Isaiah 47:1-15.  So the mini message we began yesterday continues.  Yesterday the people of Jerusalem (Isaiah’s original audience) were warned that Babylon would be destroyed, their gods were weak and powerless.  God on the other hand was powerful and active so the should turn back to him, trust him with their situation, and he would save them.  The setting for all of those remarks was probably the coming invasion by Assyria.  Assyria would defeat Babylon so the Jewish people should not look to them for help.

In today’s reading we get a closer look at Babylon’s future.  Right away we see in verses 1-7 Babylon being humiliated.  Verse 4 informs us who it is who will conquer Babylon, Our Redeemer,  Yahweh commander of Heavens Army (host refers to the angles), the Separated One (Holy means set aside, not common or everyday).  In verse 6 we see that God will use Babylon to discipline the Israelites but Babylon will take things too far.  That is why God will punish Babylon.  As a parent God gave me the responsibility to train my children.  One of the tools parents use is discipline everything from “time out” or going to bed without dinner to spanking.  If I abuse my position of power though and starve my child or beat them then I will answer to God for that, he may deal with me directly now or in the future or he may deal with me through a worldly power (the government, see Romans 13).  So here we see Babylon has been used to teach the Israelites a lesson but they have gone too far and so, they are being destroyed by God.

Verses 8-11 give us a little inside peek at where Babylon went wrong.  In verse 8 they are called “sensual” or “given to pleasure” or “wanton”.  It’s like the new Pepsi ads, “Live for Now”.  They just live for their own pleasure, “if it feels good do it”.  They aso have an attitude of invincibility, bad stuff will never happen to them.  Why do they think this way?  Because they are all powerful (“I am and there is no wone besides me”, v.8).  Another place they failed was in their spiritual life.  They were trusting in all sorts of “spiritual” activities none of which have any power.  Witchcraft, spells, offerings to false gods none of these are true or work.  Again if verse 10 we see pride (remember pride was one of the two big ideas Isaiah was dealing with).  Verse 11 tells us that the offering they were making to their idols were an attempt to satisfy the “gods”.  But it would not pay for their evil actions (atone means to pay the price for something).

Verses 12-13 are sort of a taunt, God is getting in the Babylonian’s face, challenging them to come up with answers using their pathetic man made powers.  They would not find answers in astrology, or spells, or witchcraft (probably involving trying to talk to the dead and to spirits).  But remember this is really written to the people in Judah so it is a challenge to them too to look to the true God who alone knows the beginning from the end (Isaiah 46:10) and is the truly self sustaining powerful one (Isaiah 46:9).  All of the false religious leaders were just a useless burden to the Babylonians, they could not save themselves let alone a whole nation (verses 14-15).

As I read this chapter I realized it did not fit the current situation in Jerusalem and Judah around 705-701 BC.  The previous chapter fit the situation but this one does not.  Babylon was an on again off again power but Assyria was the dominant power in the area.  Babylon did not control the Israelites at that time, so verse 6 had not yet happened.  Some scholars try to cram all of the chapters into one setting, one place in history.  Others, realizing that they don’t fit, clam that they were written by different people through out history and put together at some time much later.  Often these scholars look at Isaiah this way because they do not believe in God or anyone’s ability to predict the future.  To them the Bible was completely made by mere mortals.  There was a time in Israelite history when they were under bondage to Babylon.  From 609 BC to 539 BC during what is called the Babylonian captivity.  But here again a lot of the information in chapter 47 does not really fit.  Verse 6 tells us that the Israelites were suffering, they were oppressed, but during the Babylonian captivity we do not really oppression going on.  Ther is one final period of history during which Israel will be oppressed by “Babylon” it still future and is described in Revelation 18.  In that chapter there is one last world wide empire controlled by the original false god, Satan.  That world empire is referred to as Babylon.

It is hard to know what the people of Judah would have though when they heard these words from Isaiah.  His vision contained things that would come to pass soon and others that would not happen for thousands of years, but there is still a lesson here for them and for us.  Certainly the big ideas should have gotten through.  God saves idols do not.  God has knowledge and wisdom and power and is in control.  Idols are not and neither are we.  They were being warned not to trust in human plans and human alliances.  A kind of hidden warning can be seen in the fact that this current “friend” would one day oppress them.  In Jeremiah 17:5 the people of Jerusalem are warned again about the same kinds of things.  Jeremiah was one of the last prophets in Jerusalem as it was being conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BC.  But the enemy is not just out there it is also inside each of us.  Twice in verses 8 and 10 the Babylonians were filled with pride, they needed to answer to no one.  Certainly the people of Judah should have been warned about pride in self and in others.  God alone is worthy of our trust and honor, he alone saves.  With out him there is “none to save us”.   We need the same lessons today as we lift mankind up and try to put ourselves on God’s throne.  “We don’t need God we came from the ancient slime and have lifted ourselves to the highest place in creation”, that is what we seem to think.  “There is no problem man cannot solve if we all just work together”, that is how we approach life.  But God alone has the knowledge and the power and the answers.  In the end Babylon will be destroyed, the world and the Devil and those who trust in flesh (Jeremiah 17:5) will face the Holy justice of God.  We need to turn away from our way and back to God and let him save us now and for eternity.  God we live in a world all wrapped up in us.  We “live for now” and forget about forever and about you.  Forgive me for forgetting about you sometimes (maybe often).  Forgive me for not keeping my eyes on you and on your eternal kingdom.  Forgive me for “living for now”.  Be honored in my life.  Help me bring a glimpse of eternity into the live of those I meet.  Let me trust in you and your solutions to life’s problems. 

