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Amen. Right, Isaiah 21, and as usual I just remind you where we were in Isaiah 20, where we were in the middle of these burdens, aren't we, right now. Last week it was on the back of chapter 19's burden of Egypt, and as I was preaching of when Tartan, or we saw that this kind of Assyrian word for Commander-in-Chief, came against the outlying city of Ashdod, and reminding God's people there and elsewhere not to rely on Egypt as they're going to be getting led away naked and barefoot soon enough. Poor Isaiah had to walk around naked and barefoot as a sign and wonder, an example of what was to happen to Egypt. We looked at how God's people will often suffer shame, embarrassment for Christ's sake, and if you are, and when you do, it could always be worse, it could be like Isaiah, couldn't it. I don't think any of us are having a walk around naked and barefoot. We saw how, you know, of course how public nakedness is a shame, regardless of what we see out there in the world around us. We saw how the people of Ashdod and others of Judah were told not to put their trust in Egypt, how that applies to us today. You know, not to put our trust in the world is how we'd apply that today. And then with them ending with a question, how shall we escape? The answer was to be, to escape through calling out to God. Verse 5 said at the end of the chapter, and they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation, and of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, behold, such is our expectation whither we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we escape? And then Isaiah 21 starts with a new burden where it says in verse 1, the burden of the desert of the sea as whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. I'd like to pray before we get going with this chapter. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, well this chapter, Lord, and what is, you know, cryptic in parts, Lord, and maybe not so easy to understand. On first sight, so help me to just explain this clearly and accurately, Lord, and full of your spirit, and in a way that people will just really be able to follow along, Lord, and be able to understand what it is you want us to get out of this chapter, out of these burdens today. Help me to preach full of your spirit, Lord, as I do that in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so he said the burden of the desert of the sea as whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. So we've moved on from Egypt now to Babylon. That's what we're talking about here in this first part. How do we know it's Babylon being talked about in these first 10 verses? Well, jump forward to verse 9 where Babylon is named. It said in verse 9, and behold, here cometh the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen, and he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he has broken unto the ground. So when is Isaiah preaching of for Babylon falling? Babylon was conquered then after rebelling was was conquered by the Assyrians again. However, it's not during this Assyrian empire that he's prophesying of. The first fulfillment here is when Babylon fell to the Medo-Persians. This is what he's talking about here. Verse 2 said, a grievous vision is declared unto me, the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Media, all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. So Elam previously bordering south Persia, but later being a big part of Persia itself, Media being the home of the Medes. Okay, so the period being prophesied of is when the Babylonian empire fell to the Medo-Persian empire in 538 BC, which is the best part of 200 years in the future from this point. The best part of. Verse 1 here said, the burden of the desert of the sea as whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. Why is Babylon being called the desert of the sea? What we'll see in the Bible isn't just referring to oceans as we would use the word today. Okay, so we would just say the sea, well that's talking about an ocean, isn't it? It just means a body of water in the Bible. Okay, and we see there are examples of that in the Bible, which can be as vast as an ocean or as small as a river, lake, or stream. For example, the Sea of Galilee is known as the sea. It's not some huge ocean or anything. It's more like we would probably call a lake now. But back in chapter 19, for example, when talking of the famine coming to Egypt, Isaiah said, and the Egyptians will I will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, in verse 4, sorry, back in chapter 19 and verse 4, and the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord, and a fierce king shall rule over themself the lord the lord of hosts, and the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And it's talking about those rivers, those lakes. It's not saying that the sea, the ocean, is going to dry up. He said, and they shall turn the rivers far away, then the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up, the reeds of fags shall wither. So if you go forward to Jeremiah 51, Jeremiah prophesying of Babylon, Jeremiah 51 now, he says this, just to kind of help you understand this, he says in Jeremiah 51 and verse 36, so Jeremiah chapter 51 and verse 36, Jeremiah's prophesying of Babylon, he says, therefore thus saith the lord, behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee, and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry, and Babylon shall become heaps a dwelling place for dragons and astonishment and in hissing without an inhabitant. So Babylon, the reason being is Babylon was in the middle of various bodies of water. Jeremiah 51 13 said, oh that thou that dwelleth upon many waters, in verse 13 there, abundant in treasures thine end is come in the measure of thy covetousness, so it dwells upon many waters, and that's the Euphrates, the Tigris and other various lakes and rivers too around that area where the city of Babylon was. So basically it's dwelling amongst all these big bodies of water, they're big rivers okay, the Euphrates and the Tigris especially there. So the desert that we saw, but if you go back to Isaiah 21, the desert is just meaning the land rather than the wilderness, which is what we think of when we hear the word desert, don't we? So we here think of desert and we're just thinking of the desert like we know it today, but that's what the wilderness is describing. The desert is just basically land okay, verse one said the burden of the desert of the sea as whirlwinds in the south pass through, so it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. Now I'm assuming that the whirlwinds in the south okay is from the perspective really of those in Judah, so he's prophesying in Jerusalem, he's talking about like those whirlwinds in the south pass through, the south being the wilderness okay, with whirlwinds being common in the desert wilderness on hot clear days okay, if you think where Jerusalem is down in the south is what we would call the desert is a wilderness, and they would have then passed through neighbouring towns and cities. So saying as those whirlwinds in the south, which in kind of the wilderness in desert land as we would call it, they pass through okay, they get these whirlwinds, apparently they're common on hot clear days in the wilderness, you get these whipped up whirlwinds and they'll pass through towns quickly