Isaiah 21

THE MIRAGE IN THE DESERT

I – The Burden of the Babylon

A – Isaiah reveals the Mystery of Babylon
21:1 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.
The phrase “the desert of the sea” again represents Babylon.
The significance of the phrase is to keep in mind that when Isaiah wrote this Babylon had not even become a world power.
They would not top the horizon of might and fame for 100 years.
When Babylon did come on the scene, they emerged swiftly and as powerfully as a mighty lion.
Fear struck in the hearts of every nation in the world as the roar of its military armies thundered across the known world.
If you recall Babylon existed many years before Nebuchadnezzar.
The seeds of Babylon were sown in the earth in Genesis 10 under the mighty Nimrod.
Isaiah sees that they will take root again and spring forth with mighty power.
They would conquer the ruthless and terrorizing Assyrians and then they would chasten Judah.

It is mystery that Isaiah would call them the “desert of the sea?”
The city of Babylon was built in such a way that channels of the Euphrates River flowed through the city.
There were over sixty miles of towers and walls towering into the air to protect it from invasion.
The fortress was so mighty that all in Babylon declared it to be impregnable, invincible and unconquerable.
This mighty river that flowed under certain sections of the walls provided more than enough water for all its residents.
Babylon was so luscious at one time that one of two of the Seven Wonders of the World which was the beautiful hanging gardens existed inside these walls.

This garden stood three to four stories tall with tiers stretching forth with trees from all over the world.
There were fruit trees and flowering trees. There were vines and vineyards. There were flowers, plants and shrubs of all colors and sizes that decked these gardens with beauty unrivaled to any other garden in the world.
And yet Isaiah calls this beautiful city “the desert of the sea.” Why?
God always sees beyond the surface of a nation and beyond the outward attractiveness of a person.

Babylon with all of its glitter and glamour was most attractive.
Babylon with its greatness and intellectual leaders were admirable.
Babylon with its military power and medical achievements were envied by the world.
Babylon was a place so beautiful that even after God had set his people free from Babylonian captivity to go home to Israel and build a life for themselves 90% of the Jewish people stayed in Babylon.
So why does Isaiah call it the desert of the sea?
Babylon was a mirage in the desert. As a thirsty pilgrim crossing the desert hallucinates from lack of water and sees an oasis and runs to it, fro refreshment and comfort and rest, only to awake to nothing but heat and worthless sand, so Isaiah paints a picture of prophecy to the whole world that those who live for this world will one day awake to realize it was all a mirage, a delusion, a fantasy that will never come true.
And they will sense the heat and thirst of hell for eternity.
Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Jesus said in John 7: 37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

If you remember the sermon from Isaiah 13 on Babylon, you will recall that 90% of the world today is living the Babylonian life.
constitution, creed and culture.
Its constitutional was a government that was governed without God.
Its creed was a religion that cried all roads lead to God.
Its culture was a lifestyle that said, “everything goes.”
There is no right or wrong, everything is relative. What might have been wrong in the past is alright today. It says if it feels good do it. But, faith is not part of reality. Well, hello America!

Then in verse two Isaiah has a vision. He sees a mighty bear rise up and with his mighty power; he slays the lion (Daniel 2:7 & 7:5). In about 180 years from the time Daniel wrote these words the Media – Persian Empire would conquer the mighty Babylon Empire in one night.
2 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.

