Isaiah 47:1-15

Isaiah 47:1-15 NIV

“Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”

Our Redeemer—the Lord Almighty is his name— is the Holy One of Israel. “Sit in silence, go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms. I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. You said, ‘I am forever— the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.

“Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’ Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

“Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror. All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.

Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by. That is all they are to you— these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you.

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Isaiah 47 is an oracle directed at Babylon, the queen city of Babylonia, the empire that conquered much of the Near East. Babylon holds captive the Israelites along with many other conquered peoples. Now God is going to deliver Israel from their captivity by sending Persia to defeat Babylon.

Isaiah attacks Babylonian arrogance, sorcery and astrology in this chapter. The prophet seems to know how the Babylonians have been boasting about themselves. They say they are queen of the kingdoms. God is about to rape and ravage this unmolested city with Cyrus' Persian armies. Babylon will be cast down.

God is angry with how the Babylonians have treated the Jews. They've been harsh captors, cruel even to the elderly. In their arrogance they think themselves untouchable. The eternal queen is about to learn that no mortal is untouchable. Everyone is accountable to the creator.

Babylon feels self secure in all of its wealth and power. They think of themselves as unmatched in all the world. In their wealth they live for pleasure. They are confident no harm will ever come to them. They have powerful sorcerers casting magic spells on their behalf. Astrologers guide their leaders, predicting good for Babylon. Their magic will not save them. Their reading of the stars will only fill them with lies.

Isaiah 47:11 NIV

Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

The astrologers and sorcerers cannot save Babylon from what is coming. The Lord Almighty has commanded their destruction. There is nothing they can do to stop it, though they may try. Their efforts are useless. Like stubble before a blazing fire, they will be blown away.

This chapter speaks to me as if I belonged to Babylon. Do I not live in a country that thinks of itself as the only superpower in the world? Until 9/11 we thought we were untouchable. Even with the threat of ISIS we are told by our leadership that there is nothing to worry about. Perhaps they are right, but I wonder if their intel comes from modern technological sorcery. Are reports from the intelligence community crafted to satisfy our need to be assured of relative safety? I'm pretty sure no one in national leadership is seeking God's guidance or asking what God has planned. It would be nice to be wrong.

Do I not live in a country that seeks pleasure in our pastime? Are not our decadent choices part of the reason our Islamic enemies hate us? I don't like to think of myself in these terms and I don't enjoy criticizing my country, but the word of God has me asking these questions today.

Rome was the Babylon of Jesus' day. They killed the Prince of Peace, but God raised Him from death and set Him at the right hand of the Majesty. From there He shall judge the whole earth, both the living and the dead. The book of Revelation speaks of the fall of Rome by referring to the capitol city of the Roman empire as a whore.

Revelation 18:2-5, 7-9, 11 NIV

With a mighty voice he shouted: “ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “ ‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore—

So the question with which I wrestle is, "Am I guilty of adultery with the pleasure living culture of America?" How might I respond to the call of God to come out of such a culture so as not to share in its sin? Though I serve God, am I faithful to Him alone, or do I flirt and fiddle with other lovers like fine dining, entertainment and travel? There's inherently nothing wrong with these, but have I remembered the poor and lifted the burden of the elderly? Have I honored God appropriately with my wealth? Has my heart stayed true to His call to holiness?

Will I suffer the fall of today's Babylon, or will I be saved among those who cry out to the Lord? I trust in His mercy and grace, but I do not wish to test God's patience or assume security while acting a playboy. Sobering thoughts this morning can't be a bad thing. Unpleasant, yes, but it's always good to be challenged by the word of God.

God, grant us wisdom and courage for the living of these days. Amen.