Good Morning Friends,
Babylon was a tool of God used to discipline
Israel. But the fact that God used Babylon did not justify its wickedness or
its rejection of God. In Isaiah 13, God foretells the destruction of Babylon. It
is a history lesson, told before it happened and a case study in what happens
to a people who reject God!
“I have summoned my warriors to carry out my
wrath. They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens -- the Lord
and the weapons of His wrath -- to destroy the whole country.” (Isaiah 13:3,5)
What is predicted for Babylon, and what
actually happened to it, was not pleasant.
“Terror will seize them, pain and anguish
will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast
at each other, their faces aflame. See, the day of the Lord is coming -- a cruel
day, with wrath and fierce anger -- to make the land desolate and destroy the
sinners within it.” (Isaiah 13: 8-9)
I think Babylon is a small picture of what
God will do to all the wickedness of the world one day. He says, “I will punish
the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the
arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” (Isaiah
13:11)
And when God destroys, He can cause it to
stay destroyed. “Babylon will never be inhabited or lived in through all
generations, no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his
flocks there.” (Isaiah 13:20) And true to what God predicted, Babylon remains
uninhabited these 2,000 plus years later!
For me, the story of Babylon says a lot about
God’s power. It says a lot about God’s ultimate punishment of sin. We dwell a
lot on God’s patience, and He is patient. We dwell a lot on God’s grace, and it
is abundant. But for those outside of Christ, a day of wrath is coming and it will
be even fiercer than what Babylon faced.
And some people wonder why evangelism is so
important! Some people are uneasy about bothering people with what we believe!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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