Isaiah 46:1-13.  A little note about yesterday’s reading.  The song of praise was in verse 24-25.  Today we begin the fourth of the mini messages all ending with a song of praise to honor God.  This mini message is 46:1-48:22.

In today’s reading we are introduced to two idols Bel (sometimes called Marduk) and Nebo.  These were both Babylonian gods or idols.  In this reading we see these idols being carried on some sort of a beast.  They are being carried away into captivity and are unable to rescue them selves.  In contrast we see a picture of God.  This picture is given to the remnant of leftovers of Israel.  Unlike the idols who have to be carried around on oxen or donkeys or whatever, God is presented to us as a God who produced and carries the people of Israel all of their lives.  The idols of Babylon went into captivity being carried away but God will carry the remnant of Israel to a safe place.

Because of the mini message before this one which named Cyrus the Great, king of Persia as God’s tool to save the Israelites fro bondage in Babylon (about 539 BC) many scholars want to apply this message to the same setting.  The problem is that Bel and Nebo were not “humiliated” when Cyrus conquered Babylon he actually was a follower of Marduk.  The setting of this message fits better with the overthrow of Babylon in 503 BC around the same time that Hezekiah was tempted to make a treaty with them against Assyria.  If this is the setting the next few verses make good sense.  In verses 5-7 the people of Judah, facing Assyrian invasion and tempted to and making alliances with surrounding kingdoms, are challenged about comparing their God to the manmade idols of the people around them.  God asks in verse 5, “Are we really equal?”  Remember he has just pointed out that he made them and has been carrying them through history.  If there is any doubt about the answer God challenges them to remember.  And he has given them proof.  He has consistently told them what was going to happen in history before it did, “declaring the end from the beginning”.  This should be proof enough that he is the real thing.  Then he lets them know that he will finish what he started.  Verse 11 uses a metaphor to refer to a coming conquering king, this king is called a bird of prey from the east.  This is probably a reference to Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who has just conquered (0r is about to conquer) Babylon and is moving west (or will then move west) toward Judah.

Verses 12-13 bring it all back home.  “Listen up!”  The Israelites were stubborn and wanted real protection not some vague God thing.  After reminding them (vv. 3-11) that he has been carrying them through out their history and challenging them to remember God in these verse informs them that he is going to do it right now, he is going to save them very soon.  He will be honored but hey will get the benefit.  Remember that he did save Jerusalem from destruction by Sennacherib in 701 BC.  He did this in spite of their alliances with their neighbors and being tempted to make another one with Babylon.

It is cool that God loves us in spite of our selves.  We screw up and he loves us any way.  Of course that does not give us an excuse.  And as we saw over the last couple of days people who continue to blow God off really lose in the end.  One interesting thing that stood out to me today is that part about God’s glory.  Some people think that God is some kind of ego maniac, a ball hog.  Remember that one of the bid ideas in Isaiah is that God alone deserves to be honored, put up on a pedestal.  It really cuts our pride when we think about giving someone else all of the credit all the time.  But look at the very last line of verse 13, “I will give my glory to Israel”.  Although God gets the credit we get the benefit.  In a way he shares his honor with us.  At the end of the day I don’t care who gets the credit as long as I get cared for.  And God does care for us now and for eternity.  Life from beginning to end to ever after is all a gift from God.  That is the great evil lie of evolution, that life comes from no where and no one.  The world doesn’t want us to see God.  But life is proof of his existence and goodness but we all share in that goodness by being here.  Who God is awesome.  He didn’t have to make the universe or us but he did.  As we read yesterday he made it to be inhabited.  He loves us and deserves our honor.  Thank you God for making me and loving me.  Thank you for making such a hospitable world to live in.  Thank you for making colors and smells and tastes and textures.  Thank you for giving me the ability to appreciate it all.  Thank you for loving us, me.  Thank you for giving us, me, the ability to appreciate all of this.  Thank you for making me the recipient of all the good you do.  Help me honor you with all that I do.