God Punishes Pride
Isaiah 9:8 – 10:19
To me, one of the most shocking passages in the Bible is in Acts 12:20-23. I’ve got it up on the screen –
20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.
21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.
22 And the people were shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"
23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
Herod did not give God the glory. Herod wanted the glory. Herod was proud. So an angel of the Lord struck him down, he was eaten by worms, and breathed his last.
In the next section of the book of Isaiah, Isaiah deals with this same topic – the topic of pride and how God responds to it. So let’s turn to Isaiah ch.9. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring one to you. Isaiah nine is on page 573 in the Bibles we are handing out.
This morning we are going to cover Isaiah 9:8 all the way to Isaiah 10:19. And this section breaks into two parts. In Isaiah 9:8 to 10:4 Isaiah talks about how God is going to punish Israel, and in Isaiah 10:5 through 10:19 Isaiah talks about how God is going to punish Assyria.
But as I studied these two sections, I saw that Isaiah goes out of His way to show that both Israel and Assyria are going to be punished for the same sin – and I think Isaiah’s point is that he wants us readers to search our hearts to see if we are falling into this sin that both Israel and Assyria fell into.
So what is that sin? What sin do Israel and Assyria have in common? It’s pride. Israel’s sin was pride, as you can see in 9:8-10 –
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10 "The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."
Notice that phrase “arrogance of heart.” That’s how Isaiah describes Israel’s pride – and there’s only one other place in the entire Old Testament where that phrase is found: it’s in the next chapter as a description of Assyria’s pride. Look at 10:12 –
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem [that is, when God has finished punishing Israel through Assyria], he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
“The arrogant heart” of the king of Assyria. That’s the exact same Hebrew words used to describe Israel’s sin in 9:9 – and these are the only two places in the entire Old Testament where this phrase is used.
So Isaiah goes out of his way to show us that both Israel and Assyria are being punished for the same sin -- the sin of pride. And the reason he emphasizes that is so we his readers will search our hearts to see if we are succumbing to pride.
So what is pride? What does it mean to be proud? Pride is our passion to be self-reliant, to make independent decisions, to be honored, to be in control.
Now you might wonder – what’s wrong with that? Good question. To answer that, let’s go back to the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-3. In Gen.1 God created the universe – displaying that He is God, that He is infinitely powerful, that He is flawlessly wise. And in astonishing goodness and mercy God created Adam and Eve – freely giving them life, amazing bodies, each other, a paradise in which to live – and most of all giving them Himself to know and love and worship.
And God said – “All this will be yours forever as long as you see me -- that I am everything you need, and humble yourselves before me – admitting that you need me, and trust me for everything you need.”
And Adam and Eve said “no.” They refused to trust their Creator. Why? Because they wanted to be in control; they wanted to make their own decisions; they wanted to call the shots. They said “no” because of pride. And each of us has done what Adam and Eve did.
But there’s a problem with that. We are not in control; God’s in control. We are not wise enough to make independent decisions; we were created to rely on God’s guidance for our decisions. We were not created to call the shots; God as the Creator of the universe is the one who calls the shots.
Think about it like this. We are all created to depend on oxygen. That’s just reality. So imagine how wrong it be for someone to not like having to depend on oxygen and so to stop depending on oxygen. That’s what Adam and Eve and each of us has done with God.
That’s the sin of pride. And this morning God wants to speak through this section of Isaiah to show us our pride – so that we can be cleansed of our pride.
But now I would guess that many of us don’t think we have a pride problem. But pride is more subtle than we think. And Isaiah helps us see the pride in ourselves by showing us symptoms of pride we see in Israel and Assyria. So what symptoms of pride do we see in Israel and Assyria? As I studied this passage I saw three symptoms.
First, making our own plans while ignoring God’s purposes. Look again at Isa 9:8-9 --
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10 "The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."
God’s purpose was to punish Israel so Israel would return to Him. But Israel ignored God’s purposes and said: “even if the Assyrians tear down our houses – we will rebuild them better than they were before.”
Do you make your own plans while ignoring God’s purposes? Remember when we studied the book of James – James says that all of our plans should include the phrase “if the Lord wills.” Why? Because all of our plans do depend on God’s will. So whenever we make plans without thinking about God’s purposes – at that moment we are living in pride. We are living as if we don’t need God.
Second, not repenting before God for my sin. Look at v.13 –
The people did not turn to him who struck them nor inquire of the LORD of hosts.
God had struck Israel, brought punishment upon them, but Israel still did not turn to God in genuine repentance.
So when was the last time that we repented before God for our sin? Repentance isn’t just what we do when we are first saved. Repentance is what we do every time we become aware of our sin. If you don’t bring your sin to God in heartfelt repentance – that’s pride.
Third, taking credit for what I’ve done instead of glorifying God. We see this in Assyria. God had raised up Assyria to punish Israel and enabled Assyria to punish Israel. But Assyria ignored how it was God who enabled her to do this, and claimed that she was able to do this all by herself. Look at v.13 –
For he says: "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
What’s wrong with that? Look at v.15 –
Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
Or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it.
