Not only have we the contemptuous end of Babylon's idols as in chapter 46, but now also the dismal end of Babylon's pride when the Persian conqueror should take the city. All this, be it remembered, was yet in the future some one hundred and severity years when Isaiah wrote.
Babylon, lofty in its pride, was to he humbled, the throne was to be exchanged for a seat on the ground (verse 1). Instead of exaltation, there should be common labor as of a slave.
Because the Babylonians had treated the Jews with severity, showing them no mercy, God would take vengeance on them, and He would meet none to stay Him (verse 3). No more should Babylon be called Mistress of kingdoms (verses 5 and 7).
Men may think of God as paying no attention to what is going on in the world, but they are mistaken. What concerns and affects His people (even Israel today is not forgotten, we may be sure) is of the deepest interest to Him (See Genesis 6:12-1312And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:12‑13) and 18:20, 21; Exodus 3:7-8; 9:16-187And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:7‑8)
16And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. 17As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? 18Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. (Exodus 9:16‑18); Esther; Obadiah 9-169And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. 11In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. 12But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; 14Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. 15For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. (Obadiah 9‑16); Matthew 25:32-4632And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:32‑46); Acts 22:4-84And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 5As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. 6And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. 7And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. (Acts 22:4‑8); Revelation 17:66And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. (Revelation 17:6) and 19:1-2).
Substantially the language used here for Babylon of old, now utterly destroyed, is used for the religious corruptress of the last days (Revelation 18:7-87How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. (Revelation 18:7‑8)), also called Babylon, though her seat of power is Rome (chapter 17:9, that being the well-known city on seven hills).
The desolation of ancient Babylon's glory came suddenly, unexpectedly (Daniel 5:3030In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. (Daniel 5:30)), and with equal swiftness will come the crushing judgment of the religious oppressor and deceiver which will attain its. greatest power after the Lord's coming for His heavenly saints, and will be destroyed before His return to reign. Then will follow the judgment of the imperial power of Rome at the hand of the Lord Himself.
The ancient and modern Babylons are alike in enslaving and ill-treating the people of God; in idolatry; in opposition to God. Ancient Babylon's history as given in the book of Daniel will be duplicated in the history Of the mystic Babylon of the last days.
Verse 13 gives a suggestion of what the Babylonians relied on in difficulties, doubts and distress. What-were the astrologers, who professed to be able to reveal secrets' by studying the heavens, or the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators who predicted what was (they said) to come, according to the new moons,—what were they worth when an enemy was at Babylon's gates? “Let them. stand up and save thee," says the, Word of, God. What folly is in man's mind,. to reject the true God, and accept the delusive devices of Satan, to eternal loss!
Indeed; these trusted persons shall not even save themselves (verse 14), and the chapter concludes with, "There is none to save thee."
Poor, besotted. man, refusing the loving warnings of the blessed God will learn, when it is too late, when the door of mercy, long held wide open, will be closed, that security, rest, peace, happiness, both in tittle and for eternity could have been had but for the asking!