READ: Is. 13:1-22
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. – Is. 13:19
In chapter 13, a series of prophecies against ungodly nations and powers begins. God’s people are to know that God governs all nations. The powers that rise up against God and pose a threat to the Church can do nothing outside His guidance. The entirety of God’s rule is focused on the assembly of the Church through His Son and the honor of His name.
Thus, Israel may hear from Isaiah, for their comfort, what God has determined concerning the great kingdoms of the earth. The proud Babylon serves as a vivid example of this (Genesis 11), even in Revelation, a symbol of all anti-Christian powers.
The fact that Babylon was not a great power in Isaiah’s time does not diminish the divine truth of this. The “oracle” of verse 1, also translated as “prophecy,” is to be conveyed by Isaiah, but to whom? It will certainly be God’s people in Isaiah’s day and thereafter.
Chapter 14, which connects with chapter 13, speaks of Israel’s return from exile. Thus, it concerns a divine judgment over the great enemy of Israel that will bring comfort to the exiles once they are taken to Babylon.
It is the LORD who initiates the conquest and destruction of Babylon by involving other nations as warriors (“My consecrated ones,” consecrated by God for this battle) — in this case, the Medes and Persians (v.17). Of the Babylon of that time, nothing remains, just as with Sodom and Gomorrah.
Nevertheless, the prophecy reaches further. It already points to the day of the final judgment when God will punish the world’s wickedness in a terrifying manner (v.6-16, Rev. 18). In the new Jerusalem, no wicked will be found (Rev. 21:8,27; 22:15).
In this, we must also see the glory of God (Rev. 18:20; 19:1-5).
What are today’s anti-Christian powers?
Singing: Ps. 83:5,6