The King of Babylon Has Fallen

Greetings in the Lord~

Normally there is some time between my posting of prophetic words, but lately I feel prompted to share more frequently what I'm getting.  So without further adieu, today's word is from 2 Samuel 2 and Isaiah 14.

2 Samuel 2 is interesting because it tells of the time in Israel's history of its civil war -- Saul (i.e. Obama) had been anointed king but because of his love of the world and self (i.e. disobedience to God, obedience to worldly desires), God rejected him as king and had David (i.e. Trump) anointed in secret to replace him -- because he had a heart after God.  But by the second chapter of 2 Samuel, Saul and his eldest son Jonathan had died in battle and his next son Ishbosheth, had taken over the kingdom.  However, this new head of state was not really calling the shots, and he did not have the same blessing of the Lord that David had, nor even the prominence of Saul from back in the day.  No, Ishbosheth was merely a weaker continuation of the same worldly-loving mentality of his father, a status quo kind of guy that was surrounded by stronger advisors that were really determining the decisions made at that point.  Yet, although Ishbosheth was just a figurehead, the division in Israel was serious and a large chasm existed between those still loyal to Saul and those loyal to David.  It was a time of civil war, plain and simple, and because of the weak nature of Ishbosheth, there was a perceived power vacuum within his ranks that contributed to the instability of his reign, and ultimately, fueled an environment already rife with violence and betrayal and selfish ambition.  

Clearly, Israel was in a hot mess at that point, but the funny thing was, God had made Himself a decisive supporter of David, so in fighting against him, supporters of Saul were really fighting against God and His plans and purposes for the nation of Israel.  Of course they didn't see it that way, but that was because they had been followers of Saul and not necessarily followers of God.  They had been led astray by the corrupt value system and spiritual duplicity of Saul.  That leads us to the second Scripture passage for today.

In Isaiah 14, we read about the Lord having mercy on His people and releasing them from the tyranny and wicked ways of the "king of Babylon."  Quite literally, this passage talks about the death of the king of Babylon and of how the people of God will rejoice on that day!  In fact, even the underworld gets excited at his arrival and both the living and dead past leaders will sing taunts about the end of his reign.  That's pretty deep, if you think about it.  You must be pretty wicked to have even the souls in the underworld make fun of you and call you out about your failed attempts to lie, cheat, and steal and destroy the people of God!

"The mighty man has been destroyed.  Yes, your insolence is ended.  For the Lord has crushed your wicked power and broken your evil rule....The kings of the nations lie in stately glory, each in his own tomb, but you will be thrown out of your grave like a worthless branch.  Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will be dumped into a mass grave with those killed in battle.  You will descend to the pit.  You will not be given a proper burial, for you have destroyed your nation and slaughtered your people.  The descendants of such an evil person will never again receive honor."  Isaiah 14:4b-5, 18-20.         

Wow.  I know people have a hard time when the Bible uses such intense language and allegories to convey the depth of God's anger toward such obstinance and sinful wickedness, but this particular passage is talking specifically about world leaders who intentionally chose to hurt, malign and oppress the nations they have been given charge over, if even for the briefest of moments, to satisfy their own personal greed and quest for power.  But there is more to it than that.  

In verses 12-14 of Isaiah 14, we get a hint of the demonic nature that was being projected in and through that corrupt earthly reign -- in fact, theologians quite often say that the devil himself was ruling in and through the reign of that king and was leading untold numbers of people astray from God through the values, actions, policy and mindset they modeled or taught to the people.  That, is the serious issue at hand.  We see in 2 Samuel 2 and after that God guides the actions of people to fulfill His will on earth, but in Isaiah 14 we see that sometimes that includes bringing a seriously corrupt rule of reign to a sudden halt through death to bring to an end the continuation and passing along of the corrupt mindset and demonic spiritual values they were projecting onto the people maybe unawares.  You see, pride blinds people to the real intention behind their actions, and arrogance looks to justify corrupt behavior.  So needless to say, this pride is the number one thing being cultivated by the reign of this earthly yet demonic king.  And, not surprisingly, God will bring it to an abrupt end at the time of His choosing and look to put His anointed one in their place over the people. Amen!

~Be blessed and be a blessing.