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What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. These words suggest a few thoughts concerning sin.

I. THE ESSENCE OF SIN IS SUGGESTED; IT IS HOSTILITY TO GOD. It is something directed against the Lord: it is opposition to the laws, purposes, spirit of God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). It involves:

1. The basest ingratitude; for to him we owe everything.

2. The greatest injustice; for he has supreme claims to our devotion and obedience.

3. Impious presumption. Frail worms raising their heads against the Infinite!

II. THE SEAT OF SIN IS SUGGESTED: IT IS IN THE MIND. "What do ye imagine against the Lord?" Sin is not language, however bad; not actions, however apparently wicked. Words and deeds are no more sin than branches are the sap of the tree. They are the mere effects and expression of sin. Sin is in the mind - in the deep secret, mute thoughts of the heart. God's legislation extends to thought, reaches it in the profoundest abyss. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). Christ, in his sermon on the mount, taught this. Adultery, robbery, murder, are all perpetrated on the arena of the heart. How necessary the prayer, "Create within us clean hearts, O God"!

III. THE FOLLY OF SIN IS SUGGESTED: IT IS OPPOSITION TO OMNIPOTENCE. "What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up a second time." "How mad is your attempt, O Assyrians, to resist so powerful a God! What can ye do against such an Adversary, successful though ye have been against all other adversaries? Ye imagine ye have to do merely with mortals, and with a weak people, and that so you will gain an easy victory; but you have to encounter God, the Protector of his people" (Fausset). In opposing him:

1. He will completely ruin you. "He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time." The literal meaning of this is that the overthrow of Sennacherib's host was so complete that Judah's affliction caused by this invasion would never be repeated. The man who opposes God will be utterly ruined.

2. He will completely ruin you, whatever the kind of resistance you may offer. "For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." You may be combined like a bundle of thorns, offering resistance; you may have all the daring and temerity of drunkards, albeit you "shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." All this was realized in the destruction of his enemy. Oh the folly of sin! Fighting against God is a mad fight. "What do ye imagine against the Lord," then? Sinners, submit. - D.T.

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KJV: What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

WEB: What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won't rise up the second time.