Judgment on Babylon

INTRO:

Ts: Context Overview

Chapters 13-27 of Isaiah deliver oracles from the LORD to various nations, principally to Babylon who will rise up to crush Judah and destroy Jerusalem. Isaiah warns all these nations that God is over them and will take away their glory because of their sins. After delivering these oracles to particular nations, Isaiah then looks to the much more distant future, to the destruction of the whole world.

Fall of Babylon Predicted (Isaiah 13)

The battle hymn (Isaiah 13:1-5).

Isaiah 13:1–5 ESV

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones. The sound of a tumult is on the mountains as of a great multitude! The sound of an uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathering together! The Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the Lord and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

God told Judah through Isaiah that the doom of Assyria and Judah were guaranteed.

Babylon was His hand of judgment

AT the same time, The fall of Babylon was also already a firm deal.

God would use them as His instrument of wrath

Later, His judgment for their sin would surely come.

This is called an “oracle” it is a heavy responsibility to deliver this message.

The Lord is declared to be summoning mighty men a great multitude to bring judgment on Babylon

City and Empire are used interchangeably in this section.

God’s anger would be turned from Israel and once again be toward her oppressive enemies.

Like many prophesies there is often an immediate focus and a longer range focus.

In the immediate, Bablyon was in sight

They would take Judah captive and would also fall so Judah could go home.

The next peak is in the End Times

Babylon here, in Daniel, and Revelation is often tied to the one world government under the Antichrist.

Revelation 18:2 ESV

And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

Revelation 19:11–16 ESV

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Jesus will return to establish an Eternal Kingdom here on Earth.

The day of the LORD (Isaiah 13:6-16).

Isaiah 13:6–16 ESV

Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. 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. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. 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. I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger. And like a hunted gazelle, or like sheep with none to gather them, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land. Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished.

The middle section of the triad predicts the destruction of the Babylonian empire.

At the time Isaiah wrote this poem, God was letting the Assyrians rise to power. They would be God’s instrument to destroy Israel.

Then God would let the Babylonians to conquer the Assyrians. He would also use the Chaldeans to destroy Judah and Jerusalem.

After that, he would let the Medes and Persians destroy the Chaldeans and their beautiful capital Babylon. The middle section of the triad is a figurative description of this.

However, like several of Isaiah’s prophecies, the passage has not only this fulfillment in the nearer future, but also looks to a fulfillment in the much more distant future —in this case the very end of the world.

“The Day of the Lord” is often used for the day when Christ returns

It is a day of judgment and wrath

It is the day upon which even God’s enemies will bow before the Messiah and confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord”

Note the severity

People paralyzed with fear 13:6-8

Compared to Labor pains

As we approach the end, things will get progressively worse just like contractions getting closer to each other and more intense.

Land devastated and people destroyed 13:9

Heavens Blackened v. 10

no light will shine from sun, stars or moon

Survivors scarce as gold 11-13

Armies flee for home like hunted deer v 14

Societal collapse 15-16

Homes sacked,

women violated

children killed

The Medes’ destruction of Babylon (Isaiah 13:17-22).

Predicted

Isaiah 13:17–22 ESV

Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.

This predates the vision of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel about the succession of world Empires.

Babylon is the head of gold

They are followed by Medes and Persians.

Fulfilled

The Fall of Babylon was preordained

Their sin would not go unpunished, even though God used them as an instrument of His wrath on Judah

the symbol (Is 14:12-14)

Isaiah 14:12–14 ESV

“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! 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; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

Here the Devil is used as an object lesson to illustrate by comparing his fall to Babylon’s fall

The Slaughter (Is 14:15-27

Isaiah 14:15–27 ESV

But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’ All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb; 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. 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! 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.” “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder.” This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Their Empire did indeed fall just as God predicted.

Babylon’s cities were destroyed and her people killed.

Conclusion:

This passage reminds us of some important truths

God is a Universal Judge

He was judging His people

He also judged the world

As His children, we will be held accountable still today

God still judges and will judge nations by His just standards

Nobody knows when the end will be

Matthew 24:36–51 (ESV)

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,

and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’

and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards,

the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know

and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

a. the world will be surprised

3. We await the Rapture

(Not binding in Doctrinal statement: The rest is)

Most see Paul to reveal the pre-trib rapture being discussed by Paul in

1 Corinthians 15:50–58 ESV

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Conclusion:

Every time we observe the Lords supper, we proclaim our belief in these End Times prophesies.

Notice what Jesus said when He created the LS:

Matthew 26:25–29 ESV

Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”