“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.”
In this passage notice that he is not addressing Babylon, but the virgin daughter of Babylon. This is significant for several reasons. First, while it was, as always, initially addressed to ancient Babylon, the phrase daughter of Babylon implies a next generation or different person or entity. It leads us to the understanding that this prophecy is directed at the next Babylon, or Babylon the Whore, the daughter of the original Babylon. Then she is called a virgin. This indicates, as discussed in previous verses in Isaiah, that it is a country that has never been conquered. For a country to be a virgin, she has to have not been raped or pillaged or conquered. So we are again back to the idea that Babylon is a country that has never seen another country come in and overpower her. Again this seems to point to America. She has been called delicate and tender. America is a young country, a tender young virgin who lives a life of delicacy and splendor. She is told that she is about to be raped. Her nakedness will be uncovered and she will be shamed. God is about to enact his vengeance, and he is not going to meet her as a man coming to either offer his love or pay for her favors. He is going to rape her as an attacker. She has been the “lady of kingdoms.” Again, this certainly describes America. God was angry with the Jews, his people and polluted their inheritance, allowing the beast to drive them out and take the temple and has handed them over to Babylon. But what does Babylon do, show them mercy? No. Again, we see where the government of Babylon does not side with Israel, and she will pay for this. In her arrogance, she thinks of herself as a lady untouched, and has no mercy on those in need, forgetting how God has been with the people of her country helping them from the beginning. She has not learned from Israel's mistake of turning their backs on God and the end result of that. She is given over to the pleasures of life and lives without worrying about anyone else. She thinks she is better than everyone else and never believes that she can be a widow and childless. Again, this description so aptly fits America. God tells her that in the space of one day both of these things will come upon her. We know from Revelation that she sees her demise in the space of one hour. She is guilty of sorcery and enchantments. This country certainly dabbles in witchcraft to a great extent between actual Satan worship and witchcraft to the New Age beliefs, to the Eastern mysticism religions to our own false religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, and all the little cults that exist. She trusts in her wicked ways thinking that nobody knows that she is in league with the devil, but she is wrong about that. Not only does God see, but those of us who study our Bibles know it also. Her wisdom and knowledge has perverted her. Evil, mischief, and desolation shall come upon her without her knowing from where or when it will come. God tells her to go ahead and take counsel from her sorcerers and see if they can save her. They will not be able to deliver her or themselves. They will all be burned up. Nobody will be able to help her.
This passage parallels Revelation in all respects. It simply says it a little differently. Again, the description at this time in history only really fits one person, America. It is hard to get away from that fact. Things could change, I suppose, but it is unlikely.
Amen. :)
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