The word for Babylon in Hebrew is spelled beit beit lamed.  Remember that the Hebrew language is read from right to left.  The letter beit or bet in Hebrew represents a house.  In the word Babylon, we have two houses.  The letter lamed is the picture of a harvesting sickle, a shepherd’s hook, or an ox goad.  Each of these are symbols of authority.  For instance, the shepherd who has the shepherd’s hook has authority over the sheep.  So we have two houses and one authority, but you can’t give your authority to two houses.  That is double mindedness. 

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Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Joshua 24:15

And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.

Matthew 12:25

And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

I cannot give authority over my life to two houses.  I have to choose one.  This is why Babylon, according to Strong’s Concordance, means confusion.  It’s very name is the picture of double mindedness.

Isaiah 47:1

Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.

Why is this double-minded, false-god-worshipping daughter called a virgin?  Israel has a betrothal covenant with God.  They are required to be faithful to God.  We have that same betrothal covenant with Jesus.  We are supposed to be faithful worshippers of Jesus/God alone.  I believe the Lord is saying that the false-god worship was more faithful than Israel’s worship of the one true God.  They may be worshipping false gods, but at least they are faithful to those false gods.

We may all know someone who worships cars or money.  Are they more faithful in their worship of things, money, fame, or even themselves than we are to the worship of God?

Does the sex addict have more passion in his worship of sex than I have in my worship of God?  Does the alcoholic spend more time in active worship to alcohol than I spend in active worship of God?  Does the pornography addict spend more time thinking about porn than I spend thinking about God?  Does the drug addict sacrifice more of his time, money, relationships… does he sacrifice more of himself to drugs than I sacrifice to God?

Our society has fully embraced an anti-God, anti-anointing message that is permeating the very fiber of their everyday lives.  Have I embraced God-centered, anointed message that has permeated every fiber of my everyday life… or just parts?  Am I withholding parts of my life?  Does truth have the same, or greater, power over my life as the lies have over the lies of the world?

Do I give as much of myself to God as sinners give to sin?  Do I think about God as much as sinners think about sin?  Do I sacrifice my heart, thoughts, money, and time to God as much as sinners do to sin?  As much as drug addicts do to drugs?  As much as sex addicts do to sex?  As much as alcoholics do to alcohol?  As much as pornography addicts do to porn? 

I cannot allow sinners to out worship me. 

Isaiah 47:2

Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.

She is being reduced to a slave.

John 8:34

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin.

She is being reduced to slavery because we cannot sin without becoming a slave to sin.

Isaiah 47:3

Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man.

This should be a prayer for this season… that sin is revealed as sin… that lies are uncovered.  False gospels are spreading so fast that people have no idea what the Bible says.

If I showed these quotes to random strangers on the streets of Manhattan, could they tell me whether these are scriptures?  Of course, the first quote is from Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.  The second quote is Provers 26:11. We know what is in God’s Word.  We used to be the rule.  Have we become the exception instead of the rule?  Even within the church, people don’t know what the Bible says.  If you don’t know what’s in the Bible, you are at the mercy of those who want to tell you what the Bible says.  I might have even lied about the quotes I showed you earlier.  If you know what the Word of God says, no one can ever lie to you because you KNOW what is in there.  If you don’t know what the Word of God says, anyone can tell you anything and you will never know any better. 

Now, this does not mean that you will never have to go home and look something up that you haven’t heard before… but because you take the time to look it up, it will never surprise you again.

The day of vengeance is coming.  If it doesn’t come in my lifetime, I still need to make sure that I am living my life in a way that encourages my children to prepare for the Lord’s coming.  I need my life to be a testimony to my kids so their lives will be testimonies to my grandkids… and great grandkids… until He comes. 

2 Kings 20:17-19

Behold, the days come, that all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, whom thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of Jehovah which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, Is it not so, if peace and truth shall be in my days?

We can’t risk having Hezekiah’s attitude.  Even if the Lord doesn’t return in my lifetime, I need to spend my lifetime preparing the next generation as long as it takes until the Lord returns.  We cannot afford distractions.

Isaiah 47:5-7

Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called The mistress of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I profaned mine inheritance, and gave them into thy hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the aged hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be mistress for ever; so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end thereof.

The sinners are sitting in darkness, but we are supposed to be the light.  We are responsible for the darkness because we are the ones who are called to be bearers of the light.  Our beacons should shine so bright that the darkness has no choice but to flee.

God says that He “gave them into thy hand”.  Babylon has pride over taking Israel captive not realizing that it was God who orchestrated it to get Israel’s attention.  There are individuals in our world who are taking pride in the fact that they shut down the churches during Covid.  God orchestrates these things.  He is trying to get our attention.  We need to be wiser than Israel and pay attention when God starts shaking things.  God never loses control.  It may sometimes look like the enemy is winning, but God has all power.  We do need to be wise and heed His obvious warnings to the church and the world.

