https://youtu.be/w-dicA_SSa0
2Chron 7:13-14; "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Isaiah 3:12; Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your teachers lie to you and tell you to go the wrong way.
Isa 55:10-11;As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
1Cor 4:5; Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
We are presently in a study of Jonah, Nineveh, and Nemesis where we see God's policy of grace before judgment. God always provides the opportunity for repentance before he executes judgment.
Before we stopped last time we noted that Jesus Christ references the impact of Jonah's ministry to Assyria in His condemnation of those who rejected Him in His generation. Luke 11:29-30;
Positive volition to Jonah's teaching restored power to a declining nation and resulted in the restoration of the Assyrian empire. The Assyrian pivot was so great and the number reversionists who rejected truth was so low in succeeding generations that Jonah's ministry added about 120 years to the Assyrian Empire and extended it's influence.
We also noted that Nineveh repented as a result of Jonah's ministry around 833BC. About 90 years later God begins to use Assyria to discipline Israel and Judah for their negative volition to God's Word of truth.
This discipline results in the 5th cycle of discipline for Israel because they do not repent and the 4th cycle of discipline for Judah because they do repent and that results in God destroying Assyria for not repenting.
The chronology of the Assyrian invasions of Israel are recorded in the context of the rule of King Azariah of Judah. 2Kings 15:17,23,27;
The assaults on the northern kingdom of Israel started around 743BC and as we see they continued in 722BC and 720BC. God's Word reveals that God was the source of motivation for the Assyrian attacks on Israel that eventually resulted in their destruction. 1Chron 5:26;
2Kings 15:17-20; tells us that Menahem king Israel was able to buy them off with tribute of 1000 talents of silver that is about 37 tons of sliver. This was an annual payment so he raised taxes to do it.
But when Pekah succeeded him instead of paying tribute that was due to Assyria he made an alliance with Rezin King of Damascus to resist Assyria. 2Kings 15:29;
When Shalmaneser V king of Assyria figured it out he invaded the entire region. 2Kings 17:3-6; and in 722 BC, ten years after the initial deportations, Samaria the capital city of the Northern Kingdom, was taken by Sargon II after the three year siege that was started by Shalmaneser and everyone was taken captive and relocated into Assyria.
2Kings 18:11-12; records the final deportation of Israel and 2Kings 17:7-23; explains why.
After just over 200 years the Northern Kingdom of Israel (931BC-720BC) ceased to exist as a nation and because they were relocated into Assyria and they became known as the lost 10 tribes of Israel. Seven of Israel's 20 kings were assassinated, and God judged all of them as evil.
This brings us to the Assyrian assault on Judah that ends with God destroying the Assyrian army because of the Jew's repentance. The Jew's positive volition to God's Word becomes the basis of Assyria's Nemesis.
Hezekiah succeeded his father Ahaz to the throne of Judah in 716BC. This is during the Assyrian reign of terror. King Ahaz had made a number of foreign policy mistakes with regard to the Assyrian Empire to the northeast.
Ahaz had allowed idolatry to gain a severe hold in the hearts of the Jewish people that brought the nation to a spiritual and political nadir resulting in Judah being liable to the cycles of discipline along with their brothers in Israel.
But Hezekiah was a good king who led Judah back to God's Word of truth that resulted in the restoration of a biblically based lifestyle.
2Kings 18:1-7; Now it came about in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
v2 - He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
v3 - And he did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done.
v4 - He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. Hezekiah destroyed because he viewed the idol as a piece of brass junk.
v5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him.
v6 For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him; but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
v7 - And the Lord was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
This is what led up to the confrontation between Hezekiah and Sennacherib king of Assyria in 701BC that results in the Assyrian Nemesis. Prov 28:1; Because of Hezekiah's positive volition the tide had turned and Sennacherib did not know it so he didn't know when to stop.
Never forget all lasting victory and success in life comes exclusively from God.
Eccles 9:11; Zech 4:6;
Sennecharib had the same problem our country has today, he thought that he was the source of his blessing but he was not, God was and now because of Judah's repentance the divine decree was reprogrammed and God reversed course so He is now going to discipline Assyria rather than Judah resulting in the Assyrian Nemesis.