Babylon is Fallen!

By Pastor Matt Black

25 February 2007
Lord's Day evening
Isaiah 13:1-13

 

Introduction:   Open your Bibles to Isaiah 13, and let’s read this chapter.  The title of this evening’s message is “Babylon is Fallen!” 

 

[Read Isaiah 13]

 

Illustration: Every generation has its side shows.  They seem so important at the time, but they very soon vanish out of our minds and are forgotten.  Can you tell me who won the Super Bowl five years ago?  Do you know?  How about the year before that? 

 

There are some great things that happen in life and great people that come on the world’s scene, but sometimes what seems so great at the time moves on, and is found out to be not really that important. 

 

Tonight we are going to take a journey to ancient Babylon.  We are going to see how it was founded, how it ascended to power and is loved by all the world, and then it is taken out of existence and eternally forgotten. 

 

We will see all of this as we look at the Biblical city, but we are also going to look at spiritual Babylon and how in the Bible it always represents rebellion and unfaithfulness to God.  Babylon is a picture of this satanic world system that we do battle with every day.  It is a place of materialism, spiritual adultery, and independence from God. 

 

Before we get into our text in Isaiah, let’s first look at a history of Babylon.

 

Babylon’s History

Babylon was situated "in the land of Shinar" (Genesis 10:10) which is modern-day Iraq.

 

1.      Babylon’s Founder.  Its founder was Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-12).  The name Nimrod means “rebellion”.  Babylon was founded in rebellion against God!   We are going to find out this evening that though the Biblical city of Babylon today lies in ruins, that the spirit of Babylon lives on today, and not much has changed since Nimrod founded the city of rebellion.[1]   

 

2.      Tower of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-9, about 2246 B.C.) Babylon began as the first truly humanistic city building a tower that would reach to heaven.  Babylon in the Scriptures has always been about finding a way to heaven without God and without Christ who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).  In Babylon, man is always his own savior. 

 

Of course the tower that founded the city was built in open defiance of the Lord’s command to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 9:1).  The city that would come to be known as “Babylon” was founded on the principle of human self-reliance apart from the true and living God.   Ultimately, all attempts at unifying man without God, and especially against God, will fail; for the LORD Jesus Christ will "rule all nations with a rod of iron" (Revelation 12:5) and shall "dash them [THOSE WHO WILL NOT BOW TO THE SON] in pieces like a potter's vessel" (Psalm 2:9).

 

3.      Hammurabi. In 1763 BC Hammurabi gave Babylon its famous civil law code.

 

4.      Nebuchadnezzar.  For the next thousand years or so, various kings reign until 612 BC, when Nabopolassar,[2] father to Nebuchadnezzar, liberated Babylon from Assyria and razed Nineveh the Assyrian capital to the ground. From that time on, Babylon began to be in prominence. On August 15, 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar’s father died, and Nebuchadnezzar ascended the throne of Babylon. So Assyria was indeed “broken in pieces” (Isaiah 8:9).  It was Nebuchadnezzar that would take the Southern tribe, Judah, into captivity. 

 

Exposition of the Text: Isaiah 13:1-22

 

Now we come to chapter 13 of Isaiah, where we have the prophecy of the rise and fall of ancient Babylon.  It is an amazing prophecy that is quoted from by other prophets such as Jeremiah (chapters 50-51) and Zephaniah. 

 

VERSE 1: God’s Word to Babylon

We read in verse 1, “The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.”

Look at that word “Burden”: Have you ever said, “Wow, that is heavy!”  I know that is probably an antiquated phrase right now, but that’s the idea that the word “burden” carries.  It is a sobering, heavy and troublesome message from the sovereign God of Heaven!  This message was specially marked for BABYLON. 

 

Isaiah’s Bird’s Eye View

Our text says that this is the burden “which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.” Now Isaiah is writing the infallible, inerrant, God breathed, holy revelation of God, so everything he writes is from the perspective of an all knowing God.  Remember, Isaiah is writing of Babylon’s defeat about a hundred years before Babylon even becomes a world power.  At the time, Babylon was easily under the brutal control of the Assyrians. 

 

Illustration:  That would be like saying to Great Britain during the time of the founding of the American colonies, “You know, in just a couple hundred years, those American colonies are going to be a world power”!  If you would have told Great Britain that back then, they would have laughed!  They never would have believed it.

 

This prophecy was even more unbelievable than that to show that God is quite capable of doing the impossible.  Throughout the Bible, God gives these kinds of prophecies a hundred, or sometimes even a thousand years before they happen so that when they take place His people will remember that He is in control and that He is still on the throne.  God says in Isaiah 46:10, I declare the “end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure”.  It is God alone who “worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11). 

