ESOCS Devotional 12 January 2025 – The End of Babylonian Kingship
MEMORY VERSE:“For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them.” Isaiah 14:1
TEXT: ISAIAH 14:1-23
For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. 2 Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.
3 It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, 4 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say:
“How the oppressor has ceased,
The golden city ceased!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
The scepter of the rulers;
6 He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke,
He who ruled the nations in anger,
Is persecuted and no one hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
They break forth into singing.
8 Indeed the cypress trees rejoice over you,
And the cedars of Lebanon,
Saying, ‘Since you were cut down,
No woodsman has come up against us.’
9 “Hell from beneath is excited about you,
To meet you at your coming;
It stirs up the dead for you,
All the chief ones of the earth;
It has raised up from their thrones
All the kings of the nations.
10 They all shall speak and say to you:
‘Have you also become as weak as we?
Have you become like us?
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
And the sound of your stringed instruments;
The maggot is spread under you,
And worms cover you.’
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
16 “Those who see you will gaze at you,
And consider you, saying:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
Who shook kingdoms,
17 Who made the world as a wilderness
And destroyed its cities,
Who did not open the house of his prisoners?’
18 “All the kings of the nations,
All of them, sleep in glory,
Everyone in his own house;
19 But you are cast out of your grave
Like an abominable branch,
Like the garment of those who are slain,
Thrust through with a sword,
Who go down to the stones of the pit,
Like a corpse trodden underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial,
Because you have destroyed your land
And slain your people.
The brood of evildoers shall never be named.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children
Because of the iniquity of their fathers,
Lest they rise up and possess the land,
And fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “For I will rise up against them,” says the Lord of hosts,
“And cut off from Babylon the name and remnant,
And offspring and posterity,” says the Lord.
23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine,
And marshes of muddy water;
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says the Lord of hosts.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
Isaiah warned that Judah would one day be taken into captivity by Babylon and this happened in 586 B.C. Jeremiah prophesied that this captivity would last for 70 years. After this, Babylon would be judged and the Jews would be permitted to go home (Jer. 25:1-14). The picture in today’s scripture is that of a mighty king whose pride brought him to destruction. Isaiah was able to see through the window of time to the captivity of Israel, the fall of Babylon, and the return of Israel. The fall of Babylon would assure God’s people that He would work on their behalf (v 1). It is interesting to note that God is the Landowner, since the land of Israel is called “the land of the Lord” (v 2).
The one whose fury would end is the oppressor who had struck down peoples and aggressively subdued nations (vv. 3-8). His death would bring rest, peace and joy to the entire region. This rest is pictured symbolically by the great cedar trees of Lebanon, saying that they were then safe. No longer would they be in danger of being cut down to provide tribute to Sennacherib. Isaiah describes the king’s arrival in hell, (the world of the dead) where the king’s wealth, glory and power vanished. In fact, the king already there, stood in tribute to him (v 9). They were amazed that he had become weak and dead like them (v 10). Though he had lived in his riches, he would now lie in corruption like them. The worms would decompose his body in the grave (v 11). It seems that Isaiah is using the fall of Satan to illustrate the fall of this Babylonian king. Five times, the personal pronoun “I” is used to emphasize the selfish determinations of both Satan and Satan-empowered men to replace God, Himself, as the rightful ruler of this world.
Dearly beloved, “I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride, selfishness ambition and everything that is contrary to God’s law, the Holy Spirit will fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride, conceit, ambition and the world, there is no room for the Spirit of God. We must be emptied before we can be filled.” In few seconds, do a self-evaluation, are you emptied or filled, if the later, what’s the content of the filling?
Only God can determine the end of anything. Too strong was Babylon, yet before the Maker of the Universes, they were abased. I join faith with you this morning, every lingering matter tending too strong for you, regardless of its nomenclature, in that name above all, be abased now, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
CHALLENGES
- Create space in you for the Holy Trinity to indwell you. Kick out every ungodliness in you.
PRAYER POINT
- Father Lord, keep me in remembrance that everything I have belongs to the Lord and I’m only your caretaker.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 14:24-32; Matthew 5:1-end
ESOCS Devotional 12 January 2025
