- Isaiah 47 (Contemporary English Version)
- City of Babylon, You are delicate and untouched, but that will change. Surrender your royal power and sit in the dirt.
- Start grinding grain! Take off your veil. Strip off your fancy clothes and cross over rivers.
- You will suffer the shame of going naked, because I will take revenge, and no one can escape.
- I am the LORD All-Powerful, the holy God of Israel. I am their Savior.
- Babylon, be silent! Sit in the dark. No longer will nations accept you as their queen.
- I was angry with my people. So I let you take their land and bring disgrace on them. You showed them no mercy, but were especially cruel to those who were old.
- You thought that you would be queen forever. You didn't care what you did; it never entered your mind that you might get caught.
- You think that you alone are all-powerful, that you won't be a widow or lose your children. All you care about is pleasure, but listen to what I say.
- Your magic powers and charms will suddenly fail, then you will be a widow and lose your children.
- You hid behind evil like a shield and said, "No one can see me!" You were fooled by your wisdom and your knowledge; you felt sure that you alone were in full control.
- But without warning, disaster will strike-- and your magic charms won't help at all.
- Keep using your magic powers and your charms as you have always done. Maybe--just maybe-- you will frighten somebody!
- You have worn yourself out, asking for advice from those who study the stars and tell the future month after month. Go ask them how to be saved from what will happen.
- People who trust the stars are as helpless as straw in a flaming fire. No one can even keep warm, sitting by a fire that feeds only on straw.
- These are the fortunetellers you have done business with all of your life. But they don't know where they are going, and they can't save you.
An accurate worldview is vital to understanding life in its totality. From the context of an accurate worldview we can place both victory and defeat in their proper perspectives. This accurate worldview begins with a biblical understanding of creation. We must come to recognize God as creator of everything, including ourselves. With this foundation we can grasp our true identity as being made in God's image and can recognize that the One who created it all is also over it all and in control of it all. Though there are many other pieces to be added, these are the main building blocks to an accurate worldview. Within this context we can understand that we do nothing without the Creator's involvement. We would be mistaken to totally credit ourselves with success, failing to recognize the hand of our Creator in the success. We would also be mistaken to fully blame our Creator for our failures without recognizing our own hand in them. We often get these reversed: fully credit ourselves for success and fully blame God for failure.
Babylon was guilty of an inaccurate worldview. Thus, she did not recognize God's hand in her victory over Israel and did not consider what her role should be in Israel's exile. It is true that God "was angry with My people; I profaned My possession, and I placed them under your (Babylon's) control," but Babylon, "showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly." (47:6) Because of Babylon's inaccurate worldview she overplayed her hand. She did not recognize her role in the events surrounding her victory over Israel and exile of the people. She was God's instrument of discipline for Israel. Instead, Babylon took full credit for her victory and saw herself as being invulnerable. In other words, Babylon was putting herself in God's place.
Because of this mistake, Babylon would also experience defeat and exile. She would become another's servant with no mercy shown as she showed no mercy to Israel. God challenged Babylon to avert this pending disaster with her sorcery and astrology of which she was so proud. She also prided herself on her many astrologers who observed the stars and made monthly predictions based on these observations. But her sorcerers and astrologers would be useless to avert the disaster that was coming her way. Only her Creator, who was sending the disaster, could avert it. Her only hope would be to place herself at His mercy. And so it is with us all.
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