 

At the time of the writing of these verses, Assyria, not Babylon was well established in power.  Yet in this passage, scrawny Babylon, not mighty Assyria, is called “the glory of kingdoms” (verse 19).  It was unbelievable that Babylon could be called by such a title at that time!  In fact, during Isaiah’s own lifetime, in 689 BC, the city of Babylon was completely decimated and demolished to the ground by the Assyrians.[3]  So, at the time, to say that the city of Babylon would overtake the greatest world power of that time just 77 years after it is decimated was truly an unbelievable prophecy.   From man’s perspective it seems impossible, but Isaiah is writing from the bird’s eye view of the omniscient God of heaven!  So, in 612 BC a rebuilt Babylon under Nabopolassar (who was the father of Nebuchadnezzar) would conquer the great and mighty Assyria (with the help of the Medes). 

 

Babylonian dominance would ascend to incredible heights, especially under King Nebuchadnezzar, that is why the Lord calls Babylon “the glory of kingdoms” (verse 19).  But this dominance would not last long though—just 73 years to be exact.  You see, in 539 BC Babylon would be conquered by what would come to be known as the Medo-Persian Empire (Cyrus the Great of Persia with the assistance of King Darius of the Medes).

 

Application:  As I said, all of this seemed impossible in Isaiah’s day.  But let us always remember the words of Jesus in Luke 18:27, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

 

Now before we go on, let me give you the layout of this chapter:

 

Ř       In verses 2-5, we have God bringing the Medes and the Persians together to bring His judgment upon Babylon.

 

Ř       Then in verses 6-13, God expands the prophecy to give us a picture of His future judgment upon the entire world on the Last Day.

 

Ř       In verses 14-18 we go back to earthly Babylon where the Lord uses Babylon’s destruction to again illustrate what the Last Day will be like for the wicked.

 

Ř       Finally in verses 19-22 we see the emptiness of earthly success and glory for the wicked in light of an eternal hell.

 

I.             God Gathers an Unstoppable Army

So, in verses 2-5, we have God bringing the Medes and the Persians together to bring His judgment upon Babylon.  We read in verse 2, “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.” 

 

The picture: Here we find a spiritual figure, a metaphor as to how God was going to gather the Medes and Persians together.  He tells Babylon that they might as well put a gigantic flag onto the highest peak of a mountain crest; lift up your voice, and wave your hand for them to come. 

 

Look where they were to go: into the gates of the nobles—referring to the most beautiful gates of the city where they would normally go once victory was declared. 

 

So God is gathering together the Medes and the Persians—He says your rallying point is already established—your conquering of them is going to be highly visible, and finally he caps it off by saying, victory is guaranteed.  You’re going to enter into the gates of the nobles. 

 

The overthrow of a nation seems like an awesome thing, but it is nothing to God.  Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 40:15, “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”

 

Now look at verse 3.  God Himself is now speaking.  He says, “I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.”

 

God calls the Medes and the Persians here His “sanctified ones”.  Sanctify in the Bible can refer to moral character or regenerated position, but it can also simply mean, “someone who is set apart for a special use.”  That is what it means here.  The Medo-Persian empire was going to be a tool of punishment in the hand of an Almighty and holy God who promised to take down Babylon.

 

Notice God says, “I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness”.  Who are these mighty ones?  They are Darius, King of the Medes and Cyrus the King of Persia, which is modern day Iran.  It says these two mighty ones rejoice in God’s highness, or in other words, His glory.  How do two devious lost men end up rejoicing in the glory of God?  They thought they were doing their own will, which they were, but at the same time they were carrying out the high and glorious promises and purposes of God who promised that Babylon would fall. 

 

We move onto verse 4, and it is like the Medo-Persian army is already upon them.  This is an intriguing sentence in Hebrew as Isaiah does not use an verbs—they are almost pulses as he cries out, “The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.”

 

Isaiah says that the “kingdom of nations” was gathered together because Persia was really made of many different nations.  There were groups of all peoples represented in the Persian army.  The Lord is bringing His armies to war. The army grows bigger and bigger and the sound of war grows louder and louder.  There is no escape for Babylon. 

 

Verse 5 is shocking—it’s almost over the top.  We read, “They [THE MEDO-PERSIAN ARMY] come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.”  This picture is shocking, because you see that the army gathers from all over the earth, and who is the General of the army?  The LORD is the General, and the Persian army are simply His “weapons of indignation”.  Babylon in the end lives scrumptiously for a short time, more exalted than any of the nations, but eventually, the LORD Himself puts Babylon down.  God must put them down because of all Babylon represents.  Let’s look at some of the characteristics of Babylon, and as we do remember Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD;”

 

Characteristics of Babylon

1.      Babylon is the most powerful nation in the world.  None can come close to her in terms of wealth, power, her military, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, exports and imports.  She is the “the glory of kingdoms” (Isaiah 13:19).  Unfortunately, Babylon’s peoples did not honor the Lord so instead of being thankful, Babylon always becomes proud, self sufficient, and God defiant.

 

2.      Babylon was a mixture of unbelieving peoples.  God said to multiply and replenish the earth, but Babylon’s citizens did not believe in the promises of God. Babel was this way, and God dispersed them, and ancient Babylon was that way (Jeremiah 50:37). 