and they come through quick. He said like that okay, like that happens, the picture therefore is of this basically this sudden mighty force passing through the whole city, which is what happened when the Medo-Persians conquered Babylon. I mean it was sudden, it was a sudden event. This whirlwind was to come from the land of Persia and it was basically a terrible or scary frightful land. I mean it went, it became a huge empire. Going forward to Daniel 6, so Daniel chapter 6 we're going to look at, where Daniel is interpreting the writing on the wall to Belshazzar, the Babylonian king. Daniel chapter 6, there's been that hand written on the wall Belshazzar, the Babylonian, well at least co-regent king, I would say at this point he's scared, he's seen this, they've seen this hand right on the wall and it says in verse 26 when he interprets it, he said this is in, so Daniel 6, 26, this is the interpretation of the thing, Mini, which was the word written on the wall, God has numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel, thou are weighed in the balances and art found wanting and Perez, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler of the kingdom and verse 30 then says in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldean slain. In that night and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about three score and two years old. That's some swift judgment isn't it? In that night, I mean he's had the hand written on the wall during his drunken feast and that night he's killed and the following siege in Teke Babylon was pretty swift too, like a whirlwind basically. I mean it wasn't even a siege, they just entered in. Verse 1 said the burden of the desert of the sea as whirlwinds in the south, sorry back in Isaiah 21, as whirlwinds in the south pass through so it cometh from the desert from a terrible land. A grievous vision is declared unto me, the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously and the spoiler spoileth. Go up our eland, besiege our media, all the sighing thereof have I made to see. So I believe that Isaiah is he's first at the beginning of that that verse of verse 2, referring to what happens to Judah at the hands of the Babylonian empire. Now turn over to 2 Kings 24, 2 Kings 24. I'm just trying to make sense of what these verses mean for everyone here. He said in at the beginning of verse 2, a grievous vision is declared unto me, the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously and the spoiler spoileth. So you're turning to 2 Kings 24, and prior to 2 Kings 24, Josiah's son Jehoahaz has been dethroned by Pharaonego of Egypt and the throne has been given to his brother Eliakim, okay, whose name has been changed to Jehoiakim and is paying tribute to Egypt, okay, so he's giving basically a tax to Egypt. 2 Kings 24 says in verse 1, 2 Kings 24, 1. In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up and Jehoiakim became his servant three years, then he turned and rebelled against him. So this is the first bit of treachery that I think he's prophesying of here, Isaiah, in chapter 21. Stay in 2 Kings 24 though, it says in verse 2, and the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the children of Ammon and sent them against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord which he spake by servants of prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did and also for the innocent blood that he shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord would not pardon. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers and Jehoiakim his son reigned in his stead. Now jump forward to verse 11 to see what happens next. Verse 11 says, and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city and his servants did besiege it and Jehoiakim the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his officers and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign and he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord as the Lord had said. So that for me is a spoiling. Verse 14 says and he carried away all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty men of valour even ten thousand captives and all the craftsmen and smiths none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the land and he carried away Jehoiakim to Babylon and the king's mother and the king's wives and his officers and the mighty of the land those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon and all the men of might even seven thousand and craftsmen and smiths as thousand all that was strong and apt for war even then the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon and the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead and changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that Jehoiakim had done for though through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah until he cast him out from his presence that Zedekiah did what he rebelled against king of Babylon so this is more treachery now this is more treachery that I think is being prophesied of you know 100 and something years before this the result is Nebuchadnezzar besieges Jerusalem Zedekiah has his sons killed before his eyes plucked out and then look at second kings 25 and verse 8 second kings 25 says and in the fifth month on the seventh day of the month which is the 19th year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came Nebu-Zaradan captain of the guard a servant of the king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and he burnt a house the Lord in the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great man's house burnt with fire and all the army of the Chaldees that were with the captain of the guard break down the walls of Jerusalem round about now the rest of the people that were left in the city and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon with the remnant of the multitude did Nebu-Zaradan the captain of the guard carry away but the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vine-dressing husbandmen and look at verse 13 and the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord and the bases and the brazen sea that was in the house of the Lord did the Chaldees break in pieces and carried the brass of them to Babylon and the pots and the shovels and the snuffles and the spoons and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered took their way and the fire pans and the bowls and such things as were of gold and gold and of silver and silver the captain of the guard took away the two pillars one sea and the basis which Solomon had made for the house the Lord the brass of all these vessels was without weight the height of the one pillar was 18 cubits the chapter upon it was grass and height of the chapter three cubits and the wreath and work and pomegranates upon the chapter round about all of brass and like unto these had the second pillar with wreath and work more spoiling so i could have maybe shortened that a bit but i just wanted you to get like just see like really what happened and that for me is what he's preaching of he's preaching of the rebelling of the treachery and the spoiling so back in Isaiah 21 i believe that these are the events the grievous vision declared unto us remember Isaiah is is you know he's obviously he's a man of God here he cares about the the house of God he cares about his people and he's seeing this vision is this grievous vision the grievous vision isn't the Babylonians