56. Exaltation of the Righteous

Hymns: 403 Count Your Blessings, 404 Let the Lower Light Be Burning, 386 Be Thou My Vision

Isaiah 14:16-32

¹⁶ They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; ¹⁷ That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. ¹⁹ But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. ²⁰ Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. ²¹ Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. ²² For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. ²³ I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. ²⁴ The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: ²⁵ That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. ²⁶ This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. ²⁷ For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? ²⁸ In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. ²⁹ Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. ³⁰ And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. ³¹ Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. ³² What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Exaltation of the Righteous

OUTLINE

• Glory Departed (v16-20)
• The LORD’s Hand (v21-23)

INTRODUCTION

Amidst affliction and oppression, God’s people often cry out, ‘How long?” “How Long?” To walk with God, as our Lord Jesus puts it, in the strait and narrow way that leads to life as opposed to the broad gate and the broad way that leads to leads to eternal destruction, requires spiritual insight and perspective to stay on course.

The believer in walking with God may be envious of the prosperity of the wicked. The Lord showed the end of such men.

Psalm 73:2-3 (KJV) But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Psalm 73:4-10 (KJV) For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

Psalm 73:12-15 (KJV)  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.

Psalm 73:16-19 (KJV) When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

God’s people are taught by the psalmist to maintain their ways before the LORD. Continue to walk with Him, and be not envious of the wicked in their prosperity.

Israel would be under the great oppression of the Babylonians, a cryptic name, for the enemy of God, whom God raised as His instrument of chastisement for His people. They are to trust Him and look to Him as they continue to walk with Him.

Psalm 75:4-10 (KJV) I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Isaiah spoke of God’s judgment upon the kingdom of Babylon, we saw the spirit of Babylon, the spirit of the Antichrist, in all its pomp and power, in the description of Satan or Lucifer’s fall (v12-15).

• Departed Glory (v16-20)

¹⁶ They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

These are the words of the dead, speaking of the living, who when they should see the carcass of the king of Babylon lying on the ground. Whether it is he or not, not knowing at first sight who he was, the alteration is so great; he that was but just now on his throne of glory, with all the ensigns of majesty about him, and on him, now cast to the earth, deprived of life, besmeared with blood, and so disfigured as scarcely to be known; these phrases are used to express the great change made in him, and in his state and condition.

• saying; scarce believing what they saw, and as wondering at the sudden and strange alteration, and yet in an insulting manner:
• Is this the man that made the earth to tremble: the inhabitants of it, when they heard of his coming against them, with his numerous and conquering army, dreading that he would do to them as he had done to others, destroy their cities, rob them of their substance, put them to the sword, or carry them captive, or make them tributary:

• that did shake kingdoms; depose their kings, and set up others; alter their constitution, change their form of government, and add their kingdoms to his own. [Gill]

¹⁷ That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

The destructive forces of the Babylonian army lay whole cities desolate as it was the city of Jerusalem, the city of God’s people.

Both by destroying the inhabitants of it, and by laying waste cities, towns, villages, fields, vineyards, gardens, and all places improved and cultivated, wherever he came, as the Assyrian kings had done.

• that opened not the house of his prisoners; the prison house, in, which they were held; or, “the gate to his prisoners.” [Gill]

 ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

Of other nations, besides those he governed, and even of those whom he had subdued, at least their ancestors, the greatest part of them however;  even all of them lie in glory; in rich tombs and stately monuments, erected for the honour of them; and where they “sleep”, as the word signifies, with their fathers, their ancestors, and are at rest, in the state of the dead.

everyone in his own house; or grave – the same with his long home (Ecclesiastes 5:2) or the house of his world: though their graves were not in their dwelling houses or palaces, yet often near them, and in their own country, and were what had been erected, or caused to be erected by them, in their lifetime. [Gill]

¹⁹ But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

But thou art cast out of thy grave, Or rather “from” it¹; that is, he was not suffered to be put into it, or to have a burial, as the following words show, at least not to be laid in the grave designed for him but the sense here is not that the king of Babylon should be taken out of his grave, after he was laid in it, but that he should be hindered from being put into it; which very likely was the case of Belshazzar.

• Like an abominable branch; cut off from a tree as useless and hurtful, and cast upon the ground, where it lies and rots, and is good for nothing, neither for fuel, nor anything else, but is neglected and despised of all:

• and as the raiment of those that are slain; in battle, which being rolled in blood, nobody cares to take up and wear, nor even touch; for such persons were accounted unclean by the ceremonial law, and by the touch of them uncleanness was contracted.

• thrust through with a sword; to show in which way the persons were slain whose raiment is referred to; the clothes of such being stained with blood, when those that died by other means might not have their raiment so defiled.

• that go down to the stones of the pit; into which dead bodies after a battle are usually cast, and which have often stones at the bottom; and into which being cast, stones are also thrown over them:

²⁰ Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

because thou hast destroyed thy land; not only other lands and nations, but also his own, and the inhabitants of it, by his tyrannical government, by levies and exactions, by mulcts and fines, on various pretences: or, “hast corrupted, thy land”¹; which phrase is used of mystical Babylon. (Revelation 19:2, Revelation 11:18) [Gill]

Revelation 19:2 (KJV) For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

Revelation 11:18 (KJV) And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

• The LORD’s Hand (v21-23)

²¹ Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. ²² For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. ²³ I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. ²⁴ The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

The LORD’s wrath came upon the Babylonish spirit in destruction. …