Isaiah 14:10
10 All they shall speak [`anah] and say ['amar] unto thee,
Art thou also become weak [chalah] as we? art
thou become like [mashal] unto us? KJV-Interlinear
10 "They will all respond
and say to you, 'Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us. NASB
The Bible portrays
Babylon as the greatest of the great. King Nebuchadnezzar, when he had his
dream that Daniel translated, in which there was a head of gold, portrayed the
empire as the greatest of the empires, while the remaining empires portrayed in
the dream were shown as empires of less greatness, deteriorating down through
the ages until the last and final empire which will be the empire of the
antichrist during the tribulation, which will be the worst and most corrupt of
all of the empires throughout all of history.
Babylon, being the
greatest of the great, fell from its greatness rather rapidly.
Kings and great
warriors and celebrities of all sorts throughout history, likewise also fall
from their greatness sooner or later, because time and death creeps up on them
as it does everyone.
Those that have
believed in the Savior, of course go to heaven. And back in Isaiah’s day their
destination was Paradise, the compartment in the underworld reserved for
believers during the time in history prior to the cross.
However, those that did
not believe in the Savior but instead rejected him, were bound for Torments,
which is the compartment in the underworld called Hades, that is reserved for
human unbelievers.
Kings and leaders and
celebrities and great people of all kinds throughout the ages, who rejected the
Savior, who is Jesus Christ, every one of them have ended up in Torments.
And now at the end of
history, which is the timeframe for our verse in this study, when all of the
great ones from that last and final empire are destroyed, their destination
will be Torments as well.
While alive in this
world, the unbelievers who perceive themselves as great or elite or celebrated
by the world, and they pursue the pomp and parties and luxuries of life. They
never see the end of themselves or of their way of life, but pursue life with
great arrogance and ego and a sense of superiority which they believe is at the
hands of their own making.
But when life ends for
them as it does everyone, and they are headed towards the land of the dead,
then we have this phrase here written by Isaiah, that points out the great
sarcasm and mocking from the source of their destination, which is Torments,
which is a far cry from the elite life and luxury and heights which they
enjoyed in life, and presume they would have forever.
And so the fall from greatness
comes swiftly. When the heartbeat stops, when there is no more pulse, when the
soul leaves the body, then there is a sudden shock in the realization that a
person has absolutely no control over their life when it all comes to an end.
No one can prevent the
end of their life, and certainly leaders and kings and celebrities do not
possess that ability either.
In the comments, ‘have
you become weak,’ ‘are you like us?’ Are a bit of sarcasm, not coming from the
occupants in Hades, but from the source and nature of their destination, which
is certainly not what they expected or presumed would be their destiny.
In a couple of more
verses were going to see a correlation between the arrogance of Satan, whose
former name was Lucifer, and the attitudes and the self-perception of the
unbelieving elite of the world.
They both rejected God,
and they both had unrealistic and false views and opinions of themselves.
While on this earth,
all blessings come from God and from no other source. Some people recognize
that principle and direct their lives and their gifts through their spiritual
life.
Unfortunately there are
many people who have phenomenal blessings and gifts, but they have the opinion
that they are of their doing, and they focus all of their prosperity or wealth
or good fortune or status with an elite attitude.
But the ultimate truth
of life, comes at the moment of your death. It is far better to realize that truth
while you are alive so you can get on track with the life that God has designed
for you, rather than discovering it all too late, after you die.
