The Oracle of the Wilderness of the Sea: The Doom of Babylon

We'll continue on in Isaiah this afternoon. Please go ahead and turn to Isaiah 21.

So in this section of Isaiah, from chapter 13 all the way to chapter 23, you have these oracles against the nations.

And so here we're looking at another one that has a little different character than the other ones because it's not named after a country or city like the other ones are named.

And in content, it's primarily about Babylon. Which was already addressed in chapters 13 and 14.

So this one has a little special character. Let's go ahead and stand and read this oracle.

The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. Isaiah 21 verse 1.

The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea, as whirlwinds and the Negev's sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land, a stern vision is told to me.

The traitor betrays and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Lay siege,

O Medea. All the sighing she has caused I bring to an end. Therefore, my loins are filled with anguish.

Pains have seized me. Like the pangs of a woman in labor, I'm bowed down so that I cannot hear.

I'm dismayed so that I cannot see. My heart staggers. Horror has appalled me.

The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. They prepare the table.

They spread the rugs. They eat. They drink. Arise, O princes. Oil the shield.

For thus the Lord said to me, Go set a watchman. Let him announce what he sees when he sees riders.

Horsemen and pears. Riders on donkeys. Riders on camels. Let him listen diligently, very diligently.

Then he who saw cried out, Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually, day by day.

And at my post I am stationed whole nights. And behold, here come riders, horsemen and pears.

And he answered, Fallen, fallen is Babylon and all the carved images of her gods.

He has shattered to the ground. O my threshed and winnowed one, what

I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Your Word, which has such a diversity in character, straightforward teachings in a didactic manner.

You have these enigmatic poems all for us to cherish and appreciate.

I pray that you would open our eyes to understand what your Word has for us today and that it would transform us.

God, I pray that you would, by this Word, make us soldiers that would endure, that you would make your saints more holy in Jesus' name.

So as I just mentioned in my prayer, endurance is an important thing in the Christian life. We are called to endure, to go through many hard difficulties and trials, to deny self.

That's a very difficult thing to do, and over much time it can become very discouraging for the

Christian. So look at his life, look how much he has to deny self in order to truly serve

God, and the weight of the task can feel very great. So what, what causes there to endure, to continue enduring?

Well, there is a great hope at the end, hope of the return of Jesus Christ, of victory over all enemies.

In this passage, it may appear to you as I said once again in my prayer, enigmatic, too hard to understand.

Well, thankfully, as many passages in Isaiah, the New Testament gives us a direct interpretation of this and tells it, tells us that it is a call for us to endure.

Revelation 14 interprets this oracle and tells us it's a call for endurance, and that's how we'd like to present it to you today.

So if we begin here in verse, verse one, the oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea, and it speaks of whirlwinds and the

Negev they sweep on. So all these other oracles have all been named after cities, they've been named after countries, and here we have an oracle that's not named after either, that's just named after a region, specifically the

Negev, Negev being the Hebrew word for south that refers to the whole desert region that's south of the land of Canaan.

And so it can't have the exact same characteristics as the others where God is speaking of judgment or salvation for various regions because there's no single person to judge or to save in all of the

Negev. So what is it talking about? I believe here it's referring to this region as being the source of the oracle.

If you imagine this word of God being given coming on the whirlwinds from this desert region, this is a message of judgment for Babylon.

And what is the significance of it being called the wilderness of the sea? In the

Old Testament and even in the New Testament, when the Bible speaks of deserts, of wilderness, it often is alluding to pictures of Sheol, pictures of the grave, pictures of hell, and the same thing when it speaks of the abyss of the sea.

And so I think by combining these two images of desert and the sea, by calling it the wilderness of the sea, it's taking these two images that frequently represent the grave and describe this.

Given that Isaiah is going around to these different regions, giving a different oracle for each one, this one uninhabited region, he has an oracle for this one as well.

And he speaks of it as though an oracle comes from it, an oracle from hell. Coming to take down the enemies of God.

As whirlwinds in the Negev sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. A stern vision is told to me.

The traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Now, it's not clear whether or not the traitor and the destroyer are

Babylon, the one who God is bringing judgment against, or the agent that he will use,

Persia, the Persians and the Medes, to bring judgment against Babylon. But really, much in this vision is not designed to give detail, to communicate detail, but to communicate emotion.

