Isaiah 10:28-34: in context

Isaiah paints the advance of the Assyrian army toward Jerusalem in vivid, rushing lines: town after town falling, the enemy sweeping through the passes, the people fleeing in panic, until the invader shakes his fist at the very mountain of Jerusalem. It seems an unstoppable, towering power, poised for triumph. And then, at the height of its advance, God acts: the Lord will lop the boughs with terror; the tall trees will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low. The towering enemy is felled like timber in a forest.

The image at the end is arresting: the proud, advancing Assyrian, seemingly unstoppable, is cut down by God like a forester lopping the tallest trees. At the very moment of its triumph, shaking its fist at Jerusalem, the towering power is felled. The tall are cut down; the lofty are brought low. What had risen so high, advancing in seeming invincibility, is brought crashing down by the God who humbles the proud. The higher it had risen, the further it fell. There is a truth here that runs through Scripture: God brings the proud and lofty low. The powers that exalt themselves, that tower over others, that advance in seeming invincibility and shake their fists at God and his people, are not beyond his reach. He humbles the proud; he cuts down what has lifted itself up; he brings the lofty low. The LORD has a day, Isaiah says elsewhere, against all that is proud and haughty, and it will be brought low. No towering power, however unstoppable it seems, stands finally against God; the lofty are cut down at the height of their pride. This steadies us before the proud powers of our own day. When some arrogant power seems unstoppable, advancing in triumph, towering over the weak, shaking its fist at God and at what is good, we can feel that nothing will check it, that its rise has no limit. Isaiah's vision answers otherwise: the towering enemy, at the height of its advance, is felled by God like a tall tree cut down. God opposes the proud; he brings the lofty low; the arrogant power that seems invincible will be humbled in his time. This is not a call to complacency but to trust: that the proud will not have the last word, that the God who cut down the towering Assyrian humbles every arrogant power, and that the lofty, however high they rise, will be brought low by the one before whom no pride finally stands. God resists the proud, Scripture says, but gives grace to the humble; and the towering powers that exalt themselves will be cut down, while those who humble themselves before God are lifted up.

When some arrogant power seems unstoppable, advancing in triumph and towering over the weak, shaking its fist at God and at what is good, do I fear that nothing will check its rise, or can Isaiah's vision of the towering Assyrian felled like a tall tree at the height of its advance assure me that God brings the proud and lofty low, so that no arrogant power stands finally against him, and that I may trust the God who humbles the proud and lifts up the humble?