Isaiah: A Call to Humility

Isaiah 46-47

A few weeks ago, I was watching a national news program about two Israeli diplomats who were brutally murdered in our nation’s capital. As the commentators discussed the people who desired Israel’s demise, one of them said, “Israel will stand. Many nations have tried to take them down. The Assyrians couldn’t do it. The Babylonians couldn’t do it. The Romans couldn’t do it. Nazi Germany couldn’t do it. Israel will stand.” A biblical history lesson on the national news!

Israel will stand, but not because of the Iron Dome, strategic military maneuvers, or assistance from their allies. They will stand because their God is the Holy One of Israel. That does not mean we agree with all the decisions that Israeli leaders make. It does mean that God will guide his people, as we have seen him do throughout the book of Isaiah. Sometimes that will be through discipline and sometimes through deliverance.

The depth of God’s involvement with Israel provides vivid examples of the way he works with us. He embraces us with his love, warns us of sin, disciplines us when needed, works sovereignly in our lives, and provides forgiveness and restoration. God brings needed renewal.

In today’s passage, Isaiah 46-47, God expresses his superiority over Babylon. Remember, this is written to those enduring slavery in Babylon, and Babylon seemed invincible. However, this is good news. Let’s see what we can learn from these chapters.

Isaiah 46:1-2
Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. 

Bel and Nebo were two of Babylon’s chief gods. Bel is also called Merodach (Jer. 50:2). He was the god of the sun. Nebo, his son, was the god of learning and astrology. On Babylon’s New Year’s Day, large statues of these gods were carried on the backs of livestock in a parade-like festival. But these lifeless gods would one day be taken captive.

In contrast to the lifeless, helpless gods of Babylon, God describes himself. The gods of the nations will stoop down. Yet God will lift his people. God reminded Israel that they belonged to him. He birthed them, will carry them, and will save them (Isa. 46:3-4).

The gods of Babylon and all the pagan nations were hammered out of expensive metal by a goldsmith, then carried and set in place. However, the lifeless images are unable to move (Isa. 46:5-7). The people bow down and worship the idol, but when “one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble” (Isa. 46:7). Walking with the living God is different.

Isaiah 46:8-11 [Today’s Anchor Point]
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. 

God is God, and Israel was stubborn. God calls them “stubborn of heart” reminding them that their deliverance was not far away (Isa. 46:12-13).  Remember, Israel was in captivity, and Babylon was a formidable military power. To be released from captivity seemed an unlikely outcome. How would God bring about their freedom?

In Isaiah 47:1, God calls Babylon a “virgin daughter.” This probably means that the walls of Babylon had never been breached. But one day they would “sit on the ground without a throne” (Isa. 47:1). The captors would become the captives. They would “grind flour” (Isa. 47:2). Their beautiful robes would be stripped off, their nakedness uncovered, and their disgrace would be seen by all (Isa. 47:2-3). Israel’s “Redeemer,” “the Lord of hosts,” “the Holy One of Israel” would take “vengeance” on Babylon and “spare no one” (Isa. 47:3-4).

It was true that God used Babylon as an instrument to judge Judah’s sin. However, like Assyria, the Babylonians abused their power. They “showed [Judah] no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy” (Isa. 47:6).

Babylon became so full of pride, they said in their heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me” (Isa. 47:8, 10). They “felt secure in their wickedness” (Isa. 47:10), yet disaster was just around the corner. “Ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing” (Isa. 47:11).

Babylon was very proud of their gods, their spirituality, and especially their “many sorceries” (Isa. 47:9, 12). The word translated “sorceries” is the Hebrew word, kesapay (see it’s use in 2 Kgs. 9:22, Micah 5:12, Nah. 3:4). It means to attempt to determine the future by using demonic forces. In Isaiah 47:12-13, God uses sarcasm in telling Babylon to use their sorcerers to save themselves.

Isaiah 47:12-13
Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. 

Nevertheless, the sorcerers will not save Babylon. They cannot even deliver themselves from destruction (Isa. 47:14). In the end, God said to Babylon, “there is no one to save you” (47:15).

Here are three takeaways for us from this chapter:

• Humility brings renewal.
  Babylon said, “I am forever—the eternal queen” (Isa. 47:7 NIV). Pride always leads to a fall (Prov. 16:18, 1 Cor. 10:12). This is a timeless warning about evaluating arrogance in our personal lives. We need to humble ourselves before God and let him be the One to lift us up (Jam. 4:10). 
  
  
• Trusting in God, not power or money, brings restoration. 
  Babylon trusted in themselves, their wisdom and knowledge, and lived as their own God (Isa. 47:10). And…they lost it all. There was no one to save them. We all know that power and money can only provide a fragile and fleeting sense of security. This is a great reminder that we can’t serve two masters.
  
  
• God always wins.
  God’s justice is certain. Justice delayed does not mean justice denied. God will work in his timing. Remember, this prophecy against Babylon took place one hundred and fifty years prior to its fulfillment. We can be assured…in his way and his timing, God always wins. 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on Isaiah 46-47.  Consider our Anchor Point—Isaiah 46:8-11. What do you personally learn from this passage?

Talking to God:  Ask God to point out any areas of pride and false security. Surrender those areas to him. 

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Every day is a day of spiritual renewal as we follow hard after Jesus.