Babylon in Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14

14:4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against

the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the

oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!

14:5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the

wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.

14:6 He who smote the people in wrath with a

continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in

anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.

14:7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet:

they break forth into singing.

14:8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the

cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid

down, no feller is come up against us.

14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet

thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for

thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it

hath raised up from their thrones all the kings

of the nations.

14:10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art

thou also become weak as we? art thou become like

unto us?

14:11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and

the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under

thee, and the worms cover thee.

14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,

son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the

ground, which didst weaken the nations!

14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will

ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above

the stars of G-d: I will sit also upon the mount

of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the

clouds; I will be like the most High.

14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to

the sides of the pit.

14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon

thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man

that made the earth to tremble, that did shake

kingdoms;

14:17 That made the world as a wilderness, and

destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the

house of his prisoners?

14:18 All the kings of the nations, even all of

them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

14:19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an

abominable branch, and as the raiment of those

that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that

go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase

trodden under feet.

14:20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in

burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and

slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall

never be renowned.

14:21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the

iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise,

nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the

world with cities.

14:22 For I will rise up against them, saith the

LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name,

and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.


Fraud is an American tradition. When I make

reference to the fraud that characterizes modern

American, I tend to think of it terms of

characters from the past like P.T. Barnum. He

was, first of all an entertainer, but he realized

that people liked to be fooled. He was willing

to give them the kind of make-believe that they

wanted so they would keep coming back. Taking

advantage of peoples gulability makes you a good

used car salesman, but that's not what we need in

those persons whom we entrust with important

matters, or in public servants. Some postitions

require a little candor. And above all, when I

go to church, I want a little credibility. I

don't want the revised, watered down,

inoffensive, its-all-good gospel message. I

expect christian orthodoxy and if I don't get it,

I can't hang around. You want entertainment,

there are a few hundred channels of sewerage on

your cable TV piped into your living room.

Mostly, I don't find it entertaining, but I

realize that some do. Cable TV companies never

made a red cent from me and I expect they never

will. So much for American tradition.


So when we come to the subject of 'religion', we

find much the same American tradition. I could,

at this point, launch into an attack of various

American branded cults, but there's already

enough in print on those topics; see Dr. Walter

Martin for a complete survey. It's no surprise

to me that the popular view of 'religion' takes

the same vein as the rest of culture, since, by

and large, many religions make little effort to

distinguish themselves from main-stream America.

In fact, it's just the opposite, they revert to

the same marketing and hucksterism that is part

and parcel of the American way. That's always

made me a little uncomfortable, because I

remember the Latin mass. I've heard it a

thousand times in my early years. It was an

excellent tradition in the way that it conveyed a

timelessness to the context of the celebration of

the mass. But that was not modern, and we have

to 'adapt' to the tastes and styles of the

popular delusion that we are more advanced now.

We are progressive. And, I would add, we are

deluded. When we go to church, it's much the

same as when we go to the circus, we want a show.

It's an American, Hollywood inspired

development, that our predececors didn't require.

My point is that what we have here is purely of

the Babylonian, kingdom of man inspiration, and

it has nothing to do with the kingdom of heaven.

We don't recognize the kingdom of heaven because

we are alien to it, and it is foriegn to us. We

seek the familiar, and the least common

denominator. As we saw yesterday, Isaiah didn't

care much for the religious renovation programs

of his day either. They are foreign to the truth

and truth is central to the message of heaven.

Whether it's a popular notion or not, truth is

also central to a healthy society. At the very

least, truth in religion. You can kid yourself

about everything else, but you ought to have an

interest in knowing the vast difference between

the kingdom of man and the kingdom of heaven.


I mean, how else can you make an informed

decision? As a member of a consumer society, we

all know that the consumer needs to have access

to the facts in order to make an informed

decision. At this point, everyone ought to know

that we can't rely on the marketeers to provide

us with reliable information. They just aim to

make a sale. That's business as usual. It's a

little irritating to see Jesus smeared with the

same snake oil. Without the facts, there isn't

any decision to make.


In yesterday's passage from Isaiah, a message was

given about the destiny of Babylon. There is no

future for the kingdom of man. The passage above

taken from the book of Isaiah is even more

obvious in it's description of the symbolism of

the kingdom of man, ruled by Lucifer, and

destined to failure. The language of Isaiah is

very colorful in its description of the future of

this wordly kingdom of Babylon and all that it

represents. Ah, they just don't preach like that

anymore.