THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
Finally, rest, release from fear, bondage, and oppression
Isaiah 14 SCC
5/5/13
INTRODUCTION
For many reasons,
political and global, men like Saddam Hussein and Mohamar
Ghadaffi, represent the demise of arrogant
leadership. We cannot forget the images of their downfall. And any leader who
leads with hubris in blatant disregard for God who placed them there will also
be accountable for their leadership. In Revelation 18 we have a lament of
Babylon; Fallen, fallen is Babylon the
great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every
unclean spirit…woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city? For in one hour your judgment has come’ v 2 and 10. Babylon
will ultimately be made uninhabitable and destroyed. This nation and/or city
represent the futility and folly of self-exalting pride, which this idealized
Babylonian king modeled. This is the entire point of the passage.
BELIEVERS CAN ANTICIPATE THAT THEIR OPPRESSORS WILL BE DESTROYED
Verse 1-2: the Lord will have compassion…choose
Israel…settle them…they will rule over
Earlier Isaiah
predicted that Israel would experience defeat and captivity. After that the
Lord would have compassion on her, choose her again for blessing and resettle
her in her own land. The Israelites would then have authority over those who
formerly had authority over them. They would take the lead domestically,
militarily, and politically. So the prophet begins this oracle with
a word of comfort and hope for Israel--in line with his theme of "a
remnant shall return."
Verse
3:
in the day when the Lord gives you rest
from your pain and turmoil and harsh service
Having described the
future destruction of Babylon in
13:17-22, Isaiah now related the coming destruction of Babylon’s king. He announces the promise of rest
from oppression. These three expressions describe the difficulty of the people
of God in this fallen world, notably under the
pagan--Babylonian--domination. So the writer anticipates a time when the
people will be set free from their troubles and sing a victory song.
Verse 4: will take up a taunt against the king of Babylon…
After the Lord gave
Israel rest following her captivity, she would taunt Babylon’s proud ruler who
had formerly taunted her. His death would be an occasion for joy, not sorrow. The
taunt that follows, delights in the sudden collapse of the nation of
Babylon. The taunt here is: “How the oppressor has come to an end!”
Although Babylon is not yet the power it was to become in a few decades, here
the prophet looks ahead to the enemy who, like Assyria, will oppress the
people. The word is that all such
oppressors will be destroyed before the great Messianic Age.
Finally
great joy and security will prevail on earth (5-8)
Verse 5-6: broken
the staff...of the scepter of rulers
God will break the
ruthless tyrant. The pride of Babylon is focused on her ruthless king, or
her kingship in general that characterized the proud nation. The terms
“rod” and “staff” refer to the dominion of the pagan rulers as symbols of
authority. The point is that the power of these oppressors is to be
broken. They ruled with a continuous stroke of anger, afflicting other nations;
but soon they would be broken down.
Verse 7-8: the
whole earth is at rest and is quiet…cypress trees rejoice
Here
is affirmation
that this judgment will bring great joy to the people. These are the
joyful shouts that exclaim the cessation of oppression and the beginning of
lasting peace. Security is restored. The “trees” rejoice since no one has
ever come up to cut them down. The forests are personified as delighting
that the enemies no longer will come through cutting down trees to burn their
fires and make their ramps.
There
will be great commotion in Hell for those entering judgment (9-11)
Verse 9: Shades
from beneath is excited
Here sheol refers to the realm
of the departed spirits, all those who died in unrighteousness, without God,
without hope, without their pomp, and left to wander in darkness. The meeting
party is made up of the kings of the earth and others who are already there.
“Shades” is a term for departed spirits.
Verse 10-11: you have become like us…your pomp…have been
brought down to sheol…maggots
Other dead rulers
there would rejoice because this great monarch now shared the humiliating fate
of them all. Rather than honoring him, these dead leaders would mock him
because in death he was not superior to them. Instead of an honorable bier he
would get maggots for a bed and worms for a bedspread. What a final resting
place for a king!
LESSON: Every evil ruler
and oppressor will be trampled and destroyed. Each, one by one, will fall into
the grave and the land of shades where they will await their judgment. Think
about it—they usually get to rule for a generation then they are gone. God will
be vindicated. Believers will be preserved and secure in the new realm of
Christ’s rule. All will be completely reversed. Righteousness will replace
ruthlessness.
