SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/12/2013
11:05 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Babylon PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Isa. 13:1-5,
17-18; 13:6-22
Message
of the verses: We are now back in
the book of Isaiah and we will begin looking at the third chapter from the commentary
of Warren Wiersbe as we follow some of the things he writes concerning the book
of Isaiah. He entitles this chapter “The
Burdened Prophet” and it will cover a large part of the book of Isaiah from
chapter thirteen to chapter twenty-three.
A part of my devotions is to listen
to different parts of the Bible each day.
I try to listen to one chapter of Proverbs a day and then listen to the
chapter that I am studying, in today’s case I listened to the 13th
chapter of Isaiah, and then I try to listen to four chapters of the New
Testament each day. I am almost finished
listening to the New Testament for the second time this year as I listened to
chapters 9-12 of the book of Revelations this morning. I listened to the man or probably angel
talking to the Apostle John today as he tells John to go and take a small book
out of the hand of the angel who had it and so he did and the angel told the
man to take the book and eat it. The
book would be sweet in his mouth, but when it got to his stomach it would be
bitter. In his commentary on Revelations
chapter ten and verses eight through eleven Hal Lindsey writes the
following: “Here’s an interesting
phenomenon: John is told to ‘eat’ the
opened book in the hand of the angel.
While it would taste good in his mouth, the book would turn bitter once
it became digested. Tasting and eating
are often used in the Bible to portray hearing and believing. More than one Old Testament prophet was
commanded to ‘eat’ a scroll containing the Hebrew Scriptures. How can the Word of God be both sweet and
bitter? It’s sweet when we learn of the
love of God for man and His gracious provision for our eternal salvation. It’s bitter when we discover that all who
reject Christ will suffer God’s holy judgment for their sins.
“This was John’s dilemma. He rejoiced when he saw the vision of the
glorified Christ returning to earth to reign in triumph. He shuddered when he saw the revelation of
the final judgment which still awaited the unbelieving earth dwellers.
“No doubt the enormity of the
devastations that were about to fall on man gave John ‘indigestion and a bitter
stomach.’ The only ‘Alka-Seltzer’ John
had was the sure knowledge of God’s new world that was coming! That alone could sweeten his taste!”
You may wonder why I quoted this
passage about a book that was sweet in John’s mouth, but sour in his stomach,
but the reason is that this seems to me what the prophet Isaiah was going
through during this section of his book.
He has been speaking about the certain judgment of Judah, and now he
must begin his “burdens” on ten Gentile nations beginning with Babylon. We have been looking at Babylon in our study
of the book of Daniel, and we remember in the fifth chapter of Daniel that
Babylon was destroyed in one night. We
also remember that Babylon is not only a city or once was a kingdom, but it is
a picture of the unbelieving world. It
is in contrast with the city of Jerusalem, which is God’s city while Babylon is
mans city. We also learned that it will be
permanently destroyed as seen in the 17th & 18th
chapters of Revelations as that book speaks of the two types of Babylon. One is the “religious” Babylon and the other
is the type of government that it represents.
The final form of this government will be headed up by the Antichrist.
God Musters His Army (Isaiah 13:1-5;
17-18): “1The oracle concerning Babylon
which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2 Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise
your voice to them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To execute My anger. 4 A
sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the
uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.
5 They are coming from a far country, From the farthest horizons, The LORD and
His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land.
“17 Behold, I am going to stir up
the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. 18
And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion
on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.”
One of the things that I learned
when I was studying a book on the attributes of God is that when we learn of an
attribute of God we must accept it to be a part of who God is. We learn in this passage of the sovereignty
of God as He is able to call any army to do His bidding at any time and we see
here that He calls the Medes to come and destroy Babylon. It matters not that the Medes did not believe
in God for God to use them to do His will.
God Punishes His enemies (Isaiah
13:6-22): “6 ¶ Wail, for the day of the LORD is
near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will
fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. 8 They will be terrified, Pains and
anguish will take hold of them; They will writhe like a woman in labor, They
will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame. 9 Behold, the day
of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a
desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven
and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark
when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. 11 Thus I will punish the
world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to
the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. 12 I will
make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. 13
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from
its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger. 14
And it will be that like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with none to gather
them, They will each turn to his own people, And each one flee to his own land.
15 Anyone who is found will be thrust through, And anyone who is captured will
fall by the sword. 16 Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces Before
their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished. 17 Behold,
I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take
pleasure in gold. 18 And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not
even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity
children.
“19 ¶ And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms,
the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. 20 It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to
generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds make
their flocks lie down there. 21 But desert creatures will lie down there, And
their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy
goats will frolic there. 22 Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And
jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come And
her days will not be prolonged.”
Dr. Wiersbe gives this brief history
of Babylon: “The city of Babylon was
completely destroyed in 689 B. C. by Sennacherib and the Assyrian army, but it
was rebuilt by Sennacherib’s son. In 539
B. C., Darius the Mede captured the city (Daniel 5:31), but he did not destroy it. In the centuries that followed, Babylon had
its ‘shining moments,’ but after the death of its last great conqueror,
Alexander the Great, the city declined and soon was no more. Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled, for the city
was not rebuilt.” Now I am not sure when
Dr. Wiersbe published his commentary on Isaiah, but in recent times the city of
Babylon was, at least, partly rebuilt by Sodom Husain, and as far as I know it
is still there.
I have mentioned in earlier SD’s
that a prophet would begin an event that he speaks of in his time period and
then expands it to a later date. We see
the phrase “The Day of the Lord” in this section of Isaiah, and we have looked
at that before as a time when the wrath of God will finally come to be complete
during the tribulation period that is described in Revelations 6-19. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Isaiah looked beyond that
day to the day when the Babylonian world system would be destroyed (Rev.
17-18). Compare Isaiah 13:10 and Matthew
24:29; Joel 2:10; and Revelations 6:12-14; and see Jeremiah 50:51.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I
think about the little book that John was told to eat I makes me think of a job
that all believers in Jesus Christ have to do and that is to tell others about
the saving grace that can only be received through Jesus Christ. The wrath of God was taken out on Jesus
Christ on the cross, and if one does not accept that free gift then the wrath
of God will be poured out on those who do not accept this free gift.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs
3:5-6.
Memory
verses for the week: Psalm 46:1-11
1 God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble. 2
Therefore we will not fear thought the earth be changed and though the
mountains slip into the heart of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.
4 there is a river whose streams make glade the city of God, the holy
dwelling place of the most high. 5 God
is in the midst of her, she will not be moved, God will help her when morning
dawns.
6 The nations make an uproar, the
kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. 7 The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of
Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. 8 Come behold the works of the Lord, who has
wrought desolations in the earth. 9 He
makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the
spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the
nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Selah.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible Question: “Touched
Jesus’ garment” (Luke 8:43-44).
Today’s
Bible Question: “Who said ‘I am not able
to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me?’”
Answer
in tomorrow’s SD.
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