Today I’m going to preach from the first half of Isaiah chapter 47. Here it talks about the fall of Babylon. Even though Babylon was said to be impregnable, why did it fall? Let’s find out why from looking at three points.

I. I will take vengeance (1~4)
Please look at verses 1~4. Verse 1 says, “Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne; queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.”

Here, Babylon is called “Virgin Daughter Babylon”. The reason why Babylon is called like this here is because it has never been invaded by a foreign enemy. The wall was 90m tall, 24m thick, each side was 24km long, and 96km long around. It was certainly an impregnable city. There was no enemy who could attack this impregnable Babylon. Babylon also had a different name, “Chaldean”.

This Babylon, also called “Chaldean” is told to “go down, sit in the dust”, and to “sit on the ground without a throne.” Sitting in the dust is often used to express sadness, but here it is used to lower their position. Sitting on the ground without a throne means that Babylon which ruled on the throne for a long time is moved to a vulgar seat. Why is Babylon like this? It’s because “You are not called tender or delicate anymore.”

“Tender or delicate daughter” refers to elegance of Babylon. Babylon was surrounded by tall walls with the Euphrates River flowing in the middle. In the center of the city, there was a tower called “Etemenanki”, which looked like the tower of Babel. Next to it, there was a nice temple sacred to a God of Babylon called “Marduk”. And there was also hanging gods of Babylon there which is one of the seven great mysteries of the world. Also, there was the famous Ishtar gate which was too beautiful to express in words. Here, such a beautiful Babylon is compared to a “tender or delicate daughter.” Eventually this beautiful Babylon will not be called tender or delicate daughter anymore. Because as it is said in verses 2 and 3 “take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams. Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered”, Babylon eventually becomes the most vulgar woman slave. Taking millstones and grinding flour was a woman’s job. Taking off your veil was a cloth that noblewoman used to cover their faces. The Babylonians who became slaves do not need a cloth to cover their faces because it disturbs them when they grind flour. Lifting up your skirts and baring your legs refers to Babylon being destroyed, conquered, and taken to a hostile country by King Cyrus. Lifting up your skirts and being naked is to expose shame. Not only that, Babylonian’s clothes being taken off by the conqueror will bring shame. The Queen Babylon that enjoys gorgeousness and its luxuries falls down to the position of a vulgar woman slave.

Why does this happen? Please look at verse 3. Here it says, “I will take vengeance; I will spare no more.” God’s judges Babylon. God takes vengeance to those who afflict the Israelites who are God’s people.

Our God is a God who avenges. Please look at Psalms 94, verses 1~7. “(1) The Lord is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, whine forth. (2) Rise up, judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve. (3) How long, Lord, will the wicked, how long will the wicked be jubilant? (4) They pour our arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting. (5) They crush your people, Lord; they oppress your inheritance. (6) They slay the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless. (7) They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice.”” and verses 22 and 23. “(22) But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. (23) He will repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness; the Lord our God will destroy them.”

God repays them for their sins and destroys them for their wickedness. Remember that our God is a God who avenges. The reason why God does such a thing to the Babylonians is because of their wickedness. It is because they afflicted the Israelites who are Gods people and because they treated themselves arrogant as if they were God themselves.

Please remember, vengeance is what God does, not us. Because we don’t know everything, we might judge wrongly. However, God is so righteous that He can make right judgment in everything. Therefore, we are to commend the judgment to God.

However, this is said not only for those who harm us, that is, those who bring us these avenges or stir up our anger. It is true that our God avenges people who harm us. That is not only them, but He also avenges us. He has no mercy even on you. The first thing we need to focus on is how we are ourselves. If we sin against God, God avenges us for our sins. If God sees them as sins, then God judges it according to His righteousness. Otherwise, God’s righteousness will be distorted. God treats everyone equally.

But we don’t have to be afraid because we will never be judged anymore. The moment we believed in Jesus Christ, all of our sins have been forgiven. Our sins are all forgiven because Jesus was crucified on the cross and He received the judgment instead of us. We will never be judged. We are considered innocent. What a wonderful news this is. This is the gospel. Gospel is called “good news”, but this is surely “good news.” Therefore, we don’t have to be afraid even if God says He is going to avenge.

