The Oracle Concerning Babylon – part 5
Isaiah 13:1-14:27 (14:22-27)
July 9, 2023
As you know we are now in this section we call “The Oracles”
• They are burdens that God is placing on the back of the world.
• They are message of judgment.
Starting tonight we will move to the second oracle which deals with Philistia
And you will see that these oracles deals with a specific nation in Isaiah’s world.
BUT THIS FIRST ORACLE IS DIFFERENT.
It references Babylon, but that is because in Scripture
Babylon is a nation that symbolizes the world.
False religion started in Babylon in Genesis 11
False religion is typified in the book of Revelation by Babylon.
And so this first oracle of Isaiah does not deal with a regional nation
This first oracle deals with THE WHOLE WORLD.
That is the evil, even Satanic, world system
That now governs the world of humanity.
And we have spent the last 2 weeks
Looking at the judgment that is coming on this place.
• We’ve seen the army,
• We’ve seen the terror,
• We’ve seen the vivid depictions of judgment,
• We’ve seen the desolation that comes with it.
• Last Sunday morning we looked at the redemption that will occur.
• Last Sunday night we saw the judgment of the god of this world.
That is Satan.
Depicted in Isaiah 14 as “the king of Babylon”, but make no mistake, it is Satan.
We saw his fate.
• He will spend eternity as the ultimate buffoon
• While Christ will be glorified for all eternity, Satan will be ridiculed.
They’ll mock his
• Fall from heaven
• His foolish boasts
• His failed mission
• His fleeting glory
• His fallen sons
He is ultimate failure and will be treated that way for all eternity.
So we’ve covered a significant amount of ground the last couple of weeks
Discussing the DAY OF THE LORD.
THIS MORNING we want to bring this first oracle to a CONCLUSION.
Having seen the first 6 points, this morning
We simply want to look at the 7th and final point of this first oracle.
#7 THE RECAP
Isaiah 14:22-27
I call these final 6 verses the recap because they highlight for us
What it is we should have learned from this first oracle.
And they ALSO take this judgment of the world
And bring it personal for the people of Isaiah’s day.
And let me show you that first.
You see in verse 22 that God is still promising
• To “cut off from Babylon name and survivors”
• He says in verse 23 that He will “sweep it with the broom of destruction”
But then we come to verse 25 and we see a peculiar substitution.
No longer is Isaiah talking about Babylon,
now God is promising “to break Assyria in My land”
And we would wonder, what just happened?
All along the judgment of Babylon
• Has been a symbol of God’s judgment of the world.
• It has been a symbol of God’s coming judgment on all the nations.
• And in verse 25 Isaiah takes that reality and makes it personal.
As if to say:
If God will one day judge the entire evil world system, don’t you think that will include Assyria?
And you see now how this first oracle gets personal even for us.
Are you frustrated by evil world rulers today?
• Does the corruption of the United States government frustrate you?
• Does the immorality of the United States culture sicken you?
• Are you bothered by corrupt leaders of foreign nations who commit crimes
against humanity?
WELL DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT
God’s promise to one day judge the evil world’s system
Means that these evil world rulers won’t get away with it either?
THAT IS WHAT ISAIAH IS PROMISING.
If God will one day judge this world for it’s sin,
Rest assured that Assyria doesn’t have a chance.
Not only do Isaiah’s people have a future judgment to anticipate, They also have a message of hope for today.
Assyria is just part of that great worldly Babylon and it’s falling.
THAT IS A PROMISING REVELATION.
And THIS MORNING it comes to a close
With A RECAP of the things you should have learned.
I want us to start this morning by looking at the very end of our text.
Isaiah ends his first oracle with 2 questions.
(27) “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrated it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
This is the PARTING THOUGHT given as this first oracle comes to a close.
So let’s examine those questions for a moment.
1) WHAT IS THIS PLAN?
“For the LORD of hosts has planned…”
Well we read in verse 26, “This is the plan devised against the whole earth…”
So at the very least we understand that whatever this “plan” is,
It is not regional, it is GLOBAL.
(you were supposed to learn that)
Whatever God is planning to do, He is planning to do it everywhere.
• This is global
• This is universal
When Paul spoke in Athens, he preached with a global judgment in mind.
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
• Paul said that some day God will “judge the world”
• And because it is a global judgment, “all people everywhere should repent”
This plan of God will touch every corner of the globe.
• It will touch American soil.
• It will touch Texas.
• It will touch Dickens, County
It is comprehensive.
So what is this plan?
Well, now you can back up to verse 22
And we see several indications of what God is planning.
(These are things we should have learned)
God says:
• (22) “I will rise up…”
• (22) “[I] will cut off from Babylon name and survivors”
• (23) “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water”
• (23) “I will sweep it with the broom of destruction”
• (25) “I will trample [Assyria] on My mountains
• (25) “his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder”
THIS IS THE PLAN OF GOD.
HIS PLAN IS
• To rise up to meet the evil of this world system.
• To send a sweeping destruction to this world
• To cut off all the survivors.
• To make it a desolation.
