ISAIAH 13...
OPENS WITH THE BURDEN AGAINST BABYLON...
Isaiah 13 begins a section ending at Isaiah 23:18 where he prophesies against the nations. It is fitting for judgment to begin at the house of God, so the LORD has first spoken to Israel and Judah. But now, the LORD speaks against THE NATIONS...beginning with Babylon.
Verse 1 tells us of The BURDEN & JUDGMENT against Babylon.
"The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw."
BURDEN...
DID YOU KNOW...In the prophets, a burden is a "HEAVY" message of weighty importance, heavy in the sense that it produces SORROW AND/OR GRIEF.
AGAINST BABYLON...
DID YOU KNOW...Isaiah finished his prophetic career in 685 B.C., almost 100 years before Judah finally FELL before the Babylonian Empire (586 B.C.).
At the time of THIS PROPHECY GIVEN ISAIAH BY GOD, Babylon was a significant nation, but they were definitely behind the Assyrian Empire in status. Yet the LORD who knows the end of all things can speak of the judgment on the pride of Babylon hundreds of years before the judgment comes.
AND WHAT I ALSO SEE AND WISH TO POINT OUT, IS ALMIGHTY GOD SPOKE TO, REMINDED, PLEADED, AND WARNED 100s of years BEFORE He chastized them.
AS A PARENT, WHO CONSIDERS MYSELF PRETTY PATIENT & LONG-SUFFERING...AND I DO NOT KNOW OR SEE ALL THINGS GOING ON, I CAN NOT FATHOM HAVING GOD'S PATIENCE AND LONG-SUFFERING FOR US....IMAGINE SAYING NO NO NO DO NOT DO NOT STOP STOP STOP COME HERE TO ME COME BACK TO ME FOR HUNDREDSSSSSSSSSSSS OF YEARS BEFORE PUNISHING OUR CHILDREN FOR BAD OR DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR?
OUR JESUS IS SOO PATIENT, KIND, LOVING, AND LONG-SUFFERING AMEN?!
SO WHY IS GOD SPEAKING TO THE HEATHEN NATION OF BABYLON?
This prophecy was probably never published IN Babylon, so it wasn't really given as a warning TO them. Instead, the reason was for the help of the people of God.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
First, by showing them that God was indeed just, and would judge the wicked nations around them TOO. Israel and Judah were feeling the sting of God's discipline.
AND DO NOT WE TOO SOMETIMES FEEL LIKE WE ARE BEING UNFAIRLY SINGLED OUT BY JESUS OR THAT THE WORLD AND SATAN ARE ALLOWED TO JUMP US FROM EVERY QUARTER AT TIMES?
THEN AND NOW....GOD SPEAKS...AND this is AN assurance to them that He isn't.
Second, Babylon (and other nations in this section) were nations that had COME AGAINST Israel and Judah, and God showed His love to His people by announcing His vengeance AGAINST their enemies.
Verses 2-8 tells us an army comes against Babylon.
"Lift up a banner on the high mountain, raise your voice to them; wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger; those who rejoice in My exaltation." The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts musters the army for battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven; the LORD and His weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be limp, every man's heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; they will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; they will be amazed at one another; their faces will be like flames."
The LORD of hosts musters the army for battle....this is an army of judgment against the Babylonian Empire, prophesied decades before they were even a superpower. This powerful army is described vividly, with sights and sounds of battle presented.
They will be amazed at one another....and REMEMBER DANIEL 5 CONFIRMS THIS...When Babylon fell suddenly by a clever, surprise attack by Cyrus, the citizens of the city WERE PARTYING & SNICKERING FROM WITHIN THEIR HIGH, STRONG, SAFE LOCKED WALLS AS THEY WERE BESEIGED...SO THEY were completely shocked, AMEN?
Verses 9-16 tells us of THE TERRORS OF JUDGMENT upon Babylon.
"Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. "I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. It shall be as the hunted gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up; every man will turn to his own people, and everyone will flee to his own land. Everyone who is found will be thrust through, and everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished."
The day of the LORD comes...
RIGHT HERE ISAIAH NOW SPEAKS IN THE "prophetic tense," having in mind both a near fulfillment (the day of judgment against the Babylonian Empire), and an ultimate fulfillment (the final day of judgment at the return of Jesus) AMEN?
The day of the LORD is an IMPORTANT PHRASE, used some 26 times in the Bible. YOU ALL NOTICE IT DOES NOT SPEAK OF JUST A SINGLE DAY OF JUDGMENT...but of the season of judgment when the LORD sets things right.
