Isaiah and Habakuk foretold of Babylon being brought down to overthrow Israel. Isaiah also told of the fall of Babylon. But as we read Isaiah 13 and 14, we will see that God revealed the nearer predictions of Babylon as well as that yet to come. But you might say is Babylon still a prominent city? No, but the spirit of Babylon is alive and well. All these predictions of Babylon occurred before Babylon even had risen to power. Indeed, its initial fall was at least 150 years after these predictions of Isaiah. It helped to give Daniel hope and faith amid his captivity. Also, Isaiah even foretold of Cyrus, the Persian (way before he was even born). Therefore, Babylon’s Fall, declares the Sovereignty of God Almighty.
Furthermore, just as the former fall of Babylon came to be, so will the future fall of Babylonian thought. What is the greatest sin leading to Babylon’s failures? Is it not the same as Satan’s greatest sin? Pride. Pride causes humanity to believe oneself to be greater than God. Oh, one might say, “I would never believe myself greater than God.” But do we not each time we are sad believing our life oppressed? If we really believe He is good and all that He desires for His redeemed is their sanctification and their joy, then would it not be pride that causes us to be saddened by any circumstances? A pride that destroys faith is believing we know better than God what is best for us.
So, let’s look at some of this prophecy and evaluate how it declares why we must not fear.
The Sovereignty of God speaks to Cyrus before he is born.
5 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
2 ‘I will go before you
And make the crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron. Isaiah 45 (NKJV)
Think of this, God is foretelling through Isaiah the strength of Cyrus from Persia. Cyrus the Great was the Persian King who developed the massive Achaemenian Empire. He was born somewhere around 590-580 BC. Isaiah died somewhere between 690-680 BC. What did God’s word say to Cyrus?
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the Lord,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me. Isaiah 45 (NKJV)
This was the message from God, that later Daniel would read to Cyrus the Great. He then released the Jewish people to return and rebuild Jerusalem. Furthermore, he gave them materials to do so.
Amazing Truth, the Sovereignty of God Almighty
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
7 I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things.’ Isaiah 45 (NKJV)
It was the Sovereignty of God Almighty and His strength that gave Cyrus the Great his success in conquering huge portions of land. It was in 539 BC that Cyrus the great conquered Babylon.
8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it.
Isaiah 45 (NKJV)
And therefore, we can believe this truth, righteousness will one day overtake the world when Jesus Christ returns in all His Glory to reign upon earth. Only God can create righteousness on earth. It is part of His essence.
The Sovereignty of God Almighty in the Fall of Babylon
The pronouncement concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
2 Lift up a flag on the bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have also called for My warriors
Who boast in My eminence,
To execute My anger. Isaiah 13 (NASB)
Consecrated is defined as to Make or Declare—God had declared Cyrus to overthrow Babylon, but who in the future destruction of Babylon? I guarantee God has someone already declared though they may not have yet been born..
4 A sound of a roar on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of armies is mustering the army for battle.
5 They are coming from a distant country,
From the farthest horizons,
The Lord and the weapons of His indignation,
To destroy the whole land. Isaiah 13 (NASB)
Who is leading this great ultimate overthrow of the mysterious Babylon? Jesus Christ for He is the Lord of God’s Army.
The Day of the Lord is Coming
I love the way that God can speak of today in the same moment He speaks of tomorrow. For He is outside of time and space. Yet, He fulfills all of His prophecies as they are then and again as they are yet to come.
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore all hands will fall limp,
And every human heart will melt.
8 They will be terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame. Isaiah 13 (NASB)
In the Day of the Lord when judgement comes upon all the evil of this world. But why do I think pride is a part of sin itself?
Well let’s look at some of the Kings of Judah.
Pride that comes before a fall—King Uzziah
Throughout the recorded history of the Kings, we saw evil kings over Israel (some worse than others) while some good and some bad in Judah. One that was good, turned upside down was King Uzziah.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. 4 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. 2 Chronicles 26 (NKJV)
He won great battles against the Philistines. But then what happened?
16 But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. 18 And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.” 2 Chronicles 26
When Pride Steps In and the Sovereignty of God is questioned
19 Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him.
21 King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. 2 Chronicles 26 (NKJV)
One example of why not to become proud. After all, God is all powerful and He is about the work of transforming me into the image of Christ. So, whatever it takes, He will do.
King Ahaz and God’s Plan
So you can read in 2 Chronicles 28 about King Ahaz, who was so bad God sent Syria to shake him up a bit as they took many captives. To make it worse, then Israel fought against Judah and took many captives. This demonstrates the ultimate in pride that could not be broken as we see what King Ahaz does. God did intervene and have Israel return their captives.
9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: “Look, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand; but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. 10 And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? 11 Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.” 2 Chronicles 28 (NKJV)
Despite seeing God’s intervening in every case, King Ahaz doubled down on being evil. Indeed, he determined to worship the gods of Syria, believing they had given the Syrians strength. He never recognizes the hand of God in it all. He even closed the doors on the house of the Lord, took many of its articles and built altars to false gods.
When the Sovereignty of God Almighty Puts an End to Pride
God has spoken concerning the Day of the Lord
So I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their wrongdoing;
I will also put an end to the audacity of the proud
And humiliate the arrogance of the tyrants. Isaiah 13 (NASB)
God speaks of the coming destruction of Babylon. There was a former overthrow of Babylon as well we know, but there is one to come with final destruction.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there. Isaiah 13 (NASB)
The Sovereignty of God Almighty Keeps His Covenants always
For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors. Isaiah 14 (NKJV)
He now goes back to the DAY of the Lord which is to come and says the King of Babylon will be destroyed.
3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
The golden[a] city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing. Isaiah 14 (NKJV)
But then we are told, who is the true King of the Spirit of Babylon that invades us even today.
PRIDE
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit. Isaiah 14 (NKJV)
So, what was the thing that led Satan to rebel? Pride! And what is the Spirit of Babylon even today? The Pride of humanity believing they have a better answer for life than God does. So let us pray for God to reveal in our hearts the threads of pride we may or may not be aware of so we might always point the world to Jesus Christ, our only hope and our salvation. And let us always trust in the Sovereignty of God Almighty to lead us along the paths of life.
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD? He is our only Hope in Life and Death! Our Joy is found in Him.
Therefore if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you today. Go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2024
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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