That we should sense a great judgment. So as he's painting this picture, not everything needs to be understood so directly, to understand the main thrust of what

Isaiah is communicating here. He says, "'Go up, O Elam! Lay siege,

O Medea! All the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.'" Elam is a major province in Persia.

Media refers to the place of the Medes. And if you know biblical history, you know the

Persians and the Medes come and destroy Babylon. So this is speaking of that time, way in the future from where Isaiah is, the

Persians and the Medes coming to destroy Babylon. And all that sighing that she has caused, all the sighing that Babylon has caused, all the distress and anguish will finally come to an end by the hand of the

Lord. Even though it is Elam and Medea who are coming and doing this, it says, "'I bring to an end.'"

The Lord Almighty brings to an end. And these things will one day all end.

All of our anguish, all of our trials will one day end. All of the enemies of God will one day end.

And we tend to think of such things as being way off, far, far in the distance.

That's primarily because of our perspective. You know, if you ask a— if you remember, you know, as a child how long time seemed—a whole year just seems like a very long time, right?

A one -year -old to grow another year, that's a whole another lifetime he has to live through.

And then by the time you're 50, well, now it's—now a year is two percent of a lifetime, so it's not that much. Now if you think about the biggest number that you can think about, and you know, there's always a bigger number, so it'd be kind of fun if we actually did some kind of competition here and see who could think of the biggest number.

And put that number up there. One day you will have existed that many years, whether you belong to the category of the righteous or the wicked.

Bible speaks of us having immortal souls, souls that will never die. We will continue on forever.

And so no matter how high that number is, one day you will have existed for that period of time.

And as you look back now and consider your own impatience, whatever situation you're a part of, it will feel like not two percent of a lifetime, but such a small fraction.

It will be infinitesimal. And from that perspective, how could you not? How could you not endure?

The Lord is coming. He is assured that he will bring judgment on all his enemies.

Let us continue, knowing that he is coming, knowing that it is only a short time in the grand scheme of things.

Verse 3 says, Therefore my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor.

I am bowed down so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

Isaiah describes himself as though he's one giving birth. And this is frequently a picture used in scripture to describe not only pain, but the situation that led up to the pain.

The situation which was building, not causing pain, and then finally suddenly causes this great pain.

So, frequently, it's a picture of sin building up, building up, building up, until finally the birth happens, and there is a great, great judgment.

He's bowed down so he cannot hear. I'm dismayed so that I cannot see. My heart staggers.

Horror has appalled me. The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

Isaiah talks about how his senses have been so dulled by this pain that he cannot see, he cannot hear.

And this is, in a way, surprising, because if this is judgment on Babylon, why does Isaiah feel this way?

Well, there's a couple of things I would point out. First of all, you've seen in some of these oracles the compassion

God has on his creatures as they experience judgment. So I think part of this is

Isaiah communicating the horror it is for any of God's creatures, whether righteous or wicked, to experience such horrible things.

It is a horrible thing to undergo this judgment. But secondly, it is the case that as we near the end, as we near the return of Christ, that there is continued hardship, that that process of the world undergoing judgment is also a process of us experiencing calamities as well.

God sends many different calamities on the earth. To call people to repentance, and even the righteous on the earth who are serving

God still have to undergo these things. So as we see Isaiah speak of such pain and such anguish,

I think those are two things that we can consider here. He says that the twilight he longed for has been turned into him for trembling.

Now, this twilight is either a twilight of rest for him, or it's a twilight of an end for Babylon.

Either way, he's speaking of desiring the end for Babylon, and he wanted this to end. But now that he sees it, now that he sees it, he's horrified, he's terrified that it has finally come.

He continues on. They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink.

Arise, oh princes, oil the shield. Now, this has a very specific fulfillment in Israel and in Babylon.

However, even before seeing that fulfillment, it should be clear what's going on here. You have people who are not giving any heed to the judgment that is coming, that are entirely unaware of the judgment that is coming.

Now, let me go ahead and show you that fulfillment in Daniel 5. If you go ahead and turn there.

In Daniel 5, I'll just read the first nine verses here and then skip to the end. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

I believe that this is specifically the feast this is talking about. Sometimes when Isaiah speaks of feasts and things, he's not speaking of some particular feast, but I believe this time he is, that he's speaking particularly of this feast.

Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought.

That the kings and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. They brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem.

And the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. And they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand.

And the king saw the hand as it wrote. The king's color changed and his thoughts alarmed him.

His limbs gave way and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the

Chaldeans, the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and shows me his interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be a third ruler in the kingdom.

Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation.

Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed and his color changed and his lords were perplexed.

Now if you skip ahead to just the last two verses of this chapter. That very night,

Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years old.

So here you have the exact moment when Babylon is conquered and the Persians come.

And what are they doing? They're feasting and drinking, pretending that nothing is wrong, but judgment is coming.

Judgment is coming and they are ignoring it. They are just as Jesus spoke in Matthew. It'll be like the days of Noah.

People getting married and being given in marriage, pretending that nothing is wrong, nothing is coming, but something is coming.

Judgment is coming. We ought to be looking for that judgment, awaiting the return of Christ.

You would expect a blind man not to see things, you expect a deaf man not to hear things, but we are ones whose eyes have been opened.

If you are in the Lord, you're ones whose eyes have been opened, your ears have been opened. And so you should be hearing and seeing and knowing the truth, knowing that Jesus is coming.

You'll have to be looking forward to this. And primarily, you can do that by praying.

By praying that the Lord would return. By praying, Maranatha, come quickly, Lord. It says in verse 6, "'For thus the

Lord said to me, go set a watchman, let him announce what he sees. When he sees riders, horsemen, and pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.

Go set a watchman, let him announce what he sees.'" We ought to be watchmen, waiting, waiting for the return of Christ.

Specifically, historically here, it says horsemen on pairs and riders and donkeys. There is actual historical evidence outside the

Bible. There's a historian named Xenophon of Athens, who he recorded that the

Persians would do this. They would go in pairs, and they would bring camels and donkeys, even though those aren't really beasts of war.

They would bring those to unsettle the enemy so they would have, you know, more troops.

"'Then he who saw cried out, upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post

I am stationed whole nights.'" You know, he's been waiting eagerly for this. He's been waiting. "'And behold, here come riders, horsemen, and pairs.

And he answered, fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.'"

And here, finally, the Lord has done this work. The Lord has made the sign to cease. The Lord has destroyed

Babylon. And we ought to be, like this watchman, looking forward to this return of Christ, having our hope set on him.

Now, as I mentioned, you can do this by praying, but you can also do this by just looking to the signs of the times.

We recently went through a book on on the, uh, on the end times and eschatology in general, what

God has prepared for the future. And while many people are unhinged in the way they read human history, you know, and consider just very specific things.

Anytime a president does something or anytime a, you know, there's some new technology developed, they find a verse they think applies to it.

You know, put that kind of newspaper exegesis aside. But the Bible tells us to be, to be looking for signs, to be looking for different disturbances in the world, for great calamities, and to know that each one points to the

Lord's return, that he is coming, that it is getting closer and closer. It's not saying that the world is going to get worse and worse, but it will continue with calamities, with disasters, with evil.

And these things should all remind us. They should all remind us that we're not to be ones who are, desensitized and unaware that the

Lord is returning, but ones who know that each one of these things means that the Lord must return, and each one that builds up is building up judgment, that Christ must come and bring judgment upon.

In this statement, fallen, fallen is Babylon and all the carved images of her gods.

Go ahead and turn to Revelation 14, because here's where this, this passage is interpreted for us.

Thankfully, I believe we'd have enough to understand it without specific instruction, but God is merciful to us to give us specific instruction on how to read these things, and let's go there for that.

So if you look in verse 6, Revelation 14, 6, Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to all those who dwell on the earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

And he said with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who has made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

Another angel, a second followed, saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great, she who made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the lamb, and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.

These worshipers of the beast in its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name, here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this, blessed are the dead who die in the

Lord from now on, blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow them.

Amen. Now, I am not one who has spent much time in Revelation.

I have it as a big item on my to -do list to spend a lot of time in Revelation and figure out what a lot of these different things mean, and I don't have that for you for much of what this says, but I can tell you that this is talking about a judgment that is coming.