B – Isaiah reveals the Mercy of God
Verse three is a beautiful verse revealing the holy mercy of Almighty God. 3 Therefore are 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.
4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
The tears and the temperament of a prophet reveal the heart of God.
Example; When Moses came off the Mount after receiving the Ten Commandments from God, he was angry with Israel for their sins.
When Jeremiah preached to Judah of God’s judgment, he wept often.
Here, we see Isaiah filled with pain from with, representing the heart of God as He must inflict judgment on a rebellious nation.
The word p-a-i-n means grief and sorrow.
The word p-a-n-g means a cramp; a spasm a wrenching pain that sets in until the judgment is over and Isaiah give the example of a woman in labor.
God’s heart is broken. God does not want to judge you or a nation, but God is holy and holiness must judge sin.
Those who will not repent and receive God’s offer of mercy must ultimately meet God’s wrath.
. The choice of judgment is up to man.
Thought physical Babylon would be destroyed the seeds of its religion and commercial empire live on today in Russia, China, Europe, South America, North America and in every government in the world.
God reveals to us through John in Revelation 17 and 18 the final destruction of Babylon.
C – Isaiah reveals the Message of God.
Look in verse 5-6. God says watch, wait and watch. Prepare the table,
watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. 6 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
Then Isaiah’s vision takes him farther in the future. He sees a hundred and eighty years into the future. Then he sees over 2700 years.
He sees “a couple of horsemen” coming in verse 7 & 9. They are bringing a message to the world. What is that message: It is the words of judgment, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground” (v 9).
See the word, “O my threshing and my corn in verse 10.” That means it was the time of the harvest. It was a time of judgment.
Only two books in the Bible record the words, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” Isaiah and Revelation.
In Revelation 14:8 we read, “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.”
Don’t get drunk on the pleasures of this world friend, it is only a mirage. It won’t satisfy you in time or for eternity.
We read again in Revelation 18:2, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
The world a lost person lives in is a cage.
An unsaved person is in a cage, a prison with every wicked demon and hellish power on earth. They are not free. They are slaves to sin and Satan. They are a bird in prison.
Only Jesus can set a person free! If you have been washed in His blood, then you are free. You are outside that cage that one day will be loosed from this world and drop into eternal fires.

II – The Burden of Edom
There are but two verses given in this chapter revealing the judgment God is going to levy on Edom. Question: Why is God going to destroy Edom or Dumah?
A – The Disease of their Blindness.
11 The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
The Edomites were walking in darkness. It was like a disease that grew darker and darker with every generation.
God’s watchman cried “What of the night?”
He was getting their attention by saying, “Don’t you realize how dark the world is, you are walking in.
The country of Edom was founded by Jacob's brother twin brother Esau. The only thing they had in common was their mother’s womb and they even fought in there.
Esau was the firstborn and heir to the birthright which he despised. He sold his birthright for a mess of red bean stew.
Esau one day wanted that inheritance back but it was not to be and he held a grudge, a hate against his brother for over 1,000 years.
Their hate darken Esau’s eyes and with every generation that hate grew and the darkness became darker.
Jacob’s descendants, Israel, and Esau’s descendants, the Edomites never got along.
Esau’s descendants resided in Mount Sier.
Isaiah’s prophecy reveals they will soon face extermination..

God’s word teaches forgiveness.
A person without Christ has a very difficult time forgiving.
It is evidently clear that Esau’s family has never forgiven Jacob’s family as long as they lived.
God’s judgment fell on them because of their unforgiving spirit.
In Psalms 137:7 we read, "Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, "Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation!"
We saw God’s heart when he must judge a nation and it was a loving and compassionate heart. But Edom was cheering the Babylonians as they invaded, killed and conquered Judah.
Obadiah (10-15) tells us that Edom rejoiced at Judah’s fall and took the opportunity to raid the country of Israel and take the spoils and even help the Babylon collect the stragglers

In Ezekiel 35:3-9 we discover another truth. “What goes around comes around.” Sin has a boomerang affect on everyone.”
In delivering punishments to various nations, we learn that God often turns the sinner’s sin against the sinner.
Edom rejoiced at the pillaging of Israel and five years later, Nebuchadnezzar swept through again, destroying several nations and emptying their lands -- including Edom. Here is what God promised Edom.
Ezekiel 35:" 3 And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
4 I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
5 Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:
6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
7 Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.
8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.
9 I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD..
God promised that travelers would no longer pass that way; the country would be so litter with slain that people would avoid the stench. It would literary become a grave yard.
But most importantly, God states that the country would never be rebuilt.

Just as Edom had perpetual hatred for Israel, the prophecy was that their country would remain perpetually empty.
The Edomites were invaded by Babylon in the sixth century and Mount Seir was completely destroyed around 200 years before Christ.
Many of the families of Edom would join with Rome. One such family of history we know as the Herod’s did so.
The Disease of their blindness was hate, unforgiveness, a grudge.

