"Pride And Punishment"

Now people say: 'Look, you're preaching to me, and I'm not a bad person. I might not be a Christian the way you understand it, but I try my best.

I try to help my neighbour, and I try to be an upstanding member of the community and society in general'. Listen, you're missing the point, and many people do miss the point: you could be the most moral person, and at the very same time be the most proud person in the world - why? Because you refuse to go God's way, you refuse to submit to God's wisdom.

That is a grave problem, even with religious people - they are filled with pride.

All of us have it, but what we do with it is the issue.

My friend, the reality is: pride is the sin that made the devil the devil, and pride is the sin that will make us like the devil!

What do I mean?

Well, verse 9, if you look at it, is a strange verse:

'Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?'.

Now, you've got to imagine this: Isaiah is describing what it was for Belshazzar, this Babylonian Emperor, to enter into hell - imagine that! With all his wealth, and with all his pomp and glory, he enters hell - and it's sort of sarcastic here, I think –

Isaiah is saying that the other kings that are in hell, it's as if they stand to greet this great King of Kings on earthly terms.

They stand to their feet, they are depicted as being excited at this man coming into the realm of the dead, and they stand to welcome him - but listen to their words, verse 10, they all speak: 'Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?'.

Have you ever heard the expression: 'Death is the great leveler'?

That's what they're saying. With all that he was as the greatest king on the earth at that time, when he enters into the realm of the dead it matters nothing.

There are no kings there, there's no status, no class, no wealth.

Our Lord Jesus Himself, did He not teach us that in Luke chapter 16, where He told the story about the beggar and the rich man? It was the beggar, Lazarus, who went to heaven; and it was the rich man who went to hell.

The thing that He taught there was that it doesn't matter how much money you have, your money can actually be an obstacle to you in eternity, it can take you to hell!

Being poor won't stop you from getting into heaven.

In verse 2 the Emperor is addressed as 'Lucifer', which gives us a clue that more is being spoken of here than Babylonish history.

'Lucifer' is a Latin name, and it means 'the morning star' - but there's something significant being taught there: the morning star only appears for a little time, and God is saying that the king's glory, the great glory of Babylon, has only appeared for a flash and it's gone.

That's what James said in his epistle: 'What is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away'.