• To deal swiftly with the current evil world power; Assyria,
• And to break His yoke from your neck.
In short, God’s plan is to arise and judge the wicked
And rescue His children.
It’s everything we’ve been talking about for the last 2 weeks.
Right now we live in what Paul called “the day of salvation”
Right now, as Peter mentioned, “the Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish”
BUT THIS DAY IS TEMPORARY.
One day, the door will close on the day of salvation,
And this world will experience the day of God’s judgment.
Enough will be enough.
He is coming and He is planning to destroy this world.
AND THE QUESTION that Isaiah presents to you and I is found in verse 27, “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”
There’s a question worth pondering.
God is planning to come and destroy this world.
• Can anyone stop Him?
• Can anyone outwit Him?
• Can anyone make a counter move that will prevent God from accomplishing His plan?
That is the question we are given.
Can anyone outsmart or thwart God’s plan?
Psalms 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
Psalms 33:6-11 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.”
David said God frustrates human plans, but it never works the other way around.
Isaiah 46:8-10 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;”
So God says that no one can thwart or reverse His plans.
IS THAT TRUE?
I mean, let’s think about it.
Hypothetically, let’s a take a man:
• Who has determined not to trust in Christ…
• Who has determined to enjoy the sinful pleasures of the world…
• Who has ignored God’s message of repentance…
God says that there is coming a day in which He will destroy that man.
So how is that man planning to frustrate God’s plan of destruction?
I mean, if you’re not going to repent
Then you had better figure out a way
To keep God from doing what He has planned to do.
What’s the plan?
How are you planning on concealing your sin from God so that He won’t know about it?
• Adam and Eve tried to hide from God, but that didn’t work.
• Men in the end ask the mountains to fall on them.
• How were you planning on keeping God from finding out about your sin?
How were you planning on escaping God’s coming judgment on this world?
• Are you going to build a tower to the heavens?
• Are you going to ride on fast horses to escape?
What is your counter move to keep God from destroying you on the day when He comes to destroy sinners?
THAT IS THE QUESTION.
“Who can frustrate God’s plan of global judgment?”
What are you going to do to out-smart God?
Well, might I remind you what you are up against:
Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
With God we are dealing with One whose wisdom far exceeds ours in every possible way.
• We can’t even comprehend His ways.
• We can’t even understand why He does what He does.
Have you ever watched someone do CALCULUS on a chalk board?
• It’s pretty confusing.
• I don’t have a clue what they are doing.
But I promise you that we are all much closer to understanding calculus than we are fully comprehending the mind of God.
Or listen to this one:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
God thinks on a higher level than any of us.
My chickens don’t understand why I wear shoes.
My chickens don’t understand what I use arms for.
My chickens don’t understand why I don’t stand in my food or poop in my water.
My thoughts are higher than theirs.
And yet, I am closer to the mental capacity of a chicken
Than I am to the mental capacity of God.
WHAT IS MORE,
If it is my objective to frustrate His plans then I need to know He has quite A HEAD START.
For while I don’t comprehend anything that He is doing,
He already knows every ounce of my plans.
Psalms 139:1-4 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”
God is so far ahead of humanity in His wisdom and understanding,
And yet man thinks they might be able to out-smart God
And frustrate His plans?
GOOD LUCK.
How did that work out for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day?
What sort of success did they have seeking to outsmart Him?
• They questioned Him about paying taxes…
• They questioned Him about the greatest commandment…
• They questioned Him about the resurrection…
But soon they realized they were out of their league.
Matthew 22:46 “No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.”
And even when they thought they had finally gotten the better of Him
They had Him condemned and CRUCIFIED;
Well, we find out that that was His plan all along.
Acts 2:23 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
YOU GET THE POINT.
How were you planning on frustrating God’s plan?
“For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”
And of course you know that the answer is – NO ONE.
And certainly that is a warning to any unrepentant sinners not to expect to escape on the day of God’s judgment.
But that fact should greatly encourage you church as well.
• God has said that the shedding of innocent blood is an abomination.
• God has said that homosexuality is an abomination.
• God has said that adulterers does not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
And yet we live in a world that runs to all of that stuff.
We have a government that demands we embrace it,
Never speak evil of it, and learn to celebrate it.
• We have crooked politicians in places of power who get rich off of their
corruption.
• We have evil men who make evil laws and promote agendas that are contrary
to the word of God.
And sometimes we look at all that and we get really discouraged
As we ponder the direction of our world.
But do you suppose Joe Biden can frustrate the plan of God?
• Do you suppose Nancy Pelosi can frustrate the plan of God?
• Do you suppose Gavin Newsome or Justin Trudeau or George Soros can frustrate the plan of God?
AND THE ANSWER IS NO.
Church, we have every reason to be encouraged.
“For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”
GOD IS SMARTER THAN THEM ALL.
So one of the things we should have learned is that
God has a plan to destroy this evil world system
And no one is going to be able to frustrate that plan.
But Isaiah had another question.
(27b) “And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
2) WHAT IS THIS STRETCHED-OUT HAND?
Verse 26b says, “this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.”
