Isaiah 13:1-22.  This morning we start a new section of Isaiah’s writings.  The first section was an introduction in chapter 1.  That chapter briefly laid out the problem of pride and rebellion against God, specifically in the lives of the people of the southern kingdom, and challenged them (and us) to think about it.  The chapter offered two options, turn back to God and let him help us out of our rebellion or suffer the consequences.  The second section, chapters 2-12 focused on who should get honor or credit, God or man.  Man wants to give himself all the credit for the good in life (interestingly we want to blame God when things don’t go so good), that is pride.  On the other had Isaiah has shown us that God is in control and deserves all the credit, honor, or glory.   This third section continues the two-pronged theme of turning to God or suffering the consequences.  The layout of this section is different, though, from chapters 2-12.  Some scholars think this section starts in chapter 13 and goes through chapter 27 others think it goes only through chapter 23.

The Bible talks about a day when Jesus will return to the earth and establish a physical kingdom here.  We have seen some hints of this in our reading so far, especially Isaiah 9:6-7.  Chapter 2 also talked about a coming day when all the nations of the earth would look to Jerusalem and to God for understanding on how to live (Isaiah 2:2-4).  That chapter also talked about a day of judgment (Isaiah 2:12) for pride.  Although we have seen several predictions of judgment, many of which have already come true in history, there is also a more complete judgment of disobedience and rebellion (sin) coming in the future.  That time period is often called “The Day of the Lord”.  Chapter 13 mentions “the Day of the Lord” in verse 6 and chapter 24 also mentions “that day” (v. 21) and seems to be describing the same day of judgment.  In fact each of chapters 24-27 seem to be focusing on “that day”, then chapter 28 seems to change the topic.  For those reasons it looks like chapters 13-23 form a section of Isaiah’s writings and then chapters 24-27.  Remember though that the whole book is Isaiah’s collection of messages which he had delivered throughout his life, up to the time of writing (Maybe around 680 BC.  See Isaiah 37:38 where he mentions the death of the Assyrian king Sennacherib who was murdered in 681 BC).  He may have written the book over a period of time since different sections seem to focus on slightly different problems in the kingdom.  So far though the book seems to have that two-pronged theme and these other sections may just bb flavored by the times in which the specific messages were originally given.  Chapters 13-23 (27) seem to be particularly appropriate for the times of the fourth king mentioned in chapter 1, Hezekiah.  But this is only one section of a total book that God had Isaiah put together, not just for a certain king but for us too, and we must remember that.

Chapters 13-23 contain ten different “oracles”.  The English word oracle means spoken message but the Hebrew word used by Isaiah is different it means “burden”, something heave which we carry.  He may have meant that the message he was giving was hard, difficult, and serious for him to deliver.  He may also have meant that the truth in the message would be hard for the people of Judah to live through or deal with.  Maybe he meant both.

The first burden that Isaiah delivered is in chapters 13-14.  It is interesting that Isaiah says the burden is about Babylon but right away he launches into a description of “the day of the LORD” (v. 6) where God’s warriors will punish the world for it’s iniquity (a word that means twisted ways)(v. 11) and will exterminate sinners (a word which means to miss the mark or goal)(v. 9).  Mankind will become scarce and the whole earth will shake (vv. 12-13).  This sounds bigger that just Babylon.  During the time of Isaiah Assyria was the strong power in the region.  It rose in the early years of Isaiah’s ministry but was still strong by the time of his death (Tradition tells us that Isaiah was killed by the evil southern king Manasseh.  His reign ended in 642 BC so Isaiah was killed some time between 680-642 BC).  In the years after Isaiah Assyria was ruled by several weak kings (632-612 BC) and was overthrown by the newly powerful Babylonian empire in 612-609 BC.  It is interesting then that this “burden” or heavy message is about the destruction of an empire that was not even a player yet.  Even more interesting is including a message about world-wide judgment within a “burden” about a nobody nation.  In verse 17 the “burden” returns to Babylon indicating that the Babylonian empire would be destroyed by a people group known as the Medes.  Another interesting part of history is that the Medes were actually a part of the Babylonian empire that destroyed the Assyrian empire.  The Babylonian empire was sometimes known as the empire of the Medes and the Persians since it contained these people groups.  Historically the Babylonian empire referred to here is the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Neo meaning new) since there had also been an ancient Babylonian empire about 1000 years before.  This neo-Babylonian empire also contained a people group known as the Chaldeans.  The Chaldeans were the ruling group from about 612 -539 BC.  These people groups live in what is Iran today though their empire spread from the Mediterranean Sea to about India.  So it is interesting that the Medes are listed as the conquerors of the Babylonians.  Historically we know this is exactly what happened when Darius, a Mede, entered the capital and killed Belshazzar the king of Babylon in 539 BC (See Daniel 5).  In that story we see an over confidant Belshazzar throwing a party while his kingdom was being taken over by the Medes and the Persians.  Daniel 5:22-23 tells us that Belshazzar was overthrown by the Medes and Persians because he was proud and did not honor God.  The very themes we see through out Isaiah.

