OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGMENT IS DIRE

Isaiah chapter 21 verses 3 - 5 says;

At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.

My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the twilight I longed for has become a horror to me.

They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields.

Isaiah the prophet is shown a dire vision of the impending judgement upon Babylon.

The scene is so terrifying that Isaiah's body is swept by wave after wave of pain like the birth pangs of a woman in labour.

What Isaiah hears and sees causes him to reel in shock by the frightening and bewildering events unfolding in the vision.

His heart goes into arrythmia and his limbs tremble.

 After witnessing the horror of the judgement on Babylon, Isaiah becomes deathly afraid of the twilight gloom that he used to cherish.

During the vision, Isaiah looks towards the defenders of Babylon but they, instead of taking action against the invaders, seem to be unaware of the imminent doom and are pre-occupied with setting up tables and laying down rugs for a meal.

Isaiah, in a panic, shouts to warn the officers like an entranced person yelling at a movie screen, "Get up you officers, oil the shields".

The effort is to no avail and Babylon succumbs to its destroyers.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Amen.