It Isn't A Parade I Hear Series

Isaiah 13: 1 – 22

It Isn’t A Parade I Hear

1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. 2 “ Lift up a banner on the high mountain, raise your voice to them; Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. 3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger— Those who rejoice in My exaltation.” 4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts musters the army for battle. 5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven— The LORD and His weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will be limp, every man’s heart will melt, 8 And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. 11 “ I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. 14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up; Every man will turn to his own people, and everyone will flee to his own land. 15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through, and everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. 16 Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. 17 “ Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, and they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation; Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper there. 22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.”

Someone walked up to me and said, ‘I have a burden for you’. My first thoughts were that this person worked for UPS or the Postal Service. Perhaps, somehow this person had thought that they could bless me with a 50 inch TV and had trouble lifting it by themselves. That wasn’t exactly what the person meant. So, exactly what is a burden? Is a burden good or bad? Is it physical or emotional? Good questions to ask ourselves. According to the dictionary a ‘burden’ is:

something that is carried : LOAD b DUTY, REPONSIBILITY

something oppressive or worrisome

the bearing of a load —usually used in the phrase beast of burden b : capacity for carrying cargo

So we see that a ‘burden’ can be physical such as the carrying of a heavy object. It can also be emotional in that something about yourself or others is oppressive or worrisome. Now as we begin our study of this chapter and others we will come across this word on many occasions. In verse 1 of chapter 13 we see that the prophet Isaiah has a burden relative to the nation of Babylon.

1 The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

As we have learned Isaiah was bothered by the nation of Babylon. Please note the important word, ‘saw’. Our Precious Holy God gave His representative a look into the future. It was like Isaiah was watching a ‘horror movie’ In this vision he saw the cruel conditions that would be inflicted on his people. For a moment consider yourself a Jew living before the 1930’s and our Holy Father allowed you to see the film footage of the Holocaust. Would you consider those pictures a great burden? You sure would. This was the film that was shown to Isaiah. It wasn’t one of Germany but the horror caused by the Babylonian army. Isaiah wanted our Lord to deal with this enemy. And now He does