Clothed with the slain Isaiah 14:19

But you have been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword. Isaiah 14:19

OK, so we know by now that not all references to clothing in scripture is pretty...and this is one of those ugly ones. We are talking about the king of Babylon here, a wicked, ruthless man who let a wicked, ruthless nation. I think the New Living Translation gives us the picture, although it doesn't use the clothing word. “But you will be thrown out of your grave like a worthless branch. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will be dumped into a mass grave with those killed in battle.”

Proper burial was very important in ancient days. Seriously. Look at the pyramids, the references to Abraham buying Sarah's burial tomb, and Joseph's body being carried out of Egypt. Where you were buried and how spoke of who you were, how important, and what you believed spiritually. Here is the big shot of the world whose end was kind of like that of a mummy's tomb being raided for the treasures . The mummies themselves aren't worth much, or weren't to tomb-robbers. The mummies were dumped out of their gold sarcaphagi and left as trash. In this case, the king's body would be dumped with the rest of the common soldiers whose defeat came, and all would be tossed into a large hole. His covering would be the bodies of those who fell by the sword. He would be one of the first thrown in, a truly humiliating position for the ruler of the peoples.

We tend to look at God as a giant softie. He is good and merciful and forgiving. Yes, this is true, but that is half of who He is. He is also a raging fire and hater of evil. He doesn't mess around with the wicked. Look at the whole of Isaiah and see the God who pleads, punishes, reaching out and casts out, gives instruction and punishes those who refuse to obey. To those who call evil good and good evil, He shows Himself Righteous and True. There is no middle ground. He never gives up on people for the sake of His name and His promise to Abraham that there would be a remnant forever, and to the world that He would send the ultimate Redeemer, that those who would trust in Him would never suffer the consequences of their sins.

Yes, we all sin. We do. No matter how hard we try not to. No matter whether we want to or not. It is in our nature. It is who we are. We are born in sin...selfish and self-motivated, having our own opinions of what we think is right and wrong, acceptable and not. We, like Satan himself, want to show God who is boss. And that is our problem. We set ourselves up as the king of Babylon. We want to divide and conquer, reign on our thrones. “Wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me from this body of death?” asks the Apostle Paul. Here is the man God called to take the gospel to the Gentile world, and he ponders his own sinful state at the end of Romans 7. And THAT is the question, WHO. We cannot rescue ourselves. But we need to want to be rescued. We have to agree that God is God, and we are not, and shouldn't be. Face it, we all have the “if I ruled the world, things would be better” syndrome. We think if we impose our rules on others that the world would be a utopia. If the God of the universe chose to give us free will to defy Him, then we need to figure out that He is good to give us the chance to realize our sinfulness and look to Him for redemption.

And that He provided in the man Jesus, the God Jesus, the Spirit Jesus. The trinitarian Godhead reaches out, offers itself up as a sacrifice, and fills us with the ability to come to Him and become one of His. We have to agree that we are sinful, that Jesus takes that sin away if we ask in humility, not demand it as our right. There is no room for self-centered salvation. It is a gift from a tender, loving God. But rejecting that will send us to the bottom of the grave, covered with the rest of those who reject the tender mercies of the Lord. Accept or reject. Not do or don't do something to save ourselves. We can't. Not find or not find the answers. The answer is there. It is Jesus. We accept Him or reject Him. We believe that we need to be forgiven, understand that He is the payment, and accept the payment. If you can't pay the mortgage and someone offers to pay it for you, you can accept or reject the payment. You give up more than just the offer if you refuse. You lose it all. The house goes to the bank and you are homeless, all because you are too prideful to let someone else pay the bill, even though you have to way to pay it. Foolish, isn't it. When offered the way out of sin, to reject it is even more foolish. To choose evil over good isn't just foolish, it is willful suicide. Don't be a victim of your own pride. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up out of that mass grave and let you live an eternal life of beauty with Him. Hallelujah!