being conquered by the Medo-Persians the grievous vision is what is what preempted that the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously and the spoiler spoileth which then results in the calling for that judgment by the Medo-Persians where he then says go up o elam besiege o media all the sighing thereof have i made to cease so sighing being a part of tribulation okay here of being a captive for example psalm 79 11 you don't turn there says let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou thou those that are appointed to die so he seems to be saying that the oppressive regime of the Babylonians will then be over when the Medo-Persians obviously then invade with of course Cyrus of Persia being the one that orders a decree for the for the return of the captive Jews to the homeland however it's this grievous vision that Isaiah is focusing on here he said in verse three then so although yes the burden of Babylon they're going to be then be invaded this is why he's saying it's grievous and he says in verse three therefore because he's seeing everything that's coming before that therefore my loins filled with pain pangs have taken hold upon me as the pangs of a woman that travaileth i was bowed down at the hearing of it i was dismayed at the seeing of it my heart panted fearfulness affrighted me the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me so although there's the free and coming at the hands of elam as it was called here in media it's a bittersweet truth because it's after the grievous vision of the treacherous dealer dealing treacherously and the spoiler spoiling that's why zire is paying to see he's suffering as if he's in labor he's basically saying he's seeing a future vision of his of basically jerusalem just getting raised everything being taken out of the temple all the people being taken into captivity he's been over double he's dismayed his heart is racing it's saying here he's in fear he's seen this vision of the spoil of his people spoiled taken into captivity and perhaps the night of his pleasure here is a prophecy of the sighing ceasing with the conquering by the medo-persians but it's sort of a bittersweet truth because it's on the back of this uh carrying away into babylon of the people and obviously the spoiling of jerusalem and then obviously with a 70 years of captivity as well he then says this to i believe the babylonians uh during this time to come he said in verse five prepare the table watch in the watchtower eat drink arise ye princes and anoint the shield so i think he's saying by all means prepare for battle he then says in verse six for thus have the lord said unto me go said a watchman let him declare what he seeth and he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen a chariot of asses and a chariot of camels and he hearkened diligently with much heat and he cried a lion my lord i stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime and i am said to my ward whole nights and behold here cometh the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen and he answers said babylon is fallen is fallen and all the graven images of our gods he has broken onto the ground now i believe that this is referring to the ease by which babylon was to fall that's what i think this passage is talking about so according to the cyrus cylinder which is a barrel-shaped piece of clay with babylonian cuneiform inscriptions it was it was unearthed in 1879 the the per this is in the british museum by the way the persian king triumphantly entered babylon in peace amidst joy and and jubilation so when they when they entered into babylon it wasn't this big battle and you know people running scared the people of babylon by this point actually welcomed them in this is from the british museum okay it's a bit of a rebut i found it interesting as we're trying to understand things going on in that time and of course it lines up with what we're seeing here in these verses it said uh it says that of the cyrus cylinder okay which when you look at it's like this clay cylinder which has been you know which got only dug up you know a hundred and something odd years ago it says um the cyrus cylinder it's a clay cylinder babylonian account of the conquest of babylon by cyrus in 539 bc of his restoration to various temples of statues removed by nabonidus the previous king of babylon and of his own work at babylon the cylindrical form is typical of royal inscriptions of the late babylonian period and the texturizer cylinder was written to be buried in a foundation of the city wall of babylon it was deposited there after the capture of the city by cyrus in 539 bc so this is when when it was buried okay and presumably written on his orders so the text incomplete it is written in babylonian script and language and records that nabonidus the last king of babylon like i said i think there was a co-regency there um with belches are uh five five uh five to five three nine bc had perverted the cults of the babylonian gods including marduk the city god of babylon and it imposed labor service on its free population okay so coming up to the destruction of babylon they were basically in some sort of at least maybe not quite slave labor but there was a labor service they were having to do the people there who complained to the gods the gods responded by deserting babylon but marduk looked around for a champion to restore the old ways he chose cyrus king of anshan perja this is how they've written this and declared him king of the world first cyrus expand his kingship over the tribes of iran described as gushans and umamanda ruling them justly then marduk ordered cyrus to march on babylon which he entered without a fight nabonidus was delivered into his hands the people of babylon joyfully accepted the kingship of cyrus from this point on the document is written as if cyrus himself is speaking it says i cyrus king of the world he presents himself to worship of marduk strive for peace in babylon and abolish the labor service of its population the people of neighboring countries brought tribute to babylon and cyrus claims to have restored their temples and religious cults to have returned their previously deported gods and people the text ends with a note of additional food offerings in the temples of babylon and the account of the rebuilding of imgal nlil the city wall of babylon during of course which an earlier building inscription of of ashar bannipal king of asyria 668 637 bc was found so point being that when they came into to um when they came into babylon they were basically welcomed in it was a point of much discontent in the city of babylon amongst the people and he's come in and he and that's what we see in this sort of buried historical pieces okay of course it's a write-up from the point of view of the of the medo-persians but back in azar 21 it said this in verse 7 and he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen and a chariot of asses this is a watchman and a chariot of camels and he harkened diligently with much heed so the image isn't exactly a huge conquering army is it it's like a couple of it says there's a chariot with a couple of horsemen chariot of asses the chariot of camels it sounds more like a removal firm doesn't it i don't know what that's kind of what i think what you kind of see this image of instead of like he saw this concrete army it's like there's a couple of chariots with