The Fattened Remnant
Introduction: The Folly of Trusting Your Executioner
The modern evangelical church has a bad habit of trying to hire its own executioners. When faced with a cultural problem, our first instinct is often to find the biggest, meanest worldly power we can and try to make an alliance with it. We seek salvation through political parties, we court the approval of secular institutions, and we adopt the pragmatic methods of corporate management, all in the hope that these worldly giants will do our bidding. We try to use Assyria to solve our Canaanite problem. And we are then perpetually shocked when the axe we hired decides that our neck is next on the chopping block.
This is not a new problem. This is the ancient folly of faithlessness, the sin of leaning on a bruised reed. Israel did it constantly. They would see a threat on the horizon and, instead of turning to Yahweh, they would send a frantic embassy to Egypt or a tribute to Assyria. They trusted in the arm of flesh, the spear of the tyrant, the one who would inevitably strike them. They relied on the very instruments God was raising up to judge them.
Isaiah chapter 10 is God's answer to this suicidal pragmatism. God has just finished explaining that Assyria, the terror of the ancient world, is nothing more than a rod in His hand, an axe that He is wielding. And now, He turns His attention to His own people. He tells them that His purpose in the coming judgment is not annihilation, but purification. He is going to boil down the nation to a potent concentrate. He is not interested in saving the thousands who play political footsie with the world; He is interested in preserving a remnant that trusts in Him, and Him alone. This passage teaches us God's divine arithmetic, where subtraction leads to multiplication, and judgment leads to a glorious, yoke-breaking freedom.
The Text
Now it will be in that day, that the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destructive end is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, Lord Yahweh of hosts will do in the midst of the whole land. Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh of hosts, “O My people who inhabit Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. For in a very little while My indignation against you will end and My anger will be directed to their destruction.” And Yahweh of hosts will waken a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness.
(Isaiah 10:20-27 LSB)
The Great Reorientation of Trust (v. 20-21)
The first thing God's righteous judgment accomplishes is a fundamental reorientation of trust. It is a severe mercy that burns away all false supports.
"Now it will be in that day, that the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God." (Isaiah 10:20-21)
Notice the result of the trial. The "remnant," those who have "escaped" the purifying fire, learn their lesson. They will "never again rely on the one who struck them." The fire of judgment burns the foolishness out of them. They finally see the absurdity of trusting in the very power that God is using to discipline them. This is the beginning of wisdom.
But it is not enough to stop trusting in the wrong thing. You must start trusting in the right thing. And they will. They will "truly rely on Yahweh." That word "truly" is doing a lot of work. It distinguishes their newfound faith from the nominal, shallow, political faith of their past. This is not just a change in policy; it is a change of heart. They are not just turning from Assyria; they are turning to Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.
And this turning is given a name: "A remnant will return." This is Shear-jashub, the name of Isaiah's own son. God had commanded Isaiah to name his boy this, so that every time he called his son for dinner, he was preaching a sermon. A sermon of both warning and promise. Most will not return, but a remnant will. And where do they return? Not just to a geographical location. They return "to the mighty God." In Hebrew, this is El Gibbor. This is the very same name Isaiah used to describe the coming Messiah-King in the previous chapter: "For to us a child is born... and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God (El Gibbor)..." (Isaiah 9:6). The remnant does not just return to a principle or an idea. They return to a Person. They return to Jesus Christ, the Mighty God.
God's Righteous Arithmetic (v. 22-23)
Our modern, democratic sensibilities are often offended by the doctrine of the remnant. We like big numbers. God is interested in true faith, regardless of the polling data.
"For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destructive end is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, Lord Yahweh of hosts will do in the midst of the whole land." (Isaiah 10:22-23)
The promise to Abraham was that his descendants would be like the sand of the sea, and they were. The nation was populous. But God is not a sentimentalist. He is not impressed by mere numbers. He says that out of this vast multitude, only a remnant will return. God's math is not our math. He is willing to reduce the whole nation to a handful of faithful men in order to preserve the covenant line.
