Isaiah: Week 6 • Sam Whittaker 11.19.17

At this point, we see Isaiah describing the marriage between human rebellion and satanic influence giving birth to systematic evil—what the Bible consistently refers to as Babylon. In the sixth and seventh centuries, the nation conquering the known world was Babylon, so when an Israelite heard its name, it would bring painful images to mind: the place of their exile, the ruin of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple where YHWH met His people. But over a century earlier, when Assyria was the world power that conquered Israel’s Northern Kingdom, cosmic “Babylon” already existed. When Nazi Germany sent out its forces to overtake Europe with its fascist ideology, “Babylon” was there. Today, “Babylon” is still at work. Whenever our broken humanity desires the same exalted position, or when groups come together with the goal to elevate themselves above the throne room of God, we will find communities, institutions, and even governments that look just like the Babylon of the Bible.