Isaiah 47 is a chapter devoted completely to Babylon and its destruction. This is fascinating, especially when we recall that it was written abut 150 years before it happened and about 70-80 years before Babylon became a major power in the region. "Nebuchadnezzar" was not even a name in the baby books at supermarket checkout stands. The "big enemy" for Judah was Assyria as this nation had already overthrown Israel and transported many of them far to the north and east.
So for Isaiah to be predicting both the conquest of Judah by Babylon and the subsequent destruction of Babylon by Cyrus and the Persians is pretty extraordinary. And here it is. This section of Isaiah's message focuses on both Babylon and Cyrus. This chapter is Babylon. It begins with the fall of Babylon.
"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.
This coming destruction is a precursor to the one depicted in *Revelation, which makes this all the more enticing. The judgment is explicitly defined. The "pampered and spoiled" lady is reduced to...
2 Take millstones and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, wade through the streams.3 Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your shame will be exposed. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.
After beginning to speak to Babylon, the Lord reveals Himself. He is the one in charge.
4 The Holy One of Israel is our Redeemer; (Isaiah had to include himself: "our redeemer.") Yahweh of Hosts is His name.
Then He continues addressing Babylon, and explains why they were "favored" to overthrow Israel and then come to the current situation.
5 "Daughter Chaldea, sit in silence and go into darkness. For you will no longer be called mistress of kingdoms. 6 I was angry with My people; I profaned My possession, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly. 7 You said, ‘I will be the mistress forever.' You did not take these things to heart or think about their outcome.
Babylon, and possibly a warning to Cyrus, had decided that this victory was from her own prowess and power. They forgot the Source of their fortune or did not ever recognize it. So now...
8 "So now hear this, lover of luxury, who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I exist, and there is no one else. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.' 9 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.
Imagine that you are in Cyrus' library with Daniel pointing out these things to him. We are looking over their shoulders. "Look at that, ‘one day!' That was exactly like it happened. We went under the wall in the river bed and by the next night had the entire city. And you say this was here all the time?"
Daniel probably had a ball showing Cyrus all of the mentions of Babylon's fall in both Isaiah and Jeremiah. Do you think that there will be Bible studies in heaven with Jesus or Gabriel leading the study? "And here is how We did this...." Back to Babylon.
10 You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. You said to yourself, ‘I exist, and there is no one else.' 11 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. (Like in one day. Ed.and maybe Cyrus.)
Now the Lord attacks the false gods and supports to which Babylon, and others, have resorted:
12 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! 13 You are worn out with your many consultations. So let them stand and save you—the astrologers, who observe the stars, who predict monthly what will happen to you. 14 Look, they are like stubble; fire burns them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. This is not a coal for warming themselves, or a fire to sit beside!
These are the guys who were supposed to deliver. They had monthly horoscopes, instead of daily. But they were just as accurate, or not, as their modern counterparts. And...
15 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.
Cyrus looks up about now. "Wow, that is chilling. There was no deliverance. ‘No one could save them.' Will my country, likewise, be overthrown?"
And it was. But if Daniel had anything to do with it, Cyrus was delivered. We can likewise trust the Scriptures and turn to the One Who wrote them. Or will, in Cyrus' words, "Will my country be overthrown?"
Babylon fell. Subsequently Medo-Persia fell, then Greece, Rome, and so on. Few, if anyone, mourned when they fell, other than the citizens. Will anyone mourn for us? The warning is there, and is clear. The next chapter turns to warning Israel. Cyrus can learn from that. Jump forward a chapter (48:12.) "Listen to Me." (How Many Firsts?)
*Footnote: Revelation 14:8 and 18:2 both mention the fall of Babylon, but are four chapters apart. This is obviously the same event, which undermines credence in the "linear" interpretation of of Revelation. (One continuous story from beginning to end.) It is hard to see how the same thing could happen twice. Neither does it support the unitary interpretation, that all of the judgments; seals, trumpets, bowls, are coincident or happen at the same time.
It is best interpreted as a literal time line up to the 7th seal. Revelation 7 is a filler to describe events from the beginning of the seals to the very end. It explains how people get saved during the Tribulation. Chapters 8 and 9 again are literal and linear, up to the 6th trumpet. Then another break occurs until chapter 11 and the 7th trumpet. Another break follows, chapter 12-14 and the first "fall of Babylon, leading up to the seven bowls in Chapters 15 and 16.
Chapters 17 and 18 detail the fall of Babylon leading up to the Battle of Armageddon (also mentioned twice, Chapters 14 and 19) and the Glorious Return in Revelation 19.Then follows a linear narrative through history until the end of time and beginning of eternity. (Chapters 20, 21, 22)
Simple, isn't it? End footnote. (PS. Did you ever think you'd see Revelation explained in 3 paragraphs? Well, we did skip the first 3 chapters which would rate at least a couple of
paragraphs.)
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