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ISAIAH: GOD'S DIRECTIVES TO THOSE TROUBLED AT GOVERNMENTAL APOSTASY
Part XXXIV: God's Deliverance From Dominating Overseers
(Isaiah 47:1-15)
  1. Introduction
    1. We who trust in Christ are to work within the overseer-subordinate roles of marriage, family, church, government and business institutions, cf. Eph. 5:22-33; 6:1-4; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 2:13-17 and Eph. 6:5-9.
    2. However, a challenge faces subordinates in this matter if the overseer becomes dominating due to sensing no accountability for his oversight. Subordinates may tend to exert themselves for self-protection.
    3. Israel faced Babylonian lords who did not believe they were answerable to Israel's God for how they treated His people! Isaiah thus offered a message that provides invaluable encouragement and guidance for all overseers and subordinates in any institution they find themselves and where this problem exists:
  2. God's Deliverance From Dominating Overseers, Isaiah 47:1-15.
    1. In Isaiah 47:1-5, God poetically expressed He would take full vengeance against the Babylonians.
    2. God said He would take this vengeance because He held Babylon accountable for abusive over lording of His people, for Babylon had not felt accountable to God for how it treated His captive people of Israel:
      1. God revealed to the Babylonians that He planned to deliver His people Israel into their hands as an act of punishment for Israel's sins against God, Isaiah 47:6a.
      2. However, the Babylonians had not considered Israel to be the Creator God's chosen people, and so had inflicted great hardship on even elderly Hebrews opposite what was even culturally right, Isaiah 47:6b.
      3. This abusive treatment had risen out of Babylon's lack of a sense of accountability to God, Isa. 47:7.
      4. Accordingly, the Babylonians had given themselves to excessive self indulgences, Isaiah 47:8-9.
      5. This lack of accountability fueled by Babylon's lack of knowledge and wisdom had led such overlords to do evil acts against Israel and yet feel secure they would not face punishment for doing so, 47:10a.
      6. The ultimate result of such a lack of accountability was great pride in the Babylonians, Isaiah 47:10b.
    3. Regardless how unaccountable to God the Babylonians thought they were, God was still Babylon's ultimate Superior, so He predicted Babylon's fall in judgment for her evil domination of Israel, 47:11-15:
      1. God predicted Babylon would be overthrown in a sudden, unalterable, complete way, Isaiah 47:11.
      2. He foretold Babylon's idolatrous soothsayers and astrologers would not be able to help her, 47:12-13.
      3. Indeed, God said these enchanters would not even be able to help themselves, Isaiah 47:14-15.
Lesson: The Babylonian overlords of God's people, Israel did not view themselves as accountable to the Sovereign Creator God in how they treated Israel when God had delivered His people into their oversight in punishment for Israel's sin. Thus, the Babylonians mistreated them, starting with selfish indulgence followed by evil abuse to Hebrew captives followed by an attitude of great personal pride. Thus, God would punish Babylon with a sudden, unalterable, complete fall that even Babylon's respected idolatrous enchanters could not check either for the nation as a whole nor for themselves!

Application: (1) As overseers, (a) since the position of oversight with a loss of a sense of accountability to God readily leads to selfish and thus abusive oversight, we MUST realize we are ACCOUNTABLE to GOD for how we deal with subordinates! Otherwise, we only leave ourselves open to let our sin natures lead us to acts and attitudes that bring certain divine discipline! (b) We must be ESPECIALLY careful to watch out for attitudes and acts in OURSELVES that tend toward SELF INDULGENCE, for THAT is the FIRST step down the road to abusing subordinates and expressing the great arrogance that God disciplines! (c) Also, we overseers must never become smug in our own knowledge, nor trust in our own wisdom -- we are fallible, and can be WRONG! May we thus always subject our views to that of SCRIPTURE! (2) We SUBORDINATES (a) must not REBEL against our overseers to get even for wrongs they have done against us! GOD is OVER them, so OUR part is to fulfill our role unto GOD by staying in our subordinate rles and permitting GOD room to handle the overseer, cf. 1 Peter 5:5-7 NIV. (b) Note an EXCEPTION: if the overseer tries to cause us to disobey GOD, we must choose to obey God instead, cf. Acts 5:24-29, 30-32. (c) Yet, EVEN THEN, we must respect the overseer, 1 Peter 2:17, 15.