THEN AND ESPECIALLY NOW, IT SEEMS AS IF TODAY IS MAN'S AND SATAN'S DAY, BUT YOU NOTICE IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT OUR TRIUNE GOD HAS BEEN WARNING LOST MANKIND AND SATAN AS WELL...THAT THE LORD JESUS' DAY IS COMING, AMEN?!
The stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened...
DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE SEVERAL PROPHETIC PASSAGES IN THE BIBLE THAT DESCRIBE THE COSMIC DISTURBANCES THAT WILL PRECEDE AND SURROUND THE RETURN OF JESUS?
WHERE ARE THEY?
Joel 2:10, Revelation 6:12-14, & Isaiah 34:4.
AND REMEMBER TOO THE FOUR BLOOD MOONS & TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE BEGINNING IN APRIL 2014- 2015.
AND LET'S NOT FORGET JESUS HIMSELF SPOKE OF THESE PASSAGES/PROPHECIES IN Matthew 24:29, which says, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
In the NEAR FULFILLMENT OF BABYLON'S JUDGMENT, they felt like the whole world was coming apart.
In the FAR & ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT OF BABYLON'S JUDGMENT IS CONNECTED WITH THE RETURN OF JESUS, HIS SECOND COMING, WHEN HE, ALL OF HIS WARRIOR ANGELS, THE CHURCH, THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS COME WITH HIM, WHEN HE APPEARS AND STEPS DOWN IN JERUSALEM TO SAVE THEM FROM THE ANTI-CHRIST...WE WHO HAVE READ AND STUDIED, DANIEL, ZECHARIAH, REVELATION, EZEKIEL...KNOW THE ENTIRE WORLD WILL BE FALLING APART, AMEN?
I WILL PUNISH THE WORLD FOR ITS EVIL...This prophetic identification of Babylon WITH the LOST world, ripe for ultimate judgment, is consistent through the Scriptures. We aren't surprised that Isaiah has prophetically combined the vision of Babylon's judgment with the judgment of the whole world for its evil.
AND DID YOU KNOW....Babylon is mentioned 287 times in the Scriptures, more than any other city except Jerusalem.
Babylon was a literal city on the Euphrates river; right after the flood (Genesis 11:1-10), & Babylon THEN WAS the seat of the civilization that expressed organized HOSTILITY TO GOD THEN.
Babylon was later the capitol of the empire that cruelly conquered Judah.
TENNEY, CHRISTIAN HISTORIAN AND BIBLE SCHOLAR SAYS OF BABYLON THEN...."Babylon, to them (the Jews), was the essence of all evil, the embodiment of cruelty, the foe of God's people, and the lasting type of sin, carnality, lust and greed."
AND TO THOSE OF US FAMILIAR WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT, the name Babylon is associated with organized idolatry, blasphemy, sexual immorality/depravity, and the persecution of God's people.
JUST AS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, especially REVELATION 17 & 18, the worlds system of the last days is characterized both religiously and commercially as Babylon. Therefore, Babylon is a "Suitable representation … of the idolatrous, pagan world-system in opposition to God, AMEN?
Therefore I WILL SHAKE THE HEAVENS, & THE EARTH WILL MOVE OUT OF HER PLACE....
Haggai 2:6 and Hebrews 12:25-28 echo this same thought.
Since God CAN shake the heavens and move the earth, and since God Himself is unshakable, it makes a lot more sense to trust in God than even the ground we stand on and the air we breathe, AMEN?
It shall be as the hunted gazelle...The picture of God's judgment, upon both Babylon and the world in general, is unrelenting. It is like one of the nature movies where the hunted gazelle is overtaken by the lion, and is utterly consumed. There is NO ESCAPE FOR ANY LOST, REJECTING MANKIND FROM God's unrelenting judgment.
Verses 17-22 tells us Babylon is MADE DESOLATE & LAID TO WASTE.
"Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; and as for gold, they will not delight in it. Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye will not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation; nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper there. The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged."
I will stir up the Medes against them...DO YOU NOTICE, GOD KNOWS ALL THINGS & HE DOES SEE ALL THINGS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
WHY?
THINK ABOUT IT...This prophecy GOD GAVE AND SHOWED ISAIAH was made decades BEFORE the Babylonian Empire defeated the Assyrian Empire and became a superpower, it was even MUCH MORE SO BEFORE the time when the Medes came against the Babylonians, conquering them as instruments of God's judgments.
PROPHECIES SUCH AS THESE IN ISAIAH DRIVE BIBLE SKEPTICS NUTS...FORGET THAT THESE THINGS HAPPENED LONG AFTER ISAIAH WAS GONE, FORGET HISTORY RECORDS IT, FORGET THE CHRONOLOGICAL TIME LINE THAT PROVES THE WORDS GOD GAVE ISAIAH WERE PINPOINT ACCURATE.
