““Go down and sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea! For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil, strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your disgrace will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.” The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer; The Lord of Armies is his name. “Daughter Chaldea, sit in silence and go into darkness. For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms. I was angry with my people; I profaned my possession, and I handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly. You said, ‘I will be the queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or think about their outcome. “So now hear this, lover of luxury, who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is no one else. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’ These two things will happen to you suddenly, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They will happen to you in their entirety, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells. You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself, ‘I am, and there is no one else.’ But disaster will happen to you; you will not know how to avert it. And it will fall on you, but you will be unable to ward it off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. So take your stand with your spells and your many sorceries, which you have wearied yourself with from your youth. Perhaps you will be able to succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! You are worn out with your many consultations. So let the astrologers stand and save you — those who observe the stars, those who predict monthly what will happen to you. Look, they are like stubble; fire burns them. They cannot rescue themselves from the power of the flame. This is not a coal for warming themselves, or a fire to sit beside! This is what they are to you — those who have wearied you and have traded with you from your youth — each wanders on his own way; no one can save you.” (Isaiah 47:1-15 CSB)
It happened, again. The predictions were wrong. Why would we expect anything different? For the last week or so our local weather forecasters have been predicting a major winter storm, but it would all go south of us. We were not supposed to get enough snow to matter, a slight dusting at the most. As I look out the window, I see 5-6 inches of beautiful snow on the ground. Of course, weather forecasts are notoriously wrong and none of this is really surprising. Are we able to predict our weather better than we could 50 years ago? Absolutely. Are we able to predict it with 90% accuracy? Absolutely not. But we keep trying.
It seems that we not only want to predict our weather, we want to control it. I live in what is referred to as “tornado alley” and we had a record number of tornadoes in 2024. Not only are we attempting to predict tornadoes and their locations more accurately, we are now trying to find ways to cause them to “dissipate” and stop forming. Don’t misunderstand me, I certainly like the idea of being forewarned of approaching tornadoes but I have serious doubts about our attempts to control them and stop them from forming. We can’t effectively control our own emotions and we think we can figure out how to control the weather? It feels a bit like we’re “tilting at windmills” (Google it).
In this week’s focal passage, we are confronted with the downfall of Babylon. This is a continuation of last week’s lesson as God brings judgment upon Babylon for their unrighteous actions, prideful arrogance and willful, spiritual ignorance. Let me state up front, this judgment of Babylon is a specific, historical event that occurred in 539 BCE by the LORD God through Cyrus the Great of Persia. But this judgment of Babylon has long been a Biblical “archetype” for the destruction of any nations or people that stand arrogantly defiant and spiritually oblivious before the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel.
The scene opens with the apparent shaming of Babylon’s claimed knowledge, superiority and national inviolability, “Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter Chaldea! For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.” She has long been considered impregnable and her strength was seen as an eternal sign of her “secret” knowledge, mastery of prediction and the magical arts. What you may not realize is that all of our astrological naming of the stars, horoscope charts and predictive tendencies come from Babylon. The Greek names for the astrological systems are simply Greek versions of the Babylonian names and symbols.
She will no longer be the “virgin daughter” but will become a slave girl, grinding flour with her veil removed, her skirt stripped off and her bare thigh exposed as she wades through the streams. In other words, she will become exactly what she has forced upon everyone else she has conquered. Her judgment will reflect her treatment of those she conquered and humiliated, especially the Israelites. God’s judgment and punishment always seems to reflect the specific actions, thoughts and attitudes for which He is judging people. His judgment is consistent with our sin.
Verse four stands out starkly from the surrounding verses: “The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer; the LORD of Hosts/Armies is His name.” It is strong and very direct declaration of just who is bringing judgment upon Babylon. It’s important to recognize that judgment is never misapplied. There’s an old book titled “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” by Harold Kushner. Kushner is a conservative Jewish Rabbi and the premise of his book is that everyone suffers from adversity and that we really need to learn to make something meaningful out of adversity instead of just lamenting it. The book implies that God is incapable of keeping these bad things from happening, so you need to just learn to use the challenges as a means of making your life better.
That book is wrong…
God is not impotent against the evil that exists in our world and His judgment is never misapplied. Kushner has adopted the cultural belief that “most men are good” and anything bad that happens to them is undeserved and evil. Most folks will agree with Kushner, but God doesn’t… “The fool says in his heart, “There’s no God.” They are corrupt; they do vile deeds. There is no one who does good.” (Psalms 14:1 CSB) I think most of us struggle with this issue. As Christians, I think we also tend to reflect our cultural belief (most men are good) more than we reflect God’s declaration (all men are corrupt and no one does good).
In verses 5-7 of our focal passage, God is holding Babylon responsible for how they treated His people when He allowed Babylon to conquer them. God does use Babylon to execute judgment upon His own people, but He holds Babylon responsible for overstepping and being cruel and unjust towards them. Remember, judgment is never intended to destroy but always to restore. This is true for Israel, but it is also true for Babylon and for us. God’s judgment is never misapplied and is never intended for destruction. His judgment is ALWAYS intended to restore, redeem and renew us. Notice that the Babylonians “did not think” about the outcome of their cruelty (v. 6-7). They acted but were oblivious to their actions and the outcome.