In other words – everything Assyria had done, she did only because God did it through her. But Assyria ignored what God had done – and took all the credit herself.
Do we ever do that? When we make the sale, or when our kids are doing well, or when we land the job – do we see that this is ultimately a gift from God – so we thank Him? Or do we take credit for it? If so – that’s pride.
So – are you seeing some pockets of pride that you didn’t realize were there? So should that concern us? Just how serious is pride? Isaiah wants to show us how serious pride is by showing us how God responds to pride. How does God respond to pride? God responds to pride by punishing it.
Remember, God is infinitely powerful, flawlessly wise, perfectly good, lavishly merciful. And he created us so we could have the joy of depending on Him, trusting Him, glorifying Him. That’s reality. God is independent creator – we are dependent creatures.
But pride means that we see who God is – that God deserves being trusted for everything, that God is in control, that God is the One who rightfully calls the shots -- but we say “No. We will not trust you. We want to be in control. We want to call the shots.” That’s wrong. That’s wicked. That’s hateful. And in His justice God must punish it.
And that’s what we see in this passage. In 9:8 through 10:4 God says he will punish Israel for her pride. Look at v.11. Right after the boastful statement of v.10 God says –
But the LORD raises the adversaries of Rezin [Assyria] against him [Israel], and stirs up his enemies.
So – because of Israel’s pride – God would raise up Assyria against her. And that’s exactly what happened – 2 Kings 17:6 (page 323)
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
Now back to Isaiah – in 10:5 through 19 God says he will punish Assyria for her pride – as we saw in v.12 --
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem [that is, when God has finished punishing Israel through Assyria], he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
And that’s exactly what happened – look at 2 Kings 19:35 (page 327) --
And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
So God punishes pride.
We see that clearly in James 4:6 –
But God gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
God opposes the proud. He may oppose the proud in this life. But He will surely oppose the proud in the life to come.
And pride is exceedingly dangerous. If you find a pocket of pride in your heart – don’t think that it’s just a small pocket – no problem. No. Pride always grows. And if you leave it unchecked, it will grow until it destroys you spiritually.
But there’s good news. By God’s power, through Jesus’ work on the Cross, you can be cleansed from your pride. Even if you feel that pride completely dominates your heart – and that your heart will never change – by God’s power, through Jesus, you can be cleansed from that pride.
How can we be cleansed from pride? If you were an Israelite reading through the scroll of Isaiah – that’s the question Isaiah would want you to have in your mind.
Isaiah has already told us how. Back in Isaiah 6 he explained how he was cleansed from the guilt and the power of his sin. There were three steps: see God for who He is; see your sin for what it is; turn from your sin and surrender to God’s mercy. And now that Jesus the Messiah has come – we can see even more clearly how God can cleanse us from the guilt and power of sin.
So let’s do this right now. We all struggle with pride. But if we will bring it before God and see Him for who He is, see our pride for the sin that it is, and trust His mercy as revealed in Christ – we will feel His forgiveness and cleansing come upon us.
So first, see God for who He is. Think about how God has created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1); about how the heavens declare the glory of God (Psa 19:1); how God made you – you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa 139:14); how God has all the wisdom you need (James 1:5); all the financial provision you need (Matt 6:33); all the strength you need (Phil 4:13); all the grace you need (2Cor 9:8). Think about how you deserve only eternal punishment from God (Isa 6:5). But think about how God punished His own son Jesus on the Cross in your place (1Pe 3:18). So see God for who He is. Pray over these Scriptures until you move from knowing they are true to seeing and feeling that they are true.
And then second, see your pride for the sin it is. In light of who God is – how can you think you are self-reliant? How can you think you are independent of Him? How can you ignore Him? Why do you take your heart-needs to anything besides Him?
See your pride for the sin it is. Pray over this until you feel what Isaiah felt in ch.6 – woe is me. My pride is horrible. It deserves eternal punishment. It’s completely wrong.
Then third, turn from pride and trust yourself completely to God through the Messiah. Look at God’s mercy – especially as displayed in the Cross. On the Cross Jesus paid for the guilt of your pride, and on the Cross Jesus broke the power of your pride. So turn from your pride and trust yourself completely to God through the Messiah Jesus. Surrender yourself entirely to Jesus Christ.
And as you do this, you will feel His power cleansing you from the guilt of pride – you will feel the guilt lift off and the forgiveness come. You will feel His power freeing you from the power of pride – you will feel your heart change from pride before God to humility before Him.
Isaiah wrote these chapters 2,700 years ago for us – so that we would see the sin of pride, the symptoms of pride, and God’s punishment of pride – so we would be cleansed from the guilt and power of pride. So let’s all turn away from pride – humbly bend the knee before God as revealed in Jesus Christ – and live this week and the rest of our lives in humble dependence on Him.