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Today's reading

December 9, 2024

Picture: Dirge for the Diabolical

Isaiah 14: 12-19 & 26-27

Dirge for the Diabolical
00:00 / 04:53

Thus far, Isaiah spent thousands of words compelling Judah to trust in God. He ensures them that they will bend but not break before the formidable Assyrian army. However, the story of their judgement was not completed. Isaiah shares that it will not be the Assyrians, but the Babylonians that will invade Judah and utterly destroy them. At this time Babylon was a prominent nation, but it boasted nowhere near the military might or brutal mystique of the Assyrian empire. The Judeans surely scoffed at Isaiah's words. They couldn't imagine the indominable sovereigns of Assyria bowing before any man. But, God's purposes are sure and no enemy can thwart His will. In a graphic double prophecy, Isaiah shares a sarcastic dirge describing what will become of the tormentor of God's people.

"How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the 

         ground,

you who laid the nations low!

  You said in your heart,

'I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

I will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;

I will ascend above the heights of

      the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most

         High.'

But you are brought down to 

     Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

Those who see you will stare at

      you

and ponder over you:

'Is this the man who made the earth

        tremble,

who shook kingdoms,

who made the world like a desert

and overthrew its cities,

who did not let his prisoners go

        home?'

All the kings of the nations lie in 

      glory,

each in his own tomb;

but you are cast out, away from

      your grave,

like a loathed branch,

clothed with the slain, those pierced

         by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the

         pit,

like a dead body trampled

        underfoot."

   

 

Isaiah 14:12-19 (ESV)

While it isn't exactly clear, it appears Isaiah's near prophecy is fulfilled by the death of the Assyrian King who built a capital city in Babylon. Sargon the II, a man worshipped as a god by the Assyrians and all they conquered would lead his men into battle and die. His body was captured and he became a laughing stock and would begin the ultimate demise of the empire he boasted of. But this undoubtedly speaks to the fall of the ultimate enemy of God and mankind, Satan. God through Isaiah emphatically describes His power and sovereignty, exclaiming,

"This is the purpose that is

      purposed

concerning the whole earth,

and this is the hand that is

          stretched out

over all the nations.

    For the LORD of hosts has purposed,

and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

and who will turn it back?"

 

Isaiah 14:26-27 (ESV)

As Isaiah pulls back the curtain of History and allows us to gaze into the ethereal spiritual realities, we find that God is absolutely sovereign in all things, the enemy of our soul will fail, and His providential hand will lead us through all the seasons of our life.

This is Christmas to you.

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