Isaiah 13-14
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Introduction
Introduction
[READING]
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
[PRAYER]
[CONTEXT] The message of the first half of Isaiah is that God loves his rebellious people too much to leave them rebellious, so he will refine his people through severe punishments until a righteous remnant emerges.
That righteous remnant that will one day live in the glorified City of God in peace and safety under the reign of the glorified King.
That is what the sovereign Lord will do with his people, but what will he do with the other nations?
Isaiah chapters 13-27 answer that question.
In this section we will learn about God’s specific plan for Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, etc.
But what we will really see is God’s plan for the whole unbelieving world.
11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
[CIT] Isaiah 13-14 focus on Babylon, and in its destruction we see the destruction of the unbelieving world and all the unbelievers in it.
[PROP] Let us not be unbelieving then but believing lest we too be laid waste by the wrath of God.
[INTER] What do we learn about the about the day of the Lord, the day of wrath, from Isaiah 13-14?
[TS] The verses we’ll look at tonight teach us at least three LESSONS…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
LESSON #1: There will be no mercy for the wicked on the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 13:17-22).
LESSON #1: There will be no mercy for the wicked on the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 13:17-22).
17 Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. 18 And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children. 19 And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. 21 But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there. 22 Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come And her days will not be prolonged.
[EXP] This part of Isaiah’s prophecy against Babylon is really built around three ideas—no regard, no mercy, and no more.
No regard—When the Medes come against the Babylonians as the instrument of wrath in God’s hand, the Medes will have no regard for Babylon’s silver or gold.
In other words, the Babylonians won’t be able to pay the Babylonians off so that they go away.
No mercy—The bows of the Medes will show no mercy or compassion for young men, helpless babies, or children.
Although the Medes are the tool God uses to pour out his wrath against the Babylonians, he doesn’t command everything the Medes do.
The Medes will be punished for their wickedness as well.
Even so, the point in v. 18 is that there is no mercy for anyone in the land of the wicked when the day of the Lord comes.
No more—The glory and splendor and pomp of Babylon will be reduced to a smoldering heap of ruins just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
In Genesis, we are told about Sodom and Gomorrah and a few other cities that were so wicked that God rained sulfur and fire down on them.
The destruction was so complete, that we have to guess where these cities were located, and the biggest clue is large deposits of sulfur.
There’s simply nothing left of these cities.
Such will be the case with Babylon.
When the day of the Lord comes for Babylon, it will be reduced to nothing, and there will be no mercy.
[ILLUS] You know, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction, the part that always strikes me is when Lot’s wife as turned into a pillar of salt.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot and his wife had been told to run for salvation and to not look back.
When Lot’s wife looked back she violated the angel’s command (i.e., God’s command) and, I believe, longed for the sinful way of life in Sodom.
Therefore, the judgment that fell on Sodom fell on her.
[APP] Fast-forward to the book of Revelation, and we see that Babylon represents the whole wicked world which is opposed to God and his rule.
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more;
So, when we read in Isaiah about Babylon experiencing a Sodom-esqe type of judgment, we know that this is the same kind of judgment that is going to come on the whole unbelieving world.
Then two things become clear…
We are to run for salvation by running to Jesus Christ…
…and we are to not look back on the sinful world we are fleeing less we experience the judgment coming upon it.
As Revelation 18:4-5 says…
4 I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
[TS]…
LESSON #2: The fortunes of God’s people will be reversed on the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 14:1-3)
LESSON #2: The fortunes of God’s people will be reversed on the Day of the Lord (Isaiah 14:1-3)
1 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them. 3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,
[EXP] Each of these verses mentions a reversal that God’s people will experience when God’s judgment comes to Babylon.
Reversal One: instead of exiled, Israel will be settled (v. 1).
When God brings his judgment on Babylon, he will bring his compassion to Israel once again.
He will choose Israel and settle Israel in the Promised Land, and strangers will be joined to Israel.
