Welcome to the Quick Study of Isaiah! We’re in the 21st chapter this week and it’s more judgment and disaster. This will be a little longer than the last one. Just remember, repent and trust and you too will be saved.
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, I know all of your words will come true. So I am asking for understanding of these things we’re reading in Isaiah. Guide me, Lord.
God Commands That Babylon Be Taken
6 This is what the Lord says to me,
“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.
7 “When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys and a train of camels,
Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely.”
8 And the lookout called like a lion,
“O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9 “Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
This judgment occurred in the book of Daniel.
Isaiah 21:4 The vision reveals the events to occur at the feast of Belshazzar—the defilement of the golden articles taken from God’s temple, the handwriting on the wall, the murder of Babylon’s great king.
Yet this chapter also has words against Edom and Arabia too. So we can’t just stop there.
11The [mournful, inspired] oracle ([d]a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom):
Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom),
“Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]?
Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]
12 The watchman says,
“The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression]. If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know]; Come back again.”
We know Edom will be totally destroyed. Whether they have been yet, it’s not likely. But it’s coming. If you are in that lineage, there is time to repent. Turn to God and trust in Him. He knows each of His kids. You can be saved.
And the judgment on Arabia, which is what the tribe of Kedar was known as.
16 For the Lord has said this to me,
“Within a year, according to the years of a hired man [who will work no longer than was agreed], all the splendor of [the tribe of] Kedar will end; 17and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
We know they suffered at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah 49 we find that. This happened before Bablyon’s fall.
No word of God will fail. If He’s spoken it, it will happen. You can trust that. Trust Him.