like a couple of different animals pulling them along with the medo-persians basically moving into babylon rather than this kind of huge destroying army having to to destroy them verse 8 suddenly cried a lion my lord i stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime and i'm setting my ward whole night so this is around the clock watching we'll come back to these verses in a minute again but he's saying he's standing continually upon the watchtower in the daytime and i am setting my ward whole night's award being i think that where he's watching from verse 9 and behold here cometh the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen and he answered said babylon is fallen is fallen and all the graven images of our gods he had broken onto the ground so why the image of so few because the co-regent belchezah had already been killed in the night and me as well the and the people were ready to welcome in the medo-persians now you might recognize a statement there as well babylon is fallen is fallen from the book of revelation and we're going to look at that so turn to revelation chapter 14 revelation 14 where the babylon of the end times is to fall too so in revelation 14 the 144 000 they're being prepared to be sent back from the heavenly zion remember it's the heavenly mount zion which he's standing upon with them okay these aren't people that already here 144 000 pure blood from different tribes of of uh the you know the the tribes of israel know they're they're in heaven it's a heavenly zion and in verse 6 says and i saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel this is revelation 14 6 to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation in kindred and tongue and people saying with a loud voice fear god and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountains of waters and there followed another angel saying babylon is fallen is fallen that great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication so the babylon of the future will have some sort of great influence on the world it just said that she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication as did the babylon of the six of six of it was the sixth century before christ albeit in a more localized sense okay so here in revelation 14 this is being stated as as christ is returning by the way with babylon's days numbered okay so they're basically right christ is returning babylon's fallen okay however it then gets physically destroyed a few years later in revelation 18 revelation 18 we're going to jump to is after the seven vials and seven trumps of god's wrath poured out on the unbelieving world and it says this in revelation 18 one and after these things revelation 18 one and after these things i saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lighted with his glory and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying babylon the great is fallen is fallen and has become the habitation of devils and a hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird look at verse eight verse eight says therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the lord god who judgeth her and the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning standing afar off for the fear of her torment saying alas alas that great city babylon that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgment come so as was ancient babylon to fall in one hour they literally just marched in there i mean belshaza was killed in the night and not long after they just seemed to march in the meedah burgess did without a battle so is the babylon of the future to fall in one hour without battle verse 19 said and they cast dust on their heads and cried weeping and wailing saying alas alas that great city whereon were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costiness for in one hour is she made desolate so definitely immediate then we read this in verse 20 rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets for god have avenged you on her now keep a finger here okay that's what isiah is is seeing back in isiah 21 god's people being avenged on babylon in one hour he said in verse 8 of isiah 21 he cried a lion my lord i stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime and i am set in my ward whole night so the lion lightly represented the lord and his judgment of course revelation 5 5 in african says one of the elders said unto me weep not behold the lion of the tribe of judah the root of david referring to the lord jesus christ has prevailed to open the book of deluxe seven silsow of well verse 9 in isaar 21 said and behold here cometh the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen and the answers said babylon is fallen is fallen and all the graven images of our gods he has broken onto the ground so we're seeing this almost just simple just taking of babylon but then he said and all the graven images of our gods he had broken onto the ground and daniel 5 4 you don't have to turn there but it says of that drunken feast on the night that bel shazzar was slain they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver of brass of iron of wood and of stone and in the babylon of the future if you want to go back to revelation revelation 18 it shows us that it's the same sorts of idols so we've just read and all the graven images of a goddess he has broken onto the ground daniel 5 4 mentioned the gods of gold and of silver brass of iron of wood and of stone and in revelation 18 it says in verse 11 revelation 18 11 and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and of pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and all thine wood and all manner of manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels of most precious wood and of brass and iron and marble and cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and souls of men and the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee and thou shalt find them no more at all aren't those the idols of today as well aren't they that's what these are these are the idols of of the babylon in the future they're the idols of the babylon of the past and the big one is wealth there isn't it wealth is a big one with the gold and the silver just wealth in general is such an idol of life isn't it so many people that's the most important thing in their life it's it's a wealth we saw here the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and of pearls and how many people that that's that's pretty much their god of life that's what they seek after that's what they go for that's what their whole life is about but also just stuff in general stuff like jewelry we saw there the precious stones the pearls they're there that that can be an idol for some and maybe i don't know if there are people like that here but you get those in in in the world people who just they're just so desperate for whatever the sparkling jewel is it's a bit of a strange sort of idol isn't it that people make fine clothing he mentioned here in verse uh verse 12 he said he said of fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and there's a lot of people that make basically an idol of that stuff you go how do they make an idol of it well because that becomes more important than the things of god it's just trying to get those expensive clothes those fine clothing trying to find a way of earning to be able to get those fine clothes to look as sharp as possible to look