MAKE THE WORLD GO AWAY

Ray Price had a hit in the early 60's called "Make the World Go Away (And Get it Off My Shoulders)".  We knew a fellow once whose theology matched that song.  This man's emotional fragility plus his life events caused him to long for the time when he could close his eyes and not have to deal with stuff anymore.

Is that the way death will be?  Do we just lose consciousness and the world goes away?

A couple of weeks ago, a BSF lecture set my brain to spinning.  We are in the book of Isaiah this year and I'm lovin' it since Isaiah is my favorite book.  But WHOA BUDDY are we wading out into some deep water!  God (through Isaiah) is explaining the concept of evil in the world...and judgment...and hell.  The class is over at 9p and you don't just go home and pop into bed.

The overview?  Everyone gets eternity.  Your life choice, then, is either being with God or not.  Have you heard the choice described as "smoking" or "non-smoking"?  Well, spending forever in "smoking" is a fearful thing.  Here are just a few of the nuggets I was given from Isaiah, Chapters 13 and 14.

* EVIL DOES NOT GO UNPUNISHED.

God is a gentleman and you may have your way on "this side".  It's just that one day, you won't want your way.  God says in Isaiah 13.11 "Thus I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless."

If we get discouraged sometimes that the unrighteous prosper (or "get away" with deeds...like the Wiki leaker, who seems to be putting lives at risk), God reminds us that He has the final say and He is just.

* WILL WE KNOW ONE ANOTHER IN ETERNITY?  

During the time Babylon reigned as a world power, one of her rulers was King Beltshazzar.  Isaiah 14.9 answers the question about whether souls will recognize one another in eternity as we picture the scene when Beltshazzar enters hell.  "The denizens of hell crowd to meet you (Beltshazzar) as you enter their domain.  World leaders and earth's mightiest kings, long dead, are there to see you."

Oh, they recognize one another, all right.  And who else do you think might be in this crowd?  Hitler?  Pol Pot?  Lenin?  On a site listing the worst genocides of the 20th century, Idi Amin and Mussolini tied at being responsible for 300,000 deaths...Saddam Hussein was at 600,000...Pol Pot was 1.7 million...Hitler was 12M (just for the concentration camps/civilians WW2)...Lenin was 23M (purges plus famine)...and finally, Mao Ze-Dong tops the list of mega-murderers at an estimated 49-78M.   It is completely creepy that hell is called "their domain".

Note to self:  interior designers love to decorate with collections of like items.  But no one wants any part of THIS collection.

* EVIL IS IN THE HEART OF MAN AND APART FROM GOD'S RENEWAL, CONSUMES.

This one knocks me out.  Here are these little kings in hell, welcoming the big king of Babylon (literally, Beltshazzar, but also emblematic of the big evildoers of iniquity throughout the ages, culminating in Satan).  These kings of smaller kingdoms that Beltshazzar has conquered are dead and in hell.  You would think that the GPS coordinates would have mellowed them somewhat.  Or at the LEAST, you would think the circumstances would humble them or sadden them or they would have some compassion for another who would be sharing the same fate.  Nope.  Listen to Isaiah 14.9-11 from The Message.  "The underworld dead are all excited, preparing to welcome you (Beltshazzar) when you come.  Getting ready to greet you are the ghostly dead, all the famous names of earth.  All the buried kings of the nations will stand up on their thrones with well-prepared speeches, royal invitations to death.  'Now you are as nothing, as we are.  Make yourselves at home with us dead folks!'  This is where your pomp and fine music led you, Babylon, to your underworld private chambers, a king-size mattress of maggots for repose and a quilt of crawling worms for warmth."

My take-home principle here?  God, increase my compassion for others.  Who would want to find their assignment there?

* GOD LEAVES US AN HISTORIC FOOTNOTE ABOUT BABYLON'S FUTURE.

God spoke about Babylon in Isaiah 13.19-22 and said "and so, Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean culture, will be as utterly destroyed as Sodom and Gomorrah were when God sent fire from heaven.  Babylon will never rise again.  Generation after generation will come and go, but the land will never again be lived in.  The nomads will not even camp there.  The shepherds won't let their sheep stay overnight.  The wild animals of the desert will make it their home.  The houses will be haunted by howling creatures.  Ostriches will live there, and the demons will come there to dance.  Hyenas and jackals will den within the palaces.  Babylon's days are numbered; her time of doom will soon be here."

What about that?  Has Babylon ever been inhabited since her destruction?  Didn't Saddam Hussein try to rebuild Babylon?  That impressive capital city of the world was enormously wealthy and powerful and was a pagan religious center.  Babylon's Hanging Gardens were listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  The city was located at the point where the Tigris and Euphrates converge, just about 50 miles south of present day Baghdad.  When Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild, he even had bricks made with his name on them to duplicate what King Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon's builder) had done.  Here is what you can read on the unfinished bricks today:  "In the era of President Saddam Hussein all Babylon was constructed in three stages.  From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein, Babylon is rising again."  Uh...notsomuch, Mr. Hussein.  Even Alexander the Great tried to rebuild Babylon when his Greeks were the world power.  Unfortunately after Alexander declared himself "King of Kings", he died in Nebuchadnezzar's palace at the age of 32.


My truth from these verses?  Babylon may try to rise again in history because man struts across history's stage.  But God is sovereign.

Gee, we really need to end on some good news.  How about this final point?

* THERE IS A DAY COMING....  

Isaiah 14.1 begins "God will have compassion on Jacob and Israel (no more divided kingdom...and today, that's a reality).  He will establish them in their own country (another reality as of 1947)."  Then skip to verses 24-27:  "The Lord of Hosts says...exactly as I planned, it will happen.  Following my blueprint, it will take shape.  I will shatter the Assyrian who trespasses my land and stomp him into the dirt on my mountains.  I will ban his taking and making of slaves and lift the weight of oppression from all shoulders.'  This is the plan, planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that will do it, reaching into every nation.  The Lord of Hosts has planned it.  Who could ever cancel such plans?  His is the hand that's reached out.  Who could brush it aside?"

 In days of economic uncertainty, porous borders, and terrorist schemes, those verses encourage me to lean fully against God's stability...and His control over human events.  And I love to think of the day when Israel returns to center stage!

All of human history is moving toward a place declared before time began.  History is indeed His story.  God is a good God who stretches out His hand to all men.  Who could brush it aside, indeed?



"The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent." 2 Peter 3.9