How often do we act without considering the outcome of our actions? How often do we think we know better than God what we want, need and what will satisfy the longing of our heart? How often do we arrogantly tell God, “Step back, I’ve got this. I don’t need your help.” How often do we make choices that impact our lives, but also impact the lives of those around us. Not just our families, but also our friends, neighbors, colleagues and coworkers? How often have we made the decision to ignore someone’s need, stepped to other side of the road, passed them by and never given a second thought about how our lack of action has had a huge impact on people. (See Luke 10:30-37)
The next statement in this passage is SO damning and so deeply revealing. There’s simply no other way to look at it: “So now hear this, lover of luxury, who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is no one else.” In case you didn’t catch it, Babylon is saying about herself the EXACT same thing God has been saying about Himself! In other words, Babylon equates herself with God and claims authority over her own existence and destiny. THAT is the epitome of arrogance before the Creator of the Universe. Yet, that is the very heart cry of our modern culture and our own existence.
She claims control over her own destiny, “I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.” God informs her that both of these tragic events WILL happen to her and will happen suddenly on the same day! God says that these things will happen despite the her knowledge of sorcery and the power of her magical incantations. I feel like it is important to take a moment and address a growing concern that I see in our culture, the belief in the magical, spiritual and mystical without a corresponding belief in the authority and power of God.
In many ways, the culture of Babylon mirrors our own in these practices. Our culture has a growing awareness of the inability of science to answer our most pressing spiritual questions. As a result, people are much more open to the idea and aware of the spiritual aspect of life. Unfortunately, spiritual doesn’t equate to an accurate, Biblical view of God and His role in our lives. We know there’s more, but our belief and understanding of what that means falls short. The Apostle James says, “even the demons believe in the one God, and tremble at the thought.”
But a belief in the supernatural or spiritual realm doesn’t result in spiritual accountability, true holiness and obedience to God and His Word. God reminds the Babylonians, “You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself, ‘I am, and there is no one else.’” God has a right to make this claim, because everything exists by Him, through Him and for Him. But our claim at personal sovereignty, self-existence and self-determination are false and based solely in self-deception. We cannot prevent the calamities and evil acts of enemies that befall us. We can’t stop the march of time and the effects of it upon our bodies and minds. We certainly can’t predict our future based on an astrologer’s observations.
Even now, man looks to the stars and beyond in the hopes of finding himself and predicting his future. Today when someone asks about the origins of man, science often points to the heavens and declares that life originated in some distant galaxy, on some far flung planet. We have enough faith to believe in ET, but not enough to believe in the God who created us, loves us and desires to save us. We want to believe in flying saucers and aliens, but not a loving God who tells us we are aliens and visitors to this world and real life exists only in Him.
This passage ends with a warning, “they cannot rescue themselves” and “each wanders on his own way; no one can save you (verses 14-15).” We tend to seek out those who seem to “have it all together” and then we follow their advice. Well, there’s lots of money to be made in writing books, holding seminars, being seen on talk shows and selling your own brand of personal success. Everyone is looking for the “secret” to life. When you convince enough people that you know what it is, you can make a lot of money selling it. God’s advice: “This is what they are to you — those who have wearied you and have traded with you from your youth — each wanders on his own way; no one can save you.” (Isaiah 47:15 CSB)
I know, that’s really encouraging. Nobody really wants to hear the truth; we’re all broken people and none of us gets it right. We simply don’t want to admit our need for salvation. We can’t bring ourselves to face the fact that we’re failures in need of God’s help. As a young boy, I loved to buy and read the classic comic books of the 60’s and 70’s. Two things about them stick out in my mind; 1) every super hero had a weakness – even Superman; 2) the comics were filled with advertisements selling you the ability to be your own super hero, minus the weakness. But why? Why did every super hero have a weakness? Because the perfect hero puts a quick end to all of the bad guys and there’s no sequel to sell more books. Oh, ok. But why the advertisements that claimed you could become the “hero” and stop being the 90 pound weakling? Because everybody wants to be their own hero and nobody wants to be the 90 pound weakling of their own life story.
We aren’t the hero of our own story, we’re the 90 pound weakling who gets beat up by the bully. To think otherwise is just an illusion. The Babylonians believed they were the hero of their own story, but God proved them wrong. They were the bully, He is the Hero. Ultimately, I need you to understand that the judgment of Babylon was both a historical event in 539 BCE and the archetype of God’s judgment upon men who take that same approach to life. They knew all about the mystical, marvelous and spiritual aspect of life but claimed sovereignty and authority over it through their knowledge and magical incantations. The Babylonians refused to bow to the LORD, the great I AM, and, instead, proclaimed they were “I AM, and there is no one else.”
In many ways, these are the same words many people proclaim today. God is not my boss, I AM and there is no one else. We are just “wise fools” who think we can handle whatever life throws at us. Most people don’t believe in the devil anymore, but that’s to his advantage and our demise. He is good at whispering lies in our ears and letting us think that we’ve finally figured out the secret to life. He doesn’t need us to be evil, just distracted with life enough to ignore God, foolish enough to think that we’re the hero of our own story, blind enough to ignore the reality of our own failures and selfish tendencies.
There’s an old story about how you can successfully boil a frog. You can’t just throw a live frog into a pot of boiling water, the frog will react and jump out. You boil a frog by putting it into a pot of cool water and then slowly, gradually increasing the heat over time. Eventually, the cool water is no longer cool and the frog is no longer alive. You’ve fooled the frog and brought his demise by bringing death without drawing attention to it.
We are called to be in this world but not of it. We are to live as strangers and foreigners in this land, because it’s not our home. We must be willing to live our lives with a loose grip on things because life isn’t about things. Where’s your focus? Don’t lose sight of God and the salvation He offers. Don’t be a wise fool, you can’t do this on your own…
Hilltop Baptist Church - Shawnee, OK 
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