God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

Don Carson post:  NUMBERS 21; PSALMS 60-61; ISAIAH 10:5-34; JAMES 4

THE THRUST OF ISAIAH 10:5-34 is clear enough. At the beginning and the end (Isa. 10:5-19, 28-34), the emphasis is on the fact that mighty Assyria will herself be crushed after God has used her to punish his own covenant people. In the central section (Isa. 10:20-27), the people of God are encouraged neither to fear nor to rely on Assyria, but to rely on the Lord alone.

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There is an important subsidiary theological theme in this chapter; the biblical tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility surfaces in powerful ways. God uses mighty Assyria as if it were nothing but a tool in his hands (Isa. 10:5, 15). He himself dispatches Assyria to punish Israel (Isa. 10:6). Assyria, of course, is totally unaware of God’s control. Nevertheless, she is held responsible for her own actions and attitudes, not least her arrogance and pride (Isa. 10:7-11, 13-14). So God will punish her (Isa. 10:12). This tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is not to be despised or rejected, but seized with gratitude, for it will preserve us both from denying the reality of evil and from imagining that evil could ultimately triumph. Meditate on Acts 2:23; 4:27-28.