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Isa 47:1-7 I Was Wroth With My People

[Study Aired September 29, 2019]

Isa 47:1 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.
Isa 47:2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Isa 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. Isa 47:4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 47:5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
Isa 47:6 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.
Isa 47:7 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.

Hard as it is for our flesh to accept, when God’s people are in Babylon, they are Babylonians, just as the Israelites were Egyptians while in Egypt. We must come out of her to be separated from her and her sins and her plagues:

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

We are all within that Babylonian system in our own time, and the words of this prophecy concerning the “virgin daughter of Babylon” are addressed to you and me and are written for our admonition:

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: ‘tupos’, as types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [Greek: ‘aion’, age] are come.

That verse being true, this verse is also addressed to us:

Isa 47:1 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.

If you are wondering, as I myself wondered, how “the virgin daughter of the Chaldeans (Babylon)” the oppressor of the Lord’s people, can also be the Lord’s apostatized people, then, like me at that time, you do not yet understand how Christ can be both “the first man Adam” and “the last Adam”. Yet that is exactly what the Lord tells us repeatedly:

Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

The Truth is that it is really Christ Himself who “makes the wicked”, “creates evil” and ‘has done all the evil in every city’:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD , and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Amo 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Truly, there are no ‘loose cannons’ anywhere in the Lord’s creation. “[He] is the Lord and there is none else [Isa 45:6] and in Him we live and move and have our being”, even as the pagan Athenians to whom Paul said:

Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

It follows that this must also be said of the most heinous crime ever committed:

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

In Luke 17 we are told:

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, kingdom of God is within you.

Consider the fact that if “the kingdom of God is within [us]”, as the Lord declares, then it follows that all the enemies of that kingdom are also within us fighting against the people of the Lord and His kingdom with us.

Indeed, that is exactly where we are told our enemy is, and that is where the battle for the Lord’s kingdom is presently taking place:

Mar 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mar 7:22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mar 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

The most deadly and insidious enemy any man has ever encountered is also the most evasive and hard to discover enemy any of us will ever face. Yet he is hidden in plain sight, and we see him every morning in our own mirrors.

Therefore, the enemy of the Lord’s Israel dwells in the same place the Lord’s kingdom occupies. Both are within the heavens into which Christ entered and is even now in the process of purifying.

What exactly is it that must be removed from the Lord’s house? Here it is:

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

While there are few indeed who can accurately identify the “beast” of Revelation 13, it is widely accepted that this ‘beast’ is the same as the “man of sin” of 2nd Thessalonians 2, who commits the “abomination of desolation” of Daniel 9:17, 27; 11:31, 12:11.

Dan 9:17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Dan 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Remember, the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon were mere types and figures and shadows of the true heavenly temple:

Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

Heb 9:2 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.

Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [the true temple of God] with better sacrifices than these.

“The pattern of things in the heavens” is referring to the physical “tabernacle of Moses [and] the physical temple of Solomon, [but] the heavenly things themselves”, the true “temple of God… the place of His [true] abode… the place of [His] rest” is this:

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the [true] temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the [true] temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the [true] temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now we know where the true temple in “the heavens themselves” is located. We now know what the true “temple of God” is in which “the beast” of Revelation 13 and “the man of sin” of 2nd Thessalonians 2 resides, and now we also know why His true temple “in the heavens themselves” must be purified and from which temple this “man of sin” must be purged:

Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these [vs 19]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into [the true] heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

“The holy place” in the temple… into which Christ has entered and is in the process of purifying in [the] heaven itself” is our hearts and our minds. This is where “the kingdom of heaven… the kingdom of God” and where the temple Christ is entering and purifying and purging is located. Read it again:

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

That purging and purifying of the heavenly temple within us is where all the “war[s] in the heavens” are being conducted and waged. We know this is true because the Lord has given us an “open… door” to the heavens and all that is taking place therein:

Rev 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Rev 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

