Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and he will destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Isaiah 13 announces judgment on Babylon, yet this verse reaches far past one ancient city. Two questions follow: has that day already come, and who is left standing when it does?
The signs attached to this announcement — the darkened sun, the failing stars — never literally occurred when Babylon fell. Commentators refuse to solve that by calling the language poetic overstatement, because the cost to Scripture would be too high.
These things cannot fairly be said to have literally taken place; yet the Spirit of God does not hesitate to connect them with Babylon's fall. To call this overstatement or exaggeration shows an unbelieving ignorance of Scripture and of the power of God. If He makes an earthly judgment sound greater than the facts, how can we be sure He does not exaggerate grace and eternal redemption?
Babylon here is more than a city on a map.
In the prophet's eyes, Babylon — or more exactly its ruler — stands for the imperial throne of the world, set against the throne of God at Jerusalem. Its idol worship is only part of the picture. Babylon will be overthrown, and God will again bless Israel. This will be the judgment of this present age — of the world. The destruction of Babylon, then close at hand, pictures it. But this judgment will not be complete until the times of the Gentiles have ended and Israel is delivered.
The verse names a specific thing, and writers are careful to keep it distinct from the moment when Christ comes to gather His own.
The plain truth is this. The phrase "coming of the Lord" can mean His presence before every eye sees Him. "The day of Jehovah" means the side of His action that brings just vengeance on the world, and after that shows Him judging in righteousness. Here it is the day of Jehovah, and so a day of darkness and destruction for sinners. There is not a word about the raising of the righteous dead, and still less about the changing of the living.
The verse joins wrath and fierce anger to the ruin of the land. What ends here is far larger than one country.
The Spirit of God has in view Jehovah's judgment of the whole world. That is why it is called "the day of Jehovah." It will end all the room given to man's will and self-exaltation. It will display God's moral ways: everything high will be brought low, and Jehovah, with the lowly whom He loves, will be lifted up for ever.
How much of the chapter is already history? One writer splits it: verses 1–10 look to the last days, while verse 17 drops back to a nearer blow.
The destruction predicted here will come when "the day of the Lord" sets in, as verses 6 and 9 show. So the terrible overthrow described in verses 1–10 will be seen in the last days. It will fall on the proud Gentile power that Babylon led. But in verse 17 the prophecy does come down to a nearer judgment, which the Medes carried out, as the book of Daniel records.
The verse says sinners will be removed from the land. That sentence describes a coming order, not the present one, and the difference between the two is where the reader stands today.
The difference in character between Christianity and the kingdom is clear. Now God sends out His pleading message of reconciliation to all sinners without distinction. It is the day of His grace, and He waits to save everyone who comes to Him in the name of Christ. Grace reigns through righteousness; but when the Lord appears He will come to reign in righteousness. Justice and judgment will be the foundation of His throne, so sinners — those who refuse to bow to His royal rule — must be destroyed out of the land. For now He waits in patience, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
A day of such wrath raises an obvious fear. It will not overtake everyone — not because some are better, but because they belong elsewhere.
That day will not come like a thief on those who are the children of the day — the children of light; and that is because they are children of the day. They have been taught in advance about the judgments of God. They belong to Him who is to be the Judge, not to the world on which the judgments will fall. They wait for Him, from heaven, who has saved them by His grace, who delivers them from the wrath to come.
- The day begins near. Babylon's real, historical fall gives the prophecy its first, partial fulfilment.
- The day reaches far. The signs here are greater than anything that happened when Babylon fell, so the words point onward — and God does not exaggerate.
- The day is defined. "The day of the LORD" is His action of vengeance on the world. It is not the moment He comes to take His own.
- The day clears the ground. Sinners are removed because righteousness is about to reign there. Man's will and self-exaltation get no more room.
- The day is not yet. Today God pleads with sinners of every kind, and those who belong to the Judge will not be overtaken when it comes.
For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Isaiah 13 is a prophecy against Babylon, yet at verse 10 it outgrows any single city. Every light in the sky goes out at once. So how far does this reach — to an empire that fell long ago, or to something still ahead? And is the dark sky real astronomy, or a picture of something else?
The word behind "constellations" is the Hebrew word kesil. A dictionary of Bible words explains it:
kesil means 'strong.' It is thought to refer to the constellation that people in the East call 'the giant.' See Job 9:9; Job 38:31; Amos 5:8. In Isaiah 13:10 kesil is translated 'constellations.'
Nothing like this literally happened when Babylon fell. One writer warns where it leads if we say the Spirit of God overstated that judgment.
No one can honestly say these things have literally happened; yet the Spirit of God does not hesitate to link them with Babylon's fall. To call this overstatement or exaggeration shows an unbelieving ignorance of Scripture and of the power of God... The moment people allow that the Spirit of God deliberately exaggerates, the authority of the whole written word is shaken. If He overstates an earthly judgment beyond the facts, how can we be sure He does not overstate grace and eternal redemption? And then where is the ground for solid peace with God?
The chapter itself moves between two time frames. Verses 6 and 9 tie the opening section, including our verse, to "the day of the Lord." Only later does the chapter drop down to a nearer judgment.
The destruction predicted here will come when "the day of the Lord" begins, as verses 6 and 9 show. So the terrible overthrow set out in verses 1-10 will be seen in the last days. It will fall on the proud Gentile power that Babylon headed, as we see in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. Verse 11 speaks of punishing "the world" for its evil, and of upheavals in the heavens as well as on the earth — the same things the Lord predicted in His own prophecy of the last days. But at verse 17 the prophecy does come down to a nearer judgment, the one the Medes carried out.
Why sun, moon and stars? One writer reads them as a fixed picture of rank, and points to Joseph's dream.
The sun stands for supreme authority, the moon for authority that is passed down, and the stars for the authority under them. So in Joseph's dream, Jacob, the head of the family, his wife, and his eleven sons — heads of families themselves, yet still under their father — are pictured by "the sun, the moon, and eleven stars" (Genesis 37:9). What this points to, then, is a general collapse of government: all authority, high and low, supreme and lower, darkened, as it were.
Commentators differ on whether that picture rules out real darkness. Writing on the Lord's own prophecy of these signs, one keeps room for both, and points to what happened when Jesus died.
Still, this teaching of the Lord does not use symbols as freely as the book of Revelation does. So we should not rule out real upheavals among the heavenly bodies, since we know the sun really was darkened when Jesus died. The darkness of that day will only make the brightness of His appearing stand out more, when He comes in the clouds with great power and glory.
Verse 10 sits inside "the day of the Lord," and that phrase is not a loose label for everything still future. One writer marks it off from the Lord's coming — older translations call it "the day of Jehovah."
The plain truth is this. The phrase "coming of the Lord" can cover His presence before every eye sees Him. But "the day of Jehovah" belongs to the side of His action that brings just vengeance on the world, and after that shows Him judging in righteousness. Here it is the day of Jehovah, and therefore a day of darkness and destruction to sinners.
- Lights out. Stars, constellations, sun and moon fail together. The whole system of light goes out at once, down to the giant constellation the Hebrew word names.
- Lights as rulers. Sun, moon and stars stand for authority — highest, passed down, and lower. Their going dark pictures every level of government collapsing at once.
- Lights and history. The Medes fulfilled part of this chapter, but the sky never went dark then. The Spirit of God does not exaggerate, so the words reach further.
- Lights and the world. The judgment is not limited to one city. Verse 11 punishes "the world" for its evil, and the Gentile power Babylon headed falls in the last days.
- Lights and Christ. This is the day of the Lord: darkness and destruction for sinners. Against that black sky, the brightness of His appearing stands out.