When You Find Yourself in Babylon

WHEN YOU FIND YOURSELF IN BABYLON Spring Valley Mennonite; October 16, 2022; Isaiah 40:1-11 As we have been moving through the book of Isaiah, I have been anticipating reaching chapter 40. These last 26 chapters deal more with solutions than problems. The first 39 chapters look forward, generally describe the coming judgment on Judah for their sin of idolatry. The judgment of the surrounding nations is also prophesied. These chapters historically cover the years of the Assyrian Empire while in the background, Babylon was growing in influence and power. Chapters 36-39 of Isaiah speak of the last years in the reign of King Hezekiah. In these chapters God healed him from a terminal illness as an answer to his prayers, granting him 15 more years of life. Some say that Hezekiah lived too long, for during those 15 years he had a son named Manasseh, who turned out to be the most wicked king Judah ever had. Manasseh completely reversed all the results of Hezekiah's righteous reign, leading Judah in rank idolatry and child sacrifice. At the beginning of these last 15 years of his life, Hezekiah entertained a delegation from Babylon proudly showing them all the wealth of Judah. Isaiah rebuked him for his foolishness, predicting that all that wealth would be looted by the Babylonians. By contrast, beginning in chapter 40, it is as if we have "fast forwarded" 140 years in the future. The conquered survivors of Judah are in Babylon as slaves, God's predicted judgment has come. Jerusalem lies in smoking ruins. The Temple has been looted and burned. Beginning in chapter 40 these prophesies of Isaiah are to a captive people, 900 miles from their home. To these exiles, Isaiah speaks a message of comfort and hope. God gave Isaiah a message of: I. COMFORT FOR THE UNCOMFORTABLE Turn to the 40th chapter of Isaiah as I begin with verse 1 (Read v. 1) Let me tell you what it was like being an exile in Babylon. There were three separate deportations from Judah, the first was in 605 B.C. when King Nebuchadnezzar looted the Temple and took most of the rulers and leading people back to Babylon. Daniel and his companions were included. A Second deportation occurred eight years later in 597, followed by a final time in 586 after Judah rebelled against Babylon. At this time, Jerusalem and the Temple was left in ruins. It was a grim time for the Jews. Made into slaves and servants, the exiles were settled near the great capital city of Babylon, an exceedingly great and wicked pagan city. The magnificence of the city did little to salve the pain of slavery. The Roman historian Herodotus gave an eyewitness description of the great city; the 85 ft. tall city walls enclosed a square area 15 miles on each side, or 225 square miles, comparable to the area of San Francisco. Each of the large and magnificent city gates were dedicated to a specific pagan god. Herodotus was also impressed by the number of temples dedicated to pagan gods, listing 53 temples, each dedicated to a different god. The great ziggurat tower, most likely built on the foundation of the Tower of babel, rose above the city. Nebuchadnezzar's palace was magnificent, as were the famed "hanging gardens," considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, describes to be "one of the most incredible feats of engineering in the ancient world. Consisting of a series of walled and tiered gardens, a lust paradise was created in the middle of Babylon itself, drawing water from the Euphrates River to keep trees, shrubs and vines alive."1 These gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, who missed the lush gardens of her home in Persia. On the roads leading to the various temples, each paving stone was inscribed with the words "to the glory of Marduk" or "to the glory of Ishtar" or one of the other of their gods. It is difficult to miss the irony of the Jew's situation: they had abandoned the worship of the True God for idols; now they were getting their belly full of idolatry! Far off to the west, across the desert, lay Jerusalem-abandoned and burned. The Jews were slave and servants to pagans. They would have been asking, "Where is the God of Judah? Wasn't it promised that we are to be a blessing to all the nations?" They were surrounded by people living to the glory of pagan gods. It was a dreadful time of discipline for God's chosen nation. While Isaiah's words were given to Jewish people living in a pagan society, there are amazing parallels to the situation in which we live. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are surrounded by a godless society which worships the modern pagan gods of materialism, technology, power, greed, violence and sex. I believe these words of comfort are for us in these troubled times in which we live, our own "pagan Babylon." But as Philippians 3:20 reminds us: "... our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." To those needing comfort and encouragement, God speaks to His people. II. THE BASIS OF OUR COMFORT (V. 2) (Read v. 2) This verse lists three reasons for our comfort: The first is that our warfare is ended. In a literal sense, Judah had been involved in warfare for most of her history. There were always enemies around; in fact, this was by design. God could have selected a more remote place for His chosen people to live, but He selected the crossroads of the world. God surrounded Israel with strong enemies who would only be defeated by complete dependence upon Him. God promises a time when there will be no more war for His people, as described in Isaiah 2:4: "And He will judge between the nations and will render decisions for many peoples; and they shall hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war." A bright hope for the future gives comfort in the present. However, there is a more basic meaning to this promise, and that regards the state of war which exists between God and man because of sin. Before we were saved we were enemies of God, as Romans 5:10 indicates: "For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." We read in the book of James that "friendship with the world is hostility toward God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." Natural man is in rebellion against a loving God; man is the one who has declared war. By the way, that is a crucial distinction: Man rebelled against a loving God and flees from His presence. God has always stood with His arms wide open to welcome those who turn from their sin and claim His forgiveness. That is the message we find in the parable of the Prodigal Son. But God says, "Be comforted, for the warfare has ended." How has it ended? Romans 5:1: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." It is our sins which separate us from God, our sin which makes us rebellious against God. Jesus Christ bore our sins on Himself on the cross, so that all who trust in Him now are children of God rather than enemies. God gave Judah a second reason to be comforted, and by extension us-that her iniquity has been removed. The debt has been paid. We cannot atone for our own sins, the price could only be paid by Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. We feel that load of debt through guilt. There are few things in life more debilitating than guilt. And our personal guilt produces fear. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, once decided to play a practical joke on 12 of his friends. He sent them each a telegram which read, "Flee at once...all is discovered." Within 24 hours, all 12 had left the country! How much more does God know every one of our indiscretions and sins! Before God, "All is discovered." But God says, "Your iniquity has been removed." Though the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. That is reason for comfort! A third reason is given for the declaration of comfort, found in the words: "She has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." This gives the impression that God's people, by suffering twice as much as they deserved, had somehow atoned for their sins. This is an unfortunate translation; the passage actually says, "You have received a doubling for your sins." The symbol is of something being folded over. There was an ancient custom in those days where a creditor would nail an overdue bill on the front door of the debtor. The hope was that this would motivate the debtor to pay their bill because of public embarrassment. No one would like to have their debts laid open to the whole community. But when the debt was paid, someone would come and with great ceremony, would fold the bill over and nail it down. Your debt had been "doubled" signifying that it had been paid in full. Isaiah is saying that God paid the debt for their sins. He is describing a future time when Judah's sin would be "folded over and nailed down, paid in full." Some of our Lord's last words from the cross included the Greek word "Teteseisti." This has been most commonly translated "It is finished." But more accurately , Teteleisti was a commercial term which was stamped on a bill when paid, much like the Babylonian custom of "doubling." Teteleisti meant "paid in full." When Jesus gave His life on the cross, He could say that our bill of debt was "paid in full." God has said to us all: Comfort, O comfort my people! Your debt is paid in full! For those who have placed their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin, full payment has been made. Have you claimed the payment He made for your sin? Everyone is potentially saved, but we must personally claim that salvation. It is like someone deposited a million dollars into an account, but you must put your name on that account for it to have value. We must personalize Christ's sacrifice-that is what we mean when we say one must "accept Christ." It is personally claiming what God offers. But there is another voice which Isaiah hears calling in verse 3: III. TAKE COMFORT FOR GOD'S GLORY HAS BEEN REVEALED (Read vv. 3-5) As is common in prophetic writings, the first and second advents of our Lord are mixed, as Isaiah prophesies of the coming of the Lord Jesus. He speaks of preparing the way of the coming Messiah. Verses 3-4 deal with the first advent, verse 5 with the second Coming of Christ when "All flesh will see it together." The Gospel writers identified this vocal forerunner as John the Baptist who came to prepare the people for Jesus' ministry. He came as a voice crying in the wilderness of Judea. His message? Repent and be baptized to demonstrate your desire to follow God. Change your ways and prepare for the coming of the Messiah. When Jesus came on the scene, John's Ministry was over. The preparation was complete, as he pointed out Jesus with the words, "Look! There walks the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!" Isaiah's words reflect another ancient custom: when an oriental monarch moved from place to place, he sent out ahead a great army of workmen to level the rough places in the road, filling in the valleys and cutting through mountains so the king could travel in comfort. A story is told of the Persian King Cyrus on his way to Babylon. When he came to