THEY HOWL AND RAIL OVER, THIS HAD TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN LONG AFTER ISAIAH, DURING AND/OR AFTER ALL THESE EVENTS IN HISTORY OCCURRED...
BUT....THEY CONVENIENTLY FORGET WHAT YOU AND I KNOW ABOUT OUR TRIUNE GOD....OUR JESUS KNOWS THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. JESUS TELLS US THAT HE HAS ALREADY GONE INTO OUR FUTURE TO PREPARE A WAY FOR US IN ADVANCE, LONGGGGGGG BEFORE WE KNEW WE WOULD NEED DIRECTION, PROTECTION, HEALING, PROVISION, AMEN?!
THE WORLD'S SKEPTICS WANT TO LIMIT OUR JESUS. THEY WANT TO DISMISS HIS ALL KNOWING, AND ALL SEEING, AND ALL CONTROLING PRESENCE IN THIS WORLD....BUT WE KNOW BETTER, AMEN?
WILL BE as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
GOD IS REMINDING THE WORLD OF WHAT HAPPENED TO SODOM AND GOMORRAH...IT WAS A COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES, THE LAND, AND THE PEOPLE...AND NOT ONE PERSON WITHIN SODOM AND GOMORRAH AND ITS SURROUNDING CITIES WAS SAVED NOR SPARED....THEY ALLLLLLLL REJECTED ALMIGHTY GOD AND SO IT SHALL BE HERE ALSO.
It WILL NEVER BE inhabited...The ancient city of Babylon, once conquered, will never be inhabited again.
AND DID YOU KNOW...when Cyrus conquered Babylon, he did not devastate the city. The walls were left standing until 518 B.C., and general desolation did not set in until the third century B.C. Babylon gradually fell into decay, and the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled. Babylon became completely depopulated by the time of the Muslim conquest in the seventh century A.D., and TO THIS VERY DAY IT STILL LIES DESERTED.
This is ALSO TRUE in its ultimate fulfillment.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
When Jesus returns in glory and conquers the world system, He WILL PHYSICAL RULE OVER ALL the earth for 1,000 years. As He does, there will be NO more "world system" in opposition to God as we know it. In this sense, the world system in opposition to God WILL NEVER be inhabited again.
Owls … ostriches … wild goats … hyenas...The animals mentioned here are ARE ALL CREATURES OF DARKNESS, WILDNESS...SO GOD GIVES US A picture of the darkness and confusion surrounding the fall of Babylon.
WHAT THE BIBLE DOES TELL US IS THAT 'wild goats' are sometimes associated with DEMONS in goat form that are called 'satyrs' TOLD TO US IN LEVITICUS 17:7 & 2 CHRONICLES 11:15.
AND IN THE PAGAN IDOLATRIES OF THAT TIME, OWLS WERE HARBINGERS OF DOOM/DEATH & AS WERE HYENAS WHO WERE SEEN AS DEMON POSSESSED CREATURES.
SO WHAT IS ISAIAH 13 SAYING TO THE PEOPLE THEN AND TO US TODAY?
Whenever therefore we behold the destruction of cities, the calamities of nations, and the overturning of kingdoms, let us call those predictions to remembrance, that we may be humbled under God's chastisements, may learn to gather wisdom from the affliction of others, and may pray for an alleviation of our own grief, AMEN?
IN OTHER WORDS, THE LOST WORLD, LOST MANKIND & SATAN AND ALL HIS PIT DWELLERS MAY FORGET THEIR SINS, CRIMES, HURTS AND ATTACKS AGAINST ALMIGHTY GOD, & US AS JESUS FAMILY, AS WELL, BUT ALMIGHTY GOD WHO CALLS US CHILDREN OF GOD BECAUSE WE HAVE BELIEVED, INVITED, AND ACCEPTED HIS SON JESUS CHRIST INTO OUR HEARTS AND LIVES...FORGETS NOTHING SAID, DONE, THOUGHT, PLOTTED, PLANNED AGAINST HIS CHILDREN....OUR TRIUNE GOD REMEMBERS EVERY THING.
JUST AS WE MAY FORGIVE, FORGET...MOVE ON...ALL THOSE WHO HAVE HURT US....
THEY TOO MAY FORGET EVERY EVIL, HURT, SHAME, AND SADNESS BROUGHT AGAINST US....BUT OUR TRIUNE GOD IS TELLING ISAIAH, AND US AS WELL....I FORGET NOTHING THAT IS DONE AGAINST MY CHILDREN...AND JUDGMENT IS COMING!