None of this is speaking of some external battle millions of light years away. Wars in the heavens are spiritual warfare within each of the Lord’s elect. It is because the dragon and his angels are given to fight against Christ within us that we are admonished:

Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world [Greek: aion, age], against spiritual wickedness in high places [G2032, epouranios, the heavens].
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

1Ti 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Jas 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Here is Eph 6:12 in the REV:

Eph 6:12 Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but, against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world-holders of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. (REV)

This verse is not contradicting Peter when he tells us “abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul”. Our battle is indeed a two-front battle. We are warring against fleshly lusts, but those fleshly lusts are excited only by spiritual wickedness in the heavens of our hearts and minds, as this and many other verses make crystal clear:

Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

This is why, “it is not in man that walks to direct his steps”:

Pro 20:24 Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

The sum of the Lord’s word reveals that man’s goings, your goings and my goings, will always at first be wicked, and then that wickedness, “commanded” by the Lord Himself, will bring mankind to “his wits’ end” (Psa 107:25-27) before mankind is made to cry out to his Creator for His mercy (Psa 107:28). Only then will the Lord deliver us from our own wicked ways which are “of the Lord… made for Himself”:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

We read that verse and we just naturally think of some other wicked person whom we conveniently acknowledge as being very wicked. Like the self-righteous Pharisee, we thank God that we are not like other men when the fact is that we are exactly like other men because:

Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

But the Lord has called “many” millions and billions to Himself, and out of those millions and billions He has chosen a “few” whom He has known from “before the world began” and “from the foundation of the world” to be “the firstborn among many brothers”:

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

It is to those few chosen “before the world began” that these words are at first directed as we are brought to our “wits’ end” within us:

Isa 47:2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
Isa 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

“Take the millstones and grind meal” means that we, like Samson, will all spend the time needed as slaves to self-righteousness and sin working in the mill house of the merciless flesh of our old man serving a self-righteous whore within ourselves. Samson spent years as a slave to his own lusts and passions before he was made to see his own blindness and brought to want to “die with the Philistines” within his own flesh:

Jdg 16:30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Samson’s life and death are a type and shadow of our lives in this present time. This is just another of the many counterintuitive doctrines of the scriptures which are foolishness to our old man (1Co 2:13-14). The scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, teach us that true life comes only “through death”:

Job 19:2 And after my skin, even this body, is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God; (ASV)

Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:3 And they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Col 1:21 And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,
Col 1:22 yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: (ACV)

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Like Samson, we all spend years serving our own self-righteous lust-filled flesh “as God”:

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

It is the servile service to the passions of our flesh that bring us to these words: “…uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

Isa 47:3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.

“I will not meet thee as a man” is explained in the book of Revelation speaking of the judgment of spiritual Babylon within us:

Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

This time of our lives is also pictured by Israel’s slavery in Egypt. When Israel was in Egypt, Israel was Egyptian, and they served Egypt. When we are in Babylon, we are Babylonian slaves, and we are at that time serving Babylon, and like Israel, we are pleased to do so as Israel declared to Moses:

Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

Num 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Num 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

Only because the Lord knows who we are “before the world began” is He patient with our weak frame. As He told Israel to hold their peace and watch His salvation, so He deals with us, and makes us to acknowledge who He is as He drags us out of Babylon and unto Himself:

Isa 47:4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 47:5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.

The “Babylon” of the New Testament “spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, that great city where also our Lord was crucified”:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Which one city, besides Sodom itself, is called ‘Sodom’ in the Old Testament?

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of [spiritual] Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, people of [spiritual] Gomorrah.

Yes, it is His own people in the Old Testament who forsook Him and committed spiritual adultery and spiritual fornication against their own Savior.

