Babylon's Prophecy Series

Babylon’s Prophecy

Isaiah 13:1-22

Introduction

- Isaiah 11 and 12 had us examining who will we serve; and who do we worship

- We examined that even in mass chaos, God can perform perfect harmony

- The root of Jesse (lineage of Jesus) has already been prepared for us; grafted

- But the action we must take is upon you and I to respond – to respond

- Tonight, we see Isaiah’s continued vision of Babylon, and how we must respond

- Read Isaiah 13:1-22

- Pray

Point 1 – The Remnant in Action

- We must understand that God will get our attention, no matter what it takes

- God’s appointed ones, or his remnant, will be the ones used by Him to serve

- The prophet Isaiah was seeing the final judgment of the wicked; used by God

- We have been discussing for several messages about this remnants importance

- Those who serve God, who are called to exalt/serve Him; He will use

- Isaiah sees this calling of men and women to obey and conquer evil that exists

- APP:

-- But, how does a prophecy of this magnitude apply to us today?

-- Expound on the victory of the church … will we be a part of this action now?

- God’s authority allows the church to do mighty things; to even defeat the wicked

- His power can reach out to the farthest lands; even as Isaiah understands distance

- Consider the USA … Is this not far off from where Isaiah lived (Jerusalem)?

- Could Isaiah be seeing the enemies of God will be destroyed no matter where?

- Even though he is discussing Israel here; what are we to do with this information?

- Should we not act and take part in preparing the way of the Lord? Of course!

- Because of the victory we have in Christ; the desire to defeat evil is in our DNA

- It is what makes us the remnant, and why we have been grafted into the Body

- TRANS: So, if the church is to be the remnant; what is our role today?

Point 2 – The Battle Defined

- v9 – talks about the day of the Lord and I want to expound on this a bit

- The Day of the Lord for the believer is a good thing, but I believe at the same time we must take heed to understand that it is a terrible moment also

-- Rev 8:1 demonstrates God’s authority that we must pay attention: “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour”

- How can I accurately depict that ALL of Heaven will be silent; holding breath

-- The destruction that comes upon mankind and this Earth is like none other

- Isaiah gets a glimpse of this to tell his people; (BIG APP) AND SO DO WE!

v10 – Stars in heaven will not shine; true darkness will fall upon the land

-- Revelation 8:12 says, “The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.”

-- If the stars stopped shining, it would be incredibly dark outside

- Everything that is in the Heavens gives off light; and without it we are lost

- So lost that we need light in order to fellowship and to find others who need it

- Little infants will continue to suffer (which shows that there is an original guilt)

- Our lives are forfeited as soon as it is begun; this sin plagues us all

- In this time, all that men have, they would give for their lives for relief

- But, no man's riches shall be the ransom of his life; the wages of sin is death

- APP: Pause here and wonder that men should be thus cruel and inhuman

-- Will we see how corrupt the nature of man is become? Will we change it?

-- The day of the Lord will be terrible with aggression and fierce anger

- Rev 18 depicts the fall of Babylon with such wrath, that we should be shaken

- There is no place to escape from God’s judgment; we should cry out to the lost

- But few act as though they believed these things (church’s response to this)

-- APP: We exist to connect people to Jesus Christ (expound)

-- We each have a ministry, called to serve and to teach – no matter what

Point 3 – Babylon’s Future

- v19 refers to Babylon as jewel of Kingdoms – but compared to Sodom/Gomorrah