Isaiah 13:9

The day of the Lord. See on v. 6.

Lay the land desolate. The end of sin is not life and prosperity, but desolation, ruin, and death. Sin laid waste the once prosperous nations of Assyria and Babylon, it destroyed many of the greatest cities of the earth, and it will ultimately lay desolate the entire world. This prophecy, originally a description of the fall of literal Babylon, is applied by NT writers to the desolation of mystical Babylon at the second coming of Christ (see on v. 4).

Destroy the sinners. The destruction of the sinner is not, as some think, an arbitrary act on the part of God. God loves sinners and seeks to save them (Eze. 18:23, 31, 32; 2 Peter 3:9). But it is sin that ultimately destroys the sinner. Men who walk in the ways of iniquity ultimately become so corrupt, so cruel, so devoid of reason, that the measures they take to destroy those about them involve all in a common fate. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed” (Gen. 9:6). “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matt. 26:52; cf. Rev. 13:10). History has proved these statements true. Babylon took the sword and perished by it. That was also true of the Hittites, of Assyria, of Greece, and of Rome. One day this principle will seal the fate of the sinful world.