The Babylonian Mirage
Isaiah 21:1-10
August 6, 2023
By now you are certainly picking up on a very distinct theme
Throughout the oracles of Isaiah.
DON’T TRUST ANYONE BUT GOD
Indeed, as we said from the beginning,
Isaiah’s name means “The LORD is Salvation”
In fact, He is your only salvation.
He is your only hope.
The oracles of Isaiah illustrate that in very dramatic fashion.
There is a bully in the area: ASSYRIA
• Everyone is trying to figure out how to be saved from them.
• We’ve seen an almost alliance with the Philistines.
• We’ve seen warnings not to trust Egypt or Cush.
And we have learned even in our own lives
That in this world there is no other Savior.
At REGEN a student asked John MacArthur about 1 John 2:2
1 John 2:2 “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
MacArthur also quoted:
1 Timothy 4:10 “For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.”
The student was confused regarding
In what sense Jesus is the Savior of “the whole world”,
Or in what sense Jesus “is the Savior of all men”?
For we know that not all men are being saved.
We know that not all men trust Jesus.
So how can John and Paul both speak as though Jesus is the Savior of all men?
And THE ANSWER given by John MacArthur
Is the same point Isaiah has been making to us.
Namely, that Jesus Christ
Is the only Savior this world is ever going to get.
There are no others.
There will be no others.
The tragedy is that NOT ALL men look to Him as their Savior.
In fact Scripture teaches that MOST men reject Him as such.
But there will be “salvation in no one else”.
Isaiah is trying his best to drive that point home
To the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
• Don’t trust the Philistines.
• Don’t trust the Ethiopians.
• Don’t trust the Egyptians.
• TRUST GOD
HE IS YOUR ONLY HOPE.
HOWEVER:
• Despite the warnings…
• Despite the accuracy of Isaiah’s prophecies…
Judah had a difficult time forsaking men as their source of salvation
And trusting in God alone.
And when they or we or anyone does that,
There is only ONE RESULT and that is DISAPPOINTMENT.
No one who rejects Christ in any area of their lives
Will be satisfied with what they trust instead of Him.
That is the drum Isaiah has been beating,
And he continues beating it tonight.
It is “The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.”
And we’ll discuss in a moment what that means.
But hopefully, as we read this text to open our time together this evening,
There were a clear couple of verses that jumped out to you.
And the truth that really sort of jumps out at us is that:
ISAIAH IS IN A PITIFUL STATE.
Look at verses 3-4 again.
(3-4) “For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.”
7 statements Isaiah gives to make sure you understand what a miserable condition he finds himself in.
“loins are full of anguish”
Have you ever been so disturbed that it literally made you sick at your stomach?
“pains…like a woman in labor”
Every time the bible wants to illustrate the worse pain imaginable it uses this analogy. Partly because of the intensity of the pain, but also because of the unrelenting nature of it. It just keeps bowling over Isaiah.
“so bewildered I cannot hear”
Have you ever been so grieved and so distracted in that grief that you can’t even pay attention to the people around you?
“so terrified I cannot see”
That is to say he can’t see any way out.
“my mind reels”
The whole room is spinning as tragedy has captivated him.
“horror overwhelms me”
It’s something so terrible and he can’t get a grip on it. He’s just beside himself.
“twilight…turned into trembling”
We know what our “twilight” years are. It’s those days of retirement when your work is finished and you sit back in satisfaction and enjoyment. Isaiah says, “the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.”
This is NOT just a thoughtless or passing statement.
ISAIAH IS IN A TERRIBLE WAY.
He is really bothered by what God has shown him.
And the question is:
WHAT DID ISAIAH SEE?
Clearly it relates to his future…
What was it?
What he saw was, “The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.”
That would likely be undistinguishable to us were it not for verse 9 later in the chapter.
• Verse 9 reveals to us that the nation in focus here is none other than “Babylon” whom Isaiah will report has “Fallen”
But Isaiah refers to them as “the wilderness of the sea”
And many commentators have made reference to the Persian Gulf.
Babylon is modern day Iraq and so you can kind of understand the analogy.
• So some would see it sort of as a slang name for Babylon.
