CHAPTER 13

(712 B.C.)

THE DOOM OF BABYLON PREDICTED

¹The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. (According to Isaiahs Prophecies, Babylon is the first city or empire to be judged. And so she was! She has been, is, and will be, the great enemy. She is Satans city in opposition to Jerusalem, which is the Messiahs city.)

²Lift you up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. (This Passage has to do with the capture of Babylon by the Medes, but, even more so, it symbolizes the calling of the nations to gather to fight at Armageddon.)

³I have commanded My sanctified ones, I have also called My mighty ones for My anger, even them who rejoice in My highness. (This refers to the Second Coming, which will destroy the Antichrist.)

⁴The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of Hosts musters the Host of the battle. (Once again, this refers to the Battle of Armageddon and the destruction of the Antichrist, which will take place at the Second Coming.)

⁵They come from a far country, from the end of the Heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land. (At this time, and we continue to speak of Armageddon, the Lord will lead this charge.)

JUDGMENT IN THE DAY OF THE LORD

⁶Howl you; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. (The howling refers to Israels destitute condition during the Battle of Armageddon, immediately before the Second Coming of Christ; however, the Lord will definitely then come, with the Antichrist then destroyed.)

⁷Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every mans heart shall melt (even though this pertains to the near destruction of Babylon by Cyrus, it portrays in an even greater way the helplessness of the Antichrist and his armies at the Second Coming of Christ):

⁸And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman who travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. (This speaks of Israels condition just before the Second Coming [I Thess. 5:2-3].)

⁹Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. (While these Passages have a limited reference to the near destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, their total fulfillment awaits the coming Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of the Lord.)

¹⁰For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. (As is obvious, none of this happened during the first destruction of Babylon; however, it will happen in the last half of the Great Tribulation and at the Second Coming [Mat. 24:29].)

¹¹And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. (The proud and the terrible refer to the Antichrist in particular and to all his followers in general.)

¹²I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. (So great will be the destruction, and so many men will be killed that they will be as scarce as the golden wedge of Ophir [Ezek., Chpts. 38-39].)

¹³Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the Earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger. (For the last nearly 2,000 years, the world has little known the wrath or anger of God. During the last half of the Great Tribulation, and especially during the Battle of Armageddon, His wrath and anger will most definitely be directed toward the Earth.)

¹⁴And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man takes up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land. (This speaks of the great fear of the people at the exhibition of the wrath and anger of the Lord, which will take place, as stated, in the latter half of the Great Tribulation.)

¹⁵Everyone who is found shall be thrust through; and everyone who is joined unto them shall fall by the sword. (This Passage is saying that all in the armies of the Antichrist who do not flee will perish.)

¹⁶Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. (This refers to the Prophecies of Zechariah, which will be fulfilled in totality at the Battle of Armageddon [Zech. 14:2].)

¹⁷Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. (This Passage, as is obvious, refers to the Medes and the Persians attacking Babylon and taking the city. Their object was not plunder, but rather conquest and the extension of dominion.)

¹⁸Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eyes shall not spare children. (Isaiah now predicts a great slaughter concerning the coming invasion of Babylon by the Medes, which would take place about 200 years from the time of Isaiah.)

FINAL DESOLATION OF BABYLON

¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. (Verses 19 through 22 relate to the judgment described in Rev. 16:6 and 18:1-2; therefore, this Passage does not refer to the invasion by the Medes.)

²⁰It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. (After the destruction of Babylon near the close of the Great Tribulation [Rev., Chpt. 18], the area shall never be inhabited again. This could not be said of the destruction of Babylon in the past; in fact, the city continued for several centuries.)

²¹But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

²²And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. (In the coming Millennium, and even into the New Earth [Rev., Chpts. 21-22], there will be certain openings in the Earth where men can actually see into eternal Hell. Some have suggested that this spot [Babylon] so long used as a site of rebellion against God will be one of those openings.

If so, the words, satyrs and dragons, could refer to demon spirits which, at that time, will be visible as one looks down into these openings.)