BABYLONIAN PRIDE
The Book of Revelation reveals Babylon as a mystery city that will be destroyed in the end times because of her excess, accumulated sins, hatred for God and arrogance. Babylon refers to anybody or a society or a nation that embodies these. Isaiah describes this Babylonian pride and points out some salient features that we would do well to take heed.
‘I am and there is none besides me’: It is not hard to see people living their life with absolutely no regard for others around them, who are invisible, an inconvenience, and good doormats as one strives to advance in life. A life that centers around oneself is anathema to God.
‘I will continue forever’: Adolescence is a time when one is adventurous to the point of invincibility. Yet for most, sanity turns on and one’s finiteness becomes a reality. Not so for one afflicted with Babylonian pride. Death, despite its inevitability and the uncertainty beyond, is shrugged off and scant regard given to the possibility of eternal consequences for one’s actions.
‘Lounging in your security’: Man looks to secure his future with the treasures that the world offers and the connections that provide an illusion of security. Once a person has that, and it’s usually a measure of what others around you have, a defiance to decency follows as one plunges headlong into the abyss of self-exaltedness.
‘You have trusted in your wickedness’: This is followed by rebellion against God and the godly norms that provide stability to world. Trampling upon others, rendering injustice, and showing no mercy becomes routine and a strut upon which further prosperity is sought to be built.
If love is at the heart of God’s nature, pride stands opposed to Him and Babylonian pride is usually a place of no return. May our hearts be ever responsive to God’s leading to humbly obey and submit.