I believe this refers to the Gentiles who are grafted into the people of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
This is what Paul referred to in Ephesians 2:12-14…
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Reversal Two: instead of captive, they will be captors (v 2).
The people of God were carried away as enslaved captives when they were carried away by the Babylonians.
But when God’s judgment comes to Babylon, his people will return to their land as the captors.
Some see this as symbolically representing the Gentiles grafted into Israel so as to serve King Jesus.
Some others think this refers to the Millennial kingdom when God’s people (Jews and Gentiles alike) reign over the earth alongside King Jesus.
Reversal Three: instead of enslaved, they will be at rest (v. 3).
When the Medes overtook the Babylonians, the Israelites were soon on the way back to the Promised Land.
Only when they were resettled in the land God promised them were they at home; only when they were resettled could they be at rest.
[ILLUS] Ezra records that when God’s people first started to return to the Promised Land, they first rebuilt the altar, and then they began to rebuild the temple. When the foundation of the new temple laid, this is how the people of God responded…
11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
When the people of God returned to the Promised Land after their Babylonian captivity, some rejoiced at what was being regained and others lamented at what had been lost.
[APP] But when God’s brings his judgment against the whole wicked Babylonian world order, there will be nothing but rejoicing from the people of God.
Revelation 18:20 commands us…
20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”
The people of God in Isaiah’s day and Ezra’s day also rejoiced in the fall of Babylon, and they rejoiced in being resettled in the Promised Land, but they also lamented what had been taken away.
We, however, will have no need to lament when the day of the Lord comes because the enemies of God will be fully and finally put down and we will dwell forever in a new Jerusalem come down out of heaven.
Now we are despised and rejected, but then, through Christ, our fortunes shall be reversed… indeed, they already have been.
[TS]...
LESSON #3: The wicked will be taunted on the day of the Lord (Isaiah 14:4-21)
LESSON #3: The wicked will be taunted on the day of the Lord (Isaiah 14:4-21)
4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: “How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! 5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, 6 that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. 7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing. 8 The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’ 9 Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. 10 All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ 11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. 12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. 16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, 17 who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’ 18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot. 20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. “May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named! 21 Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.”
[EXP] This taunt covers four subjects…
Subject 1: The Lord (vv. 4-6)
There can be no doubt about it, it was the Lrod who brought Babylon to an end.
He broke the staff of the wicked.
In essence, this part of the taunt asks Babylon, “Were you too dumb to realize that God was going to make you pay for your wickedness?”
Subject 2: The Earth (vv. 7-8)
The whole earth is at rest because Babylon is no more.
The cypresses and cedars rejoice.
In essence, this part of the taunt says to Babylon, “The world is better off without you.”
Subject 3: The Grave (vv. 9-11)
Babylon thought it was too great for the grave, but Sheol (the Hebrew place of the dead) rises up to meet her.
The kings of previously fallen nations do the same.
Babylon the Great has become weak like all the nations before it, it’s pomp brought down, it’s resting place a bed of maggots and worms.
Subject 4: The Humiliation (vv. 12-21)
These verses highlight the extent to which the once great Babylon had fallen; it had thought of itself as a heavenly nation, but it had fallen to the grave.
People marvel, “Is this the man (the nation) that made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms?”
Babylon the Great is ruined and has no glory.
It will not even be buried in a respectable manner.
Babylon’s offspring are to be slaughtered lest the earth experience a repeat of its atrocities.
[ILLUS] When God’s people were resettled in the Promised Land after their Babylonian captivity, they not only rebuilt the altar and the temple, they also rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem.
Of course, as they attempted to do this, some taunted them…
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” 20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”
[APP] Those who do not belong to the people of God through faith in Jesus Christ, they have no portion or right or claim in the new Jerusalem to come.
This world may taunt us now, but when this rebellious meets its end on the day of the Lord, it will be the people of God who taunt the world.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.
Such is the fate of the unbelieving world and all the unbelievers in it lest they turn from their rebellion against God and trust in the Jesus, the Son of God.
[PRAYER]
