Read Isaiah 13:1-14:27.

Introduction⤒🔗

The year was 1978; the place was southern Lebanon. The continuous attacks by the Palestine Liberation Organization against the small Christian community had broken the spirit of the people. For this Christian community—composed of several villages with a combined population of about 35,000—the situation seemed hopeless. The people were afraid to assemble for fear of the terrorists. Their telephone and mail service had been destroyed, cutting them off from the outside world. Sniper fire kept them from working their fields, so that the crops were rotting and many had to go to bed hungry.

The military leader, Major Haddad, turned to a radio/T.V. repairman named Charbel Younes, and said, “Charbel, we must have a strong voice. Without a voice we will perish.” Charbel used his skill to build a homemade radio transmitter out of used radio and T.V. parts, and by means of this transmitter Major Haddad would now speak words of hope and encouragement to the people. By the grace of God, what eventually came to be built was a powerful gospel radio station.

On September 9, 1979, the station’s message sounded forth: Jesus Christ is Lord! And He is coming soon! You are listening to the Voice of Hope! The Voice of Hope, that is exactly what the station proved to be for those besieged Lebanese communities. Even the weather changed. Rain began falling after years of draught; the people took it as sign from God. Now they were no longer afraid to work their fields, and, in spite of continuing terrorist activities, they began repairing their shell-shocked buildings.¹

Yes, when the people were overwhelmed and the situation seemed hopeless, Major Haddad knew that what was needed was a voice—and the LORD graciously provided that Voice of Hope. Many centuries earlier, when God’s Old Testament people found themselves in an overwhelming situation, the LORD provided them with His Word of hope and assurance. When we find ourselves in an overwhelming situation, let us look to the LORD's Word of hope and assurance.

Remember the LORD’s Promise of Final Victory←⤒🔗

As the people of Judah found themselves being overwhelmed by the invading Assyrian army, the LORD revealed to Isaiah His future victory over the Babylonians. Why? He did so in order to give them the full picture and to provide them with the assurance of God’s ultimate victory.

At about the very time Isaiah was delivering this oracle, there arose a leader in Babylon who was beginning to re-unite the Chaldeans into a nation, his name was Merodach-baladan; (722-705 B.C. was the period of his reign). One hundred years later (625-605 B.C.) there would reign a strong Babylonian king, Nabopolassar. During his reign the Assyrian capital of Nineveh would fall in 612 B.C. and in the last year of his reign the mighty Assyrian empire would come to an end.

When the Assyrian empire fell, a power vacuum was created in the Middle East. Egypt seemed to be the most likely successor to Assyria; but to everyone’s surprise, Egypt was defeated by a young Babylonian prince named Nebuchadnezzar. Under Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 B.C.) the Babylonians became a great international empire—a type, or model, of every great pagan empire that would ever dominate the world. As we consider the description of the conquest of Babylon as it is revealed in Isaiah 13-14, we find that it is also a picture and prophecy of God’s final and ultimate conquest over sinful mankind (and his efforts to establish his own kingdom in defiance of the kingdom of God), and over the devil himself.

The emphasis of Isaiah 13:4 is on the great multitude gathered against Babylon, the terrifying noise of this multitude, and the fact that it is the LORD of hosts Himself who is mustering these forces for battle: “The sound of tumult in the mountains, like that of a great multitude. The sound of the uproar of the kingdoms of the nations as they gather together. The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle.”

The assembling of the historical armies of the Medes and the Persians against Babylon suddenly takes on supernatural and cosmic dimensions; the LORD’s forces are seen as coming from “the farthest recess of heaven,” and the LORD Himself is leading them (vs. 5). The whole universe is affected by this coming of the LORD’s army: “The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not cause its light to shine” (vs. 10). In verse eleven we hear the LORD declare, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will bring to an end the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” Verse thirteen describes the cataclysmic destruction of that day: “Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place by the wrath of the LORD of hosts on the day his fierce anger is expressed.”

