Go out from Babylon (Isaiah 48)

After lamenting what could have been if Israel had only really heard (i.e. obeyed) God, Isaiah 48 gives us the command, “Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea…” (48:20).  This is not a command to physically leave Babylonian captivity but a command to ethically or morally to leave Babylon.  It was not just a command for those physically in the nation of Babylon at a particular time, but a command for even us today.  The warning is given, “‘There is no peace,’ says YHWH, ‘for the wicked'” (48:22).  There is nothing more destructive to our witness as a church than for us to be indistinguishable from the world — we are to flee from the world and from sin.  We are to flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (as Paul told Timothy, 2 Tim 2:22).  We are to flee from sexual immorality and from idolatry as Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:18, 10:14).  As the voice from heaven said on the Mount of Transfiguration concerning Jesus, “Listen to Him.”  Really listen — OBEY.

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