Assyria, which crushed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also threatens the Southern Kingdom. But for the prophet it is clear: although Asshur has become the instrument of God's wrath against Israel, his days are numbered. Nevertheless Judah too is threatened with collapse, for failure to fulfill God's will, expressed in the Law, takes the people out of relationship with God. Trust in God becomes the criterion by which the Remnant will be chosen: the small part of the people that has preserved faith.

Trust will show itself with special force in the hour of trial, during the Assyrian military raids and the unrest in the kingdom. But those who believe in the Creator of heaven and earth know that He will not abandon His people. How terrible that the remnant will be so small! Yet in the end everything depends on each individual heart.

The water spoken of in the words of the Proverbs of Solomon becomes, in Christ's words, the water of life. The "strange fountain" is everything that captivates our heart and distracts our mind. Everything that keeps us from following Christ. Water washed every living thing from the face of the earth in the flood. And, as Isaiah says: "...the remnant of the house of Jacob will rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth." Can it be that only through upheavals of such scale can a person turn to God?

We know of cases when great grief or joy allowed a person to discover God in this world. But following Him, the daily labor, becomes inconvenient for us; we do not understand and do not see God. And weak in heart and will, we follow pleasures and entertainments that are pleasant but not useful for our soul. And all the more we assist evil works. All the more we are on the side of what will bring the world to the Second Coming.

But the Power and Glory of Christ have been revealed to us; He suffered for us, He took our sins upon Himself. And not to understand the price, not to see how the world around us changes if we strive to be with Christ, how much more joyful and full our own life becomes, this is our experience of the fall. Our experience of resisting Christ, unworthy and destructive.

The prophecy about Assyria reveals the meaning of historical upheavals that occurred not only in ancient times. It helps us see the deep essence of many events in later centuries.

The great empire, devouring its neighbors and in Isaiah's days looming over Judah, had grown used to relying on its power. It considered its military successes, and not only its military successes, to be exclusively its own achievement. Its kings and commanders, in principle, could acknowledge their successes as a gift from above, but what did not fit into their consciousness was that their victories and greatness were not at all a sign of God's favor.

But the Bible gives us the right to conclude that the Lord, seeing that people desire what cannot benefit them, nevertheless allows things to happen according to their desires. To those who do not understand what is better for them, yet claim such understanding, He lets them see and experience what will happen if what they so passionately wanted comes about.

At the same time, He Himself does not allow the final destruction of erring humanity and can turn even the most monstrous situation toward good. But those who wanted evil will still have to answer for their deeds.