• Sort of like we call our flag “O Glory” or we call Texas “The Lone Star State”
They see this as just a slang name for Babylon
That would have been recognizable to Isaiah’s contemporaries.
But I think it is more than that.
J. Vernon McGee saw the nickname “wilderness of the sea” as another way of saying “The Mirage in the Desert”
(McGee, J. Vernon [Thru-The-Bible Commentary Series; The Prophets; Isaiah 1-35; Thomas Nelson Publishers; Nashville, TN; 1991] pg. 156)
AND I THINK HE IS RIGHT ON POINT.
A mirage is a false hope.
• A mirage tells someone lost in the desert that salvation is just up ahead.
• (You can pause and play The Sons of the Pioneers “Water” in your head)
It looks good, it will get your hopes up,
But when you arrive and see that the water doesn’t exist
The bitterness is even greater for you had dared to get excited.
In that sense a mirage is actually an intense form of cruelty.
And that is what Isaiah calls Babylon here.
NOW THERE IS A LITTLE MORE WORK WE NEED TO DO.
TYPICALLY when you read about the nation Babylon your mind immediately goes to the nation that ultimately invaded Judah and burned down the city of Jerusalem and exiled God’s people for 70 years.
That nation, ruled by Nebuchadnezzar, who took Israel captive and was eventually conquered by the Medes and the Persians in the time of Daniel.
And indeed, if you go read a commentary on Isaiah 21,
Most will tell you that Isaiah 21 references the fall of that nation.
• They see a reference to “Media” in verse 2.
• They see the words “Fallen, fallen is Babylon” in verse 9
• And the immediate assumption is that Isaiah is prophetically looking in the
future about 150 years and talking about the fall of Babylon to the Medes.
You remember that story of Belshazzar (Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson) who was eating and partying with all the utensils of the temple and God’s hand appeared on the wall and wrote the message, “Mene, Mene, Tekil, Upharsin”
Daniel translated it and that night the Medes broke through
And killed Belshazzar and conquered Babylon.
BUT THAT IS PROBLEMATIC
1) The oracles of Isaiah are prophetic in nature as they speak of future events, but all of them deal with nations that are present day contemporaries of Isaiah.
It would be bizarre for Isaiah to all of a sudden leave the present
And jump 150 years down the road.
2) If this is the prophecy of the future fall of Babylon to the Medes why would Isaiah be upset and grieving about that?
That day will mark deliverance for Judah.
That day will allow them to return home to Israel.
That vision should cause him joy not grief.
3) In verse 10 Isaiah says that this message is for his “threshed people”, but if this is speaking of the future Babylon falling then Isaiah would have been speaking about “delivered people.”
I understand the temptation to look to that future Babylon
But that is NOT what Isaiah is seeing.
Isaiah is seeing the present day Babylon.
He is looking at the Babylon of his day.
And if you will remember,
They actually played a role in the present-day happenings of Judah and Jerusalem.
You are pretty familiar with the Hezekiah (Judah’s king)
• We’ve read several times about how he was on the throne when Assyria
invaded.
• We’ve read how he trusted God.
• We remember him spreading out that letter before God.
• We remember Isaiah answering him
• We remember God promising that the Assyrians wouldn’t even shoot an arrow
there.
The other famous story of Hezekiah’s life
Is coming in Isaiah 38.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 38:1-8
• You may remember that story as well.
• God healed Hezekiah and added 15 years to his life.
TURN TO: ISAIAH 39:1-8
• Now that is certainly a prophecy concerning the future invasion of Babylon.
• That is about the day 150 years later.
But the point I want you to understand is that
Hezekiah and Merodach-baladan had made an alliance.
And Hezekiah, as well as the rest of Jerusalem,
Was hoping that he would be a beneficial ally to Judah and Jerusalem.
So let me tell you a little about the HISTORICAL Merodach-baladan.
• He was a Chaldean prince
• In 722 B.C. he took Babylon from Assyria.
• That, incidentally is the same year that the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria
So you see how he was in intriguing figure.
The same year Judah watched their brothers to the north get carried away into exile, Merodach-baladan was notching victory against the Assyrians.
However in 710 B.C. Sargon of Assyria took back Babylon from him.
• Then when Sargon died in 705 B.C. Merodach-baladan and troops from Elam revolted against Sennacherib to take it back.