Isaiah 47:8

Now therefore hear this, thou that art given to pleasures, that ^[a]sittest securely, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:

Babylonian motto:  I am and there is no one but me.

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which ^[a]seemeth right unto a man;
But the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 21:2

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes;
But Jehovah weigheth the hearts.

Judges 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Proverbs 3:7

Be not wise in thine own eyes;
Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil:

Proverbs 26:12

Seest thou a man wise in ^[a]his own conceit?
There is more hope of a fool than of him.

Jeremiah 11:8

Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.

Isaiah 55:8-9

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Romans 8:5

For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

We are living in a time where we can’t afford to be after the things of the flesh.  But the things of the flesh are everywhere.  Even Christians are posting about self-love, selfies, self-care, and self-help, but there is a distinct lack of self-sacrifice.  Isn’t all the self-love and self-care really just self-worship in disguise?  Self-sacrifice is the truest form of self-love because I love myself enough to give myself over entirely to the will of God. 

Revelation 18:2-3

And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a ^[a]hold of every unclean spirit, and a ^[b]hold of every unclean and hateful bird. For ^[c]by ^[d]the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her ^[e]wantonness.

Babylon is not a virgin anymore.  She is sleeping with the church. 

To every person who thinks they can do church alone at home:  I am and there is no one but me.

To every person who spends more time picking out an outfit than they do in prayer: I am and there is no one but me.

This isn’t just a worldly mindset anymore.  I am and there is no one but me has infested the church.

Isaiah 47:9

but these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come upon thee, in the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thine enchantments.

This is the price Babylon is paying for stealing God’s glory.  They said that their false gods handed Israel over to them.  We, too, get in trouble when we steal God’s glory.

If God is my provider, I can’t say that I earned my money.  Who is my provider?  Me?  God?  God is a gentleman.  If I want the glory, He will step outside the door and let me have the glory and the control.  Remember that Babylon is Hebrew is a reminder that our authority can’t go to two houses.  Both God and me can’t control my finances.  I can’t take credit for the paycheck, or the raise, or the promotion, or the windfall, or the favor, or the prize, or the grades… or anything else and still say that God is in control.  When I steal the glory, I take the authority and the control out of God’s house and put it into my house.  I take my circumstances out of God’s hands to handle them on my own.  If I am in control of my life, then I am the false god that I am worshipping.

Isaiah 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 thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me.

Philippians 4:13

 I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.

I know that this verse says that I can do all things through Christ, but do I actually do all things through Christ.  Do I do some things through Christ.. some things through luck/chance… some things through my own power/talents… 

I have watched people quote this verse and do the thing, but there was no Christ in it. 

And when it’s done, who gets the credit?  If I truly did it through Christ, Christ should get all of the credit.

Isaiah 47:11

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know ^[a]the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not.

If you want control, you can have it.  God is a gentleman.  He will let you have all the control.  If you want the credit or glory, you can have it, but you won’t like the results because you are not equipped to control your own life without God.

And God is not sharing His glory with you… or luck… or chance… or anything else.

Isaiah 47:12-13

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest ^[a]prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the ^[b]astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee.

Here God is saying that the Babylonians gave their false gods the credit, but they can’t save them now because they were never really able to do anything at all. 

God is a gentleman.  I keep saying that because it’s true.  If you ask Him to leave, He will leave.  If you give his glory away and credit the works of His hand with someone or something else, He will step outside the door and wait for you to invite Him back in.  If you do hand the authority over your life to someone or something other than God, there is a promise.

Isaiah 47:14

Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before.

If you decide that you want control over your own life, the promise is that you will not deliver yourself from the power of the flame.

When God controls your life:

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be affrighted at them: for Jehovah thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Romans 8:28

And we know that to them that love God ^[a]all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.

Naturally, the promises for giving God authority over every aspect of our lives are far greater than the promise if we insist on control.  God won’t share control.  God won’t share the glory.  If I have control, God doesn’t.  If I am claiming credit, God is being pushed out.

Isaiah 47:15

 Thus shall the things be unto thee wherein thou hast labored: they that have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander every one to ^[a]his quarter; there shall be none to save thee.

Isaiah 53:6-12

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath ^[a]laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. ^]By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the ^[c]living for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; ^[d]although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath ^[e]put him to grief: ^[f]when thou shalt make his soul ^[g]an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. ^]He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: ^[i]by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant ^[j]justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of many, and ^[k]made intercession for the transgressors.

If you, like me, felt conviction, repentance is easy.  It is EXPENSIVE, but it is paid for already.  This can be the moment when we purpose in our hearts that all authority over my life belongs to God and God alone.  All authority belongs to God.  All glory belongs to God.  And I refuse to be out worshipped by sinner and idolaters anymore.

If you enjoyed this brief Bible study, you might also like my post about Insults Are a Reflection of the Heart.

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