Proclamation against Babylon

Isaiah 13 speaks of the ‘burden’ that was to come upon Babylon. This message is also seen in chapter 14 too. Babylon is the power that was to come and destroy Judah. It did, in 586/587 BC. While Babylon posed a great danger, it was also to come to ruins.

Biblical scholars see Babylon as the manifestation and representation of the enemies of God and of His people. Revelation 17-19 also talks of the fall Babylon.

Isaiah 13 also prophesied of this. He tells them to ‘wail’ as the “day of the LORD’ is near (Is. 13:6). The “day of the Lord” has been a fairly common theme in many of the writings of the OT prophets. It means the day of judgment, a day of punishment, a day of vengeance, both against Israel and its enemies. In the OT, it has been used as a day of punishment for both Israel and its enemies (Is. 2:12f; 13; 6, 9; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 13:5; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 28-32; 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Ob. 15; Zeph. 1:7, 14; Zec. 14:1); and in the NT, it has mostly been used to refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 2:2). Additionally, it is also used as the day of Christ and its equivalent (1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16; 2 Thes. 2:2), since we do not know the day (1 Thes. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). But, certain signs will occur and these are to be discerned by the Christian (2 Thes. 2:2f).

Coming back to Isaiah 13, even though we cannot treat every verse in detail, let us look at some of the ‘burdens’ that was to come on the day of the LORD:   

1. All hand will become feeble and human hearts will melt (13:7)  
2. They will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them (13:8)  
3. The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light and the sun and the moon will not shed their light (13:10)  
4. The world will be punished for its evil. The pride of the arrogant and the insolence of the tyrants will be laid low (13:11)  
5. The heavens and earth will be shaken (13:13)  
6. Without anyone to gather, all will turn and “flee to their own lands” (13:14)  
7. Young men, children, women and even those on the womb will not be spared (13:16, 18)  
8. The devastators will have no regard for wealth, silver or gold (13:117)  
9. The pride of man will be destroyed (13:19)  
10. Wild animals and birds will emerge and live in what was once our glories (13:20-22)  
11. The day is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged (13:2)   

Please take a moment to digest each of the points.  It is possible to extract more, but aren’t these eleven points enough to draw a connection with the day of the LORD with what we are experiencing and undergoing now?

The pride of man, our arrogance and insolence has been laid low. We are now trembling and are in dismay. There have been earthquakes, and many of us are fleeing to our own lands. Our present pandemic does not spare women, children, the aged and even those in the womb, not does it regard all our wealth and riches. Human beings have been under lockdown while the wild animals are now roaming freely…

We are not trying to bring more dismay upon ourselves though this message. But we are just trying to point the way towards God and the way to return to Him and be in obedience of His commands. Also, we are not insinuating that the world is coming to an end because of our current problems. In short, this is not a doomsday message, but a message to awaken us from our slumber. It is a message to let us ponder upon the imminence of the day of Christ.

Yes, the coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. If we are still comfortably living in sin, it is time to return to the Lord. Haven’t the outcry against the people of the world (Gen. 19:13) and all the corruption and its violence (Gen. 6:11-12) become too great before the Lord?