Day of the Lord - Isaiah Chapter 13

The burden against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

“Lift up a banner on the high mountain, Raise your voice to them; Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. 3 I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger— Those who rejoice in My exaltation.”

4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, Like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts musters The army for battle. 5 They come from a far country, From the end of heaven— The Lord and His weapons of indignation, To destroy the whole land. 6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will be limp, Every man’s heart will melt, 8 And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth; They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames.

9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine.

11 “I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the Lord of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger. 14 It shall be as the hunted gazelle, And as a sheep that no man takes up; Every man will turn to his own people, And everyone will flee to his own land. 15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through, And everyone who is captured will fall by the sword. 16 Their children also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses will be plundered And their wives ravished.

17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. 18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It will never be inhabited, Nor will it be settled from generation to generation; Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there. 22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels, And jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, And her days will not be prolonged.”

I chose this entire chapter because it is very significant. Many choose to argue this is not speaking of Mystery Babylon but rather Babylon from long ago. I will show that is not the case using verses from this very chapter.

First, Id like to point out this is a prophecy against Babylon. There is so much in this chapter which directly relates to what we find in Revelation as well as other prophecies found in the New Testament. To break this chapter down we first must understand what is going on. YHWH is proclaiming the destruction of Mystery Babylon. I say this is Mystery Babylon because in verse nine we see specifically this will occur at the Day of the Lord. Secondly, in verse twenty we read that no one will ever inhabit the land again, from generation to generation. It will be utterly destroyed similar to Sodom and Gomorrah.

The proclamation against Mystery Babylon breaks down the different things that will take place in the last days. First we can see it is not YHWH Himself who destroys Babylon, but rather an army of men. The set apart group of people He will use as a rod for His anger. The verse containing, “those who rejoice in my exaltation”, I don’t completely buy this translation. Here is the Hebrew and meaning of those Hebrew words.

Isaiah 13:3

I have commanded ^H6680 my sanctified ones, ^H6942 I have also called ^H7121 my mighty ones ^H1368 for mine anger, ^H639even them that rejoice ^H5947 in my highness. ^H1346

(Tsavah) to command (qadash) to be set apart (qara')to call (gibbowr) mighty ('aph) anger (`alliyz) exultant (ga`avah) pride

I believe this verse can be translated just as easily as “I have commanded my set apart people, the mighty men of my anger, who are jubilant and full of pride.” This fits with the overall prophecy better than interpreting this as Believers destroying Babylon. Revelation 17 can be set side by side with this chapter. We will get to that shortly. So as of now, we know there is a city, Mystery Babylon, and we know there is a group of people in which YHWH uses to fulfil His will in destroying this city.

This group of people destroy the city, kill men, women, and children. The children will be murdered before their parent’s eyes and the women will be raped, as well as the pregnant women will be slaughtered. They loot every home of Babylon as well. This causes many who live there to flee to their native countries.

This Babylon will be known as the glory of Kingdoms. No longer will any Arab pitch his tent in this city. At least one of the groups of people who are attacking Mystery Babylon are the Medes. Whether they are known as the Medes during that time or not doesn’t matter, at minimum they will be the descendants of the Medes. These are some very significant points we can take away from this chapter to help identify who this Mystery Babylon will be in the last days.

Revelation 17

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the Desert: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Most of the connections between these two chapters occur from verse fifteen to the end. But, I chose to show the entire chapter to give some supporting background info on what is going on. For starters, John is taken away into the desert, according to verse three. It is here where John sees everything go down. Mystery Babylon is made up of many nations of people. Lots of immigrants have come to this city. Babylon is also part of the ten kingdoms of the beast, simply put, riding on the beast. However, these countries hate this city and will utterly destroy it, which will fulfill God’s will. This city is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. This matches exactly with what was discovered in the Isaiah chapter 13.