 

3.      Babylon is called in Jeremiah 51:13 a “land of many waters”.  This is referring to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  The idea here is that she is a self-sufficient land of great resources.  This leads the people again to become proud, self sufficient, and God defiant.

 

4.      The key is, everything this nation was given was from the LORD, and instead of being humbled by it, they became arrogant, rejecting the LORD for many false gods.

 

Before we look at verse 5-13, which are a set of terrifying verses, I want to make a point that Scripture makes: Though ancient Babylon is destroyed, her sins and idolatries live on today.

 

Frequently in the Bible, especially in Revelation 17 and 19 we read about Spiritual Babylon, the Mother of Harlots. Babylon is represented in Scripture as a picture of all rebellion against the Lord.  We read in Revelation 17:5 about the symbol of all humanistic and false religion coming to an end, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

 

Babylon the Great is carried on through history in the greatest nations of the world.  We saw Babylon resurrected in Alexander the Great’s Greece, and later in the Roman Empire.  The Reformers saw in their present day that Rome and the Pope as Babylon. 

 

Any nation who follows Babylon will fall as Babylon did.  That is clear in Bible prophecy:

Isaiah 21:9, “And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.”

 

Jeremiah 51:8, “Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.”

 

Revelation 14:8, “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

 

Revelation 18:2, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

 

Babylon of old became a desolate wasteland!  So will anyone who follows her iniquities.

 

You might say, well what about our country?  What about America?

 

I can tell you that America began as a “city on a hill”—a bright and shining light where the Puritans and Pilgrims worshipped God.  America has been a land where the greatest spiritual awakenings have taken place.  America has been given much and is now filled with riches. 

 

But today, our country has forgotten her God!  She has forsaken the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!  She is “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”, but she does not know that she is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”.   America needs to “buy of me [Christ] gold tried in the fire, that she may be rich; and white raiment, that she may be clothed, and that the shame of her nakedness do not appear; and anoint her eyes with eyesalve, that she may see” (Revelation 3:17-18).

 

America today is sanctioning murder under the laws of our land. 

 

We are protecting the rights of those who want to abuse our children.

 

America is worshipping the creature more than the Creator.  She is sanctioning that which is abominable and unnatural and calling it “marriage”!

 

America needs to repent!  Turn to Jesus Christ.  We as God’s people need to pray.

 

Today, America is looking more and more like Babylon and less and less like the Puritan’s “city on a hill”!

 

Next week, we are going to look at some of the pagan practices of Babylon that found their way to Rome and all of Europe and now to our own country. 

 

Application:  Babylon came under God’s judgment and so will America if her people do not once again turn to God!  We are going to find out in verses 6-13 that there is coming an unstoppable day that will bring judgment to all.  We all have an unstoppable appointment as we come to the end of our days.  We wake up each day as if this life is going to go on for ever.  I’ve got news for all of us here tonight.  This earthly life is not forever.  Are you ready?  If you are not, then please listen closely as we look at what life after death will be like for you in the next verses.

 

I want to read verses 6-13 in closing.  We will look at them more closely next week.  In these verses, God expands the prophecy to give us a picture of His future judgment upon the entire world on the Last Day.

 

The Day of the Lord

    6 ¶  Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7  Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: 8  And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11  And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12  I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

 

Those of you who do not know the Lord tonight, one minute after you die, your heart will melt with fear.  The breath will be taken from you because of the terror you are experiencing.  Your perception will more alive than it ever was, and you will be filled with amazement and sheer horror.  Listen to verse 8, pangs and sorrow will take hold of you!  Every moment you will experience all over again that this is an eternal nightmare that will never end.  You will not have my wrath upon you, but the wrath of the God who is love.  If you reject the true and living God, you will experience His cruel wrath and fierce anger. 

 

God will soon shake the heavens, and the stars of the sky fall from heaven.  You see God is a God who will not acquit the wicked.  He will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity.  No longer will a proud man exist in God’s universe.  Every living soul in heaven and in hell will be humbled to the dust.  Every thing the wicked are living for will be utterly destroyed!

 

Conclusion:  What is the answer to all this?  Babylon trusted in her riches and in the things she could see and the things she could experience.  She was a harlot—she was a fornicator. 

 

The way of Babylon is the way of the world.  Self sufficient, proud, self dependent people will not enter into the gates of Heaven.  God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Babylon is Fallen!  It will always fall! Friend, don’t follow the way of Babylon.  The world, the flesh, and the devil will come to nothing! 

 

Closing Hymn: 366 Have Thine Own Way


[1] Also, the Assyrian capital of Nineveh is counted (Genesis 10:11) as one of the many cities built by Nimrod.

[2] Nebopolassar actually ascended Babylon’s throne in 625 BC, but it was not until 612 that he was able to liberate Babylon from Assyria.

[3] Isaiah would later die in 681 BC, just eight years after the razing of Babylon by the Assyrians.