Unit 1: God Delivers and Restores
(The fall of Babylon; Cyrus the Great defeating the Chaldean army. Mezzotint by J. Martin, 1831)
Key Verse:
Isaiah 47:15 NLT
15
And all your friends,
those with whom you’ve done business since childhood,
will go their own ways,
turning a deaf ear to your cries.
With these words, Isaiah prophesied concerning an ancient nation that was not yet, and that would be no more. Her name was Babylon.
What you need to know
The summer 2022 quarter is titled ‘Partners in a New Creation. In June, Unit 1, titled: God Delivers and Restores provides a survey of the latter portion of the Book of Isaiah. In these lessons, we will cover Isaiah’s prophecies that foretell Judah’s deliverance from Babylonian exile and their eventual restoration. In July, Unit 2, titled “The Word: The Agent of Creation” will survey the life of Jesus as recorded in the Book of John. John presents Jesus as the Son of God who was sent to deliver the world from sin to the Father. The lesson standard will be completed in August with Unit 3, titled “The Great Hope of the Saints”. In Unit 3, the lessons will cover the final chapters of the Book of Revelation, which will focus on the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring about a New Heaven and a New Earth for the benefit of all who have placed their trust in Christ as their eternal hope.
Prelude:
The first lesson of the quarter involves the foretelling by Isaiah of the destruction of Babylon. Briefly then, the principles here are God, the nation of Judah, Isaiah, and the nation of Babylon. Allow me to briefly introduce them, so as to provide some context for the lesson.
God:
Isaiah 37:16 NLT
16 “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.
Isaiah, the prophet had seen God, the God of Heaven’s Armies. He knew the splendor and the glory that only we can imagine. When he saw God, he immediately understood his own being as a man; a man of unclean lips living amongst people similarly stained by sin. God is perfect. God is love. God is One This is the God of whom we speak. He who spoke the universe into existence by His Word alone. God. To the Christian, He needs no further introduction.
The Nation of Judah:
Isaiah 65:9 NLT
9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel[d]
and of Judah to possess my land.
Those I choose will inherit it,
and my servants will live there.
After the reign of Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into two. The ten tribes of the North remained as Israel, the tribes of Judah, and Benjamin became the Southern Kingdon, also known as Judah, or the nation of Judah. Both nations descended into sin and rebellion against God, first Israel, then Judah. As punishment, God allowed enemy states to make war against His people, then He allowed those same enemies to carry them away into exile, effectively ending their status as a nation. In the case of Israel, this judgment of God befell them during the ministry of Isaiah, the prophet. Isaiah’s home base was Judah, so he was safe relatively speaking, even as Israel was carried away by the Assyrians. Isaiah’s ministry began around 740 BC, in the year that King Uzziah died. The Assyrian assault on Israel occurred between 740 BC and 720 BC. Isaiah witnessed it all.
The nation of Judah fell under God’s judgment over one hundred years later, long after the death of Isaiah. They fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC. Their fall and exile were well documented by the prophet, Jeremiah. The siege of Judah and their eventual exile occurred over a number of years, beginning in, or around 605 BC and ending with the final of three exiles in 586 BC. They were set free from captivity in 536 BC, thus fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah. All of this is relevant to today’s lesson because Babylon was the tool God used to punish and preserve His people.
Isaiah, the Prophet:
Isaiah 1:1 NLT
These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah
Isaiah 6:1-8 NLT
1 It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
By now, you’ve come to understand Isaiah’s role in all of this. He was God’s seer in all of this, preaching to Israel a message of repentance and to Judah a warning not to follow Israel into idolatry and judgment. To be sure, both nations were guilty of all that God held against them. God continually directed them to repent, but they failed to heed His warning. Isaiah was an eyewitness to the fall and exile of Israel to Assyria, However, he continually warned his people, Judah, that the same fate would befall them unless they repented. Still, in spite of the nearness of the fires of Israel, Judah seemed relatively secure to the people around Isaiah, including the Kings, priests, and rulers of Judah in Isaiah’s day. It was as though Isaiah and the citizens of Judah were experiencing two different narratives, though they lived together in Judah. According to Jewish history, Isaiah was assassinated by King Manasseh. His death probably occurred around 680 BC, meaning that his ministry spanned some sixty years. His prophecies concerning Judah came to fruition about one hundred years after his death.
