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Isaiah 13 and The Day of the LORD
by James T. Bartsch
Introduction
The Day of the LORD is a period of
time when the LORD enters human history in order to bring about
terrible judgment upon man and the world he inhabits because of his evil. There have been historical
fulfillments of the Day of the LORD (Joel 1:1-2:25; Isaiah 13). Both of these
historical fulfillments use language that typifies yet future
fulfillments more devastating in ferocity and scope than the historical fulfillments turned out to be. Those
eschatological fulfillments will take place during the Tribulation
(Isaiah 13:6-13; Ezek. 30:3; Obad. 1:15-16; Zeph. 1:14-18), at the
Second Coming of Christ to Judge the Nations preparatory to setting up
His global Kingdom (Joel 3:1-17, cf. Zech. 14:1-15), and at the Destruction
of the Existing Heavens and Earth preparatory to the Creation of the
New Heavens and Earth (2 Pet. 3:10-13).
Isaiah
13 is a prophecy which exemplifies a dual fulfillment of the Day of the
LORD. One of those fulfillments was a historical fulfillment. This
prophecy was fulfilled in history when the Medes conquered Babylon
(Isaiah 13:1-5, 17-22). But
there will also be an eschatological fulfillment of this prophecy.
Isaiah
uses language so global, so extensive, and so cosmic in scope that it
can only refer ultimately to the unprecedented devastation with which
God will afflict the world during the Tribulation.
Let us examine first the setting of Isaiah 13 in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 1-39 portrays "Condemnation: God's Judgment against the
Nations." In Isaiah 1-12, Yahweh, through Isaiah, speaks of "The
Condemnation of Judah and Jerusalem (and Samaria) Tempered with Hope in
the Judgment of Assyria and the Coming of Messiah" ("Yahweh Is Salvation"
(YIS), p. 1). Isaiah 13-23 discusses "The Condemnation of the Nations
Oppressing Judah," and chapters 13-14 reveal "The Oracle (Weighty
Message) against Babylon" (YIS, p. 10). Chapter 13 portrays "God's destruction of Babylon," and it breaks down as follows (YIS, p. 10):
Isaiah 14 predicts "Israel's appreciation of the destruction of Babylon" ((YIS,
p. 11). In that chapter Isaiah speaks of "Israel's freedom and
superiority after the Babylonian exile prefiguring her status during
the Millennium" (14:1-2). In the remainder of the chapter (14:3-23),
Isaiah reveals "Israel's taunt song against Babylon's king also to be
sung by Israel against Satan during the Millennium."
Let us examine first the historical fulfillment of Isaiah 13.
In
Isaiah 13:1-5, Yahweh called upon distant troops to destroy Babylon..
Isaiah identified this whole section as "The oracle concerning Babylon
which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw" (13:1). Gary V. Smith, in his commentary on Isaiah (Vol. 1, p. 298), speculates that 13:1
is a superscription added to this section when the prophecy was
transcribed, and thus that it was not originally a part of Isaiah's
oral prophecy. The impact of this view is that Babylon is not mentioned
until 13:19, and that the Day of the Lord prior to v. 17 was universal in scope. While Smith's view is theoretically possible, there is no hard textual evidence
that was the case. We can only take the prophecy as we have it, not as
Smith speculates it must have been. Yahweh revealed that He had
called His "mighty warriors" ... "to execute" His "anger" (13:3).
Isaiah himself took up the refrain, "...The LORD of hosts is mustering
the army for battle. They are coming from a far country ... to destroy
the whole land" (13:4-5).
In Isaiah 13:6-16 Isaiah twice
identified a period of time known as "the day of the LORD" (13:6, 9).
He described "the day of the LORD" as "destruction from the Almighty"
(13:6) and as "cruel, with fury and burning anger" (13:9). Certainly,
Isaiah was describing the terrors (13:8) that would befall the people
of Babylon. But the language of this section goes far, far beyond that
historical event. We will examine this section in more detail later.
In Isaiah 13:17-18 Yahweh identified by name the people who would destroy Babylon - the Medes. Keep
in mind that Isaiah wrote this
prophecy some time between 740 and 680 B.C. (Ryrie Study Bible [RSB],
Introduction to Isaiah). But the Medes did not enter Babylon to destroy
it until 539 B.C. (RSB note on Daniel 5:30). Yahweh's amazing power to
predict accurately events many decades in the future is
brilliantly highlighted in this section. The Medes would conquer
Babylon. Their motive would be conquest, not the accumulation of
plunder (13:17). They would be ruthless, killing with no compunction
both young men and children (13:18).
In
Isaiah 13:19-22, Isaiah highlighted the thoroughness of the Median
destruction of Babylon. Babylon, "the glory of the Chaldeans' pride,"
would be left as thoroughly destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah, which God
overthrew in the days of Abraham and Lot (13:19 cf. Gen. 19:23-28). Babylon would be so thoroughly
destroyed that humans would not inhabit it for many generations
(13:20). Only wild animals would inhabit the once glorious city
(13:21-22).
Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled historically when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. (Dan. 5:28). The soldiers
diverted the Euphrates River upstream, reducing the water level as it
flowed into the city protected by iron bars. The soldiers were able to
wade, undetected, into the city and conquer it while the unsuspecting
Babylonians were partying inside. Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was slain, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom at age 62 (Dan. 5:30-31).
(Though archaeology knows nothing of Darius the Mede, Daniel was an
eyewitness. His writings trump the necessarily incomplete findings of
archaeology.)
The
language of Isaiah 13:6-16 necessitates a future, cataclysmic
destruction of Babylon in the end times. Though the language used
applies to the historical destruction of Babylon, certain aspects are
too cataclysmic and even cosmic in scope not to demand a second
fulfillment. We refer to that yet future event as an eschatological
fulfillment. Note the following instances:
Certain terms are all-encompassing.
Isaiah first announced the coming of the Day of the LORD in Isa. 13:6,
then repeated the term in 13:9. Isaiah predicted the Day of the LORD
would "come as destruction from the Almighty" (13:6). "Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every
man's heart will melt" (13:7, emphasis mine). While the language could
reasonably be expected to identify all in Babylon, the possibility of a
global reference exists. "Thus I will punish the world (tebel, 8398) for its iniquity and the wicked for their iniquity ..." (Isa. 13:11, emphasis mine). Of the 36 uses of tebel,
almost without exception the referent is the whole of planet earth, not
some localized country. Isaiah 13:11 cannot possibly be limited merely
to the Medes' invasion of Babylon. This is Yahweh's global punishment.
"I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold
and mankind than the gold of Ophir" (Isa. 13:12, emphasis mine). If
mortal man is scarcer than pure gold, and mankind scarcer than the
gold of Ophir, Yahweh was predicting a catastrophic loss of human
life over the entire planet. This is exactly what is predicted to
happen in the Tribulation period (see the comments below). "Therefore I
will make the heavens tremble, and the earth
will be shaken from its place" (Isa. 13:13, emphasis mine). When placed
side by side, as they are in Genesis 1:1 and here in Isaiah 13:13, the
two terms "heavens" (shamayim, 8064) and "earth" (erets, 776),
can only denote the planet earth situated in space. Here, the
appearance of heavens and earth in tandem denotes the global and cosmic
extent of the "fury of the LORD of hosts in the day of His
burning anger" (Isa. 13:13). Simply put, though Yahweh was
predicting the demise of the Babylonian empire in this passage, certain
terms are far too all-encompassing for the language to be limited to
the Babylonian defeat. Yahweh was predicting global and cosmic
catastrophes that will befall the earth and the heavens in the
eschatological "Day of the LORD," the Tribulation period.
Cosmic disturbances.
Isaiah prophesied (13:9), "Behold, the
day of the LORD is coming,
cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and
He will exterminate its sinners from it." Isaiah then began to describe
cosmic upheavals: "For the stars of heaven and their constellations
will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises
and the moon will not shed its light" (13:10). Many commentators, both
from a bygone era and in modern times, choose not to take these words
at face value. For example, Albert Barnes (Barnes' Notes on the Old
Testament) comments on Isaiah 13:10 as follows, "This verse cannot be
understood literally, but is a metaphorical representation of the
calamities that were coming upon Babylon."
But there is nothing in the
text that demands these terms be taken metaphorically except Barnes'
own exegetical bias. Why do so many commentators not wish to take these
prophecies at face value? I can't speak for them, but in some cases, at
least, I suspect they have an anti-supernatural bias.
These are the same kind
of cosmic disturbances that John witnessed at the Lamb's breaking of
the sixth seal, portraying something that will occur during the Great Tribulation
(Rev. 6:12-14). In addition, when the fourth angel sounded his trumpet,
John witnessed a one-third diminution of the quantity and availability
of light (Rev. 8:12). Furthermore, Jesus predicted these same
celestial upheavals will take place immediately after the
Tribulation and just before His Second Coming in power (Matt. 24:29;
Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25). Again, a great many commentators
will not take these sorts of passages at face value, and will label them
Apocalyptic literature, which, in their mind, is a convenient
justification for their non-literal approach. But if they do not really
happen, how does one explain the sheer terror of grown men from every
station in life who beg mountains and rocks to fall on them to hide
them from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of
the Lamb (Rev. 6:15-17)?
But Yahweh had not finished. He stated (Isa.
13:13), "Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will
be shaken from its place at the fury of the LORD of hosts in the day of
His burning anger." Barnes, typical of the non-literalists, views this
verse merely as imagery. But there are too many instances, not only in
Isaiah, but in other writers, where this type of language makes no
sense if it is not taken literally. (See Isaiah
2:19; 24:1, 19-20; 34:4; 51:6; Ezek. 32:7; Joel 2:30-31; 3:15;
Hag. 2:6; Zech. 14:6-7; Matt. 24:29; Rev. 6:12; 8:5, 12; 11:13, 19;
16:18.)
In Isaiah 13:9 and 13,
the language was meant to be taken at face value. In a metaphorical
sense, it described what happened when Babylon was defeated. But in a
literal sense, it will yet be fulfilled. The time frame in which it
will be fulfilled literally centers around that time of unprecedented
trouble upon the earth, the time known as the Great Tribulation.