You see, it speaks of the the torment that goes up forever and ever. The judgment has come, and it is very clearly telling us that we should consider this judgment that happened on historical

Babylon to refer to a judgment that Christ brings at a later time. Now, there have been different interpretations of this.

A lot of people understand Babylon is specifically referring to Rome. And some have said that the second angel of verse 8 that says fallen, fallen is

Babylon, is Martin Luther, and it's talking about the the original fall of Roman Catholicism when he begins the

Protestant Reformation. You know, I have not looked into a lot of these things, but I think it's very clear that it's talking about a judgment that is coming, and that's the main thing for us to see.

This is a call for endurance, as it says in verse 12. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

Why should that be a call for endurance? If judgment is coming, then we can wait.

If judgment is coming for the wicked, then all we have to do is wait some time.

We don't need to worry about the present moment we're going through, because there's an entire eternity waiting for us where that will have ceased.

The Bible speaks of counting the cost, and that is what we must do. We must count the cost.

Now, a lot of people think of counting the cost as being primarily to count what following Jesus will cost us.

Now, that is— I believe—the direct statement, what is meant, that we should count what this will cost us.

But if you only count what it will cost you, and you think, oh, that's really hard, who would ever—who would ever follow

Jesus? No one would. To count the cost is not just to count what it will cost you, but also to count what there is to gain.

If we do not count what there is to gain, we will never endure. If we do not fix our eyes on the hope, we will not endure.

Even Jesus Christ did not endure the cross not thinking of the hope that was set before him. Hebrews 12 too says that he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.

If we are only counting the cost by thinking of— by letting our minds dwell in the struggles now, and not counting the cost in terms of thinking the great joys that await when that judgment is done and over with, when that sighing has all ceased, we will never follow him.

We will never endure. So we must have our eyes fixed on the great reward that he has purchased for all those who are his followers, for all those who have their trust in him.

This is the secret to endurance, is to look at the end, not to just look at the here and now.

Isaiah continues in verse 10. Oh my threshed and winnowed one, what

I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you, summing up his oracle.

What is a threshed and winnowed one? This is a frequent picture in scripture, is grain. God's people are the grain, and he beats out the wheat to separate the grain from the chaff.

They have already been threshed. They've already been winnowed. They've gone through that struggle and trial, and here they are finally at the end.

And the chaff is removed. And as we as we look to the

Lord, we can endure. This is something that God is giving to his threshed and winnowed one.

Not to his one who has not gone through any threshing, who has not gone through any winnowing, but one who will go through threshing and winnowing.

You see, the one who— it is not because we endure that we will see the

Lord and be with him. Although it is a necessary condition, of course, there's no one who will go and see the Lord and be with the

Lord who does not endure. It's not because we endure. Rather, it is because we look forward to seeing the Lord that we will endure.

That is the the cause of our endurance, is this thing set before us. Do not be distracted by the present moment.

Have your thoughts fixed on Christ, on his mercies, on his glories, on what he has accomplished on the cross, so that your sins can be washed away.

If you don't have your mind set on that, you will be inclined to go on and continue in sin and to cease to serve the

Lord as you ought. But if you have your mind on what he has accomplished, the victory he has already won, rather than moral laxity or something else that people might think that, you know, such thoughts of victory would lead one to, rather, having a victorious mindset won't lead us to be lax because it's already accomplished.

Rather, it will lead us to be confident and bold because it is already accomplished. We can serve the

Lord boldly. We can endure much without grumbling in this world if we have our thoughts fixed on Christ.

And we can, despite anything that assails us, we can be bold, knowing that we will have him in our death as it says in Revelation.

Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. We know that we will be blessed if we die in the

Lord. So fix your thoughts on Christ, and you will be able to endure. Look forward to those glories, and you will be able to endure.

But if you have your mind set on the here and now, you will be led astray, and you will be deceived.

Fix your eyes on the Lord. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this call to endurance.

We thank you for this encouragement you give us that though there are trials and struggles and even greater ones awaiting, that there is an end to it all.

We thank you for Jesus Christ who has already won the victory and who has gone on before us, who we will one day be with and enjoy his glorious presence.

I pray that if there are some here today who are contemplating not enduring or contemplating not denying themselves because it's too hard,

I ask that you would fix their eyes on your Son so that they would endure. In Jesus' name, amen.