Babylon, the Nation of:
Isaiah 47:5-7 NLT
5
“O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence.
Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
6
For I was angry with my chosen people
and punished them by letting them fall into your hands.
But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy.
You oppressed even the elderly.
7
You said, ‘I will reign forever as queen of the world!’
You did not reflect on your actions
or think about their consequences.
In the opening verses of this week’s lesson, it is surprising to hear the prophet speak to Babylon so tenderly and intimately. It is as though God knows her. He was the one that raised her up for such a time as this; the judgment and exile of His holy people, Judah. That’s because all that transpired was ordered of God. Babylon existed as a city and as a city-state of the Kingdom of Assyria for nearly 2000 years dating back to around 2600 BC. It briefly became dominant as a city-state, independent of Assyria for a brief period. The next time Babylon came to power was around 620 BC when God prepared them to take Judah into captivity. They overthrew the nation of Assyria in this instance and took dominion over the entire region, becoming the ‘Nation of Babylon”, with the city of Babylon as its capital. We know something of the history of this iteration of Babylon from the Books of Jeremiah and Daniel. We know that Nebuchadnezzar knew that he was called by God to subjugate Judah, but we also know that God humbled him in such a way that he eventually acknowledged that the God of Israel had no equal. Then, when Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar profaned the holy vessels belonging to the Temple of God, God brought swift judgment, overthrowing the entire nation in a single night. Isaiah saw all of this and documented it a full one hundred years prior to its occurrence. Thus our lesson focuses on the fall of Babylon.
The Lesson
Isaiah 47:10 NLT
10
“You felt secure in your wickedness.
‘No one sees me,’ you said.
But your ‘wisdom’ and ‘knowledge’ have led you astray,
and you said, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other.’
In verse ten, God, through the prophet Isaiah, builds states His reasoning for bringing about the fall of Babylon, the nation He earlier referred to as a ‘virgin daughter’. So swift was her ascent, and so secure her position as a leader of nations that she thought that her exceeding wickedness would go unchecked. Babylon had no peers at this particular point in time. In fact, so great was her influence, the kings thereof thought themselves to be gods. When he mentioned their ‘wisdom and knowledge, he was mocking Babylon, who would come to reckon that their advanced society and armaments would allow them to maintain their position of authority for centuries to come.
Isaiah 47:11 NLT
11
So disaster will overtake you,
and you won’t be able to charm it away.
Calamity will fall upon you,
and you won’t be able to buy your way out.
A catastrophe will strike you suddenly,
one for which you are not prepared.
Isaiah prophesied that disaster would completely overtake Babylon. These disasters would not be avoided by any amount of ingenuity. The greatest of her wise men would have no answers for the calamity that was coming. No amount of gold or silver would stop God from exacting judgment upon them. They literally could not imagine the gravity of the catastrophe that awaited them.
Isaiah 47:12 NLT
12
“Now use your magical charms!
Use the spells you have worked at all these years!
Maybe they will do you some good.
Maybe they can make someone afraid of you.
Now Isaiah returned to mockery, chastising the Babylonian religious leaders for the ineffectiveness of their false religion, false gods, and false sorcery. What are these puny things against the whims of God Almighty?
(I have to ask: Does any of this ring a bell?)
Isaiah 47:13-14 NLT
13
All the advice you receive has made you tired.
Where are all your astrologers,
those stargazers who make predictions each month?
Let them stand up and save you from what the future holds.
14
But they are like straw burning in a fire;
they cannot save themselves from the flame.
You will get no help from them at all;
their hearth is no place to sit for warmth.