Isa 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Ancient Israel “forsook the Lord”, and they hated and killed all His prophets. What, then, has happened to the Lord’s New Testament people? Where do the churches claiming the name of Christ stand today? At what point did they forsake and turn away from the Lord’s very own apostles? This is what we know:

2Ti 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

That is an incredibly important statement coming from the mouth of the apostle Paul. “All the churches in Asia” turned away from the apostle Paul. But was it only Paul? This is some of what the spirit has to say to us concerning the churches of Asia:

Rev 1:4 JOHN to the seven churches which are in Asia [which had “turned away from Paul”]: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Rev 2:14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
Rev 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Each of the seven churches is addressed separately, but this is what is addressed to the reader of this revelation after each church is given its admonition: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches…” Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29, Rev 3:6, 13 and verse 22.

So, we are to “read, hear and keep” (Rev 1:3) what the spirit says to all seven churches, and it is well known that the number seven in scripture symbolizes the completion of the subject under discussion. In this case it is the completion of the apostasy of the Christian church of which we are told “He that hath and ear let him hear” this also:

Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

It is obvious from reading the second and third chapters of Revelation that “all they which be in Asia [have indeed] turned away from” and have forsaken the Lord’s apostles. This indicates just how far that apostasy had advanced before the apostles had even died:

3Jn 1:9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jn 1:10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

“Diotrephes [and] all they which be in Asia” had completely apostatized from “the church of the firstborn”, and were already so powerful that they were “casting out of the church” those who were faithful to the doctrine of Christ and His apostles. Yet this is what the holy spirit tells us would happen after that:

2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Christ Himself was rejected by His own people, and He warned us of this very fact in these words:

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they [the religious leaders] have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they [religious leaders who “wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived”] call them of his household?

Just as the Lord had prophesied, it took very little time for the established Christian church to begin teaching the false doctrines of the trinity, the immortality of the soul, with its attendant doctrine of eternal hell fire, free will and even the doctrine that Christians should be willing to physically fight and kill fellow Christians who were teaching what church leaders considered to be heresy.

Joh 16:1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues [out of their churches]: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Why would any “Christian minister” tell those in His charge to go out and fight against his fellow man and fellow so-called ‘Christians’? There is just one reason, and it is given us in the very next verse:

Joh 16:3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
Joh 16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

All these verses concerning the immediate apostasy of the early Christian church show us that spiritual Babylon hates the Lord’s true disciples and will not tolerate the doctrines of Christ in their midst. This is what they spiritually do to the Lord’s “very elect:

Isa 47:6 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.
Isa 47:7 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.

“I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance”, tell us that it is the Lord Himself who sent Israel’s ten sons who hated Joseph, into Egypt (Gen 45:8), just as He has placed all men “in Egypt”; in this sinful world:

Gen 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

It is the Lord Himself who also sent apostatized Israel into Babylonian captivity (Isa 47:6), and it is the Lord Himself who has sent each of us into the merciless kingdom of the prince of the power of the air and made us “who believed on [Christ]” to first be “of [our] father the devil”, before chastening us and dragging us to Himself.

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

It is these very ‘Christians… who believe on Christ’ who are not given to hear His words:

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye [“Jews, Christians, who believe on [Me]”] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

None of this was or is of our own fabled “free will” because the fact and truth of that matter is:

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

The Lord admits that he poured out His wrath upon His own people. He did so because they had already become immoral Babylonians before they were ever carried away into Babylon. It is all part of being made into the image of His Son.

Gen 1:27 And creating is the Elohim humanity in His image. In the image of the Elohim He creates it. Male and female He creates them. (CLV)

Notice that the Lord is talking to Babylon just as He talks to His elect, His Israel: “…thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.” However, Babylon is not His people, and Babylon must be completely destroyed from within us.

Truly “His mercy endures forever”:

Psa 106:1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

In the end “[He] will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth”:

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

This salvation will always come only through the death of our old man and through the destruction of the entire Babylonian system within us, as well as ‘without’ in this world.

Here are our verses for our next study:

Isa 47:8 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:
Isa 47:9 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.
Isa 47:10 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.
Isa 47:11 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.
Isa 47:12 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.
Isa 47:13 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.
Isa 47:14 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.
Isa 47:15 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.