{"id":6315,"date":"2015-02-08T00:05:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T08:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=6315"},"modified":"2015-02-07T19:25:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T03:25:29","slug":"opressing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/02\/08\/opressing\/","title":{"rendered":"Opressing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCome down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust.
\nFor your days of sitting on a throne have ended.
\nO daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be
\nthe lovely princess, tender and delicate.
\nTake heavy millstones and grind flour.
\nRemove your veil, and strip off your robe.
\nExpose yourself to public view.
\nYou will be naked and burdened with shame.
\nI will take vengeance against you without pity.\u201d
\nOur Redeemer, whose name is the LORD of Heaven\u2019s Armies,
\nis the Holy One of Israel.
\n\u201cO beautiful Babylon, sit now in darkness and silence.
\nNever again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms.
\nFor I was angry with my chosen people
\nand punished them by letting them fall into your hands.
\nBut you, Babylon, showed them no mercy.
\nYou oppressed even the elderly.
\nYou said, \u2018I will reign forever as queen of the world!\u2019
\nYou did not reflect on your actions
\nor think about their consequences.
\n\u201cListen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom,
\nliving at ease and feeling secure.
\nYou say, \u2018I am the only one, and there is no other.
\nI will never be a widow or lose my children.\u2019
\nWell, both these things will come upon you in a moment:
\nwidowhood and the loss of your children.
\nYes, these calamities will come upon you,
\ndespite all your witchcraft and magic. (Isaiah 47:1-9)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Arrogance is not a good look for anyone. God disciplined his people using other people. The Babylonians attacked and decimated the Promised Land and took captive many of its people. They destroyed Jerusalem and burned down God\u2019s Temple. They acted as God\u2019s instruments in his hands.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, they behaved arrogantly and cruelly. As a consequence, God pronounced his judgment against them. Although Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon who was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple, turned to God, his nation and his descendents on his throne did not. And so, God\u2019s judgment came upon the Babylonians. The Persians invaded and took it over completely, slaughtering Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s grandson and destroying his army and his power. Never again would Babylon matter to the world. Following the Persian conquest, the city fell into decline and was ultimately swallowed by the desert. A few stone ruins are all that remain of what was once the most powerful and important city on the planet. God promised that those who oppressed or harmed his people would in turn be harmed. The city Babylon destroyed\u2014Jerusalem\u2014was rebuilt and prospers till this day, while Babylon, the mighty conqueror of the world, remains deserted and in ruins. Only God\u2019s kingdom endures.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCome down, virgin daughter of Babylon, and sit in the dust. For your days of sitting on a throne have ended. O daughter of Babylonia, never again will you be the lovely princess, tender and delicate. Take heavy millstones and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6315"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6315"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6317,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6315\/revisions\/6317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}