Rsbc 7/23/00
Sunday Night
The Book of Isaiah
Subject- “ Babylon Is Fallen”
Text- Isaiah 21-1-10
Intro... From the 13th chapter of Isaiah to where we are tonight is the prophecies that the Lord sounded forth from the mouth of the prophet. It was the fall of Lucifer, the Assyrians, the Moabities, The cities of Damascus, the Ethiopians, the Egyptians and now the raging of the armies of Cyrus as he invades this world power of Babylon.
I.... “ THE JUDGEMENT OF THE LORD IS SEEN AS A WHIRLWIND...VS 1
The language that is used here declares how the invading armies will come and what they will do when they arrive. Often the judgement of God is associated with the whirlwinds also it used in the bible when the Lord did other things also...
A. Elijah went in to heaven in a whirlwind...I Kings 2-1
B. The Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind... Job 40-1
C. The judgement of God is described by a whirlwind...
Proverbs 1:27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Isaiah 66:15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
So we can see the power of the whirlwind and what it can do when it comes suddenly, and without any mercy, this is what God was going to do to Babylon...Proverbs 6:15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
II..... “ THE BURDEN DESCRIBED”...VS 2-4
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Jeremiah 51:8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. Through out these studies we have seen one thing that has stood out in the life of this man of God, it is the burden of the death and destruction he felt in his heart as he proclaimed what the Lord told him to tell.
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Not only did he feel it but he saw it, it was a heavy burden placed upon him. Last week we seen how God illustrated the fall of Egyptians and the Ethiopians by the prophet having to walk uncovered and barefooted for 3 yrs depicting the striping of these powers.
1st. It was a de-stressing burden....vs 2
2nd. It was treacherous burden..vs 2
3rd. It was a painful burden...vs 3
4th. It was a humbling burden...vs 3
5th. It was a frightful burden..vs 4
To see what God was sending was a staggering thing to the emotion of Isaiah the prophet, we today can only imagine what the Lord will do we cannot see it until it actual happens. And when it happens men usely attribute it to fate, or the Devil, but not the judgement of the Lord.
III.... “WHAT THEY WERE TO DO”..VS 5-6
They were to set a table and continue to eat, drink and be merry, but jsut in case what the prophet is saying is true set a watchman. Human nature will not allow itself to be intimidated by what preachers say God is going to do to them for not obeying the truth.
Luke 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry.
Before the flood...
Luke 17:26‑30 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah..
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Then they come, from the south like a whirlwind and the watchman begins to cry I saw a chariot and a couple of horsemen and donkeys, and camels, then here comes a chariot of men and horsemen saying Babylon is fallen.....
Babylon the origin of all false religion, Babylon the opposite of wright, Babylon the seat of powerful government, Babylon the enemy of the Lord.... Never think for a moment that just because God destroyed her hundreds of years ago she doesn’t exist today because she does...
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In the early days of the Lord churches there was a church established in Babylon...1 Peter 5:13 The [church that is] at Babylon, elected together with [you], saluteth you; and [so doth] Marcus my son.
So where ever truth exist error creeps up, and we see how she is described in the book of Revelation that is Babylon...
1st. She insist upon men following her...
Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
2nd. She is described as the mother of Harlots...
Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
3rd. She is described as the habitation of demons..
Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Conclude tonight with this...make no mistake that if God says she is going to fall again she will and God has told his people who have been duped by her to come out of her...
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.