the river Gyndes, one of his horses fell in, was swept away and drowned. Cyrus was so enraged that he spent the entire summer camped by the river, commanding his army to divide the large river into 360 different channels so he could break its power, enabling him to safely wade across the channels. This demonstrated the effort which might be made to make the king's way straight. Isaiah is saying, "Make way for the Messiah. Let Him have access to your life, make the way clear, make room for Him. When the access to your life is free and clear, then He will come and He will display His glory there, wherever you are." For the exiles in Babylon, while this passage looked 600 years into the future to the coming of Jesus, I believe it also gave them great present comfort. God wanted to draw them to Himself amid the pagan society of Babylon. As they walked down the streets of Babylon where the very paving stones were inscribed "To the glory of Istar, to the glory of Marduk" and all the other pagan gods, they could demonstrate a life lived out "to the glory of the One True God." Even while captive in a foreign land, far from Jerusalem's temple site, they could still give access in their hearts to God. For simply returning to the Land would not solve their problem, because they had forsaken the Lord God while in the Land. Their hearts were wrong, they did not serve YHWH, they did not worship Him with a pure heart. They were in a spiritual wilderness as surely as the one they found in Babylon. They needed to make room in their life regardless of where they were. But as they prepared the way, the Lord would come to give present comfort and blessing. Did anyone heed this call to walk uprightly enabling them to reveal God's glory in Babylon? Read the Book of Daniel and the account of Shadrack, Meshak and Abindego in the fiery furnace. Was not God glorified by the faith of Daniel in the lion's den? The testimony of Nebuchadnezzar giving glory to God after he was restored from the humbling experience of living like a beast of the field. Isaiah's words provided comfort and guidance to those living among Babylonian paganism It is not difficult to draw parallels to our situation today. We are surrounded by a culture that is rapidly embracing wickedness and antibiblical ideals. Righteous standards as stated in the Bible are mocked even in churches and denominations. Psalm 12:8 describes our culture: "The wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men." More and more are we seeing that if we choose to live biblically, we will be regarded as outcasts. But we are to take comfort that as we remove obstacles, making room for the Lord He will enable the light of His presence to shine through. Light is most noticeable in the dark. A third voice is heard giving reason for comfort: IV. TAKE COMFORT THAT GOD IS ETERNAL AND OUR PROBLEMS ARE NOT! (Read vv. 6-8) Rather than thinking of these verses as emphasizing the brevity of life and how fragile we are (not a particularly comforting message!), these words emphasize how fragile are those who oppress! The Babylonians considered themselves and their city impregnable. With walls 85 ft tall and 65 ft thick, as well as being surrounded by a moat and with the stable water supply of the Euphrates River flowing through the city, they felt completely secure. When the Persians surrounded the city, the Babylonians weren't worried. But a sharp-eyed engineering type noticed that the river had once been diverted away from the city. An earthen dam kept the river on its present path under the city wall. The Euphrates was diverted and the Persian Army marched under the wall on the riverbed and conquered the city. The Babylonians felt so secure they didn't even have a guard posted on the wall to warn them. Chapter 5 of Daniel records that a great banquet was being given that very night. God is telling us that the nations that stand against Him are like grass which the hot wind destroys. I have read that when it rains in the spring, parts of the Middle East turn into a beautiful garden, the mountains are covered with flowers, the grass is green, and it is lovely. But about mid-May the hot winds from the desert begin to blow and overnight the flowers all fade and the grass withers and the hills turn brown. God's wind of judgment blew on Babylon, and like grass it withered. The same wind blew on the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, on the British Empire, on Third Reich of Germany, on Communism in Eastern Europe; the nations are like grass. But the Word of the Lord stands forever. God stands above His creation, and His promises to His people are eternal. The promises He made to Israel will all be fulfilled, as are the promises made to His Bride, the church. Take comfort-a day is coming when there will be no more death, tears, no more evil or struggling with the world, flesh and the devil. All the enemies of God will be gone, like grass withered by the hot sun. The King is coming! And that is the word of Isaiah in verses 9-11 (Read). Shout it from the rooftops: Here is our God-Immanuel, God is with us. Jesus has come and brought salvation; Jesus is coming back, and all the faithful will be rewarded. What a wonderful day that will be! One of my favorite phrases in the Bible is "And it came to pass..." All the challenges, problems, and disappointments of this life will pass. Take comfort. God is in control. Be at peace and full of hope. 1 medium.com/the-mystery-box/the-history-behind-the-hanging-gardens-of-babylon --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2