And this reduction is not a tragedy or a failure of God's plan. It is a "destructive end" that is "decreed" and "overflowing with righteousness." This is crucial. God's judgment is not a chaotic mess. It is a perfectly just and righteous act. It is God's holy pruning. It is good for Him to judge sin within His own house first. This is not the Assyrians getting lucky; this is "Lord Yahweh of hosts" performing a sovereign, decreed, and complete work of purification in His land. He is weeding His own garden, and it is a righteous thing to do.
Do Not Fear the Temporary Rod (v. 24-26)
After laying out the severity of His judgment, God turns to the remnant, the faithful in Zion, and gives them a word of pure comfort.
"Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh of hosts, 'O My people who inhabit Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod... For in a very little while My indignation against you will end and My anger will be directed to their destruction.'" (Isaiah 10:24-25)
The command is simple: "do not fear." Why? Because the Assyrian is just a rod, and God holds the handle. And more importantly, that rod has an expiration date. God's indignation against His people is for "a very little while." It is a temporary, corrective discipline. But His anger against the arrogant tool, Assyria, will be for "their destruction." The Father's discipline on His child is brief and restorative. His wrath on His enemies is final and total.
To bolster their faith, He reminds them of their history. He will deal with Assyria "like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb." This refers to Gideon's victory, where a tiny remnant of 300 men routed a massive army, not by their own strength, but by God's miraculous intervention. He also says He will lift his staff "the way He did in Egypt." He is reminding them of the Exodus, of the parting of the Red Sea, where God utterly destroyed the greatest military power on earth to save His people. God is saying, "I have a long history of impossible, lopsided victories. I am about to perform another one."
The Yoke Broken by Fatness (v. 27)
This all culminates in one of the most potent and encouraging metaphors in all of Scripture.
"So it will be in that day, that his burden will be removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of fatness." (Isaiah 10:27)
The burden of the oppressor will be removed. The yoke of slavery will be taken off. But it is not just lifted off. It will be "broken." What breaks it? "Fatness."
This is an agricultural image. A farmer puts a yoke on an ox to make it plow. A skinny, malnourished ox is easy to yoke. It is compliant. But imagine an ox that is so well-fed, so healthy, so powerful and muscular that it grows too big for the yoke. When the master tries to force the yoke onto its neck, the sheer size and strength of the animal shatters the wooden beam. The yoke is broken because the beast has become too mighty for it.
Some translations render this as "anointing," which is also a beautiful and true concept. The anointing of God's Spirit breaks the yoke. But the two ideas are connected. What is this spiritual fatness? It is the health, vibrancy, and strength that comes from feasting on the Word of God and being filled with the Holy Spirit. God's plan is not to teach us how to tolerate the yoke better. His plan is to feed His people so much grace, so much truth, so much life, that they become too strong to be enslaved. The world's yoke of tyranny, of political correctness, of fear, simply cannot fit on the neck of a spiritually robust and healthy church.
Ultimately, this points us to the Anointed One, the Messiah. Jesus Christ is the one who was too "fat" for the yoke of death. He was so full of life that the grave could not hold Him, and the yoke of sin was shattered on the cross. And now, in union with Him, we are called to feast on Him. We are called to grow fat on His grace. The world wants a skinny, weak, compliant church that it can easily yoke. God is calling for a fattened remnant, a church so spiritually healthy that the yokes of the world break when they touch us.
Conclusion: Time to Feast
The message for us is plain. Stop trying to make deals with Assyria. Stop trusting in the political strongman or the latest cultural trend. That path only leads to bondage. God's way is different. He brings a righteous judgment to purify His people, to boil us down to a remnant that trusts Him truly.
And to that remnant, He gives this command: Do not fear the rod of discipline, and start feasting on the grace of God. Our job is not to figure out how to get comfortable under the world's yoke. Our job is to eat the scroll, to drink deeply of the Spirit, to grow strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We are to get spiritually fat. A healthy church is a free church. A well-fed Christian is a Christian whose neck will break the yoke of the enemy. Let us therefore come to the table that the Lord has prepared and feast, until every yoke is broken.