of God to save, and he had not failed them. Now the temple courts resounded with songs of solemn praise:RH June 3, 1915, par. 8

“In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, And his dwelling place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow. The shield, and the sword, and the battle.
“Thou art more glorious and excellent Than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: And none of the men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
“Thou, even thou, art to be feared: And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared, and was still, When God arose to judgment, To save all the meek of the earth.
“Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God: Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes: He is terrible to the kings of the earth.” Psalm 76.RH June 3, 1915, par. 9

The rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire is rich in lessons for the nations of earth today. Inspiration has likened the glory of Assyria at the height of her prosperity to a noble tree in the garden of God, towering above the surrounding trees.RH June 3, 1915, par. 10

“The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.... Under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.... All the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.” Ezekiel 31:3-9.RH June 3, 1915, par. 11

But the rulers of Assyria, instead of using their unusual blessings for the benefit of mankind, became the scourge of many lands. Merciless, with no thought of God or their fellow men, they pursued the fixed policy of causing all nations to acknowledge the supremacy of the gods of Nineveh, whom they exalted above the Most High. God sent Jonah to them with a message of warning, and for a season they humbled themselves before the Lord of hosts, and sought forgiveness. But soon they turned again to idol worship, and to the conquest of the world.RH June 3, 1915, par. 12

The prophet Nahum, in his arraignment of the evildoers in Nineveh, exclaimed:RH June 3, 1915, par. 13

“Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; The prey departeth not;

“The noise of a whip, and the noise of
the rattling of the wheels, And of prancing horses, and of the
jumping chariots. The horsemen lifteth up both the bright
sword and the glittering spear: And there is a multitude of slain....

“Behold, I am against thee, Saith the Lord of hosts.” Nahum 3:1-5.

With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps account with the nations. While his mercy is tendered, with calls to repentance, this account remains open; but when the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed, the ministry of his wrath begins. The account is closed. Divine patience ceases. Mercy no longer pleads in their behalf.RH June 3, 1915, par. 14

“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” Nahum 1:3-6.RH June 3, 1915, par. 15

It was thus that Nineveh, “the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me,” became a desolation, “empty, and void, and waste,” “the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp, and none made them afraid.” Zephaniah 2:15; Nahum 2:10, 11.RH June 3, 1915, par. 16

The pride of Assyria and its fall are to serve as an object lesson to the end of time. Of the nations of earth today who in arrogance and pride array themselves against him, God inquires, “To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword.” Ezekiel 31:18.RH June 3, 1915, par. 17

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end” of all who endeavor to exalt themselves above the Most High. Nahum 1:7, 8.RH June 3, 1915, par. 18

“The pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.” Zechariah 10:11. This is true not only of the nations that arrayed themselves against God in ancient times but also of the nations of earth today who fail of fulfilling the divine purpose. In the day of final awards, when the righteous Judge of all the earth shall “sift the nations” (Isaiah 30:28), and those that have kept the truth shall be permitted to enter the city of God, heaven's arches will ring with the triumphant songs of the redeemed. “Ye shall have a song,” the prophet declares, “as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard.... Through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps.” Isaiah 30:29-32.RH June 3, 1915, par. 19