If we are honest I guess most of us find this sort of passage difficult to come to terms with, namely God declaring that He has destroyed other nations. Anyway, let's try and get some sense out of it.
Although Assyria was currently a much reduced threat, in recent times she had been a major threat. She had conquered many nations, including the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel and Judah had been separate kingdoms for a good long time. God says in Isaiah that Assyria was His instrument (eg Isaiah 10:5). God's judgement had come upon the earth.
His hope was that Judah would heed the warning, realise that they had sinned and needed to repent. If they had done this then they would have found God to be a place of refuge and would have been protected. Instead they carried on eagerly in their corrupt ways.
God then calls upon them to wait for Him to testify. God will gather all the nations for judgement and His wrath will be poured out on them all. We probably react to the word jealousy as well, for we associate it with unworthy feelings. However, God rightly demands that He is the only One we trust in and look to, for He is the only God, the only one who has our best interests at heart.
While we find all this wrath and judgement difficult to take, and it goes against the spirit of the age, the clear message is that we should see God's actions as a warning. We should heed the warning and question our own ways, and then repent of our own ways. People accuse God of being unfair, but the truth is that if we just complain about God we achieve nothing. If instead we repent and commit our way to Him we will not only benefit ourselves, but we will become a blessing to others, and many people will be saved.
Although Assyria was currently a much reduced threat, in recent times she had been a major threat. She had conquered many nations, including the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel and Judah had been separate kingdoms for a good long time. God says in Isaiah that Assyria was His instrument (eg Isaiah 10:5). God's judgement had come upon the earth.
His hope was that Judah would heed the warning, realise that they had sinned and needed to repent. If they had done this then they would have found God to be a place of refuge and would have been protected. Instead they carried on eagerly in their corrupt ways.
God then calls upon them to wait for Him to testify. God will gather all the nations for judgement and His wrath will be poured out on them all. We probably react to the word jealousy as well, for we associate it with unworthy feelings. However, God rightly demands that He is the only One we trust in and look to, for He is the only God, the only one who has our best interests at heart.
While we find all this wrath and judgement difficult to take, and it goes against the spirit of the age, the clear message is that we should see God's actions as a warning. We should heed the warning and question our own ways, and then repent of our own ways. People accuse God of being unfair, but the truth is that if we just complain about God we achieve nothing. If instead we repent and commit our way to Him we will not only benefit ourselves, but we will become a blessing to others, and many people will be saved.
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