Note that God’s judgment and conquest of sinful Babylon, (representing all of sinful mankind and all of man’s empire), is defined as being for the purpose of redeeming His people. One of the reasons the LORD will execute His judgment upon Babylon is “because the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will once again choose Israel. He will settle them in their own land, and the alien will join them; aliens will unite with the house of Jacob” (Isa. 14:1).

Isaiah 14:1 begins with the word “because.” In other words, one of the great purposes for the conquest and judgment of Babylon, as described in awesome detail in Isaiah 13, is the redemption of God’s people. So it was at the Exodus. The defeat of the Egyptian empire was the means by which Israel was redeemed. So it would be with the defeat of historic Babylon, it would result in the return of God’s people to the Promised Land of Canaan. So shall it be on the last day: the judgment of the world and the final redemption of God’s people are interconnected.

The statement that the LORD “will once again choose Israel” and “will settle them in their own land” is historically a reference to Israel’s return from the Babylonian captivity; but in the ultimate sense it must be seen as a reference to the redeemed of the LORD inheriting the new heavens and the new earth. The statement that “the alien will join them; aliens will unite with the house of Jacob” is, in the light of New Testament revelation, a reference to the Gentile believers in Jesus, the Messiah, being grafted into the people of God and becoming partakers of His great salvation.

Isaiah 14:3-8 describe the rest the LORD shall give to His people on that day. The tyranny of the devil and sinful man shall be cut off and replaced by the experience of God’s perfect peace—and the whole creation shall be at rest:

On that day when the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and trouble and cruel bondage, ⁴you will raise this taunt against the king of Babylon, 'How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ceased!' ⁵The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, ⁶the rod that in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, that subdued the nations with fury and relentless aggression. ⁷The whole earth is at rest and at peace; they break out into singing. ⁸Even the pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you and say, ‘Now that you have been laid low, no lumberjack comes to cut us down!’ 14:3-8

Verses 9-20 describe the just retribution that God shall administer on that day: the arrogant and tyrannical king of Babylon is brought down to destruction and utter humiliation. Sheol, the place of the dead, is portrayed as preparing a welcome for the tyrant: Sheol rouses all the dead kings, causing them to arise from their thrones and stand in honor of the Babylonian’s arrival (vs. 9). The dead rulers of the world greet the conquered tyrant with astonishment. They are amazed that he has become as weak and impotent as themselves; that he, too, has succumbed to death; and that, whereas pomp and glory once covered him, now he is covered with worms (vs. 10-11). As the language of verses 12-15 indicate, this poetic description of the fallen tyrant is not only a reference to the king of Babylon, but to the devil himself as the evil power behind the empires of the world:

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who once laid low the nations! ¹³You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned upon the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain! ¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!' ¹⁵But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. 14:12-15

We should here take note of Revelation 13:2b, a passage in which the devil, portrayed as “the dragon,” is said to have given authority to “the beast,” which represents the great world empire, especially as it shall assert itself in the last days.

Verses 21-23 declare that the LORD’s judgment upon “Babylon” shall be final; “Babylon” shall never rise again to practice its evil and tyrannize God’s people. The divine command is to make sure that the king of Babylon has no descendant to assume the throne and renew the empire (vs. 21). To further insure its end, the LORD will make the site of the Babylonian empire to be a desolate, uninhabitable swamp, and He will sweep the empire away with “the broom of destruction” (vs. 23).

Once again, from the poetic language employed, it becomes clear that the historical empire of Babylon is not only in mind; rather, that empire is viewed as a representative and model of all the empires of the world, and especially the final such empire at the end of history.

When we find ourselves overwhelmed, (facing a tyrannical, unjust, evil situation in our own lives personally and as we consider the society around us), let us remember God’s sure promise of final victory.

Rely upon the LORD’s Oath of Commitment←⤒🔗

In Isaiah 14:24-27 the LORD addresses Himself to Old Testament Judah’s present situation: the invading armies of Assyria were threatening to swallow up all of Judah.

