Isaiah Chapter 13 "Burdens of Babylon, and Israel; and Israel's Blessings." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org In chapter eleven of Isaiah God has shown us how it shall be in the Millennium age, and in chapter twelve He has given us His sacred name, and He has told us to take that sacred name "YHVH" and circulate it. Let people know what good things He has done for you after you have consumed from the water from the well of His Word. Christ is the living Water. Now in this chapter God is going to tell us of the doom of Babylon. "Babylon" is derived from the word "Babel", which means confusion. We will see details of the Babylon of the book of Revelation, that one world system that is upon us today. God will show us exactly how it will come to pass. Historically, God brought Cyrus to power, the one He named before his birth, and declared what would happen, and that Cyrus and the Medes would bring Babylon down. This was an example of how God would destroy confusion in our generation. Isaiah 13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see." The burden, or doom of Babylon, which was given to Isaiah. Isaiah 13:2 "Lift ye 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." Isaiah was told to go to the highest point, and shout it out that God is going to destroy Babylon. God is going to use people of nations to sound the alarm, and in our generation this will be done through teachers, who will let those seeking to see the truth clearly. Once truth is made know, there is no confusion, however in this age of the flesh there will only be a few that will see and hear and understand the truths of God's Word. Most of those that call themselves Christians today will be blinded to the truth, for God will send a stupor of slumber over them to the truth for their own protection. The truth is going out, and many are hearing the truth, and know that there is a false messiah coming before the true Christ. God is saying, give warning to what is going to happen, and in our day even the Kenite can be saved if they see the truth and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 13:3 "I have commanded My sanctified ones, I have also called My mighty ones for Mine anger, even them that rejoice in My highness." God is telling us what tools He is going to use to bring down this Babylon, or confusion. God is saying I have already chosen the ones that He is going to use to destroy Babylon. We know that after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, his grandson turned the kingdom around and defiled the very precious things of God's House. Yet God forenamed Cyrus to destroy the nation of Babylon. God's had some of His elect present then, and He will have some of His elect present especially during this final generation. Isaiah 13:4 "The noise of the multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle." This marching army of the the Lord of Host is going to carry out the exact plan of God in this final generation. This is a type of when God named Cyrus in Isaiah 44:28, and designated Him to rule over Persia and the Medes, and this naming was many years prior to the birth of Cyrus. Remember that Babylon had not taken Jerusalem in the time of Isaiah, and come to power. But this is saying that not only will Babylon come to power, but that Cyrus seventy years later would bring it down and destroy it. Isaiah 44:28 "That saith Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, 'Thou shalt be built;' and to the temple, 'Thy foundation shall be laid." Isaiah 13:5 "They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of His indignation, to destroy the whole land." Our God is a jealous God, and when His anger is released there is no limitation to what He can do. You don't have to wonder about it, you will know it. When God releases His anger, from it comes something that is better. God is giving you a clue here that this is the time of the end spoken of. It is not only Cyrus and the Medes in ancient times, which was a type, but this is speaking of another time that our generation will witness. "The end of heaven" is in reference to even the end of this final generation, when Satan and his angels are kicked out of heaven to the earth. At the close of the five month period, as written of in Revelation 9:5, 10; Jesus Christ will return riding that Great white horse, and bringing judgment upon the whole earth. Then He will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the giver of Salvation. Revelation 19:11 "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and He That sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war." Revelation 19:12 "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. Revelation 19:13 "And He was clothed with a vesture dippend in blood: and His name is called "The Word of God." Revelation 19:14 "And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." Revelation 19:15 "And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Revelation 19:16 "And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." When Jesus Christ come, he will bring with Him the weapons to destroy the whole land, and that land is Babylon. He will not destroy the earth, but the evil eliments or rudiments that are on the land that made up Babylon, or the confusion. Every part of Babylon will be destroyed, however that destruction is not directed you; but Satan, his fallen angels, the false prophet and all things that went to make up that his one world religious order of idolatry. This is why it is important to study God's Word, and know the wishes of our Heavenly Father; so that you will not become part of that Bablyon that is coming upon us. We will be in it, but not of it, because Satan will rule over the entire earth during that five month period. . If you are in Christ and do not take part in Satan's Babylon kingdom, you do not have to be afraid of this time, for remember what the subject of this chapter is from verse one? It is the "burden of Babylon", the Babylon of the end time. The Babylon of Iraq is not the Babylon spoken of in Revelation. Isaiah 13:6 "Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the ALMIGHTY." This pinpoints the time that this is going to take place. It is the "Lord's day" the last day of this flesh age, or dispensation. Is this destruction going to come from man and his weapons? No! It is going to come from the Almighty. However if you are in goodstanding with Him, you don't have one thing to worry about, for God will not allow one hair on your head to be singed. Isaiah 13:7 "Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:" "Man" as given here is "enosh" in the Hebrew tongue, and means "mortal man. Mortal man will have no power whatsoever over any of God's forces. Isaiah 