ANYONE CHOOSING PRIDE AND OPPRESSION IS HEADING FOR DESTRUCTION
Verse 12: how have you fallen from heaven…you have
been cut down
With this section we
discover that we have a possible double meaning. The word ‘shining One’ describe the brilliance of the oppressing king,
claiming to be the son of the morning star. But some have seen a second
reference in it to Satan, or a spirit force behind the throne. In the Old
Testament “stars” may refer to angelic or demonic powers. And the pagan
kings claimed to be divine, or at least the offspring of the gods. Lucifer would
then show the glory that Satan once had. Indeed, Paul says that he still
can change himself into an angel of light to deceive people. But the primary
meaning of the chapter is the human king who was filled with pomp and
vainglory, who fell quickly from his exalted position.
Verse 13-15: I
will ascend…raise…sit…ascend…make…nevertheless you will be thrust to sheol
Here
portrays the
great pride of this one who said he would exalt himself above God. He
arrogantly thought that he was suitable for heaven, higher than the angels, fit
to join the assembly of the gods. He thought he could make himself like
the Most High. Such was the ambition of these powerful despots who
thought they were divine. But the contrast is: “But you are brought down
to the grave, to the depths of the pit” in v 15. Even though he had exalted himself to
near deity status, he would die and go to Sheol like
every other proud person.
Verse 16-17: Those who see you will ponder…is this the man who shook kingdoms…overthrew cities
There is amazement of
those in hell of those who witness his fall. It is in the form of a question
anticipating a negative answer, “Is this the one who shook the earth and made
kingdoms tremble?” Here too it would refer primarily to the king of
Babylon, the empire builder who kept puppet empires at bay and who would not
let captives go home. When divine judgment has fallen, such kings are
nothing. This evokes the amazement over them. Where is all their
power now?
Verse 18-19: All the kings…each in his own tomb…like a trampled corpse
This shows that this
one will not even have a state funeral. Kings normally lie in state when
they die, but this one will be cast out of his tomb. To stress the
indignity of this the prophet uses a couple of similes: “like a rejected
branch” and “like a corpse trampled under foot.”
The image of a branch is used here ironically; it often is used for a king who
continues a dynasty. Here it is cut off and cast down. The other
simile is of a trodden carcass. He will be like the rest of the carnage
on the battlefield. There will be no honor or dignity in his death. They expected
that such a “great man” would enjoy an honorable burial, but this man received
no burial at all. He died covered with the bodies of his fellow warriors rather
than with earth. Viewing his unburied corpse onlookers would wonder if this was
really the infamous scourge of Babylon who had ruined his own country and
ravaged his own people as well as his enemies. They would then take measures to
assure that his sons would not rise to power by cutting off his posterity. Hopefully
they could remove his memory from the earth.
Verse 20-23: I will sweep it with the broom of destruction
There would be no
normal burial for this one, because he has ruined his land and his
people. The idea of remaining nameless forever is an expression that
signifies non-existence. His death will be disgraceful. To be
forgotten is to be utterly destroyed--even from memory. But the death will also
be for the land, the great land of Babylon. It will be turned into a
place for owls, a swampland. God would sweep it with the broom of destruction. Babylon
was destroyed by Persia in 538 B.C. and lay in ruins for 2500 years, until
Saddam Hussein began rebuilding it as part of the cultural heritage of Iraq.
In the days of Isaiah,
the people of Judah had no idea of the length of time between the oracle and
its fulfillment. They might have expected it soon. But they did not
know how the sequence of judgment with the exile, deliverance from Babylon, and
judgment on Babylon would work out in Old Testament times, nor could they have
known that there would be a glorious future destruction of “Babylon” at the end
of the age when Messiah comes in glory (Rev. 19).
LESSON:
1. All things will culminate toward a time when the people of God will have rest, release from fear, bondage, and oppression. But those with faith in the Lord can be jubilant to know this day.
2. Not only will evil be destroyed but also the evil force behind it—Satan, the Anti-Christ and the spiritual power of the underworld.
3. God has no tolerance for pride and arrogant oppression. In the New
Testament is the oracle about how Babylon has fallen, Babylon--that symbol of
the present evil world system, the anti-kingdom.
4. God will bring them down and down all the way to hell like Satan. "Pride" in the Old Testament, especially pride like this, belongs to the unbeliever who rejects, or better yet, tries to replace God.