Let’s listen to God’s word of promise. Please look at John 5:24. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me as eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

If you listen to God’s word and believe in Him, you will receive eternal life and will not be judged, but will cross over from death to life. Do you already believe in Him? Do you believe in Jesus Christ who carried all of your sins and was crucified and died on the cross instead of you? If you believe in Him, you don’t have to be afraid of anything. This word is given to those who have not believed in Him yet. Till we believed in Jesus Christ, we had to live our life in fears. We were like condemned criminal who had to wait for the judgment. That was what we were in the past. But we were relieved from that fear at the moment we believed Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at verse 4. “Our Redeemer –the Lord Almighty is his name –Is the Holy One of Israel.”

Our God is our redeemer. His name is the Lord almighty, the holy one of Israel. Do you know His name? Have your sins been redeemed by Him? Is He your Holy one? If you still don’t know Him, give yourself to Him and pray like this.

“Lord, I have just come to know you. You are the one who redeems my sins. Please forgive my sins. Please take all my sins away and cleanse me. I want to be loved, and not be judged.”

If you pray like this God redeems you and carries you all the time. As it said in Psalms 46 verses 3 and 4, even to your old age and gray hairs, He will continue to carry you. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, then you will be saved. Then you don’t have to be afraid with what is written in Psalms 47:3.

II. It is just a tool (5~6)
Please look at verses 5 and 6. “(5) Sit in silence, go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.”

Here Babylon is told to “sit in silence” and to “go into darkness.” “Go into darkness” is a symbol of judgment. That is to say that Babylon will be judged by God and will be destroyed. That’s because “no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.” This is the same as it is said in verse 1. It said in verse 1 that “No more will you be called tender or delicate.”, but here it is said that “No more will you be called queen of kingdoms.” When we think of a queen, Queen Elizabeth in England is very famous, but this presents a person having absolute power. Babylon used to be a queen with absolute power to conquer all countries, but it fell down to the position of a woman slave.

What was the problem? The answer is written in verse 6. “(6) I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.”

What does this mean? “My people” refers to the Israelites. Because the Israelites who were God’s people turned against God, God brought them to Babylonian’s hand to discipline them. However the Babylonians didn’t take pity on them, and even the old people carried a yoke. That is to say, even though Babylonians were God’s tool to discipline the Israelites who turned against God, they deviated from their position and arrogantly they went too far. Even though they were just a spank stick, they didn’t just stay at their position, but used that position to beat them up. Do you know a spank stick? It is a stick to spank people’s bottoms. It is a stick to punish a child who doesn’t listen to you. Even though it is just a tool of punishment, they went way beyond that, and did a cruel thing. So God dragged them down from their position and made them sit in silence and go into darkness.

This is not a problem just among the Babylonians. We also have a tendency to be like Babylonians, don’t we? We have times when we go too far that we are strict on others and behave roughly towards others. And we sometimes lack in mercy.

For example, in Japan we are familiar with the sentence, “the customer is always right”, but we don’t know how much this sentence is bringing unhappiness to people in Japan. This expression is used for the spirit of hospitality to treat the customer nicely like how you treat God, but the customer sometimes behaves as if he can say anything he wants, and can do anything he wants. On the other hand if you were to be a clerk, your customer will show the same attitude toward you. Our attitude changes according to where we stand.

However, I was surprised when I went to America and saw the people working at the supermarket. The clerks don’t bow their head and say “Welcome” as we see in Japan. You don’t know if they are thankful to the customers or not. If anything, sometimes they have a bad attitude as if we as customers have done something bad. But actually it is not so. Americans try to be individual and don’t try to go along with other people, but for Japanese, that feels kind of strange. On top of all that, the customer is the one who says “thank you” when they buy something. Of course, the store clerk also says “thank you” to that, but such behavior sometimes makes you think that the store will go out of business.
When I asked my wife about it when I got home, she said, “Of course! The store clerk served us, so it is natural for us to say thank you to them.” The customer is not particularly great. Both the seller and the buyer are equal, and there shouldn’t be any hierarchical relationship among the two. Yet, it is strange that we have times when we are arrogant or times when we just apologize to people. We have times when we say too much towards people, and lack in mercy if we aren’t be careful.

