Isaiah 14a: Israel’s Parable: Chapter 11: God’s Housecleaning

Isaiah continues to give the word of the Lord to the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:18-20,

¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb. ¹⁹ But you have been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch, clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit like a trampled corpse. ²⁰ You will not be united [yachad, “joined, united”] with them in burial, because you have ruined your country, you have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever [olam, “indefinitely”].

Tombs were meant to honor and remember the dead. Most kings were buried honorably by their countrymen in large ornate tombs, where they “lie in glory, each in his own tomb.” But the king of Babylon was to be treated differently, the prophet says. While such evil yet powerful kings reigned, the people bowed in fear, but when the king of Babylon dies, he will be disinterred “like a rejected branch.”

The Unjust Rule of Babylon

The prophet was not speaking of a single Babylonian king but lumped them all together as if they were one. Isaiah was really telling us that when Babylon was to fall, the people would be free to express their displeasure with its rulers, their unjust laws, and their lifestyle in general. The people will see that these rulers are “clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword.” They have killed their own people and have treated the dead with disrespect.

Each generation of Babylonian kings throughout the succession of beast empires has fulfilled this in various ways. In modern times, where prophetic Babylon has become a world empire, the rulers have divided the people by nationality, by race, by dogma, and by philosophy in order to control both sides. They have financed both sides of their wars in order to bring them into debt by which they are hopelessly enslaved.

They have treated men as mere animals for slaughter, even treating the unborn as tumors and pieces of flesh, selling body parts for “scientific” experiments. The day will come when men and women everywhere will be horrified at their former blindness and insanity. They will recognize that the rulers of Babylon have ruined their country and have slain their people. Then they will root out every Babylonian influence in their lives.

This suggests a change of heart, a great repentance that is yet to come, which can take place only with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit can remove the veil that blinds the people during their centuries of tribulation under the rule of men with the heart of beasts.

Babylon’s Rule is Temporary

Isaiah 14:21 says,

²¹ Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities.

God Himself took the Dominion Mandate from the kings of Judah on account of their misuse of authority, and He gave it to Babylon (Jer. 27:6). By putting Judah and the entire world under the authority of Babylon (and its successors), the kingdoms of men became liable under God to be fruitful. However, men with the heart of a beast cannot bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, nor do they even desire to establish the Kingdom of God. Their failure thus made them liable for divine judgment.

Babylon’s goal was to “take possession of the earth and fill the face of the world with cities.” The purpose of God, however, was to “fill the whole world with fruit” (Isaiah 27:6). So we see that the modern Babylonian system disinherits families from the land itself and tends to gather them in cities. The values learned in a city are quite different from those learned on a farm. Hence, we see today how cities are usually more Babylonish in their way of life than small towns built around farming communities.

Cities are the “fruit” of Babylon, the prophet says. But the Fruitfulness Mandate is ultimately to bring forth the sons of God, as we see when the Birthright was given to Joseph and his sons. Gen. 49:22 says (literally), “Joseph is a fruitful son.” Joseph’s younger son, Ephraim, whose name means “double portion of fruit,” was given the Birthright, along with the name Israel (Gen. 48:14-16).

Unfortunately, Ephraim failed in its calling to bring forth the fruit that God required, and for this reason, that tribe was judged and exiled to Assyria. It is only in the time of the end that the two Mandates (Dominion and Fruitfulness) are reunited under Jesus Christ by the New Covenant. Only then can both of the Mandates be fulfilled as intended from the beginning.

Divine Judgment on Babylon

The oracle against Babylon concludes in Isaiah 14:22, 23, where God says,

²² “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the Lord. ²³ “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog [kippode] and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

Here Babylon is treated as a parent whose “offspring and posterity” will not survive. We too received such revelation in 2001, when we held a series of prayer campaigns in spiritual warfare, first to obtain a divorce from the golden calves (false gods of Babylon) and then to disinherit the children of that previous marriage to Babylon.

Now that the various beast systems of Babylon have lost their mandate to rule the earth (as of 2017), we are now seeing this come to pass. The Babylonian kings continue to fight for survival, but they have already lost the battle in the heavens and will thus lose the war in the earth.

God says that He will “make it a possession for the hedgehog.” This has no meaning unless we understand the Hebrew word kippode that is translated “hedgehog,” i.e., a porcupine. The root word is kafad, “to draw together, to shrink.” A porcupine seems to shrink when it draws back its quills. In like manner, God intends to shrink Babylon, and hence, the prophet uses this metaphor.

As for the “swamps of water,” God is now “draining the swamp,” using whoever is available today. Washington DC was built upon a swamp, as was Rome. Hence, the land donated for the city was called “Rome” and in 1663 was originally deeded to a man named Francis Pope.

The “broom of destruction” refers to housecleaning. The Hebrew word for “broom” is matata, whose root (tet) means “dirt, mire, clay.” Hence, a broom is used to remove dirt from the house. The word translated “destruction” is shamad, “to destroy, desolate, overthrow, lay waste.” God uses a super-broom.

We see, then, that the terminology being used today in regard to Washington DC is in accordance with Isaiah’s prophecy of the fall of Babylon’s kings. I believe that Washington is a focal point for us to know what God is doing in the earth.

While God uses men to do His work, our focus should not be primarily upon what men do but upon what God is doing through them. Each one plays a role in the prophetic story, but God is the Director.