Soon Babylon will pay

Sermon for Midweek of Easter 6

Isaiah 47:1-15

Isaiah 47 is all about the fall of Babylon. Which is striking, when you think about it, because, when Isaiah wrote these words, Babylon hadn’t yet become a world power, much less had they done anything to the people and city of Jerusalem. And yet, before Babylon even rose to power, Isaiah prophesies her downfall.

“Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called Tender and delicate.”

The Lord speaks to Babylon as He sometimes speaks to Jerusalem, as the virgin daughter of the king, a noble and prestigious position. And just as King David’s virgin daughter Tamar, once tender and delicate and clothed in a many-colored robe, went away and sat in ashes and mourning after she was violated by her brother Amnon, so God tells Babylon that she will soon be violated, too, and would end up sitting on the ground, in the dust, when the city of Babylon fell to her coming invaders, the Medes and Persians.

Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, And I will spare no one.”

The enemy of God’s people would be reduced from the status of virgin daughter of the king to that of a slave, living in shame and disgrace. And it would be the Lord’s doing, His vengeance on those who dared to oppress His people.

Our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, is the Holy One of Israel.

When these things happen to Babylon, Israel will rejoice in God her Savior and will boast about her God, her Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. What a change, what a great improvement from their former idolatry and rebellion against the LORD of hosts! His punishment of them in Babylon will accomplish its purpose, to wake them up from their shameful idolatry and wickedness, so that they could again acknowledge the goodness and mercy of the Lord.

“Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; For you shall no longer be called The Lady of Kingdoms. I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily. And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them.

The Lord explains to the Babylonians beforehand that it was He who would allow them to defeat His people, who would enable them and permit them to destroy Jerusalem and take them captive. He was justly angry with them for their wickedness and rebellion. But that didn’t give the Babylonians the right to treat the Israelites poorly in their captivity. We aren’t told the specifics about the abuses that took place against the Jews in Babylon, but clearly they were not treated well. The Babylonians didn’t think they’d ever have to answer to anyone for how they treated God’s people. But they were wrong.

“Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, Who dwell securely, Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, Nor shall I know the loss of children’;

Notice how God describes the Babylonians. Given to pleasures. Dwelling securely in their wickedness. Fooling themselves into thinking that no one could ever defeat them, including God Himself, could ever overthrow them from their elite position. Doesn’t it sound just like the powerful people of the world today, the people of our own country?

But these two things shall come to you In a moment, in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness Because of the multitude of your sorceries, For the great abundance of your enchantments.

Destruction is coming on the proud enemies of God. Total, utter destruction. And here the Lord adds another component of their wickedness: Their “sorceries and enchantments.” You see, they believed in the supernatural. They acknowledged that there were forces in the universe beyond human ability. But seeking supernatural help or advice anywhere but from God alone is one of those things that will eventually bring down God’s wrath full force on the practitioners of sorcery or witchcraft.

“For you have trusted in your wickedness; You have said, ‘No one sees me’; Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; And you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’

Again, does this sound familiar? You have trusted in your wickedness. Whether it’s sorcery or sexual promiscuity, whether it’s climate activism or abortion activism, or evolutionary propaganda, there is an elitist condescension toward Christians in the world. The unbelievers boast of their wisdom and their knowledge. But the same thing is true today of our culture and of most cultures of the world as was true of the Babylonians: “Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you.”

Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know.

The divine Judge pronounces sentence on the oppressor of His people. Evil. Trouble. Desolation. It would come upon them unexpectedly, and that’s just what happened in 537 BC, when King Belshazzar was indulging in his sinful feast, and the writing appeared on the wall. Daniel told him what it meant, that Babylon was about to fall. And that same night, King Belshazzar was slain, and the Medes and Persians overthrew the city of Babylon.

“Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth— Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you.

The Lord taunts the Babylonians, who had trusted in their sorcery and astrology, much like the prophet Elijah taunted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. The lesson for all of them was the same: it’s foolish to trust in false gods. When the Lord decides to act, either to deliver His people or to destroy His enemies, no one can stand against Him.

Behold, they shall be as stubble, The fire shall burn them; They shall not deliver themselves From the power of the flame; It shall not be a coal to be warmed by, Nor a fire to sit before! Thus shall they be to you With whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth; They shall wander each one to his quarter. No one shall save you.

Thus the Lord finishes His pronouncement of judgment on the Babylonians. The whole chapter was a harsh, unrelenting rebuke of those who would mistreat His chosen people in the future, with no hope of salvation for them whatsoever.

As you know, the Book of Revelation contains very similar language, against Babylon. John says this about Babylon: In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire. John proclaims the fall of Babylon, though no longer the literal Babylon that lies along the River Euphrates, but the figurative “Babylon” of this New Testament period. That Babylon is represented, first, by Rome as it led the way in the early persecutions against the Christian Church, and then also by Rome as the seat of the papacy which so terribly oppressed the Christian Church with its false teachings and tyrannical abuses. And now it has come to represent every enemy of Christians, especially the governments of the world, and every false-teaching anti-Christian institution in the world, that oppresses, persecutes, and mistreats the true children of God, all while claiming to be wise and knowledgeable, noble and prestigious, and unable to be toppled by anyone, including God.

But the dire prophecy of Isaiah 47, combined with the Book of Revelation, paints a very different picture for the enemies of Christ. Just as literal Babylon fell with a great fall, suddenly and with overwhelming destruction, so, too, every human institution that opposes Christ and His Church will fall, by God’s own design and doing.

Until then, let us live humbly, trusting in the Lord’s promise to come and save us at just the right time. And let us love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us, as Jesus instructed us to do. But let’s not do it believing that the world may, at some time, cease to be our enemy. Some who are enemies now will surely be converted into friends before the end. But Babylon itself won’t be converted. And Babylon won’t fall, until it does, when the Lord Jesus comes for judgment, and His angels proclaim the glad tidings, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen! She will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.” Amen.