Isaiah continues his mockery of Babylon. Here, he directs his ire toward the astrologers and astronomers of Babylon. While there is a distinct difference between these two groups of people, in those days, both groups would have been regarded as scientists. The lesson standard points out that it was the Magi, literally stargazers that were guided to the home of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus by the Star of Bethlehem. Allow me to add that the prophet Daniel was thought to be the originator of the order of the Magi. That’s correct. Daniel taught the Magi from the scriptures to observe and understand the stars in the heavens. Isaiah is not prophesying about Daniel. I invoke the ministry of Daniel in this context to add weight to the prophecy Isaiah puts forth. The greatest scientists that Babylon has to offer are no match for God. In fact, scripture backs that up…
Daniel 5:11-12 NLT
11 There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. During Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, this man was found to have insight, understanding, and wisdom like that of the gods. Your predecessor, the king—your predecessor King Nebuchadnezzar—made him chief over all the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and fortune-tellers of Babylon. 12 This man Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, has exceptional ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems. Call for Daniel, and he will tell you what the writing means.”
Daniel 5:22-23 NLT
22 “You are his successor,[c] O Belshazzar, and you knew all this, yet you have not humbled yourself. 23 For you have proudly defied the Lord of heaven and have had these cups from his Temple brought before you. You and your nobles and your wives and concubines have been drinking wine from them while praising gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor know anything at all. But you have not honored the God who gives you the breath of life and controls your destiny!
The scriptures above give important snippets in the story of the fall of Babylon. Yes, Daniel was there. He participated as God’s witness and God’s prophet. At the proper time, Daniel, as God’s witness, proclaimed God’s judgment against the rulers of Babylon. The same judgment prophesied by Isaiah some one hundred years past. Read Daniel, Chapter 5 in its entirety to get the full picture of the swiftness and fullness of God’s overthrowing Babylon that very night.
Isaiah 47:15 NLT
15
And all your friends,
those with whom you’ve done business since childhood,
will go their own ways,
turning a deaf ear to your cries.
Finally, Isaiah warns of the futility of any alliances that Babylon may have formed with other nations to stop God’s judgment against them. Scripture says that they will turn a deaf ear to Babylon’s cries for help, lest they themselves are destroyed in the wake of God’s judgment against her. There will be no help for Babylon when God’s Word against her is fulfilled.
Epilogue:
Isaiah 47:5-6 NLT (redux)
5
“O beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence.
Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
6
For I was angry with my chosen people
and punished them by letting them fall into your hands.
But you, Babylon, showed them no mercy.
You oppressed even the elderly.
Beloved, God made the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel available to the rulers of Babylon. All were placed in the path of Babylon's leadership at strategic times during Judah’s captivity. In addition, they would have had access to the writings of Isaiah, from whom they would have been able to ascertain the boundaries of God’s judgment against His people. Beloved, the rulers of Babylon had time. God gave them space to obey. God gave them space to repent. Babylon chose neither. In very short order, or rather, in the fulness of God’s time, God freed his people in spite of the determination of Babylon to keep them constrained.
(All of this has a familiar ring to it)
Beloved, the monetary systems of the world have no desire to free people from the slavery of indebtedness. Whether it is capitalism or communism, mammon has no desire for justice and liberty for all. In order to maintain its grip, mammon raises up fascist governments or people to subject people of other ethnicities to the greed of the subjecting classes. Beloved, God’s prophets were unafraid to speak truth to power. What Isaiah started, Daniel finished, bringing about the complete destruction of a nation that God loved in spite of her ignorance about Him. When Babylon fell, she fell permanently. Once the greatest nation on earth, Babylon is no more than an afterthought in the annals of history. As the people of God, we must summon the courage to follow their example and call our churches and our nation(s) to repentance. God is calling us to the task. Can’t you hear him? Dr. King wrote, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” It’s time to take a stand.
Selah
wb
Isaiah 58:1 NKJV
“Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
