Slices
Prepare
Pray: King of the nations, Lord of everything, I come before you now. You, whose eye is on the sparrow and who know each hair on my head. God of the small things and epic spaces, I submit to you.
Bible passage
A prophecy against Babylon
13 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
shout to them;
beckon to them
to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded those I prepared for battle;
I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath –
those who rejoice in my triumph.
4 Listen, a noise on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations massing together!
The Lord Almighty is mustering
an army for war.
5 They come from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens –
the Lord and the weapons of his wrath –
to destroy the whole country.
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
7 Because of this, all hands will go limp,
every heart will melt with fear.
8 Terror will seize them,
pain and anguish will grip them;
they will writhe like a woman in labour.
They will look aghast at each other,
their faces aflame.
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming
– a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger –
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the Lord Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own people,
they will flee to their native land.
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
all who are caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
their houses will be looted and their wives violated.
17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who do not care for silver
and have no delight in gold.
18 Their bows will strike down the young men;
they will have no mercy on infants
nor will they look with compassion on children.
19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
the pride and glory of the Babylonians,
will be overthrown by God
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 She will never be inhabited
or lived in through all generations;
there no nomads will pitch their tents,
there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
21 But desert creatures will lie there,
jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
and there the wild goats will leap about.
22 Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,
jackals her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
and her days will not be prolonged.
Explore
This is the start of a new section in Isaiah’s prophecy. Up until now, his prophetic utterances have mainly been spoken over Judah, Israel and Jerusalem. Now the narrative moves on and Isaiah turns his attention to the world’s most powerful and dangerous rulers.
The canvas on which he paints his word pictures is on a massive scale. While he can see Judah and Israel’s real- time plight, he is also able to imagine the world in the distant future. In the language of modern media devices, he fast-forwards before returning to play back. Judah will eventually fall to Babylonian rule in about a century’s time (around 586 BC), but Isaiah goes beyond this and imagines that empire’s own downfall (vs 19–22).
A decisive period is coming, known as the day of the Lord (vs 6,9), when Babylon will be crushed and God’s people restored. On the grand stage of human history, nothing is left to fate and chance. It may look bleak for the foreseeable future, but God has not forgotten his people. He is on the move (vs 2,3). It will be painful, and generations will pass, but God has not forgotten his people.
Respond
Pray: I lift before you, Lord, the poor and oppressed of the earth and ask that they might taste your justice and freedom.
Deeper Bible study
Thank you, our Father, that in shaking the heaven and the earth you gift us a kingdom that cannot be shaken.1
What does Babylon stand for? It’s the jewel of the kingdoms, a place of glory (v 19). In today’s world, we might see the names of fashionable cities appearing on high-class carrier bags. You’d be proud to call them home. Babylon represents the pinnacle of human achievement, which easily becomes vaunting pride (vs 11,12). In the book of Revelation, Babylon symbolises everything ungodly about humanity, setting itself up as a challenge to God and his power. Effectively, it is an alternative kingdom, a counterweight to God’s rule. These kingdoms in our world, whether places like the Roman empire, the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, or dominions like consumerism and materialism, look invulnerable. It seems they will last for ever – but there is a day, the day of the Lord (vs 6,9), which will bring destruction, ending the abuse of power and the domination of the rich and powerful. We believe there will be a final day of the Lord which will eradicate sin and evil, but we also believe there will be signs or portents of that day throughout history. The Babylonians will be overthrown by the militaristic Medes (v 17), signalling future and final victory. The Lord has access to unlimited forces to carry out his judgement (vs 4,5) and no kingdom can stand against him. For Israel, this prophecy brought strong reassurance when everything around them suggested otherwise. It does the same for us, as those who ‘rejoice in my triumph’ (v 3) and share in it.
We rejoice in the defeat of sin, even if we find ourselves struggling to identify with the severity of the ways judgement is depicted (eg vs 15,16). The totality of the demolition makes us wonder whether we have come to terms with the horror of sin.
‘There is nothing of which it is more difficult to convince men than that the providence of God governs the world.’2 What do you make of Calvin’s statement?
1 Heb 12:26–28 2 John Calvin, Isaiah, p406–407
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 3,4; Luke 14
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks to God for Jo Morley and the Mission Event Operations team at SU who take care of all the practical aspects of the many SU holidays and missions each year so that volunteers can focus on the children and the team. (This week's prayers relate to these stories: A real game-changer! and Celebrating volunteers: Wendy's story. )