Isaiah 14:11

THE CONQUEROR CONQUERED

Isaiah 14:11. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave.

One of the most effectual means of comforting the Church in times of oppression, is by predicting the downfall of her enemies. Here Babylon is doomed; her monarch, whose conquests had been so far-reaching, whose power had proved so irresistible, is represented as having met with a mightier than himself; as descending to the abode of the dead; as leaving behind him a body which, instead of being honoured with a royal funeral, has no other covering than the dust and the worms; and as being himself insulted by the astonished mockery of the meanest of those who had preceded him into the invisible world. His removal from the world has been as the cessation of a devastating hurricane, and the whole earth rejoices thereat; it re-echoes with songs of gladness that the dreaded victor has himself been vanquished. Well may the world rejoice that its crowned scourges are not immortal!

I. Let us recall some familiar truths concerning this conqueror of conquerors.

1. He assaults all ranks and all ages (H. E. I., 1536, 1537; P. D., 677, 700, 707, 751, 752). The world is an unwalled cemetery. Much of the dust we tread on once lived. What is the history of the world but the history of the reign of death? From Abel to the infant who died a moment ago, death has executed his commission without a single pause; sometimes in quiet forms, dust mingling with its native dust; sometimes on a grander scale, by battles, earthquakes, &c. There are a thousand doors out of life; they all stand open; and through some of them death will lead us all; for, like the Great Being whose servant he is, with him there is “no respect of persons” [1024]

2. He is not arrested in his career from any respect for the plans of men, however heroic and useful they may be. How powerful man often appears in his collective grandeur, binding the ocean in chains, controlling the elements, numbering the stars, building great cities which look like temples erected to Time and destined to outlast his reign, founding empires, and spreading himself out by commerce and enterprise to distant islands and continents; and he has always still greater projects behind. But while man plans, death receives his commission; the ground sinks beneath him, his power suddenly collapses. Few histories would be more instructive or impressive than that of the unfinished projects of men of might and genius, e.g., Cæsar and his proposed digest of law, Cuvier and his proposed compendium of science (Psalms 146:4; H. E. I., 3266, 3273).

3. He determines all character. Passing to and fro, he finds character everywhere in the course of formation; suddenly he brings the process to an end, and with their character precisely in the state in which he found it, those whom he strikes down go into the eternal world. A certain fact, a solemn consideration this!

[1024] When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents on a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those we must so quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men who divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind; when I read the several dates of some that died as yesterday, and some of six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall all be contemporaries and make our appearance together.—Addison.

II. Let me remind you of the strange insensibility of mankind to the existence and operations of this power, from which none of us can escape, and which may so unexpectedly bring all our plans and purposes to an end. Few men give any practical heed to the fact that they are mortal (H. E. I., 1557–1565; P. D., 69). The conduct of mankind in neglecting the concerns of immortality, reverses all the elements of wisdom. Men bury themselves in the concerns of time, and forget that their consciences will have an awful resurrection in another world. This insensibility is the more unpardonable since God uses so many means to arouse and to instruct us. Reflect on the momentous character of life, its shortness, its grand purpose, its solemn issues; look to the grand vision beyond the shades of death.

III. In order that we may be delivered from this prevalent insensibility, let us recall some of the advantages arising from a frequent contemplation of, and a Scriptural preparation for, the approach of death.

1. Preparation for death quite changes its aspect. To a Christian it would be a dreadful thing not to die; his would be the case of a child who was never to come of age, of an exile who was never to go home (H. E. I., 1571–1578; P. D., 667, 669, 747).

2. Preparation for death exalts the character of life. It dispels much of the gloom of life; the bright prospect at the end irradiates all the intervening way.

3. In preparing for death we become imbued with the temper and the tastes of heaven (H. E. I., 1566, 2731–2737.)—Samuel Thodey.