Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Isaiah 18-22
Isaiah 21:9
And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
If you are confused, welcome to the club. To help here are some practical points to ponder.
One. As with many prophecies in the Old Testament, those given about Babylon in Isaiah 21:1-10 have a two-fold fulfillment. Concerning the prophecy of Babylon (called the “desert of the sea” in verse one) the actual fulfillment took place in 536 BC. Daniel 5 tells of the night it happened. Belshazzar had a feast wherein God’s hand wrote upon the wall. That very night Babylon was ended and divided, given to the Medes and Persians. Just as was prophesied in Daniel 2.
The greater fulfillment of the fall of Babylon can be read about in Revelation 17-19. The destruction of Babylon in 536 BC was physical, the destruction of Babylon in Revelation is both physical and spiritual in nature as it is an ecclesiastical/political body. This primary and secondary fulfillment of Isaiah 21:9 plainly demonstrates the two-fold nature of the fulfillment of many prophecies.
Two. The “burden” that Isaiah has is the same that all preachers have. God gives a burden to preachers to deliver information to those to whom they preach. Sometimes, as it was with Isaiah, that burden is joyful to hear. Israel must have been overjoyed to hear that God would deal harshly with their enemies. Remember Israel’s hymn of salvation in chapter 12, the key word therein was joy.
Sometimes, the burden that the preacher shares is difficult to hear. For Israel to hear of their own judgment in chapter 22 must have been tough to hear. God is love (I John 4:8), but God is also a God of wrath (John 3:36). John fairly presented both natures of Almighty God in the Gospel that bears his name and the book of the Revelation. A prophet in the Old Testament and a preacher in the New; both will have a burden to deliver sometimes of joy and sometimes of sorrow.
Three. In chapter 20:2-4 Isaiah is commanded to strip himself of his prophetic garb and walk barefoot for three years as a sign to Egypt and Ethiopia of their soon destruction at the hands of Assyria. Throughout the balance of his book, Isaiah will be commanded to perform other “signs” through peculiar actions. Why? They had no Bible like we do today. God had to get their attention in strange and unusual ways. The main audience of Isaiah’s prophecies were the Jews. They required a sign even as I Corinthians 1:22-23 confirms, For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;.
Lastly, please remember that these concise devotions could never give the complete, thorough, or exhaustive overview of all that is read each day. They were never intended to. These are simple thoughts to help the reader stay engaged with an eye toward moving from “I will read the Bible.” To “I have read the Bible.” These are in no way meant to be definitive, but rather thought provoking.
Stay tuned. Isaiah has much more to say about that which will happen and is happening.
Dr. William T. Howe
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