• But in 702 B.C. Sennacherib defeated him and Elam and devastated his home area around the Persian Gulf.
(Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy B. [The Bible Knowledge Commentary; The Old Testament; ChariotVictor Publishing; Colorado, Springs, CO. 1985] pg. 1-68)
The following year (701 B.C.) is when Sennacherib would invade Judah.
Hezekiah and all of Judah had hoped that Merodach-baladan
Might be their source of deliverance from the mighty Assyrians.
But they proved to be a false hope.
They were A MIRAGE IN THE DESERT.
Isaiah is grieved because he saw what was coming.
So let’s look at Isaiah’s oracle and see the three things he saw.
#1 A LINGERING JUDGMENT
Isaiah 21:1-2a
“The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. A harsh vision has been shown to me; The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.”
Isaiah opens this oracle with the explanation that
What you are about to see is “A harsh vision”.
And the basic announcement is this:
“windstorms in the Negev sweep on”
That is another way of saying that it is not over.
• It is a weather analogy that basically means, “No relief in sight”
• Sort of like what you felt today if you looked at the forecast for this coming week and saw temperatures of 103 to 106 forecasted for the week.
• It’s not over.
And in case you misunderstood Isaiah’s little weather analogy
verse 2, “The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.”
Now we know the “windstorm” is Assyria
And God is NOT finished using her for the purposes of His judgment.
• You may have hoped Assyria was about to meet her end.
• You may have hoped that Merodach-baladan could subdue her.
• You may have hoped that times of peace were near.
• WRONG!!!
Assyria was God’s rod.
And Assyria wouldn’t be stopped until God was finished with her.
Let me just make the simple point:
When God determines to judge a nation
There is no plan of man that can stop it.
And America (including the church) needs to see this.
We read it all the time:
Romans 1:24-32 “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
And just to make sure you read it correctly.
IT DOES NOT SAY if a nation persists in idolatry or homosexuality or depravity that God will judge that nation. (Though that is true)
WHAT PAUL SAYS is that if a nation is overrun by idolatry and homosexuality and deprave thinking, that is evidence that that nation is already under God’s wrath.
God IS judging that nation.
He is giving them over to do that for which He will judge them.
I see people continually holding out hope that some elected official is going to be able to turn America around and fix our problems.
• That is a mirage.
• The wrath we see today is God’s wrath
• Nothing short of revival will fix it.
But man’s intervention cannot undo God’s judgment.
Man is not a Savior.
Jerusalem was hoping Babylon would fix it all.
• Isaiah says, “A harsh vision has been shown to me”.
• You aren’t going to like what you’re about to see.
A Lingering Judgment
#2 A LETHARGIC ARMY
Isaiah 21:2b, 5
“Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media; I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused…They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; “Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”
I told you earlier that Merodach-baladan was warring against Assyria.
• He fought Sennacherib from 705 B.C until 702 B.C.
• And during that time the support he counted on was support from Elam and support from Media.
And this is what is referenced in verse 2.
“Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;”
It is a call for them to get into the fight.
• Get up!
• Join us!
• Help in the battle!
“I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.”
It is the call of Merodach-baladan to Elam and Media to join the battle because victory is within our grasp.
• We can finish them off!
• We can silence the mighty Assyrian!
• We can stop all the cruelty and evil she is spreading!
BUT THE PLAN ISN’T WORKING AS GOOD AS HE THINKS.
In fact before Isaiah tells you what is coming next he pauses and tells you
How awful this vision is and what horror it has caused him.
Merodach-baladan wants the Elamites and Medes to rise up
And get in the battle and help him overthrow Assyria.
But there is a problem.
They are a lethargic army.
(5) “They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;”
This is part of Isaiah’s grief.
• The Elamites and Medes are no help.
• They are not interested in battle.
• They are interested in banquets.
And the call goes out again:
“Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”
• Get up from the table and get dressed for battle!
• Wake up!
• Let’s go!
• It’s not a time for feasting it’s a time for fighting.
It’s like when you elect someone who is supposed to be your help
But they end up doing nothing…
And Isaiah reveals that those who were expected to help Babylon
Are not as committed as perhaps we had hoped.
