Evil Never Has the Final Word!

Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger �
the club in their hands is my fury!
Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
But this is not what he intends,
nor does he have this in mind;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few. (Isaiah 10:5-8)

Isaiah 10:5-8 teaches that the triumphs of the unjust ultimately serve the ends of God's justice.

God's hand has been poised to strike Israel in judgment from 5:25 (cf. 1:25). Four separate judgments are related from 9:8 - 10:4 punctuated with the statement, "In spite of all this his anger does not turn away, and his hand is still stretched out" (9:12, 17, 21; 10:4). The judgment culminates in God's "stretched out hand" taking hold of "the rod of my anger," namely, the nation of Assyria (10:5). Assyria is the instrument through which God ultimately judges Israel. Assyria is not aware of this, nor is this her intention. Furthermore, Assyria remains a wicked nation, full of graven images (10:10). But Assyria's ungodliness does not prevent her from being an instrument of God's wrath against Israel, for God is sovereign over all nations. Even her wicked actions merely contribute to the furthering of God's sovereign purposes. The passage ends with a final warning to Judah of the possibility of sharing the same fate as Israel, if she does not abandon her idols (10:11).

God orchestrates all events to lead to the salvation of his people. God is able to incorporate all human events, including evil acts done with evil motives, to further his redemptive purposes. God's sovereignty is not a matter of immediately controlling every particular like a puppet-master, but a matter of incorporating free human acts - both evil and good - into his overall purpose for humankind. The ultimate example of this is the cross of Christ, where the evil acts and motives of individual human beings and representatives of the nations converge in placing Christ on the cross (Acts 4:27-28). Yet God used all of this to accomplish the greatest redemptive event of all!

Knowing that God is able to cause "all things to work together for good" (Rom. 8:28) does not remove the immediate sting of evil, but it does place human sin and suffering, national evil, and untimely events within a divinely purposeful context. I find great comfort in knowing that evil will never have the final word in God's universe for the power of evil is subject to God's good purposes. Ultimately, every apparent triumph of evil serves the ends of God's redemptive will. God's use of wicked Assyria as an instrument of righteousness, and God's use of the cruel cross for salvation are proofs.