Isaiah 47
Being
72 and blessed with good health, a mind that seems to work most of the time and
the wife of my youth who I love more today than anytime in our short 49 years
together, is such a blessing. To have
been blessed with parents who instructed me in the teachings of Scripture and
in the blessing of work, and the understanding that God will keep an account of
my actions, both good and bad. My parents
had little of material stuff, but they always set aside ten percent of my dad’s
earnings to be given as a tithe to the Lord, and taught me it was all the
LORD’s and He had entrusted me to manage what was given to us. We find this teaching in the Acts of the
apostles, chapter 20:35, “In all things I have shown you that by
working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the
Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to
receive.’”
With that said, I must confess Jan and I have made
many mistakes, me more than Jan, mistakes of forgetting who is the owner and
who is the manager. And through it all
God has blessed us with a lifestyle we could never have dreamed of when we walked
out of Emanuel Baptist Church as man and wife.
We now find ourselves living in a culture much like the one Isaiah is
sharing about, look at verse ten of chapter 47 with me. It seems to describe a civilization much like
ours; “You felt secure in your wickedness, you said,
“No one sees me;” your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said
in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” Does it ring in your ears, me
first, I’m special, I’ve always been special, and I deserve what I want when I
want it, and by the way, that is the way it is so get over it. This culture has grown up being told, to get
what they want without dreaming or working for it and it is a culture of greed
and a desire for more, with little or no desire for God or the things of
God.
This once great nation, Babylon who had achieved
dominance among the nations of the world, (note: much like the USA) but its
former glory will be turned to oblivion.
God addressed the leading women as Virgin Daughters, a term only used
for His people up to this point. These
daughters were pampered and spoiled, but now they were not being served but
serving, doing lowly chores, a contrast to her former exalted status.
God makes it clear in verses 6-7, He used Babylon
as a tool of His anger against Judah, but Babylon sought its own glory, and its
pride became its downfall. Babylon is
compared to a woman, a lover of luxury, and one who feels she is secure, much
like the culture we enjoy. She has the
attitude of all is good I will be OK no matter what happens to others. She brags about her husband and children, for
to be a woman living in that time without a husband and children was to have no
meaning and no protection. But Babylon
is compared to a woman who loses her husband and children in one day. She cannot avert it, no matter what she tries
she is not able to ward it off, devastation will happen suddenly and unexpectedly.
Babylon loved her sorceries, she tried to tell the
future by looking at the stars, she was haughty and prideful, but when God has
spoken often in Scripture to us as people and to nations He will bring judgment
on all who put other gods before Him.
From our Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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