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August 1 - Isaiah 14 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it is Sean here and it is a Tuesday, but more
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  importantly it is the 1st of August.
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  Welcome to a new month. We are into the last month of
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  winter here, and isn't that good news?
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  And you might be in the last month of summer, and that might
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  be good news for you too, as you look forward to things being a
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  little bit cooler in the autumn months.
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  But what a beautiful, beautiful winter we're enjoying down here
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  in Tassie. Hey, just gorgeous sunshiny
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  days, not too cold at night. Wonderful.
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  And today, as we continue reading through the book of
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  Isaiah, we continue to hear God speaking judgment, and today
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  actually taunting the Babylonian king with Isaiah's words.
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  Now, something that I should have probably mentioned
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  yesterday is that back at the time when this was written,
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  there is a very specific way that people wrote about war and
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  wrote about one Kingdom routing another Kingdom.
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  And that is when they write that they write in broad brushstrokes
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  talking about the destruction of everyone, you know, complete
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  destruction, including babies and children.
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  And that doesn't necessarily mean that every baby in that
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  land was murdered. It's just the way that they
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  wrote to drive home the emphasis of their complete victory over
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  that other country. So often with our modern ears,
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  when we read these passages, it sounds deeply horrendous and
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  troubling, but that's not necessarily the understanding of
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  those who would have read this in their time.
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  They just would have read, oh wow, what a comprehensive
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  victory against that nation. So with that little caveat, we
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  continue reading about God's judgment of the nations and
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  today Babylon as we read together Isaiah, chapter 14.
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  But the Lord will have mercy on the descendants of Jacob.
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  He will choose Israel as His special people once again.
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  He will bring them back to settle once again in their own
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  land, and people from many different nations will come and
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  join them there and unite with the people of Israel.
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  The nations of the world will help the people of Israel to
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  return, and those who come to live in the Lord's land will
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  serve them. Those who captured Israel will
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  themselves be captured, and Israel will rule over its
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  enemies. In that wonderful day when the
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  Lord gives His people rest from sorrow and fear, from slavery
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  and chains, you will taunt the king of Babylon.
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  You will say the mighty man has been destroyed.
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  Yes, your insolence has ended, for the Lord has crushed your
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  wicked power and broken your evil rule.
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  You struck the people with endless blows of rage and held
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  the nations in your angry grip with unrelenting tyranny.
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  But finally the earth is at rest and quiet.
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  Now it can sing again. Even the trees of the forest,
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  the Cypress trees and the Cedars of Lebanon sing out this joyous
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  song. Since you have been cut down, no
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  one will come now to cut us down.
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  In the place of the dead. There is excitement over your
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  arrival. The spirits of world leaders and
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  mighty kings, long dead, stand up to see you with one voice.
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  They all cry out. Now you are as weak as we are.
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  Your might and power were buried with you.
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  The sound of the harp in your palace has ceased.
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  Now maggots are your sheet and worms your blanket.
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  How you are fallen from heaven, oh shining star, sun of the
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  morning you have been thrown down to the earth, you who
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  destroyed the nations of the world.
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  For you said to yourself, I will ascend to heaven and set my
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  throne above God's stars. I will preside on the mountain
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  of the gods, far away in the north.
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  I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most
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  High. Instead you will be brought down
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  to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.
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  Everyone there will stare at you and ask, Can this be the one who
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  shook the earth and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
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  Is this the one who destroyed the world and made it into a
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  wasteland? Is this the king who demolished
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  the world's greatest cities and had no mercy on his prisoners?
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  The King of the Nation's lie in stately glory, each in his own
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  tomb. That you will be thrown out of
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  your grave like a worthless branch, like a corpse trampled
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  under foot, it will be dumped into a mass grave with those
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  killed in battle. You will descend to the pit.
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  You will not be given a proper burial, for you have destroyed
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  your nation and slaughtered your people.
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  The descendants of such an evil person will never again receive
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  honor, kill this man's children, let them die because of their
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  father's sins. They must not rise and conquer
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  the earth, filling the world with their cities.
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  This is what the Lord of Heaven's army says.
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  I myself have risen against Babylon.
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  I will destroy its children and its children's children, says
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  the Lord. I will make Babylon a desolate
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  place of owls filled with swamps and marshes.
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  I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction.
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  I, the Lord of Heaven's armies, have spoken.
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  The Lord of Heaven's armies has sworn this oath.
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  It will all happen as I have planned.
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  It will be as I have decided. I will break the Assyrians when
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  they are in Israel. I will trample them on my
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  mountains. My people will no longer be
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  their slaves, nor bow down under their heavy loads.
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  I have a plan for the whole earth, a hand of judgment upon
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  all the nations the Lord of heaven's armies has spoken.
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  Who can change his plans when the hand is raised?
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  Who can stop him? This message came to me the year
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  King A has died. Do not rejoice, you Philistines,
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  that the rod that struck you was broken, that the king who
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  attacked you was dead. For from that snake a more
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  poisonous snake will be born, a fiery serpent to destroy you.
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  I will feed the poor in my pasture.
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  The needy will lie down in peace.
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  But As for you, I will wipe you out with famine and destroy the
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  few who remain. Wail at the gates, weep in the
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  cities melt with fear. You Philistines.
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  A powerful army comes like smoke from the north.
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  Each soldier rushes forward, eager to fight.
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  What should we tell the Philistine messengers?
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  Tell them the Lord has built Jerusalem.
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  Its walls will give refuge to his oppressed people.
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  You are a just God. The reach and breadth of your
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  understanding is so far beyond ours.
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  And we just thank you that in your eternal vision, in your
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  eternal understanding, you hold us with love and compassion, and
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  you organize things according to your best purpose.
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  When it doesn't make any sense to us.
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  We just pray that you give us your peace and an understanding
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  that in your fullness of time you will bring about your will.
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  Thank you for this divine plan that you play out.
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  We just give you the glory and hand control to you as if we
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  ever had it in the 1st place. But we relinquish our illusion
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  of control and justice, welcome you back to the driver's seat of
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  our lives today and every day, our communities, our nation and
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  our world. You are Sovereign Lord and we
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  just worship you and submit to Your glorious rule.
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  It's in the name of Jesus that we pray all of this come in.