ISAIAH 14

10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?

In the prophecy against the Chaldean Babylon, it is written, "thy day is come"; and in the next sentence, the exposition of this is given in the words, "the time that I will visit thee" (Jer. 50:31). Again, "Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed" (ch. 51:8). And again, "My people go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of Yahweh. And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumor that shall be heard in the land: and there shall come in a year the tidings, and after that in a year the tidings and violence in the land, ruler against ruler" (verse 45, 46).

Now this prophecy against the Chaldean Babylon, though having its own special fulfillment, which commenced in the time of Cyrus, and Belshatzar, the Lucifer of Isa. 14:12, was typical of the fall of the Roman Babylon; so that the language descriptive of the judgment of the ancient city and state, becomes the key of the figurative expressions in the Apocalyptic prophecy.

I conclude, therefore, that it will be with the Roman Babylon as with the Chaldean; and that "her day, or time ," of judgment will come "suddenly," "as a thief in the night;" that there will be violence in Italy, "ruler against ruler"; that the tidings inviting people to emigrate will find the country in this anarchical condition; and that in the "next day," or "year", her plagues will commence, even "death, and anguish, and famine" death, or pestilence, and anguish, as the result of it, combined with famine. How long these calamities will continue after they have come into play, does not appear. Her judgment is consummated by a fiery overthrow "she will be consumed in fire".

The foulness and filthiness of her abominations, and the similitude of the fate that awaits her, has caused the Great City and State to be "spiritually called Sodom and Egypt" (ch. 11:8). The punishment of Sodom will be Rome's, and perhaps, that also of the whole "Patrimony of St. Peter". This will consummate the plagues which begin her torment and sorrow in one and the same year after the Aion-tidings of good salutes the ears of Israel in Rome. But following upon "pestilence, and famine" is the twofold rendering of torment and anguish by the troops of Michael, the Great Prince, who invades her territory and becomes a smoking furnace of judgment, "a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (ch. 19:19). From this she never emerges, and therefore, like Sodom, suffers the vengeance of a fire which is eternal (Jude 7).

Eureka 18.4.

11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

Isaiah... predicting the fall of Belshatzar from the throne of Babylon through the instrumentality of the Medes and Persians...

This was verified in the fall of the impious Belshatzar as narrated in Dan. 4. When he was slain, and his dynasty superseded by that of the Medes and Persians, he fell from the Imperial Heavens of Chaldea. In the prophetic style, the opposite is to ascend to the heaven or heavens.

When Louis Napoleon [the third? - Emperor of France from 1852 to 1870] ascended from a private station to the imperial office, he "ascended to the heaven," of which, for the time being, he is the meteoric luminary. His ascent illustrates that of "the two prophets." They were politically dead; but

"the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their fact."

After this,

"they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them, ascend hither! And they ascended into the heaven,"

to the great dismay of their enemies; who now saw them invested with power, and ready to avenge the wrongs which had ultimated in their political death.

The Christadelphian, June 1872

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

... "Lucifer" is a Latin word in a Hebrew passage! It literally means "lucem ferre," or "light bearer. It was Jerome who had mistranslated the Hebraic metaphor as "Lucifer," and over the centuries this word metamorphosed into many different beings. In ancient Roman astronomy, Lucifer was the name given to the morning star, which we now know as Venus, also a Roman name.

The morning star appears in the heavens just before dawn, heralding the Sun's rising. In Hebrew, this passage reads: "heleyl, ben shachar" which literally translated is, "shining one, son of dawn," personifying the planet Nogah, the Hebrew for Venus.

In Amos 5:20, the word, "brightness" is nogahh - Strong's Concordance # <5051>!

This chapter (Isa 14), as a whole, is a prophecy of denunciation against the Kings of Babylon, and specifically in verse 12 of Tiglath-pileser III. Isaiah characterises the insolent pride of Tiglath-pileser III as he thought himself fit to appear in the sky as a morning star, exalting himself as a god, but fell down to the ground, being brought low by God.

Sis. Valerie Mello

The king of Babylon under the name of Lucifer, as the type of its last ruler in the latter days, is represented in Isaiah 14:13, 14, as threatening to place himself above all earthly rule, with Zion for the throne of his dominion, saying in his heart...

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

This ascending of the Assyrian "into the heavens" implies some particular heavens in which he is not previously to his ascent; and that it is the Assyrian of the Latter Days is clear from the testimony that Yahweh says,

"I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off Israel, and his burden depart from off their shoulders."

This has never happened yet to the Assyro-Babylonian power, and must therefore be in the future. This saying of Lucifer in his heart is no other than "the evil thought" which is to come into the mind of Gog, impelling him to the invasion of the Holy Land, and the siege of Jerusalem, which will be taken.

He is now beyond the limits of the Roman earth, and consequently not in its heavens, which are the heavens of Daniel's Fourth Beast. But he says,

"I will ascend into them, and above the height of the clouds,"

or powers of those heavens; that is, he will become the Imperial Chief of the Four-Beast dominion, and exalt himself above Israel, with Zion for his throne.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, April 1855

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

"And a mouth was given to him speaking great things and blasphemies" - Rev 13:5.

The Mouth given to the Beast of the Sea was like a lion's mouth; and he delighted to compare himself thereto. His official utterances, or the things affirmed of him, by those who created and worshipped him, far transcended the utterances of the proud and impious rulers of the old Babylonian Lion. The last of these, styled by Isaiah, "Lucifer, son of the morning," the Belshatzar of history, said,

"I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of AlL. . . ; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High" - ch. 14:13,14;

and on the eve of his being brought down to Sheol, he lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven, and praised the images of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know (Dan. 5:23).

These were the speakings of the Mouth of the old Lion of Babylion; but proud and impious as they were, they fell short of the "great things and blasphemies" which roared from the throat, or by the sanction, of the Universal Bishop of the Ten-Horned Monster of the Sea. This Babylonian Mouth, which has come down to us from the darkest ages of the clerical apostasy, when it opens its iron-teethed jaws, can give expression to nothing but great things of vanity and falsehood, and things defamatory of the Deity and the Saints.

"He opened his mouth unto blasphemy concerning the Deity, to blaspheme his Name, and his Tabernacle, and the dwellers in the heaven."

Eureka 13.19

24 Yahweh of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

We cannot alter or retard the purpose of God. One thing we can do, and this is all we can do; we can fasten on to it. This we are invited to do - commanded to do. Those who comply with this command will see the glory of God in the land of the living.

Bro Roberts - Diminish not a word

24 Yahweh of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

...it is important to observe, that Yahweh in his utterances against the ancient Babylon, makes a declaration which has found no accomplishment hitherto.

The war by which the Assyrian was broken by Cyrus was waged in Chaldea and at the gates of Babylon; and not upon the mountains of Israel; and although the yoke and burden of the oppressor departed from the Jews, it was only in a limited degree... But other prophecies show that the breaking referred to occurs in the latter days, and doth actually come to pass on the mountains of Israel-Ezekiel 38, 39

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1852