as rich as possible to look as whatever the images that they're trying to get precious materials for homes you could say there with you know things like and all thigh iron wood and all manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels of most precious wood of brass and iron and marble how many people may make an idol not just of their home but make an idol of their gardens for example i have people you knock around you know and they're kind of just sundays are just spent just worshiping their garden and trying to you know save money to build the next thing in their garden and the next thing and make the next thing and do up their house and we've got a family member who's like you know they're like they seem to be just destroying their life where they're just desperate to do the next renovation to their home and and you know destroying their relationship because they're having to live elsewhere while they're just kind of spending every last penny they've got trying to do the extension they don't even need because they're just so desperate to like make the house even worth even more money and look even more like the joneses and it is it becomes an idol doesn't it in people's lives oh a sad idol it is and so many people get pulled into that stuff don't it seems you start trying to compare and compete and i thought my hell you know the latest fashion in the home you know and oh other family members i think they're done similar it's just so weird isn't it but it's not just that you know we we see as well fine medicaments here i think it said maybe in verse verse 12 i think uh sorry verse 13 and cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and there are people look that that sort of stuff you know that latest greatest health food tonics and special you know from the middle of nowhere i remember when i was looking for a um i was looking for a a church building before we got this church building i went and looked at this one and this guy um he was uh he had this warehouse and he was yeah basically he wanted uh you know i was looking to maybe take it as a church it was over in darkford and um and the guy he was trying to butter me up and he said oh take a crate of these these are really good waters and they're like these really ridiculously posh bottles of water with all this gold engraving all over them and everything else i was thinking okay well so i took off these because this was his business the guy that seemed to own this warehouse and he sold expensive water so i thought i wonder how much these are worth and i looked online and i might get this wrong but it was something along the lines of about seven pound for a litre bottle of this water it's like seven pounds yeah bear in mind you can get you know if you you can get like a bottle of evian for probably a pound fifty or something you know so like seven pounds for a litre bottle of this glass bottled and it's saying that it's got traces of gold in it seriously it was basically peckham spring stuff okay if anyone doesn't know what to go talk about the old only fools and horses well i he's basically bottling tap water and selling it this is an old old series old comedy this is really what this guy is playing it's from like this special place in romania where you know there's gold you know fragments in the water and stuff like this seven pound a bottle but the thing is is that he was quite clever really because because he could have gone for the sort of two two pound mark one pound no one would have bought it but he put it so expensive that people are just assuming this must be this must at least be good it's probably not worth seven pound it must be good for me drinking all that gold wow seriously right so anyway so i took a bottle i took a i had a crate of this stuff and i was drinking at home and it was like just tasted like water but but my point is that there are people that look i mean this was i was looking online and this guy's selling them online and he's got this business selling just basically overpriced water because people just make idols of all it's like an idol of their health and it's like if i drink the gold water i'm gonna be the healthiest guy out there you know i'm gonna be healthier than everyone else and people do it with all sorts of stuff don't they and there are some expensive so-called tonics out there and so-called super foods and things in the furthest corner of the globe that people get get really obsessed with okay we also saw obviously alongside with that the finest foods as well he said he said and and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and people look they make idols of all that stuff i mean actual what we call wine nowadays and alcoholic wine i mean some of the prices some i mean collectors wines and stuff you're talking through the roof like 50 60 grand bottles plus i i i work for for a client who has a wine cellar and i was asking someone about it and they were the guy that manages this home was saying i mean some of those bottles are like 10 20 000 pound a pop for just a bottle of wine and they become these collect sizes and he's telling me he said they got so expensive because what happened is that there was a sunday a lot of like chinese money went into came into this kind of wine exclusive wine market and they just didn't know what the whole big deal was i mean i still don't to this day but whatever right and they were apparently just getting all these the most expensive bottles of wine and just mixing with coca-cola and stuff you know wine and cokes and things like that and then it just put it even more through the roof because so many of these collector's items had just been bought up and drunk for no reason by people that just had more money than sense with it and um yeah that that's the real thing right and people i mean that becomes an idol in their life is having the most expensive the most rare bottle of wine and we'll have it on a real special occasion but foods as well like i talked about in our proverb series recently becomes an idol for some and the finest foods the most expensive foods but look what it also said here it said in verse 13 we saw the oil and the fine flour and the wheat and beasts and sheep and horses so again just to remind you this is the babylon of the future and it's the same it's idols here and and what what do people idolize now they idolize beasts don't they and there's a couple of beasts as i remember preach your sermon the worship of dogs and the worship of dogs and you've got the brute beasts okay which are basically sodomites and people worship and idolize them and then you've got the four-legged kind of beast the four-legged dog that people worship and idolize as well and here it's the same thing in the in the babylon of to come you know these they're weeping a mourning for no man by their merchandise anymore and then of all that and that's being bought in babylon that's becoming this sort of idol these idols in babylon is the beasts and the sheep and the horses and people make gods of animals don't they know there's a lot of animal worship going on um and then we also saw we saw here uh the animals and then he said after that he said in chariots and how do we see that today cars cars the car idol you get people that you drive past their house or you knock on a door on a sunday sometimes and they're just kneeling down just polishing that car aren't i mean usually we don't go to the