God said to the master who didn’t forgive the servant who borrowed ten thousand bags of gold, “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” (Matthew 18:33). However, we should understand that we are just a tool and be merciful as people who are forgiven much by God. That is what Christ wants us to do.

III. Fools find no pleasure in understanding (7)
Let’s finish by looking at verse 7. Here it says, “You said, ‘I am forever –the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.”

What does this mean? “You” that is used here presents the Babylonians. The Babylonians were thought to be the eternal queen. This is completely from their pride. The Babylonians thought they will continue forever. They thought their lives of elegance like a queen would continue forever. They didn’t think of the end of their lives and went on their own way. If they thought more of what would happen if they continue to live a life like this, they might have been able to desist from doing so. But they didn’t consider what will happen if they continued to be arrogant and foolish, and they were absorbed in pleasure. They “did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.” God judged the Babylonians. He dragged them down from the seat of the queen, had them sit in silence, and had them sit on the ground without a throne. In the Bible it says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6). Also it says, “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.” (Proverbs 18:2). The most important thing in our life is to not be proud. You will lose blessings if you continue to be proud.

Why did morning star, son of the dawn fall from heaven? It’s because they were proud of themselves. In Isaiah 14:12~15 it says,
“(12) How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
(13) You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
(14) I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
(15) But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.”

“Son of the dawn” is called “Lucifer” in Latin. Lucifer is an archangel who was the head of the angels. This Lucifer fell. It’s because he rebelled against God. In Ezekiel 28:12 it says here that he was “the seal of perfection”, and “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” He was fuddled with himself and was so proud. And he also tried to be like God by assigning himself to the throne of God. So God put him down. This is the beginning of Satan. Satan is not what God made, but is the angel who rebelled against God, who fell down because of his arrogance of wanting to become like God.

In English, there’s a word “pride” for the meaning of “haughty” or “arrogance”. It is spelled “P.r.i.d.e”. What is the alphabet in the center? It’s “I”. It is a sin and the essence of being arrogant, to be self-oriented instead of putting God in the center of your life. Lucifer entered the heaven, put his throne on top of God’s throne, and tried to be the utmost high person. This is why he was dropped.

Please remember that this is the stratagem of Satan. Satan’s stratagem is to let you be arrogant when you succeed. “That’s great. You are wonderful.” is what Satan will say to you. Babylonians too, they thought of being the eternal queen when they became like the queen of kingdom. They were absorbed in pleasure and lived in idleness. They didn’t think of what might happen, and didn’t humbly serve God. That was the problem. However, according to the Bible, “fools find no pleasure in understanding.” Being humble is very important.

In Genesis 16, it talks about the story of Abraham who eventually was called the father of the Jews. Abraham didn’t have children for a while. God promised Abraham that He will bless his descendants, but he didn’t have children even after he turned 80. His wife Sarah was a very beautiful woman. Wherever Abraham went, even when he went to Egypt, he asked Sarah to tell everyone that she was Abraham’s sister. However, even though he just got older and older, he never received a child at all. Then one day Sarah said to Abraham, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave Hagar.” Abraham was a very religious man but agreed to what Sarah said. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. However, when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to despise Sarah.
It is when people look down on someone that they get arrogant. Some people look down on people thinking that there’s nobody who is smarter than them, or that they are better than other people. To look down on people is a critical thing and it is being arrogant.
Sarah is the one who suggested Hagar to be Abraham’s wife. However, Hagar despised Sarah even though it was because of Sarah that she was able to get pregnant.
Because Hagar despised Sarah, Sarah got mad and said to Abraham, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering.” Abraham told her, “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarah mistreated Hagar. So Hagar fled from her. After going through a wilderness and coming near a spring in the desert, God found Hagar and said, “Hagar, where have you come from?”
God doesn’t abandon even people who are arrogant. He calls out to those people. People might say “you can’t enter this house again” if you go against somebody. However, God said to Hagar, “Where have you come from, and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarah.” Then God said to her.

“Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” (Genesis 16:9)

The Lord says that if we submit, then we are blessed. It is important in our lives to submit ourselves. Don’t be arrogant. If you submit and humble yourself, you will be blessed. Let’s be humble and submit ourselves. Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.