Contributor: Martins Olubiyi

INTRODUCTION
Last week, we examined the prophetic declaration of Isaiah on the last days, with particular emphasis on Babylon. We observed that Babylon being a province in Assyria was also a term used by the Lord to typify wickedness in the end times. Today, we shall continue to examine what Babylon represented in the end time agenda of God and the ultimate goal of establishing Christ’s kingdom on earth with the restoration of Israel.

A. The Fall of The King of Babylon.
1. (vs 1-2) Judgment on Babylon Indicates Mercy on Israel.
a. For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob. Isaiah 13 ended with desolation and gloom that would come upon Babylon. Since Babylon was Judah’s great enemy, any judgment on Babylon was an expression of mercy to Israel. So, Isaiah followed the pronouncement of judgment on Babylon with ‘for the Lord will …., and still choose Israel’. Sometimes we feel that God chose us, but if He had to choose again, God would change His choice. Here, the Lord reminds His children that He does still choose us and would choose us all over again.

b. And settle them in their own land: The promise of restoration to their own land was also important. The Babylonians had forcibly exiled most of the population of Judah, so the promise of return to their own land was precious.

c. The strangers will be joined with them: The invitation to Gentiles was precious. The regathered and restored Israel would invite Gentiles to receive the goodness of God with them.

d. They will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors: In inviting the strangers to come and be joined with them, Israel would eliminate their enemies. The ultimate way to conquer an enemy is to make them your friend.

2. (vs 3-8) The Joy of the Earth at the Fall of the King of Babylon.
a. In the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from the fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve: The Lord announces a day when He will give real rest to believing Israel. They will have rest from sorrow, from fear, and from their hard bondage. This rest is the birth right of every believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Mat 11:28). Do you have rest from sorrow? Do you have rest from fear? Do you have rest from hard bondage? b. That you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon: In the day of restoration, the defeat and weakness of the king of Babylon will be exposed, and Israel will rejoice.

As this prophecy continues from the context of Isaiah 13, it is important that we remember that Isaiah has two aspects of prophetic fulfilment in mind. First, there is the immediate and partial fulfilment regarding the empire of Babylon and its king. Second, there is the distant and ultimate fulfilment regarding the spiritual empire of Babylon – the world system – and its king, Satan. So, this proverb against the king of Babylon was, in a partial sense, in the mouth of the returning exiles when Babylon was finally conquered, and the people of Judah could return to the Promised Land. But in an ultimate sense, this proverb against the king of Babylon will be in the mouth of God’s people when the world system and her king, Satan, are each conquered and destroyed.

He who struck the people in wrath …who ruled the nation in anger: Both the king of literal Babylon and the king of spiritual Babylon were mighty, oppressive rulers over the people and the nations. But now, the one who once persecuted is himself persecuted and no one hinders, and as a result, the whole earth is at rest and quiet, and they even break forth into singing. Even the trees rejoice over the fall of the king of Babylon. This is true of the king of literal Babylon because the attacking kings cut down thousands of trees for both fuel and lumber, leaving Israel and Lebanon deforested

3. (vs 9-11) Hell Receives the Fallen King of Babylon.
Hell from beneath is excited about you: Hell, itself is excited to meet the king of Babylon because it can’t wait to be the place where the one who tortured so many is tortured himself. This was true both for the king of literal Babylon, and the king of spiritual Babylon.
God wants us to know now that Satan is destined for hell. He isn’t a winner, he is a loser, and he certainly isn’t the boss or lord of hell. Satan will go to hell as a victim, as the ultimate prisoner in the dungeon of darkness, and hell will be happy to receive him this way. Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? When he went to hell, the king of literal Babylon was exposed as a mere man, though he thought of himself as greater than that. As well, when the king of spiritual Babylon goes to hell, all will be amazed to see that he was only a creature.

We often – to his great delight – exaggerate Satan’s status and importance. We think of him as the opposite of God; as if God were light and Satan were darkness, as if God were hot and Satan were cold. Satan wishes he was the opposite of God, but God wants us to know now what everyone will know someday – that Satan is a mere creature and is in no way the opposite of God. If Satan has an opposite, it is not God the Father or God the Son, it would be a high-ranking angelic being such as Michael.

Your pomp is brought down …. the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you: In the end, it just won’t be a defeat for the king of Babylon. Both for the literal and spiritual kings of Babylon, their defeat in hell will be disgusting and degrading.
Knowing this now – how disgusting and degrading the end of Satan will be – why would any of us serve him or work for his cause, even for a minute? Who wants to end up with the maggots and the worms?

And the sound of your stringed instruments: Before his fall, Satan was associated with music in heaven Ezekiel 28: 13 says of Satan before his fall, the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. Apparently, the musical career of Satan did not end with his fall, because the sound of his stringed instruments is only brought down when he is imprisoned in hell.

4. (vs 12-15) The Fall of Lucifer
How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning: Here, the prophet identified the king of Babylon as Lucifer, son of the morning. Some debate if Lucifer is a name or a title; the word means morning star or day star, referring to a brightly shining object in the heavens. Whether it is a title or a name makes little difference; this once brightly shining king of Babylon is now fallen from heaven.

In the prophetic habit of speaking to both a near and a distant fulfilment, the prophet will sometimes speak more to the near or more to the distant. Here is a good example of Isaiah speaking more to the distant, ultimate fulfilment. It is true that the king of literal Babylon shined brightly among the men of his day and fell as hard and as completely as if a man were to fall from heaven. But there
was a far more brightly shining being who inhabited heaven and fell even more dramatically – the king of spiritual Babylon, Satan.

Fallen from heaven: In fact, there are four falls of Satan, and this passage refers to his final, fourth fall.