most well sometimes you do if you're knocking every door sometimes you might get those sort of houses but people are just just obsessed aren't they idolizing that car that car has become a god to them that car's more important than anything else there are people like that sad life really imagine when it breaks down devastated um so you've got you've got cars you got and then it also said it said as well it said in slaves slaves and think of the idolatry of what are really the slaves of of our media and and if you think about it the the whatever it is the music stars the hip-hop stars aren't a lot of them enslaved really enslaved due to whatever they've got up to with p diddy or jeffrey eppstein or whoever that we haven't actually heard about yet who knows i mean they're they're enslaved really aren't they they're slaves to them they do what they're told i think because they've got some sort of filthy nasty secrets on them they're slaves in art they're slaves all over the entertainment industry really that people that they're enslaved to them and they're and but people have made idols of slaves people that are enslaved by their own perverse lusts slaves and then as well as well the the just people in general he said and the souls of men and people just make idols of all sorts of people in life don't they people just love to make an idol make a god of men and in various areas of life what makes them idols what makes something an idol in your life so what's the difference between an idol and something you admire something you like or something you buy or something that you enjoy eating or drinking or something else it's putting it above god that's what an idol is excess 20 verse three says thou shalt have no other gods before me and and it's making it basically a god of your life it's putting it above god and that's what so many people worship today don't they wealth stuff things and as in the future the babylon of old was known for merchandising things by the way as well the huge focus on trade and trade routes by the babylonians seem to be an accepted historical fact just everywhere i was reading up on it and it's just just that was a big part of the babylonian empire was trade trade routes it started developing all these long distance trade routes and everything else a big part of that empire and when prophesying of babylon in isaiah 46 one it's isaiah said bell boweth down nebo stupeth their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle your carriages were heavy loaden they are a burden to the weary beasts so the idols are basically being transported that's what it's talking about they're being carried around the idols are being transported traded around he said their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle your carriages were heavy load and they were a burden to the weary beast however regardless and again just interesting in our history then it will repeat itself again with the babylon of the future but it was all to come crashing down yeah and that just quickly on the back of that let you know aside from just don't make idols of all this stupid stuff that's an obvious lesson to take from this there's another lesson there but for anyone that just makes idols of anything in life is that they will just come crashing down idols will come crashing down again here it said the the graven images of our gods have broken onto the ground and whatever you make if you're a child of god and you're making idols in your life whatever you're starting to put basically above god in your life god will tear that idol so if you really like something don't make it an idol because he will tear it down in your life it will come crashing down it will it will get destroyed one way or another so just don't make idols of things and that includes people as well be careful not to make idols of people in your life idols of you know and it can even be loved ones in your life people make an order they become more important than god well there's going to be a problem there then because we shouldn't no one nothing should be more important than god god should be up here in our lives right so with that in mind verse 9 then said and behold here cometh the chariot of men back in isiah 21 and behold here cometh the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen and he answers said babylon is fallen is fallen and all the graven images of our gods he has broken onto the ground he then said oh my threshing and the corn of my floor that which i've heard of the lord of hosts god of israel have i declared unto you so the threshing is of babylon with god's people those in captivity i believe being the corn that was to come out of there but the chaff destroyed john the baptist said of christ in matthew 3 12 whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire and that's our image of threshing of separating the two verse 10 where you are said oh my threshing and the corn of my floor that which i've heard of the lord of hosts god of israel have i declared unto you and maybe when isiah preached this okay and he's preaching of this separation this this threshing and and i think not that first part of the verse basically speaking as god there oh my threshing in the corner of my floor he there were perhaps there were some babylonians in and out of judah it were wondered that when when he's preaching this stuff hezekiah was sent letters by the then king of babylon after his illness okay which is soon after you know this being preached here second kings 20 and verse 12 says at that time beradak balladhan the son of balladhan king of babylon sent letters in the present unto hezekiah for he had heard that hezekiah had been sick this is just after they've been besieged by the asyrians and then what happened after that so he sent letters by the king of babylon they obviously have some sort of relationship don't they i don't think they were just random i don't think it was hate mail i mean it was it was letters from someone that obviously knew him there was some sort of maybe trade or something even before the babylonian empire where this is during the asyrian empire but he sent letters and a present unto hezekiah and what did hezekiah do he then invited them over didn't he for the for the grand tour and he started showing off all his stuff to him you know which didn't go down well you know in in the long run but here in verse 10 okay isaiah didn't mince his words he said that which i have heard of the lord of hosts the god of israel have i declared unto you and the reason i'm saying that well maybe you know maybe there are babylonians in and out because he's just preaching what he's heard whether there were people whether at that point they were getting on with the babylonians he's preaching something hard here which ultimately isn't probably going to go down well if they if they are at this point in a friendly relationship which they probably were with those of babylon he said that which i've heard of the lord of hosts god of israel have i declared unto you just like my car in first kings 22 14 it makes you think of that where he said as the lord liveth what the lord saith unto me that will i speak and point being it's the only way to preach god's words isn't it it's the only way and not to be worried about you know and obviously look we want to preach sensitively sometimes want to preach in the right way but ultimately we have to just preach god's words don't