Identifying Himself as “the LORD of hosts,” (the Almighty God who commands the heavenly hosts), the LORD swears that He will not allow His people to be swallowed up and consumed by this arrogant, God-defying invader. On the contrary, the LORD declares under oath that He “will crush the Assyrian in my land.” The Assyrian has invaded God’s land, he is tyrannizing God’s people, and the LORD will not stand by and allow him to triumph. Compare Zechariah 2:8b, referring to the LORD’s people, the prophet declares, “he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.”

When the LORD does rise up and take action against the invading Assyrian it will provide deliverance and refreshment for His people: “his yoke will be taken off of my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders” (vs. 25).

It is important to see that the LORD not only points His people to the future and the time of final and ultimate victory, He also assures us under oath, (“the LORD of hosts has sworn,” [vs. 24]), that He will preserve us in the present from whatever foes we may face and whatever situations we may encounter. It is precisely because the LORD has, under oath, pledged Himself to accomplish this work of preserving His people, that it is guaranteed that it shall be accomplished: “the LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have planned, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it be established’” (vs. 24-25).

When we find ourselves overwhelmed, let us rely upon the LORD’s oath of commitment to us, as the Lord Jesus expresses it in the Gospel of John:

All whom the Father gives me will come to me; and he who comes to me I will by no means reject; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, namely, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰ My Father’s will is that every one that beholds the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Jn. 6:37-40

As expressed by the unknown hymn writer,

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake,
I’ll never, no, never, no never forsake.

Take Heart from the LORD’s Tokens of Victory←⤒🔗

In verses 24-25 the LORD Almighty pledged to overthrow the invading Assyrian army that was threatening to swallow up His people. Now in verse twenty-six He declares that the victory He is about to accomplish against the Assyrians is a token of His final and ultimate victory: “This is the plan that has been determined for the whole world; and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.”

Thus, that generation of God’s people who experienced the threat of Assyria, and who witnessed the LORD’s conquest of that invader, (as well as all God’s people who read the record of these things), are to view that conquest of the Assyrians as a token of the LORD’s final victory. That victory over the Assyrian armies is recorded in Isaiah 37:36-37. On the night before the besieging Assyrian troops attacked the city of Jerusalem,

...the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

When we find ourselves overwhelmed, let us take heart from the LORD’s tokens of victory. Look at what God has done in the past, (the events recorded in Scripture, the deliverances and experiences of God’s provisions in your own life), and take heart.

By way of example: A Christian man tells of an experience he had while stranded in south Philadelphia with a broken-down car. He found himself in a tough and threatening neighborhood. He was sitting by the curbside waiting for some kind of assistance when a big black car came speeding towards him. To his surprise, and comfort, on the front license plate in bright yellow lettering on a blue background he saw the word: JESUS. It was the assurance that the LORD was with him and would take care of him, which He did.

When we find ourselves overwhelmed, let us take heart from the LORD’s tokens of victory; but above all, let us look to Calvary, the place where our Lord won the ultimate victory over the devil and provided our salvation:

Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by [the cross]. Col. 2:15

Conclusion←⤒🔗

That Lebanese army officer, Major Haddad, knew that what was needed when his people found themselves overwhelmed was a word of hope. That makeshift radio station erected in south Lebanon sounded forth the much-needed word of hope: Jesus is LORD!