13:8 "And they shall be afraid: pangs of sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames." Stop and think for a moment; What happens when your face just flushes red? You are extremely embarrassed or ashamed. Many people that claim to be Christians at this time will be caught up in their doctrines that would have drawn them to Satan, even in ignorance and innocence, and will have served Satan, the Antichrist. Remember this day is the final day of Satan's rule on earth, and all those that were not sealed in their minds with the truth of God's Word, will have served Antichrist, and become part of his system by taking his name and number. Through their rapture doctrines they will have already accepted the false messiah. This is what Jesus would say in Matthew 24:19; "And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" You are suppose to be a virgin bride for Christ, speaking in a spiritual sense, and here comes this first one you believe to be your espoused one, only he is a fake. You wed yourself to the wrong husband, so later when the true Christ comes, you have already been taken to wed. It is through their traditions that they have been led to worship Satan, because of false teaching. Isaiah 13:9 "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." When the day of the Lord comes, it will not be cruel, but "stern", for God is not cruel. You will get exactly what you have coming to you, and that is not cruel, but "stern and just". God is going to destroy the Bablyon, the rule and religious system of Satan, He is not going to destroy any soul that has been faithful to Him. Those that God will destroy are sinners, of the wickedness of this world. They will be removed out from under that confusion. This is the reason that the three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were placed into the firey furnace. God allowed it to show us that when Christ walks with you, as He did in that fire furnace, you will not be harmed. Isaiah 13:10 "For 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." This is to say that even the brightest of constellations, and stars will not be seen. This has reverence to the fact that the light of the true Messiah will be so bring that it would dim all other lights that we would think of today. Think of this in a spiritual sense. This has been claimed many times by those that have had out of body experiences, or come close to death experieces. They have claimed that they were drawn to an exceedingly bright light, so bright that they could hardly see. Multiply this from the physical into the spiritual, for on that last day of this earth age, which is the first day of the Millennium age, all flesh will be in the spiritual, and incorruptable. Isaiah 13:11 "And 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." If you are in the world and evil, you would be punished, however if you are in the world, and you are for God, and not of Satan's system, you would not be punished. Those proud and arrogant of this earth age, that say they represent God, when the stuff they preach goes against His Word, they are the ones that God will deal with on the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why God's Word must always take priority over what any man says, and we are to check out what we are taught from any man in His Word, before we take it as truth. Learn to think for yourself. Isaiah 13:12 "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." "The golden wedge of Ophir" is the purest gold that was know at this time. This is how God values one of His own that tries to follow and stay within His Word. There is no gender in this verse, but is directed to those that will make a stand for the Lord, to make a difference. Isaiah 13:13 "Therefore 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." Don't miss the scope of this verse; it covers both the heavens and the earth. We are told in Hebrews 12:25-27 this very thing by Paul. Hebrews 12:25 "See that ye refuse not Him That speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him That spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him That speaketh from heaven." Hebrews 12:26 "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, "Yet once more I shook not the earth only, but also heaven." Hebrews 12:27 "And this word, "Yet once more," signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." God is going to shake all that which can be shaken both in heaven and on earth. On a certian day, Michael is going to cast Satan and all his fallen angels to the earth, and that is shaking the heavens. Then following the five month period of their deceptions, Satan and those angels will be removed from the earth, where by those angels will be destroyed, and Satan will go to the pit, and all evil is removed from the face of the earth, and that is shaking the earth. To shake is to be removed. However if you are standing on the Rock, who is Jesus Christ, you will not be removed, or shaken. If you have that spirit of wisdom and knowledge that comes only from His Word, then you are unshakable. Isaiah 13:14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land." "A chased roe" is a freightened gazelle, that runs in all directions when it feels threatened. They shall be as a bunch of sheep that has no shepherd. This is because those sheep that allow the false messiah to shepherd them will be lacking a shepherd at this time. They will be like a lost sheep bleeding in the night wondering what happened. In other words, those that have followed the false Christ, will be be coming out of Babylon so fast that it will be a shock to most of them because confusion in that one day is going to fall from their eyes. Upon the arrival of the real Messiah, they will understand the real truth as to what has happened to them. Friend, many of them at that moment when they wake up, will even pray for the mountains to fall on them in shame. Why? Because they had built their entire faith foundation on the wrong Christ, and built their spiritual empire in the church world that had given everything over to the wrong christ. They based their studies on the church system and its traditions, and not from the Word of God. If you have not based your beliefs entirely from the world of God, you will also be shaken. That is what is important, understanding the subject and the object to what you are studing, and rightly dividing the Word of Truth. This is a very serious thing, and there is only one way to study God's Word and that is to study it within context. So they are leaving Babylon on this day of the Lord, they are running like a scared deer. Isaiah 13:15 "Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword." By this time you ought to know exactly what sword they