Greetings, Mike,

I just want to know the Spiritual significance of the Assyrian in the bible or Spirit of Assyria/ King of Assyria, what it is, how it operates and all that.

Thank you so much for taking time to always respond to my questions. I learn a lot.

God bless,

N____

 

Hi N____,

Thank you for your question.

You say:

“I just want to know the Spiritual significance of the Assyria[ns] in the bible or Spirit of Assyria/ King of Assyria; what it is, how it operates and all that.”

Assyria is the country to whom God sent the prophet Jonah. The capital of Assyria was Nineveh. Jonah preached to Nineveh and its king and its people repented. The way the book of Jonah ends is with Jonah upset with God for saving Nineveh. We will see in a moment what that means, but first let me answer your question concerning the spiritual significance of Assyria.

It will help us to understand the spiritual significance of Assyria if we can first understand that both Nineveh and Babylon are in the land of Assyria. Both countries were used by God to punish His own rebellious people. The kingdom of northern Israel was first carried away captive by the Assyrian king of Nineveh whose name was Tiglathpileser. Just a few years later Nineveh was conquered by the Babylonians. Shortly after the Babylonians conquered Nineveh, they expanded the borders of their empire by conquering the southern nation of Judah, which was also carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Just like the king of Nineveh, Nebuchadnezzar was dealt with by God, through the prophet Daniel, and he too, was converted and proclaimed the God of Daniel to be the only God.

Here are the accounts of the conversions of both of these kings and their kingdoms:

Jon 3:3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
Jon 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Jon 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Jon 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
Jon 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
Jon 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
Jon 3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

“The people of Nineveh [and] the king of Nineveh… turn[ed] every one from his evil way, and from the violence that [was] in their hands” and God received their repentance. But this is what happened with Jonah when God saved Nineveh from utter destruction. This is how the book of Jonah ends:

Jon 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
Jon 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Jon 4:3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
Jon 4:4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
Jon 4:5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
Jon 4:6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
Jon 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
Jon 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
Jon 4:9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
Jon 4:10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
Jon 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

The book of Jonah ends with Jonah reproving God for saving Nineveh.

Now here is the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Babylon:

Dan 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?
Dan 4:31 While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.
Dan 4:32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
Dan 4:33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
Dan 4:34 And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
Dan 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?
Dan 4:36 At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
Dan 4:37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Again there is a great lesson in the conversion of these two Babylonian kings, which we will discuss after we discover the spiritual significance of both Assyria and Babylon, who are really both the same peoples, and as we see above, are both used to give us the same spiritual lesson.

Before these kings and their kingdoms are saved this is how they are used in God’s service. This is the spiritual significance of the Assyrians and the Babylonians who are also Assyrians:

Isa 10:1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
Isa 10:2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
Isa 10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?
Isa 10:4 Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Isa 10:7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

There it is. There is the spiritual significance of the Assyrians and of the Babylonians. “The staff in their hand is… the rod of [God’s] anger… the staff in their hand is [God’s] indignation”.

In spiritual terms, Assyria and Babylon are both used of God to keep us captive in false doctrines which keep us blinded from the doctrines of Christ, while at the same time oppressing us and punishing us for our own submission to the false doctrines of Babylon which deny the doctrines of Christ and “decree unrighteous decrees, and write grievousness which they have prescribed”:

Isa 10:1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
Isa 10:2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

This is exactly what the doctrines of Babylon produce within us when we prescribe such grievous decrees as eternal torment in literal flames of fire, and use such false and grievous decrees to extort from widows and rob from those who do not know our loving heavenly Father, “the fatherless”, whose only father is the devil himself.

This is what Christ had to say to the children of the very same people to whom Isaiah 10 is addressed, “to the Jews which believed on Him” but who at the same time wanted to stone Him:

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
Joh 8:38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Joh 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Joh 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

So Assyria and Babylon, spiritually are those who the Lord uses to punish us for our own rebellions against Him. The fact is that Abraham himself was called out of Assyria and Babylon, from “Ur of the Chaldees”. That again is a type of where we all come from spiritually, We are all first carried away to Babylon before we are delivered of that corruption. It is Babylon and its heartless ministers who are used of God to bring us to our wits’ end before we are given to see where we are and to repent of all of her doctrines and to begin to “come out of her” (Rev 18:4) Those Jews who believed on Christ had no idea that it was actually in their hearts to stone their own savior:

Joh 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
Joh 7:20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?

So it is with you and me at first. We don’t even know that we have been harboring hatred towards others and are therefore murderers in the eyes of God:

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

We are all guilty of hating our brother at some time. Babylon teaches us to do so when it partakes in the affairs of this age and encourages its victims to go to war against their own brothers and to fight for God and country. We have all been part of that system and we have all witnessed how the shepherds of Babylon will steal from the windows and the fatherless, and yet that entire system is nothing more or less that the rod of God’s indignation upon us while we are in that rebellious and stubborn part of our “experience of evil… which the Lord [Himself] has given to the sons of men to humble [us]”.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Psa 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

It is all of God who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”. (Eph 1:11)

But now I want to return to the spiritual significance of the conversion of the king of Nineveh and all of his kingdom, and the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar and the king of Babylon and all of his kingdom. The spiritual significance of the conversion of these kings and their kingdoms is the inevitable, predestinated salvation of all who are in Adam:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

This is the true gospel of the kingdom of God! And it permeates scripture from Genesis to Revelation:

Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

2Sa 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

1Ti 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Ti 4:11 These things command and teach.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

So in the end the kings of Assyria and Babylon are spiritual types of our evil, old man who God uses to correct us when we rebel against Him and His law and His commandments:

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

The principalities and powers within us are the kingdoms which the Old Testament kings of Nineveh and Babylon typify. God uses the wicked men within us as His own rod, and His own sword, to correct us and to reprove us.

Psa 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

After God has used the wicked nations and principalities within us to correct and to reprove us, then he will set about to save us from our old, dying condition and composition, by the destruction of those things within us which are enmity against him and His doctrines and His commandments:

Jer 30:11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

Here is the spiritual fulfillment of this verse in the New Testament:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

I hope all these verses have served to help you to see the spiritual significance of who the kings of Assyria and of Babylon are, and I pray that you are also given to see that like Jonah, the self-righteous Pharisee within us all does not want to share the love of our heavenly Father with mere Ninevites, who represent the Gentiles to whom Christ has come and who also represent all men whom He is in the process of saving.

Your brother who is grateful that God “will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth, (1Ti 2:4)

Mike