Context for Isaiah 46-47
The history of Babylon is the history of defiance against God and His commands. From the city’s foundation as a tower reaching to Heaven to the prophetic use of its name as a symbol of those who war against their own creator by their sin, Babylon stands as the center of mankind’s fallen state of complete separation from God.
Babylon will fall and its people will be dispersed. That is the promise God makes to the Assyrians who God allowed to invade Israel and Judah and carry off many of their inhabitants. Indeed, this very promise came to pass when Cyrus of Persia eventually took Babylon and destroyed the Assyrians.
Yet, that end of Babylon was not the end of Babylon. The spirit of Babylon- its sinful defiance of its Creator- lives on even in our own time. That spirit is found in the rampant secular humanism, postmodernism, and amoralism that characterizes our modern society. Our society inherited Babylon’s mantle in spirit if not in fact.
Therefore, as citizens of this modern society, we should take note. God promised destruction against Babylon for its sins against Him and His people, and that destruction will happen just as surely now as it did then. The question for us as Christians is how much of that society do we want to be part of us when that destruction comes?
DLH
The more of society that is a part of us, the more it will hurt when that society is overthrown and torn out of our hearts.
Fence riders, beware!
“You cannot serve two masters.”
Amen.