You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens . . . .” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead. Isaiah 14:13, 15
Today’s Scripture
Isaiah 14:12-15
Listen to Today’s Devotion
Today’s Devotion
The ceiling of London’s Banqueting House is magnificent. Painted by Sir Peter Paul Rubens between 1629 and 1634, it was commissioned by King Charles I to glorify his family’s reign. In one painting, the goddess Minerva celebrates the achievements of Charles’ father, King James I. In another, James is carried to heaven on the wings of an eagle. Gazing up at the ceiling, banquet guests got a clear message: Kings like Charles and his father were virtually divine.
In the prophet Isaiah’s day, the king of Babylon felt similarly about himself. Here was a king who longed to “ascend to the heavens” and “sit . . . on the mount of assembly,” where the gods were thought to reign (Isaiah 14:13). Instead, Isaiah prophesied that this king would fall (vv. 3-4), being “brought down to the realm of the dead” (v. 15) without even a tomb to be remembered by (vv. 18-19). Charles I met a similar fate. In an ironic twist, he was marched beneath the very ceiling depicting his supposed divinity before being executed outside Banqueting House in 1649.
It’s a sad fact that has repeated through time: Powerful people who claim divine glory for themselves will one day discover how human they are. For there is only one who is worthy of reigning from heaven, and all power, glory, and majesty are His alone (1 Chronicles 29:11).
Reflect & Pray
Why do you think rulers throughout history have claimed divinity for themselves? How does Jesus compare to the attitude of such rulers?
Heavenly Father, You are God, and all power and glory are Yours!
For further study, read The Chilling Tale of a King.
Today’s Insights
In Daniel 4:37, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, declares, “Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” This ancient king had to learn the crucial lesson of humility the hard way.
His words of praise to God (vv. 2-3, 34-37) contrast with his words of self-adulation before his humiliation: “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (v. 30; see vv. 31-34). The Babylonian ruler of Isaiah 14:12-14 said something similar. Indeed, kings and kingdoms will all pass away but God’s kingdom endures forever (see Daniel 2:44; 4:3, 34). To Him alone belong all power and glory and majesty.
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