The Book Of Isaiah. Day 85, A Prophecy Against Babylon, Part Three

The Lord has been providing Isaiah with a vision of the fall of Babylon. In Isaiah's day the old kingdom of Babylon had largely disintegrated and it was not capable of preventing itself from being overcome by the Assyrian Empire. But the Neo-Babylonian Empire will soon rise and throw off the shackles of Assyria and then will conquer several other nations, including Isaiah's own nation of Judah. 

Isaiah's prophecy against Babylon is still about two hundred years in the future from his day but, during the time when many of his people will sit captive in Babylon, they will remember the promise of the Lord to judge Babylon. They will take comfort in the knowledge that He will judge the nation that invaded them, the nation that burned Jerusalem and the temple, the nation that dragged thousands upon thousands of their people off to a foreign land.

Isaiah continues relaying to us what the Lord revealed to him. "This is what the Lord says to me: 'Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.'" (Isaiah 21:7)

In the vision the Lord is giving Isaiah, Isaiah has been watching the fall of Babylon unfold as if he is standing right there when it happens. You'll recall from Friday's study that Isaiah foresaw the reveling that would be going on in Babylon on the night when the Medo-Persian army will breach the walls of the capital city. Isaiah observed King Belshazzar and his officials drunkenly carousing while the enemy was at the gates. In describing what he saw, Isaiah said, "They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink!" 

This is what Isaiah said they should have been doing: "Get up, you officers, oil the shields!" The soldiers should have been preparing to defend their city and their king; instead they were invaded that night and a great number of them fell by the sword, including their king.

Keeping in mind that Isaiah is watching the fall of Babylon as if he is actually there, the Lord is not telling Isaiah himself to post a lookout. Isaiah is going to tell us what the lookouts posted in the watchtowers of the cities of Babylon will see and hear when the nation is being invaded. Isaiah isn't about to see chariots or horses or donkeys or camels invading Judah at this time and he is not the one who is to post a lookout. According to historical sources, the Medo-Persian army did indeed use camels and donkeys as well as horses and chariots. Isaiah, in his vision, foresees this great army and the modes of transportation they will use for war. 

As I mentioned in Friday's study, we will talk about the fall of Babylon---and the method used by the Medo-Persian army to gain entrance to the city where Belshazzar drunkenly partied---when we arrive at the book of Daniel, for this happened during the lifetime of Daniel. But when news that the capital city of Babylon has been overtaken reaches other cities of that nation, a great cry of anguish will ensue. In our next study session we will take a look at that portion of Isaiah's vision and we will discuss how it relates to the vision given to the Apostle John in the book of revelation. Isaiah foresaw the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Apostle John foresaw the fall of a corrupt financial, political, and religious world system of the end times referred to as "Babylon".