“Rich in Things and Poor in Soul*”
Isaiah 47: 1-15
* maxim of Pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick

Chapters 47 and 48 represent the conclusion of chapters 40-48. Last week we looked at chapter 48 and Isaiah encouraged the Israelites to listen to God’s still small voice and follow it:
out of bondage and 
out of Babylon. 
This week we are looking at Chapter 47 and here is where Isaiah proclaims that Babylon must fall. Isaiah points out three reasons for the demise of Babylon;
her humiliation,
her false pride, and 
her helplessness. 
Basically Babylon had no ability to save herself. The real issue was a matter of pride. Was there any nation that could compare to the Holy One of Israel?

In order to better understand, we need to go back in time, and recognize the role Babylon had in the world at the time of Isaiah. Babylon was known as the “queen of the world.” She was the mightiest nation of her day. Yet we read in verse one, that she must leave her “throne” and “sit on the ground.” Babylon was seen as beautiful and “delicate,” like a “virgin daughter,” who would now be forced to do menial labor. Up to this point, Babylon had been the one who had been in control, mistreating others. The time was coming when the roles would be reversed and she would experience the harsh treatments she had given. In verse 4, we are told who would be making sure this all happened. The Redeemer – the LORD Almighty, the Holy One of Israel.

In the following verses, 5 through 11, we read how the Babylonians thought they could do whatever they wanted. God had been the one who had given the Hebrews over to Babylon and Babylon showed them no mercy.
Look at verse 6, “even on the aged, Babylon laid a very heavy yoke.”  The Babylonians thought they would continue forever. It never crossed their minds that there was One infinitely greater than them. And by overlooking the possibility, Babylon demonstrates the epitome of complacency. Verse 8-9 tells us that she was unable to imagine herself as a widow or childless.
Within complacency
one is unable to exercise
the beneficial self-criticism
which asks
whether one is doing something
that will reap bad consequences.
Without healthy self-criticism, wickedness runs rampant. Babylon demonstrated her avoidance by trying to control the spirit world. In verses 9-11, we read how she used her intelligence to master the magical arts in order to ward off any calamity that might threaten them. Unfortunately, Babylon did not consider reckoning with a God who was beyond magical manipulation.
Isaiah ends in verses 12-15 on a sarcastic note, telling Babylon to continue with her magic spells, maybe it will work out after all. Yet, the results were futile. All of their energy would be wasted, it would wear them out. There was no one who could save them, because in the end, their sorcerers and magicians would abandon them. Babylon was helpless and they didn’t even know it.

Isaiah had his hands full. Babylon was steeped in magic and divination. Priests were trained to read the significance for the future by the shape of the sacrificial animals entrails. This was big stuff! In order to do so correctly, a priest had to be proficient to recognize an omen and them remember where in the seventy tablets of recorded and categorized omens the particular one they were looking at, existed. In order to be proficient, you would have to be able to recognize and proclaim the future at least 51% of the time correctly. Daunting.

The same kind of intensity went into the study of the horoscope. An immense amount of time was spent, staring into the night sky and determining some sort of coordination between the placement of the stars and current events. To add to this, someone one then had to catalogue all these connections and categorize them in such a way that those who would use them to inform kings and rulers of what was going to happen, would make sense. There was an assumption that somehow all of this calculated intelligence offered an illusion that the Babylonians were in control of their fates and actually ruled their lives.

The interesting fact is the horoscope still exists today. People who deny that Jesus performed any miracles are the same people who will open the newspaper to check out their daily horoscope. This is merely a continuation of the failed Babylonian wisdom which began long ago. Babylon organized the sky and the Greeks gave the names and signs of the zodiac.
How much effort goes into creating something each day that gives the illusion of real meaning, yet remains vague enough and so general that it is able to cover just about anything that can happen?

What is it that keeps people interested? The same thing that kept people interested five thousand years ago…. It tricks people into thinking they can control their life, by getting a glimpse of what will occur in their life today. God on the other hand asks us to surrender our lives  and our futures up to Him, and to follow His direction. For some reason, humans would rather apply what their intelligence has created and use it to feel like we are in control of the world for ourselves. Sometimes we even fit it into our Christian way of living.

This week I was talking with a friend of mine whose teenage daughter is having emotional difficulties.

In her explanation of how she was coping with the situation she said she meets regularly with a Christian minister in Portland, who was not only a pastor, but also able to tell the future. This pastor had looked into the spirit realm and assured my friend that her daughter would one day be helping little children using her love for animals. Somehow this news gave my friend comfort in knowing that even though her daughter and her were having serious issues now, in the future, her daughter would be fine. I have no idea the last time my friend has read her Bible, but I do know it has been awhile since she has been to church.

How is it that my friend can find comfort in the predictions of this pastor who can read into the spirit world and yet, not seek God for guidance?
 

At what point did my friend compromise her understanding of Christianity, with the art of reaching into the spirit world?

I wonder how much she paid this pastor to receive her information?

Our world remains the same today as it did with Isaiah. Humans have been and will continue to rely on their tremendous intelligence to maintain self-existence and to be self-perpetuating.

Who is in control? America today could be defined with many of the same adjectives used to define Babylon.
A mighty nation
Wealthy
Full of brilliant and intelligent human beings
The leaders today behave much like the leaders did in Babylon. Our world continues to rely on wealth, might and intelligence.
All good things in their own right, but when used to manipulate and validate existence, they have misled us. Pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick, who, in the early 1900’s was, as one biographer put it, “the most influential interpreter of religion to his generation,” stated in one of his sermons, we have become “rich in things and poor in soul.” That definition continues to fit us all too well.

Let’s not be complacent. Let us not settle for the idea that we can use our wealth and our might to change the world. We need to remember just how small we are, and how big God is. God is still on the throne, whether Babylon, or America or any other mighty, rich nation chooses to recognize it. The grace in all these situations is that God remains in control. It is only a matter of time before the Redeemer, the God of Angel’s Armies, the Holy One of Israel, has had enough and like Babylon topples our human thrones and put us back in the dust where we belong.
Let’s Pray.