When you find yourself in an overwhelming situation, look to the words of hope and assurance that the LORD has provided for us: 1) Remember God’s Promise of Final Victory; 2) Rely upon the LORD’s Oath of Commitment; and, 3) Take Heart from the LORD’s Tokens of Victory--above all, look to the ultimate victory won by our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What is the substance of the oracle Isaiah sees concerning Babylon? See Isa. 13:4b-5. Who would carry out the LORD’s righteous judgment upon Babylon? See Isa. 13:17. But does this oracle merely portray the conquest of ancient Babylon by the Medes and Persians? Note Isa. 13:10-11. As a Christian, do you take comfort in the truth that the LORD will finally judge the world with righteous judgment? Note Psl. 96:13,

The sound of tumult in the mountains, like that of a great multitude. The sound of the uproar of the kingdoms of the nations as they gather together. The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle. ⁵They are coming from a distant country, from the farthest recess of heaven—the LORD himself and the weapons of his indignation—to destroy the whole land. Isa. 13:4-5

See, I will stir up the Medes against them; they will not care for silver, nor will they delight in gold. Isa. 13:17

The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. ¹¹I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will bring to an end the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. Isa. 13:10-11

In Isaiah’s vision, the judgment the LORD inflicted upon the arrogant kingdom of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians gives way to the LORD’s final cataclysmic judgment upon this present God-defying world.

For he is coming, for he is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth. Psl. 96:13

2. Ancient Babylon is one illustrative manifestation of the kingdom of man, which defies the LORD God and is a threat to His people—what will be the final fate of the kingdom of man? See Isa. 13:19-20. What is one reason why the LORD will carry out this judgment? See Isa. 14:1a, 3. What assurance is given to the Christian who suffers for Christ at the hands of a God-defying kingdom that is demonically-incited against the Lord Jesus and His people? See 2 Thess. 1:6b-10,

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will become like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. ²⁰It will never again be inhabited, neither will anyone live in it from generation to generation. No Arabian will pitch his tent there, nor will any shepherds rest their flocks there. Isa. 13:19-20

...because the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will once again choose Israel...³On that day when the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and trouble and cruel bondage...Isa. 14:1, 3

...it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, ⁷and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, ⁸in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God... ⁹These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord... ¹⁰when he comes on that Day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at by all them that have believed... 2 Thess. 1:6-10

3. What is the attitude that grips Babylon’s heart, as epitomized in its king? See Isa. 14:13-14; note, too, Gen. 11:2-2. Is this oracle only speaking of an earthly, human king (note Isa. 14:12); who inspires such arrogance in man? Note Gen. 3:4-5. As a Christian, do you appreciate the unholy source of arrogance and pride; given the source, can you still entertain such attitudes in your life?

You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned upon the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain! ¹⁴I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!' Isa. 14:13­-14

As men journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they settled there. ³And they said to each another, Come, let us make bricks, and bake them thoroughly. They used bricks instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. ⁴Then they said, Come, let us build a city for ourselves with a tower whose top shall reach unto heaven; so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Gen. 11:2-4

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who once laid low the nations! (sa. 14:12

But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die; ⁵for God knows that in the day you eat the fruit of that tree your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:4-5

4. What sentence does the LORD pronounce against the devil and all who adopt his God-defying arrogance? See Isa. 14:15. Contrast the final destiny of the proud with the reward bestowed upon Christ Jesus as He fulfilled His role as “the servant of the LORD”—see Phil. 2:9. Why did He receive this ultimate honor? See Phil. 2:7b-8. What does the Apostle Paul exhort us as Christians to have? See Phil. 2:5. Of what does the LORD assure us? See 1 Sam. 2:30b,

Addressing the devil, the LORD proclaims:

But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit. Isa. 14:15

Wherefore, God exalted him to the highest position and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name... Phil. 2:9

Being found as a man in appearance, ⁸he humbled himself by becoming obedient unto death, even death on the cross. Phil. 2:7b-8

Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus... Phil. 2:5

...them that honor me, I will honor; but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.1 Sam. 2:30b

5. Why may we as Christians have complete confidence that the LORD will preserve us and finally deliver us from the demonically-inspired kingdom of man, receiving us into His everlasting kingdom? See Isa. 14:27,

Since it is the LORD of hosts who has determined to do this, who can thwart it? And since it is his hand that is stretched out, who can turn it back? Isa. 14:27