Revelation chapters 6-18 describe in detail the unimaginable horrors of
that time.
Enormous loss of human life.
Though it certainly describes the carnage that will
take place when Babylon will be conquered, the language of Isaiah
13:6-16 goes beyond that historical fulfillment. The purpose of the
coming Day of the LORD is "to make the land a desolation; and He will
exterminate its sinners from it" (Isa. 13:9). But Yahweh continues,
"Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their
iniquity .... I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind
than the gold of Ophir." (Isa. 13:11a, 12). This language goes
far, far beyond the localized destruction that occurred when the Medes
overthrew Babylon. This is global destruction of human life on a
gargantuan scale. And this kind of language is not to be taken
metaphorically, but literally. This is exactly what will take place
during the Tribulation period as described in considerable detail in
Revelation 6-18. At Christ's breaking of the fourth seal, fully
one-fourth of the earth's population will be destroyed. In Revelation
9:15, 18, one third of the remaining population of the earth will be
destroyed at the blowing of the sixth trumpet. Combining those two
catastrophic events, and using today's figures of 7 billion as the
earth's population, in excess of 3.5 billion people will lose their
lives in the space of seven years. That is catastrophic, unprecedented
loss of human life!
The Future Fall of Babylon. Revelation 17-18
The phrase "day of the Lord" is never mentioned in the
entire book of Revelation, but there are evidences that chapters 6-18
constitute that time frame. When Jesus breaks the sixth seal, there
will be a great earthquake along with celestial disturbances so
catastrophic that great and small men across the earth will be
terrified. They will hide themselves in caves and among the rocks of
the mountains, and will beg the mountains and rocks to fall on them and
hide them from the face of the One sitting on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb, "for the great day of their wrath
has come, and who is able to stand?" (Rev. 6:12-17, emphasis mine).
Likewise, Rev. 16:14 speaks of demonic spirits "which go out to the
kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty" (emphasis mine).
Revelation 17 and 18 speak of a great prostitute named
“BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH." (Rev. 17:3-5). Thematically, Revelation 17-18 describes the
dominance and catastrophic overthrow of Babylon at the end of the Great
Tribulation. As one reads through Revelation 17-22, it becomes apparent
that Babylon is a prostitute-city (Rev. 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21)
which exists in sharp contrast to Jerusalem, and especially New
Jerusalem, which is described as a holy city and the home of the Bride
of Christ, the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9; 20:9; 21:2-4, 9-27; 22:1-5). Babylon,
on the other hand, is the headquarters of a false religion that seduces
"peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues" (Rev. 17:15) away from
the worship of the true God and His Messiah, Jesus, God's sacrificial
Lamb. "All the nations" "and the kings of the earth" will participate
in Babylon's false religion for the sake of economic gain (Rev. 18:3,
9). Because of the great wealth associated with Babylon, this false
religion will, for a time, have enormous political power. This can be
seen in that she is seen riding astride a ten-horned beast, led by
the Antichrist, who together with these ten kings will dominate world
politics for a brief time during the Tribulation period (Rev. 17:3,
7-13; cf. Rev. 13). Babylon, this global false religion which
manipulates world politics, will systematically seek to exterminate all
followers of Jesus during the Tribulation. She will be "drunk with the
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus"
(Rev. 17:6), "and in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints
and of all who have been slain on the earth" (Rev. 18:24).
But God will put it in the heart of the world ruler and
his cast of ten supporting kings to destroy Babylon, the
headquarters of this false religion, along with the complete
infrastructure that produces her wealth (Rev. 17:16-17; Rev. 18:1-24).
There will be great rejoicing in heaven because the smoke of Babylon,
headquarters of the false global religion, will rise up forever and
ever (Rev. 19:1-5). Babylon will have been overthrown finally and
irreversibly.
This will pave the way for the
marriage of the true Bride (Rev. 19:7-9), the Church, to Christ, and her eternal
residence, alongside the redeemed of Israel, in His capital city, New
Jerusalem, the holy city (Rev. 21-22).
Conclusion
It
is best to understand that, though Isaiah 13 certainly speaks of the
overthrow of Babylon in a historical sense, certain aspects of the
language go far, far beyond that localized event. It is best to
understand that there is an eschatological aspect of the Day of the
LORD that will be fulfilled in the yet future Tribulation period. This
is the period described in great detail in the Old Testament, but also
illuminated in the New. Jesus
Himself predicted
unprecedented "great tribulation" (Matt. 24:21), and He spoke again of
"the tribulation of those days" (Matt. 24:29). In addition, an
elder
revealed to the Apostle John that an innumerable multitude of
white-clad people from every nation on earth standing before the throne
of God and before the Lamb in heaven had emerged out of,
literally, "the tribulation, the great" (Rev. 7:14). That is the
period during which there will be catastrophic upheavals in nature and
catastrophic loss of human life on the earth. Those are literal events,
not metaphorical events. See also Dr. Constable's Notes on Isaiah, pp. 70-71. See also WordExplain's Glossary Summary of the Tribulation. See also WordExplain's "The Great Tribulation."
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(Scripture quotation taken
from
the NASB.)
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