will fall by; It is given in Revelation 1:16; "And He had in his right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." Christ's tongue is a twoedged sword, and that sword which is the Word of Truth is going to cut many down that have based their salvation on the triditions of men. God is not the author of confusion but peace. There is no reason that you should fear the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord's Day. You should be looking forward to that day. Isaiah 13:16 "Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished." This is the way it is in Babylon, the way that the Anitchrist Satan is going to spiritually treat you and your family in his time of one world religious rule. On the Day of the Lord this will not be any more. Spiritual warfare will be over, and there will not be any more confusion. The time of the flesh age, with all its limitations will be finished and done away with. As this applies to our generation, we have to apply the spiritual application to this. Isaiah 13:17 "Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it." Though this is relating to history, when the Medes and the Persians destroyed the ancient Babylon, it will be as it was then. You will not be able to buy your way out to the coming confusion, not the facing of the Lord on that Day of the Lord. Though God had built up the Persian, and named Cyrus before He was born, the Medes were considerably stronger then Babylon. By the time of this writing, they were also beginning to kick back at the Assyrians. So why did the Medes become strong? Because God said they would, and it was God that built up their strength. Isaiah 13:18 "There bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children." Again, this is a type of how it will be on that last day of this earth age of the flesh. Our Heavenly Father will not respect those that have allowed themselves to become deceived, that have placed their traditions over His Word. When that day comes, their little sanctuaries will be taken down abruptly. Children as applied here is a child of a particular doctrine. It is a figure of speech that means a doctrine that leads to confusion, and the following of the Babylon religious system and its leaders. If you are a child of that system, God is not going to spare you. It comes down the a simple yes or no. In God's eyes you are one or the other. It all comes down to this, there is going to be a judgment, and very few of the the saints will be perfect, if any; but for those christians that have allowed themselves to participate in that Satanic system that is going to take place on this earth, will deserve exactly what they are going to get. It is still a spiritual thing, a thing of knowledge and understnding. There will be two fathers at this time; one is our Heavenly Father, and the other is Satan, and there will be no mixing of the two. You will either know our Father Word or you will not. This is why it says in Malachi 4:5, 6: Malachi 4:5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:" Malachi 4:6 "And He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." There are two fathers in this Word at this time, and the prince of the world now is Satan, and there is no great mystery to this. However, on the day of the return of Satan to this earth, they will look alike to those that don't know the difference, and Satan will sound exactly as they have been taught that Christ would be saying, only one is a counterfeit, and the other is the real thing. Friend, you will know the difference and not be deceived, or you will be deceived. There is no middle ground. If you are banking on your rapture doctrine to see you through, then you have already received the mark of the beast, for you will be taking by the first prince of this world who is Satan. Isaiah 13:19 "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." What a day that will be; remember what happened on that day when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah? Only Lot and his two daughters escaped, for even lot's wife was destroyed into a pillar of salt when she turned to look back on that wicked city. The entire Babylonian system will be destroyed on that first day of the Millennium kingdom, for on that day, every knee will bow to Jesus Christ, and all will know what they have done completely. Isaiah 13:20 "It 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." There is a very strange thing that has happened in our generation, and that is that Saddam, king of Iraq has rebuilt old Babylon, so we know that this verse cannot be refering to historical Bablyon, but to a Babylon that shall be established when Satan arrives to rule over it. So we are speaking of the spiritual Babylon of the book of Revelation. God is using this old Bablyon as a type of the spiritual Babylon that is coming upon us. Isaiah 13:21 "But 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." When we go to Iraq today and see the condition of the area that was considered the Bablyon of old, this is exactly as it is today. It is a desert place, with all the wild creatures of the desert making their homes there. "Satyre" are the ancient gods with part man and part animal idols, that were of Edom. It was a form of idolatry, and that is how it is today. This is talking about satanic spirits, and the dancing of demons that shall dance there. Upon the arrival of the Antichrist, many shall dance to the music of the demons, and parade around in their spiritual worship to their father, only it will be to the wrong father. Don't let this geographical location fool you, for wherever Satan is on the face of the earth, or his system, that is where Babylon is. Isaiah 13:22 "And 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." This is in reference to the "Lord's day", the day that Jesus Christ will return. This is the building up to that day, and God's elect will witness that five month reign that Satan will reign here on earth. We will see this wild demonic activity, and many people will be shaken in their faith, as they are not prepared for what will come upon them. Although there will also be many seeds planted in that same period, and that is what God's elect had better be concentrating upon. This time is not that much time in our future, and God is giving us a chapter by chapter preview, using history as an example, as what we shall face in our generation. Do not let evil teachings and evil spirits mislead you because they will come in the name of Christ Himself. They are false christs that claim to be from almighty God and His Son, but they will be lying. Will you be able to tell the difference? The destruction of Babylon, that is how it shall happen.
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