When you were a child or teen, how did your parents discipline you? Spanking, time-out, grounding, restrictions? What works with one child may not work with another. Hopefully, parents learn that there is a difference between punishment and discipline. Punishment is inflicting painful consequences for breaking rules. The goal of punishment is making the child feel bad about what they have done. Discipline, on the other hand, may still include painful consequences but the goal is to restore and to teach. Punishment tends to result in separation between parent and child, but discipline should result in coming together with a hug and a reminder of the love that the parents have for their children.
In Isaiah 13 we read of God’s punishment of Babylon for their completely godless ways. Now in chapter 14 Israel is being disciplined for their sinful ways, but the purpose is to restore them to right relationship with God and obedience to His will.
God’s People
1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them. (ESV)
Note the fatherly language in these verses—compassion, choosing, set in a place of rest. This discipline doesn’t end with feeling ashamed and afraid, but with God drawing them close and figuratively “tucking them in.” Scripture tells us in Proverbs 3:11-12 and repeated again in Hebrews 12:5-6 that God disciplines those He loves. Discipline is a sign that He actually does love you.
At the end of Israel’s discipline, they would be restored and given rest. Isaiah points forward to the day when all of God’s people will enjoy rest and peace in His eternal kingdom.
3 When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil
and the hard service with which you were made to serve,
4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: “
How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!
5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,
6 that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.
8 The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.
10 All of them will answer and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.
The Day of the Lord will be the end of the rule of all wicked people (vv. 5-6). The earth itself will be restored to its original perfection (vv. 7-8). The arrogant leaders will not last, but will be put in the grave (vv. 9-11). Think of evil rulers in history—Nebuchadnezzar, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin—they’ve all died and have no more power than any other corpse.
God Resists the Proud
12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’
15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?’
Pride is an abomination to God. No human is designed to be awesome or glorious. We are not meant to be worshiped, but to worship God. We are not meant to be glorious, but to give glory to God. You aren’t even the main character in your own story. God is the author and the center of all of history. The proud raise themselves up against God’s glory. Utter humiliation will come to them.
Most of us probably don’t struggle with pride in the sense of being the “big man on campus” or “ruler of the world.” However, pride can disguise itself as low self-esteem. Pride and shame are two sides of the same coin.
- Pride + success = arrogance
- Pride – success = shame
Both are symptoms of focusing on self rather than on God. As Tim Keller wrote, the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less” (The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness).
The Proud Don’t Last or Leave a Legacy
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain,
those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people. “May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named!
21 Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities.”
22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the LORD.
23 “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.
We don’t need to fret about today’s evildoers. One day they will be taken down and will face eternal judgment. We shouldn’t line up behind arrogant leaders. They too will be judged by God. Remember that you will be disciplined by God if you belong to Him. “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness” (Heb. 12:10).
Follow Jesus
Our culture tells us to reach for success and power, raise our self-esteem, and grab for power. But rather than follow the example of proud and arrogant people, we need to follow King Jesus and His example of humility.
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:1-11).
The proud will be humbled, but Jesus will be exalted. Emulate Him as His people, serving others in love.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
Discussion Questions
1) A number of Proverbs refer to pride. What can we learn from these verses: Prov. 6:16-19, 15:25, 16:5, 16:18-19, 21:4, 21:24?
2) How does pride, or pride-in-disguise, tend to show itself? How does it lead people to stop depending on God? Consider these Scriptures: 2 Chron. 28:16-21, Isaiah 31:1-2, 1 John 2:15-17.
3) How is humility exhibited in the church? Consider Phil. 2:1-11, Eph. 4:1-7, Gal. 5:22-24.
