Context for Isaiah 10:5-34
God told Judah exactly the fate that would befall it- they would be sacked and destroyed by the armies of the king of Assyria and the people would be carried off into exile. Yet, in spite of this dire warning, Judah did not repent, and Judah and Jerusalem eventually fell to the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
God’s anger does not rage forever. If it did, He would not have sent His son to die for our sins. No, God’s anger rages against wickedness, but against those who repent He gives His grace freely. For Judah of Isaiah’s time, that repentance would only come after conquest and exile, and even then only a very few- a remnant- would repent and be restored.
This lesson of discipline and repentance applies to us as well. God certainly allows us to suffer the consequences of our sins so that those consequences drive us closer to Him, but such a lesson is only truly learned when we remain close to Him and do not return to our former sinful ways.
DLH