And again we see the global reality.
God has a plan and now we begin to see the action.
SO WHAT IS THIS HAND?
Well, it is very important that you notice the pronouns used.
• (22) “I will…”
• (23) “I will…” & “I will”
• (24) “I have intended” & “I have planned”
• (25) “I will trample”
God says, “I” will do it.
This hand, is God’s hand.
• If God were merely the one doing the planning,
• And then farming out the execution of His orders to lesser beings
• Then it might be argued that while the plan is perfect,
• We can stop God’s plan at the execution phase.
The problem for the world is that it is not only God who does the planning, but it is also God who executes that plan.
It is His hand which is stretched out.
Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
When you read in Revelation 14
• About the treading of the great wine press
• And how the blood will flow up to the horses bridle for the distance of 100 miles.
THAT IS CHRIST DOING THAT.
“My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath uphold Me. I trod down the peoples…I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
Jude spoke of the day:
Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
“the Lord came…”
So what we begin to realize is that
When we are talking about this day of destruction that God has planned,
We also see that it will be executed by none other than God.
And so Isaiah’s 2nd question becomes very relevant here as well.
“And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
When God comes to enforce the plan He has made, can you stop Him?
• Do you know how to halt Christ’s advance?
• Do you know how to cause Him to retreat?
When the Moabites and Ammonites made an alliance to attack Judah, Jehoshaphat trusted in God’s invincibility.
2 Chronicles 20:5-6 “Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD before the new court, and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.”
He was counting on it.
IS THAT TRUE?
God Himself says:
Isaiah 43:13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
IS THAT TRUE?
Ask Nebuchadnezzar.
• He was told of God’s plan to humble him if he would not humble himself.
• Nebuchadnezzar thought little of the warning.
• I suppose he thought he could frustrate God’s plan or turn back His hand
when the time came.
Daniel 4:33-35 “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
Nebuchadnezzar learned that warding off God’s hand was impossible.
No one could stop Him.
OH, SATAN WILL CERTAINLY TRY.
• When Jesus splits the sky to come bring judgment to the world,
• There will be a mighty army which lines up for a great battle to thwart Him.
Do you want to see it?
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
It isn’t much of a battle is it?
Satan gets his puppet to gather all the wicked of the world
To come with an enormous army to stop Christ from judging them,
And it isn’t even a good fight.
AND AGAIN WE ASK THE QUESTION.
“And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
NO ONE.
And every person who has refused to trust in Christ or to obey Him should ponder this.
Isaiah 10:3-4 “Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”
How are you planning to stop God’s execution of judgment?
Isaiah 28:15 “Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”
There are people with a plan.
• They have made some sort of an alliance with death.
• They are trusting in Satan for their deliverance.
• They are trusting in some false idol to save them from God.
WILL IT WORK?
Isaiah 28:16-19 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place. “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”
IT WON’T WORK.
You can’t frustrate God’s plan of judgment.
And you can’t turn back His hand of judgment.
God will come and do exactly what He says He will come and do.
(22-26) ““I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the LORD. “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts. The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. “This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.”
AND NO ONE CAN STOP IT.
For those who have chosen to keep this world and their sin and have refused to reject Christ, WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?
• How were you planning on frustrating God’s plan of judgment?
• How were you planning on stopping His hand?
I REMIND YOU again that there is only one way of salvation
And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension,
His intercession, His coming
That is also the plan of God.
That is God’s plan to save sinners and no one can stop that plan either.
Before God judges this world, He first offers it salvation
And if you will repent of your sin and submit your life to Jesus
Then you will be saved from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1:10b “[Believers] wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”
Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
The only way to escape the coming wrath…
The only way to be saved from God’s plan of judgment…
Is to repent of your sin and to yield your life to Jesus Christ as Lord.
AND YOU WILL BE SAVED.
BUT AGAIN, this is not just a message of salvation to the lost, this is a message of HOPE TO THE REDEEMED.
A nation may go to war with another nation and deploy troops to go fight,
And all the citizens at home will hope
That their troops are able to accomplish the objective.
We hope that our soldiers press on to victory and are not turned back.
But it is NOT a sure thing.
But the fate of this world IS a sure thing.
The judgment of sinners IS a sure thing.
God has already planned to judge this world
And no one can frustrate Him or turn Him back.
He will come and He will win and we will reign with Him.
The yoke of the enemy will be removed from our neck
The burden of the enemy will be removed from our shoulder.
• We will be saved.
• We will be delivered.
• We will be set free from this corrupt world and it’s Satanic influence.
It will happen because no one can stop God,
When He has purposed to accomplish something.
Isaiah 43:10-13 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God. “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
CHURCH TAKE HEART.
We will not always struggle under wicked men.
I want us to close this opening oracle with a very encouraging passage.
TURN TO: 2 PETER 2:4-10
(4) Spiritual Judgment
(5) Social Judgment
(6) Sexual Judgment
(7-8) Supernatural Protection
(9-10a) “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”
The LORD knows how.
He’s done it before…He’ll do it again.
2 Peter 3:9-13 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”
