Context for Isaiah 13:1-14:23
These verses predict the doom of one of Israel and Judah’s greatest adversaries, Babylon, the nation that would sack Jerusalem in 586 BC. These verses also draw an interesting parallel to other verses throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament, that use the ancient city of Babylon as an example of the evil that is found in the end-times.
While certainly the application of this prophecy to the actual conquest of Babylon by the Medes in 539 BC cannot be ignored, neither can its application to the wider body of prophecy as it relates to the New Testament and the end-time period. This is not to suggest an overemphasis on the end times, but rather to encourage deeper study of God’s word and what it means to our faith.
The city of Babylon is an image used throughout the Bible to represent the height of evil and depravity in the world. Babylon is the symbol of earthly defiance of God’s righteousness and will through the direct rebellion of sin.
It is appropriate then that God gave Isaiah a prophetic vision of Babylon’s destruction, because it reminds us that God’s intolerance for evil is complete. Certainly, God used the ancient city-kingdom of Babylon to punish Jerusalem, but that use did not exclude Babylon from the same fate.
What lesson should modern Christians take from this prophecy? That all things that offend God will be destroyed by His wrath. Evil will not withstand God’s judgment. The world will be subjugated to God’s will.
And how does such a lesson apply? Look at the world around us. Whatever is there that is not God-pleasing, that is anything that is not actively engaged in doing His will, will ultimately be destroyed. How much of those things do we want to be part of our lives when that destruction comes?
DLH