One last piece of the puzzle involves why the universal “day of the LORD” is mentioned at the beginning of this burden about Babylon.  Babylon traces it’s origin back to the tower of Babel in Genesis 10.  In that story mankind decided to group together instead of spreading out over the whole earth as God had instructed.  At that time all mankind shared a common language.  When God saw the rebellion he put a stop to is by causing the people to have different languages.  The result was that mankind spread out over the earth.  Near the end of the times in which we are living mankind will once again try to join together and make a perfect world for themselves.  A world run by man, for man, using all of the wisdom am can come up with.  This new pride filled world will be judged for denying God and for replacing him with mankind.  In the book of Revelation we see the destruction of this new world order.  In Revelation the new world order run by mankind is called Babylon (Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:1-24).  Babylon is a symbol of the rebellion and pride of mankind.  The events in the book of Revelation parallel descriptions in the Old Testament of the “day of the LORD”.  So it is appropriate of the message about Babylon to look beyond the soon coming destruction of Babylon (in 539 BC) and keep the bigger picture in mind.

It is awesome that God has a big plan in mind but it involves individuals.  In wars there is often “collateral damage” people who are not directly involved in the battle getting hurt and killed.  Kings and generals have to accept that some “innocent” by standers will suffer.  They are looking at the big picture of winning the war or ending the war and trying to protect their troops.  God is concerned about every single individual.  He wants each person to have the opportunity to respond to him, to look for and accept his forgiveness.  The Bible indicates that Jesus died for every single human beings sins (1 John 2:2).  Not everyone will respond but the forgiveness is available.  In our reading today we see that God has the big picture and the final plan but that he was also dealing with what was going on then and there.  Babylon was soon to come to power and it would be a proud kingdom that would deny God, and God would judge their pride.  We too can be proud and ignore God.  Wht then is the message for us?  It is the same message Judah should have gotten, honor God and not yourself or you will suffer.  But there is a hope.  At the end of “the day of the LORD” Jesus returns and rules the world in peace and wealth.  But we do not need to wait until then, the angles announced at the birth of Jesus that there was “peace on earth and goodwill toward mankind”.  John the Baptist told the people to turn back to God for the kingdom had arrived (Matthew 3:2).  Jesus repeated the same message in Matthew 4:17.  Jesus was the beginning of the kingdom, he was the answer.  Turn to God and you can be a part of the kingdom right now, a kingdom which will have it’s fulfillment after the “day of the LORD” when all pride will be dealt with and Jesus will rule on the earth forever.  Thank you god for making people the most important part of your kingdom.  In the movie Field of Dreams the voice told the main character that if he built it he would come. You tells us that if we come you will build it.  Thank you for making heaven free, not requiring us to build something before you will fix our relationship.  Thank you for caring about us.  Thank you for giving us the freedom to love you and for calling out to us.  You are so loving and so patient.  Thank you especially for your forgiveness because I know I could never build a perfect life, to think so is to lift myself up and drag you down.  Lift me up Lord as only you can do and be honored in the process.