we and that that is what isaiah did here and he just said that which i've heard of the lord of hosts i have declared unto you and then it's up to us when we're on the receiving end when we hear god's word preach to say well what am i going to do with that am i going to respond to it am i going to get upset with the message well that's what he preached here he preached something that probably didn't go down that well at this point in time then he said in verse 11 on the back of that he then said the burden of duma so he's done this burden of babylon which like i said at the time you know it would have been a bit well what's going on here because babylon wasn't a problem at this point then he says the burden of duma he calleth to me out of seer watchman what of the night watchman what of the night the watchman said the morning cometh and also the night if you will inquire inquire ye return come so duma was the fourth son of ishmael okay abraham's son by hagar who if you remember was one of the 12 sons of ishmael who were all described as princes of their nations well duma was was one of these nations seemingly in the land of seer so so there was likely some merging here probably with the edamites as well um and maybe with you know i don't know how you know at what point that land became edamite land or or you know it's just being referred to here as duma land or not but this could very likely be a prophecy against edom with duma being the region perhaps okay but regardless of who specifically the prophecy is about it's the people there the people dwelling there at this point the the people of this nation are calling out wanting to know what's coming in the night that's what he's saying he's saying he he calleth the burden of duma he calleth to me out of seer watchman what of the night watchman what of the night which is a time to fear attack isn't it the night okay that's the time to fear that's time to be worried about and the answer is well it's coming day and night i think is what he's saying here the watcher has said the morning cometh and also the night okay and then he says and i think he's saying inquire of the lord come in here basically so so the message is you don't have to be sitting in darkness with no knowledge of what's to come instead come to inquire come to find out what's going to happen come to inquire of the lord basically this is god's man god's prophet saying come and inquire if you want to know what's going to happen come and talk to me turn of revelation chapter one and that is an ongoing truth for us in life now and it's going to be a truth for those in the future when it does come to the end end of days see we don't have to be unsure do we we don't have to be living in fear going well i just don't know what's going to happen because that that's a lot of the world out there isn't it a lot of the world living in fear panicking because maybe the world's just gonna suddenly blow up one of those asteroids or whatever they kind of the latest fear thing it just missed us you know and a lot of these guys are just like they're just like i can't believe it oh the ozone layer it's it's even such thing as an ozone layer anymore because they stop talking about that now but that used to be the when i was growing up that was a big fear monger it was like the ozone layer ozone layer and everyone's going what do you do this ozone layer it's going now it's just kind of like it was wasn't it that was a that was like say again acid rain what happened to acid rain i don't know what happened to isis what happened to all the bogeymen there's always a bogeyman isn't there and people really fear this stuff but for right now the whole kind of climate change and you know the world's it's going to suddenly end and we've got to do something about the plastic just quickly on that yeah i was thinking about this because like many years ago i went through some stuff that had been in a loft of my of my dad's and some stuff was in plastic bag and the bags are basically disintegrated and they were just slightly tiny little i mean there definitely wasn't a bag's worth of plastic it was like borderline nothing left i mean isn't that what happens to plastic i don't know i was thinking like have i got this wrong because everyone's telling us i just can't do anything with it well all this plastic and it's like it just disintegrated i had like these bags i was like looking going through this stuff in the loft is like what's this stuff it's like disintegrated plastic anyway point being that i don't know i don't buy this hole that that it's just it's just it's too much plastic what are we going to do with the world quick let's fight plastic i always drive by this guy in central london who's like it has like a placard with all these like plastic bottles he spends his life campaigning about plastic i mean what a waste of time but because the reason because they're in such fear they're so scared that this world is just going to cease to exist and people have a lot of fear but we don't have to be we don't have to be in fear do we we don't have to be unsure just maybe the world's going to end no because it's going to end at least as we know it when god decides okay and we don't have to be in fear he's basically saying come to the lord and he will show you the right path he will help you to understand what's going on and you don't have to end it but psalm 119 verse 105 says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and we know that the word of god says that you know seasons that the you know that the day and night all these things are not going to cease until he decides you know and we know until all these things be complete we know that that ultimately the world will go on we don't have to fear all this fear mongering all that stuff we don't have to wonder and that will especially be the case where as we get to the end and whether it's us or a generation to come on next generations next generations revelation one says revelation one of verse one the revelation of jesus christ which god gave unto him to show unto his servant things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant john who bear record of the word of god and of the testimony of jesus christ and of all things that he saw blessed is he that readeth and neither hear the words of this prophecy and keep those those things which are written therein for the times at hand so he's saying that you're blessed if you hear the words if you keep those words too you understand them you you dwell on them you understand you get an understanding of what's going to happen you're going to be blessed because he does show us what's going to happen he does help us and that's in all areas of life doesn't he so where it said here where it said here the watchman said the morning cometh back in verse 12 the morning cometh and also the night if you will inquire inquire you return come look if you want to know you want to know what's going to happen you want to know what's going to happen you know to the world you want to know what's going to happen in your life you'll know what's going to happen if you choose to do this sin if you choose these presumptuous sins what's going to happen if you just choose to put god over here what's going to happen if you choose to just turn away from him you choose to backside the word of god's going to tell you all of that it's going to tell you it's going to tell you about the