Page 35 - Isaiah Student Worktext

V. 4-5 While this is addressing Babylon, in reality it is a warning to all future enemies of Israel. They
were preparing to invade the southern kingdom of Judah, and clearly God was allowing this, if not
calling for it. ‘The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle’.

V. 6-10 Here we see another application of the prophecy. The day of the Lord speaks to the end times,
the tribulation. In the prophecies of the end times, Babylon is the name used for the forces of darkness
and evil.

The stars and the sun and the moon will be darkened. In Matthew 24: 29-30, Jesus uses similar
language, the heavens shaking for example, to describe the events prior to His second coming. That will
precede the final destruction of Babylon, of evil. The first fall of Babylon is a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the
final one.

V. 11-13 It is clear that God is the initiator of all that is taking place. ‘I will punish…’ ‘I will halt’… ‘I will
make’… ‘I will shake’.

God is involved in everything. We don’t often see and even more often do not understand, but all that
happens, He has foreknowledge of it. A current contemporary song has the line ‘To You, my future is a
memory’.

V. 14-16 Includes some shocking statements, the worst of which is the image of children being dashed to
pieces.

My study Bible says that Mesopotamia, the general location of Babylon, had dealt with other nations in
a similar manner. As you have done to others, so it will be done to you.

V. 17 The ones whom God will use to defeat Babylon, the Medes, were no friend of Israel. Yet God
would use them to accomplish His purposes. At the time this was written, the Medes were allies of the
Babylonians. But God saw the future…in fact, God orchestrated the future. He knew that the Medes
would turn because He would cause them to turn.

God also foretold the level of devastation. The destruction of Babylon would be as great as that of
Sodom and Gomorrah, which were completely wiped out.

Babylon was destroyed in stages. More than 200 years later, it was still attractive enough that
Alexander the Great desired to make it the capital of his vast empire. He came to the city to establish it
as his capital, but it was there that he died at a young age. God had said that it would be completely
destroyed. Alexander said that he would build it up greater. God’s sovereign prevailed, of course.

After that the destruction of Babylon was completed during the Greek and Roman rule. Its ruins were
not discovered until relatively modern times.

From all this, we see how God used mighty pagan empires to punish His people for their sins, but still
punished the punishers.

This should teach us not to despair when evil appears to be winning. God is still in control. Even when
evil is rampant, we need to guard our own hearts. (1 John 2: 16)

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