Isaiah 13:16

THE DOOM OF THE CHILDREN OF BABYLON

Isaiah 13:16. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes.

Consider this terrible declaration—

I. As it regards man.

1. As a revelation of the degradation of which he is capable. History may be said to be a manifold revelation to this effect; the Bible alone gives hope for man, by disclosing his capabilities of development and exaltation.
2. As a remindal that no earthly empire is in and of itself secure against utter over throw.
3. As a remindal that what are called national disasters, are made up of sufferings endured by a vast number of individuals.

II. As it regards God. So considered, it should be remembered—

1. That His permission of such things is, when viewed comprehensively, only part of the great mystery of the permission of evil.
2. That this is an instance of the working of one of the great natural laws by which God governs the universe—the law of retribution.
3. That in the heart of this terrible prediction there is a bright ray of hope. When you see a surgeon performing a terrible operation on a patient, you are sure that he is confident that the patient will be restored to health. So when we look at the world as it is, we are certified that there is a better world to be. God would never have permitted the world to be, if He did not see how out of this present misery He could educe eternal and triumphant blessedness. Towards that better future God is leading on the world (H. E. I., 3421–3423). The revulsion of feeling with which we read this prediction is one proof of it; there was a time when such incidents in the prosecution of a war would have been regarded as a matter of course. That it should not be so now marks an advance, and is a prophecy of further advances.