chastisement of god it's going to tell you about you wallowing in the mire and being out out of god's will and ruining your life and everything else it's going to tell you all that stuff it's all there it's all in the word of god He said, if you will inquire, inquire ye, return come. Then he said in verse 13, the bird and upon Arabia, in the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye traveling companies of Dedanim. So Dedan was a descendant of Noah's son Ham, via Cush, okay, it wasn't direct from Ham, via Cush and then his son Rehama. Okay, so he was a son of Rehama, Dedan was. The tribe settled in Arabia, and the inhabitants, it said in verse 14, the inhabitants of the land of Timah, brought water to him that was thirsty. These are those of Dedan, it's talking about here, they prevented with their bread him that fled. Now Timah was another son of Ishmael, okay, the region and tribe are mentioned in a few places in scripture. It seems that they were to help the Dedanims here. They prevented or stopped the worst happening, is what it's saying here with the preventing. The preventing is stopping the worst happening, rather than stopping them being able to do something good. For example, Psalm 21, three says, for thou preventest him with blessings of goodness, thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. So that's what the word means there. So they, basically, why were they helping those in Arabia? Because that's what it's saying they were doing. It said, for they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. For thus have the Lord said unto me, within a year according to the years of inhiling and all the glory of Kedar shall fail, and a residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished for the Lord God of Israel, have spoken it. So, Kedar was another son of Ishmael, but it seems that the Kedarites were one of the most prominent of the Arabian tribes. You see, they're mentioned a lot in scripture. And perhaps here is a name for all of Arabia, maybe. But the Babylonians were to invade Arabia, okay? As also mentioned in Jeremiah 49. You can turn to Jeremiah 49, in fact. We see this mentioned there. Jeremiah is prophesying in Jeremiah chapter 49. And we're gonna look for verse 28. Jeremiah 49, 28, it says this. Concerning Kedar, so this is, we've just read about Kedar. Concerning Kedar and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, this is verse 28, which never could Reza, king of Babylon, shall smite. Thus saith the Lord, arise ye, guard Kedar and spoil the men of the east. Their tents and their flock shall they take away. They should take to themselves their curtains and all their vessels and their camels. They shall cry unto them, fear is on every sign. So basically, with that in mind, okay? So they were to be judged, those are Kedar. Basically, many were to be judged at the hand of the Babylonians, who were then to be swiftly destroyed themselves. And you can understand now why, when he's, and hopefully that's helping you to see why, when he's reading this, or when he's preaching this at least, and we're reading where he says, a grievous vision is declared unto me. The grievous vision isn't the Medo-Persians taking over Babylon. The grievous vision is a whole lot. It's this Babylonian empire just destroying all sorts, you know, taking Judah, taking them captive, all this destruction and everything else. However, there is a burden coming to Babylon, which is the Medo-Persians will be taking them as swift like that, as a whirlwind from the south, just passing through. Well, interestingly as well, it's written well over a hundred years before it happened, and it all came true. So this was written over a hundred years before these prophecies happened. They all came true. They all did happen. Verse 17, said in the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar shall be diminished. Why? For the Lord God of Israel has spoken it. And I think that's something we can take away from this chapter too, okay? Isaiah was prophesying of things to come, and they all came true. Because whatever God says will happen will happen, won't it? Whatever God says will happen does happen. And whatever Isaiah prophesied of, you know, back a hundred years plus before it happened, happened. Remember that when temptation to go against his word comes, that whatever God says will happen will happen. When there's a temptation comes to reject the word of God, to not do what God tells you to do, well, I'm just gonna do it my way, even though God makes it very clear how he wants me to live, what he wants me to do, what priorities he wants me to put in place, what sort of things he wants me to avoid, what sorts of, and he warns you as well, he warns you of chastisement, he warns you of just the inbuilt repercussions for sin a lot of the time as well, he warns you of those enjoying those pleasures of sin will only be for a season, you know? And you're gonna end up coming a cropper. Remember that when the temptations to just test him come, as well, when you know that God wants you doing something and you just keep refusing, you know when he makes it clear to you, just remember that, because it said here, for the Lord God of Israel have spoken it. He prophesied, he said what would happen, and it happened. And that's survival for you, isn't it? And not only do all these prophecies we see just come true, so many, and Isaiah obviously has been prophesying of all these different things, he's prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ first coming, second coming, all these things, we know that's gonna come true, don't ever think, well, there's a promise of his coming, because it is gonna happen, it will happen, because it's prophesied time and time again throughout the Bible, but know as well that even in things, in just your day-to-day life, in just your Christian lives, if God says something is gonna happen, if God tells you good will come from doing things God's way, good will come from doing things God's way. Might have to be patient, might have to go through a bit of a test, a trial sometimes, but if God says it will happen, it will happen. For the Lord God of Israel have spoken it. And on that, we're gonna finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for, well, Lord, you know, the teachings you can, we can get out of your word, even out of cryptic chapters like that, with, you know, Lord, which prophesying of things to come, you know, back in time now, Lord, and many of those fulfilled back in those days, but Lord, we can still learn so much from that. Thank you that your word is so rich that sometimes, you know, we can just enjoy going through it, studying it and trying to understand it more and relate it to those times and also that we can relate it still to our day today, Lord, and those same idols are still there, Lord, those same idols that were in Babylon then, those same idols today, the merchandise of this world in various places have just become gods to people, Lord. Help us to not let that happen in our lives. Help us to just put you first in our life, Lord, in all areas, in all aspects of our lives, Lord. Help us to worship you properly in spirit and in truth, Lord, help us to get home safe and sound this evening now, to keep you, you know, at the centre of our, the remainder of our week, Lord, and to return on Sunday for another day in your house. Jesus, thank you for all this, amen.