A Lingering Judgment, A Lethargic Army
#3 A LOST HOPE
Isaiah 21:6-9
Now Isaiah jumps to the conclusion and result of the battle.
“For thus the Lord says to me, “Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees. “When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention.” Then the lookout called, “O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post. “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
So Isaiah is told to station a watchman.
Go get on your post and watch to see what is the result of this battle.
It’s like Americans watching the television on election night
Waiting to see the results.
And God says, “when he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, let me pay close attention, very close attention.”
• In other words, what he is looking for is a caravan.
• He is looking for a caravan of people carrying all of their supplies on donkeys and camels.
So the watchman was stationed and begins to watch.
He watched “continually by day” and “every night”.
(9) “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
And all of a sudden, over the hill, there is the caravan!
He saw the riders, he saw the horsemen.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
• Your deliverer wasn’t strong enough.
• Your weapon wasn’t powerful enough.
• Your candidate lost.
IT DIDN’T WORK.
Babylon was only a mirage in the desert.
They could not stop the judgment of God.
The caravan depicts how “all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
All those little deities they took into battle
Have been destroyed and discarded.
Just like all those yard campaign signs from the losing candidate.
Just like all of those campaign bumper stickers.
It’s over.
You lost.
Your would-be savior has failed.
Now, you surely recognize that verse
Because it is quoted by John in the Revelation.
Revelation 18:1-3 “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
And Revelation 18 then becomes a great lament.
It is a horrific time of grief and weeping by all those who live on earth.
TURN TO: REVELATION 18:9-19
• All of their pleasures…
• All of their comforts…
• All of their securities…
• GONE…
It was a FALSE HOPE to Jerusalem back in the days of Isaiah
And it pictures the same FALSE HOPE to those in the world.
• Men who thought their political system was secure…
• Men who thought their financial system was secure…
• Men who thought their military systems were secure…
• Men who thought their judicial systems were secure…
And when it falls, there is tremendous grief.
And this is what Isaiah references in verse 10.
(10) “O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I make known to you.”
Isaiah actually laments for the people
Who are legitimately crushed at the news.
People who had trusted in Babylon
Must now feel like they have been threshed in the threshing floor.
• They must feel “full of anguish”
• They must have “pains…like the pains of a woman in labor”
• They must be “so bewildered that [they] cannot hear”
• They must be “so terrified that [they] cannot see”
• Their “mind [must] reel”
• “horror overwhelms” them
• The “twilight [they] longed for has been turned for [them] into trembling.”
Such is the state for all those who trust in any other Savior.
THE PARALLELS FOR US ARE TOO OBVIOUS TO MISS.
• A nation such as ours cannot stand.
• The evil world system, of which the U.S.A. is a part cannot endure.
• God will judge it, and indeed God is judging it.
SO WHAT ABOUT US?
• What are we to do?
• What are we to take from this?
Well the announcement of Babylon’s fall
Is not the only thing revealed to us in Revelation 18.
READ REVELATION 18:4-8
“Come out of her, my people…”
But what does that mean?
Leave the U.S.A.?
• Well, I don’t know where you’d go.
Leave earth?
• That’s not exactly possible.
So what does that mean?
“Come out of her, my people”?
Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Colossians 3:1-6 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,”
Ephesians 4:17-20 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way,”
1 Peter 4:1-5 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
God’s people are not to be people of the world.
• We are told not to love it…
• We are told not to treasure it…
• We are told not to trust it…
• We are told not to seek it…
• We are told not to go along with it…
We are told to leave it!
We are told to forsake it!
We are citizens of heaven.
• We are to set our eyes on things above.
• We are to be different.
• We are to be lights in darkness.
We don’t wait for a political leader to rescue us.
We can’t be like everyone else.
THE LORD IS OUR SALVATION!
We look to Him
We trust in Him
Every other hope only ends in disappointment.
As we saw this morning, every other hope ends in humiliation.
The people of God should trust God!
And incidentally, Hezekiah must have gotten this message.
• For Merodach-baladan fell in 702 B.C.
• Assyria invaded Judah in 701 B.C.
And during that invasion, with no one else to trust,
Hezekiah turned to God and God delivered.
That is the point.
That is the message.
The LORD is Salvation!
TRUST HIM!
