After lamenting what could have been if Israel had only really heard (i.e. obeyed) God, Isaiah 48 gives us the command, "Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea..." (48:20). This is not a command to physically leave Babylonian captivity but a command to ethically or morally to leave Babylon. It was not just a command for those physically in the nation of Babylon at a particular time, but a command for even us today. The warning is given, "'There is no peace,' says YHWH, 'for the wicked'" (48:22). There is nothing more destructive to our witness as a church than for us to be indistinguishable from the world -- we are to flee from the world and from sin. We are to flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace (as Paul told Timothy, 2 Tim 2:22). We are to flee from sexual immorality and from idolatry as Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:18, 10:14). As the voice from heaven said on the Mount of Transfiguration concerning Jesus, "Listen to Him." Really listen -- OBEY.
