Babylon in Isaiah 48

Isaiah 48

48:17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy

One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which

teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by

the way that thou shouldest go.

48:18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my

commandments! then had thy peace been as a river,

and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

48:19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the

offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof;

his name should not have been cut off nor

destroyed from before me.

48:20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the

Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye,

tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth;

say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

48:21 And they thirsted not when he led them

through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow

out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also,

and the waters gushed out.

48:22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the

wicked.


Salvation belongs to the kingdom of G-d. There

is not one that can save the kingdom of man. I'm

reminded of what Jesus said recorded in Matthew

24:


24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also

the coming of the Son of man be.

24:38 For as in the days that were before the

flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and

giving in marriage, until the day that Noe

entered into the ark,

24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took

them all away; so shall also the coming of the

Son of man be.


If you are familiar with the 'days of Noe', then

you know that right up until the day that the

flood broke, people were living just as they

always had. There was nothing that was unusual

about those times, except for that strange man

Noah building a big barge in his back yard, and

talking about a flood. Even though people saw

what he was doing, they gave it no attention.

They were deeply engrossed in all the activities

that define the kingdom of man. They paid no

attention to the kingdom of G-d. 'As the days of

Noe were', look alot like modern times.


Over the years, I've heard and read the various

attempts by others to discredit the text of

scripture. They usually don't mention one

central context of scripture, the long history of

the rebellion of the kingdom of man. Without

taking into account the continuous failure of the

kingdom of man to acheive a stable rule, all of

the other challenges don't add up to much.

Everyone seems willing to talk about peace and

security, but unable to either agree upon how to

do it or what it even looks like. You don't have

to be a christian or believe scripture to see

that there is always trouble brewing in the

kingdom of man, and it offers little enduring

hope of resolution. This situation offers a clue

that the real problem is not the external set of

circumstances, but the condition of the heart of

man. Until the heart of man is changed, there

can be no peace.


As Isaiah puts it, the contrast is between Zion

and Babylon. These symbolize the conflict

between the kingdom of G-d and the kingdom of

man. And toward the end of the book, Isaiah

points toward the 'suffering servant', who is the

hope of our salvation, salvation not available in

the kingdom of man. Jesus offers us the hope of

salvation rather than the hopelessness of the

kingdom of man. The problem lies in the heart of

man, and the solution lies in the heart of Jesus.


'For G-d so loved the world that he gave his only

begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him

shall have everlasting life' John 3:16.