Isaiah 47  This is a lament for Babylon.. personified into a young woman.. once beautiful and proud.  Because she was allowed to triumph over Israel but showed no mercy, Babylon would suffer. 

She would be reduced from a "tender and delicate" princess.. to a slave, sitting on the ground grinding meal. ( v1-2)

She who once dressed in beautiful garments would be naked and exposed. ( v2b-3)

She, who once was called "the queen of kingdoms",  would now sit in a dark corner.. in silence. ( v5)

She, who once declared, "I shall be queen forever".. who thought she would never suffer.. would suddenly lose her children and her husband and any security she trusted in. 

No matter what she tried, Babylon would find no answers. She believed that her evil would go unseen.. but it would not. 

"Your wisdom and your knowledge have deluded you.. ."  the Lord tells her.  Her sorceries and spells were useless. The astrologers couldn't save her. Her allies deserted her. 

"There is none to save you." 

And such it is with everyone of us... who will not turn to Jesus Christ.  We delude ourselves and we allow others to delude us.. saying "I am, and there is no one besides me."  We claim power over our own lives, our own choices, and our own destinies. But, it is all a lie. For God, the Lord of hosts.. the Holy One.. sees. 

"For I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done.. " (46:9-10)

The Lord said He would send a Redeemer and He did.  He said that the Messiah would suffer... and He did. He said that He would be "pierced through for our trangressions.. crushed for our iniquities.. like a lamb that is led to slaughter.. cut off out of the land of the living.."  ( Isaiah 53)  And this is what Jesus did.  Everything that God said.. happened. 

But, He didn't end it there.  He says that there is coming a day.. when a trumpet will sound and the heavens will be opened.. a day when all of us.. for "all of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" - just like Babylon. All of us will stand before Him to account for our actions, our choices, our attitudes.. our delusions or our faith.. 

Our only hope is Jesus. Our Redeemer, who offered His body.. "Because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors." ( Isa. 53:12)

Father, we are so thankful for the grace that You have lavished on us, that we should be called Your children, in Jesus Christ the Lord.  You have taken us from the hopeless ash heap where we had no way out.. to the throne of heaven with Jesus forever!  How amazing and wonderful is Your gift of salvation for all who will trust in Jesus. He bore MY sin.. He interceded for ME!  Hallelujah! What a Savior!  Help us to see You more clearly, to trust in You with all of our hearts, and to love You with all of our being.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.