• Satan fell from glorified to profane (Ezekiel 28:14-16). This is what Jesus spoke of in (Lk 10: 18) when He says He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. This is the only fall of Satan that has already happened.
• Satan will fall from having access to heaven (Job 1:12, 1Kgs 22:21, Zech. 3:1) to restriction on the earth (Rev. 12:9).
• Satan will fall from his place on the earth to bondage in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years (Rev. 20:1-3).
• Finally, as mentioned here in Isa. 14:12, Satan will fall from the bottomless pit to the lake of fire, which we commonly known as hell (Rev. 20:10).

This Son of the morning: This is a title of glory, beauty, and honour, which fit Lucifer well before his fall. The morning is glorious, and in Hebrew thinking, the son of “x” is characterized by “x.” So, before his fall, Lucifer was characterized by the glory of the morning.
Jesus Himself is called the Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). Satan, though a created being, had some of these glorious qualities in himself. No wonder that Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), deceiving many with his apparent glory, beauty, and goodness.

How you are cut down to the ground: What a contrast! This being, once so high, once so shining, once so bright, is now cut down to the ground.

For you have said in your heart: Here, God tells us the reason behind the fall of both the literal and spiritual king of Babylon. The fall was prompted by something he said, even though he may have never said it with his lips – it was enough that he said it in his heart.

I will: The pride, the grasping selfish ambition, the self-will of the king of Babylon is powerfully expressed in five I will statements. This is the essence of the self-focused and self-obsessed life.

• I will ascend into heaven: It was as if Satan said, “Heaven will be my home and my place of honour”.
• I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: “I will be enthroned and will be exalted above all other angelic beings.”
• I will also sit on the mount of the congregation: “I will sit in the place of glory and honour and attention.”
• I will ascend above the heights: “I will continue to rise, even in heaven, until all see me in my bright shining glory.”
• I will be like the Most High: “I will be glorious, and be set equal to God, far above all other created beings.”

We see in these statements not so much a desire to exalt one’s self above God, but the desire to exalt one’s self above one’s peers. From this passage, it seems that Satan’s desire was not so much to be above God, but to be honoured and regarded as the highest angel, above the other stars of God, receiving the glory and attention one would receive being next to God, equal with God, like the Most High. We don’t have to want to be exalted higher than God to be like Satan. It is enough to want to be exalted above other people.

Lucifer was certainly a glorious angel (day star, son of the morning, and also called the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty…the anointed cherub who covers in Ezekiel. 28: 12,14). Yet, there came a time when despite all his beauty and glory, he departed from the heart of God by wanting to exalt himself above his peers. Instead, the heart of Jesus says, “The status of equality with God is not something to hang on to. I will let it go. I will give up My reputation, be a servant, live humbly among men, and even die an excruciating and humiliating death.” (Phil. 2:5-8).When Lucifer departed from this heart, he fell from glory.

I will be like the Most High: What prompted Satan’s desire to exalt himself above all other creatures? What prompted these five I will statements?

Why Did Lucifer Rebel?
Perhaps because he rejected God’s plan to create an order of beings made in His image (Gen. 1:26) who would be beneath the angels in dignity (Heb. 2:6-7a; 2 Pet. 2:11) yet would be served by angels in the present (Heb. 1:14; 2:7-8; Psa. 91:11-12) and would one day be lifted in honour and status above the angels (1Cor. 6:3; 1 John 3:2) Satan wanted to be the highest among all creatures, equal to God in glory and honour, and the plan to create man would eventually put men above angels. He was apparently able to persuade one-third of the angelic beings to join him in his rebellion (Rev. 12:3-4, 7 and 9).

If this is the case, it explains well Satan’s present strategy against man: to obscure the image of God in man through encouraging sin and rebellion, to cause man to serve him, and to prevent the ultimate glorification of man.

Yet you shall be brought down: Despite Satan’s desire to exalt himself, he will not be exalted at all. Certainly, there is a sense in which he is exalted right now, but this is but an eye-blink in the scope of eternity. Satan, like all those who desire to exalt themselves, shall be brought down.
1Pet. 5:6 expresses the true path to being exalted: Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. In Mark 9:35, Jesus said If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.

5. (vs 16-17) The Nations are Amazed at the Fall of the King of Babylon
Those who see you will gaze at you …”Is this the man who made the earth tremble… who did not open the house of his prisoners?” When the king of literal Babylon fell, his weakness was exposed, and others were amazed that at one time he had so much power, and so many feared him. The same will happen when the king of spiritual Babylon falls. People will see him for what he really is and be amazed at how much power he actually had.

6. (vs 18-23) The Amazing and Bloody Destruction of Babylon
All the kings of the nations: In this brief section, Isaiah brings his focus back more upon the king of literal Babylon. He notes the comfort and ease the other kings of the earth enjoy, but not the fallen king of Babylon, who is instead cast out of your grave like an abominable branch.
I will sweep it with the broom of destruction: The destruction of Babylon – both literal and spiritual – will be complete. The Lord will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant. There will not even be a remnant of Babylon left.

CONCLUSION
It is important for us as believers to know that every prophetic word of the Lord will definitely come to pass. We should not be like “last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from beginning of creation”. 2 Pet 3:3-4. God wants us to know now that He has numbered the days of the king of spiritual Babylon – Satan. There will come a day when his oppression will cease, when the Lord will break the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. Therefore, we should not get so weary and discouraged from Satan’s attack and schemes in this present age. We should not think his day will last forever. Moreover, we should always remember that one reason Satan works so hard is because he knows his time is short. Today’s lesson should be view as an encouragement to us. We can remain steadfast; we can outlast him the devil.