B – The Darkness of their Blindness
12 The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.

The Edmonites were so humbled that they finally began to accept the their Jewish brothers as friends. When the morning came which speaks of the day of Christ, they had opportunity to accept Christ as Lord and Savior.
But as quickly as the morning came, the night fell, so the Moabites like unto Israel as a whole rejected the Messiah.
They joined with Israel in 70 A.D. to fight against the Romans when Titus destroyed Jerusalem, burned to temple and conquered the land.
They finally found forgiveness but it was too little to late.
Unsaved men look at Babylon and realizes this world is a mirage. You are seeking for something you will never attain.
Saint or sinner, your sins will blind you. Your hate will drop you in a dark pit that will grow darker and darker till those sins are confessed.

III – The Burden of Arabia
13 The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.
16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.
In the last section of this chapter, Isaiah turns his attention to the area we would call today Saudi Arabia. They were once friends with Israel. They traded with Solomon in gold and textiles.
The three tribes, Dedanim, (Nomadic desert dwellers), were descendants of Cush who settled in Africa at first.
Tema and Kedar were descendants of Ishmael. That settled in Arabia and lived in Mesopotamia and Syria.
These tribes mixed in their marriages and worship. They were near of kin. They were supposedly friends and not enemies but when judgment fell a different story unfolded.
They could have given a cup of water; they could have given clothing to the naked; shelter to the stragglers; or food to the hungry but they fled with their swords turning their back on helping God’s people and Isaiah predicts there judgment.

There judgment will be the darkness of the Edomites.
History records that in 732 and 725 the Assyrians did indeed plunge into the deserts of Arabia and Babylon bring death.
-But, far worse than the darkness of war that settled in Arabian, a deeper spiritual darkness covers the land till today.
-Vicious tribes have waged war against each other down to our own century.
-To this day the ruler of Saudi Arabia must maintain two armies to watch each other in order to have peace.
-They on one hand claim to be the friends of America and on the other hand 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11 were from Saudi Arabia

The Muslim darkness is particularly grim across the world and in Arabia is the heart of that darkness. Proof is in the man Edi Amin.
Edi Amin was the Ugandan leader who wanted to be known for having the first Occultist country in our century.
-He expelled all the Indians and Pakistani in 1972 saying, “He wanted Uganda to be a “Black man’s country.”
-He promotes a campaign against rival tribes murdering between 100,000 and 500,000.
-He killed the judges, chief justices, diplomats, preachers, priest, bankers, journalist, tribal leaders and anyone he thought my be a threat.
-He was finally driven from power and no country would give him refuge but one, Saudi Arabia.
Jesus said, “You are either for me or against me.” You can’t straddle the fence. A compromiser walks in occult darkness.
Understand that a person doesn’t walk in complete darkness but a life of compromise slowly moves that person into that blinding darkness.
Question: Has Satan brought this compromising darkness to America?
Are people and churches straddling the fence?
Have we ceased to speak truth for fear of persecution?
Yes, friend the Arabian darkness is here.
In one university in Virginia, two new politically correct rules have been publicized.
1) It says, If you cringe when a known Sodomite grabs your arm, you may be expelled.
2) Further, if you avoid Sodomites and Lesbians on purpose, you can also be denied the experience of a University education.

The world says, “love everybody.” And God says we should love everybody.” But there is a different in loving a person for the purpose of presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ to them and being a friend to them and becoming like them.
I love my kids but I don’t want them running with guys that drink and cuss and chase women. Why? It might influence them to do so.
I don’t want them going to churches that are compromising churches that won’t preach the whole council of God.
And I don’t want them fellowshipping with Sodomites and Lesbians because you have the tendency to become like the people you hang around.

How do we treat a dark world?
1 – We must be a light like Jesus Christ.
2 – We must have love and compassion but not be like that world.
3 – We must be separate from the world. We must not straddle the fence. This world will never be your friend. It will poison you and it will blind you.
If you are a believer, compromising with this world will cause your children to walk in darkness and may damn their souls for eternity.
Christians, walk in the light. Stay in the Bible, Go to Church every times the doors are open. Pray, witness and just stand up for God.