Babylon in Isaiah 13

Isaiah 13

13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand;

it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and

every man’s heart shall melt:

13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows

shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as

a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one

at another; their faces shall be as flames.

13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel

both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land

desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners

thereof out of it.


13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the

beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as

when G-d overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

13:20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall

it be dwelt in from generation to generation:

neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there;

neither shall the shepherds make their fold

there.

13:21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie

there; and their houses shall be full of doleful

creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs

shall dance there.

13:22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall

cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in

their pleasant palaces: and her time is near

to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.


Beginning where I left off yesterday, the note in

the study Bible describes even better one of the

characteristics of the kingdom of man --

confusion. Over the years, I've heard all the

questions that people pose when presented with

the Gospel, that go something like, How could G-d

allow ... The best answer that I can find is

that G-d has given man liberty to choose whom he

will worship. What we see happening around us is

not because G-d wants it that way, but that he

allows men to choose whom they will serve. It's

not his fault that they choose confusion and

chaos. Those are just some of the available

options.


There is always the option of doing things G-d's

way. But over recorded history, there have

always been people who choose otherwise.

Scripture provides a literal account of some of

man's activities, and illustrates the fact that

in the kingdom of man, confusion will always

prevail. Babylon is identified in the book of

Genesis as the symbol and the historic point of

origin for the kingdom of man. In modern time,

we are told to celebrate diversity and

multiculturalism, among other things. But I

would suggest that this concept is another fraud.

There really isn't any such thing as diversity,

except as a catalyst for confusion. Take a look

around. In light of scripture there are only two

relevant distinctions and they are the kingdom of

man, symbolized by the city of Babylon and the

kingdom of heaven, symbolized by the city of

Jerusalem. Every person is a citizen of one of

these two kingdoms and there is no other

diversity. This is described over and again in

the text of scripture. Jesus had alot to say

about it, and gave us, once and for all, the

option of doing things G-d's way.


Matthew 7

7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,

Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but

he that doeth the will of my Father which is in

heaven.

7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,

have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy

name have cast out devils? and in thy name done

many wonderful works?

7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never

knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of

mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a

wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came,

and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and

it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of

mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a

foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came,

and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and

it fell: and great was the fall of it.

7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended

these sayings, the people were astonished at his

doctrine:


According to Walvoord, the opening passage from

the book of Isaiah has not been literally

fulfilled, as it describes the total destruction

of the city of Babylon, in 'the day of the LORD'.

I would interpret this prophectic passage as

another description of the final removal of the

kingdom of man, at the time of the end. Since

the city of Babylon is still inhabitied, there

has not been a complete fulfillment of this

prophecy.


This passage from Isaiah is just another in a

long line of prophecies concerning the ultimate

collapse of the kingdom of man, and the ultimate

arrival of the eternal kingdom of heaven. In the

days ahead I hope to be able to go through many

of these prophetic passages that describe

Babylon, with the idea that they can

legitimately, and ought to, be interpreted as

symbolic of the kingdom of man. There is not a

bright future for the kingdom of man, and I

believe that this is one message that G-d has

provided for our benefit in scripture. It is

easy to be distracted by the charades that play

out in current events, and lose sight of the fact

that there is no future for this temporary

kingdom. Our hope and our future, as believers,

is centered in the eternal kingdom of our Lord

and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I like the way Isaiah

put it, 'Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at

hand...' He was speaking directly to the

apostacy of his day, and it was received as a

message of doom. But remember, for those of us

who are citizens of the eternal kingdom, Isaiah's

message is not gloomy at all, it's a day to look

forward to.