Satan, as the Assyrian Antichrist, will make Babylon the
capital of his kingdom just as God chooses for Himself Jerusalem, meaning the
whole of the “end-times” skirmish for Planet Earth will revolve around these
two cities!
*****
The land of the ancient city of Babylon is site of the modern city of Hilla, Iraq, which is 40-50 miles south of Baghdad and on the Euphrates River. Its name was changed back around the 10th century.
The reality is there is both a “mystery Babylon” and a literal
city of Babylon in the Bible. References to the literal city can be found, in
part, in Revelation 14:8, Revelation 16:19 and Revelation 18.
In Isaiah 47:5, Babylon is called “the lady of kingdoms,” and
she’s the mother of harlots who goes out and prostitutes all of the cities of
the earth. But that doesn’t eliminate the literal Babylon, which will actually
be the headquarters for mystery Babylon, the religious system, in the “last
days.”
While theologians continue to refer to Rome and/or the European Common
Market as playing into “last days” prophecy, the ten nations through whom
the Antichrist gains his ascendancy are in Palestine. They’re in the
Mediterranean, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Persia, and that part of the world, not in
Europe. There are no Europeans at all!
These so-called prophecy scholars get the idea Babylon will never be rebuilt from
Isaiah 1:-9, which reads, “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
But as we know from history, ancient Babylon wasn’t destroyed
suddenly, it just sort of wasted away and fell into oblivion and disrepair.
The Bible says in three different places (Jeremiah 49:18 and Jeremiah
50:40 are the other two verses) that when God overthrows Babylon, it will be
like when He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Obviously this predicted overthrow
hasn’t yet been fulfilled.
The final overthrow of Babylon is repeatedly synchronized in
prophetic Scripture with the restoration of the nation Israel by God into her
kingdom. In Jeremiah 50, for example, the description of Babylon’s future
destruction is connected with the fact God’s going to bring Jerusalem back and
establish it as His city. As God destroys Babylon, He Himself comes to reside
in Jerusalem.
*****
To know just what kind of dominant world power Babylon will become, many insights can be found in Revelation 18. Verse 3 says, “The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” Verse 9 says the kings of the earth have “lived deliciously with her.”
“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her;
for no man buyeth their merchandise any more,” reads the chapter starting in
verse 11. “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of
pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood,
and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood,
and of brass, and iron, and marble,
“And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense,
and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and
horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
“And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
“The merchants of these things, which were made rich by
her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
“And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
“For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every
shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by
sea, stood afar off,
“And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying,
What city is like unto this great city!
“And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and
wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all
that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is
she made desolate.”
Obviously, Babylon’s going to have concourse with the kings of
the world and be a mega-political power and commercial center that pumps wealth
into the earth.
As Jordan summarizes, “The first worldwide apostasy (Gen.10)
started from there, and the last one centers up there. You name it, they got
it. They’ve got everything from gold to the souls of men.”
******
On April 22, 2006, exactly nine years ago today, the front
page of the New York Times carried a disturbing photo of a 21-year-old
Islamic Jihad suicide bomber who killed nine people the day before at a falafel
restaurant in Tel Aviv. Next to it was a story about rebuilding modern-day
Babylon to rival its former power and splendor.
“One day millions of people will visit Babylon,” assured Donny
George, head of Iraq’s board of antiquities, in the Times story. “I’m
just not sure anybody knows when.”
An official with the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, which was said to be currently “pumping millions of
dollars into protecting and restoring Babylon,” predicted in the article that
“cultural tourism could become Iraq’s second biggest industry, after oil.”
*****
As the Times informed, both United Nations officials
and Iraqi leaders were “working assiduously to restore Babylon, home of the
Seven Wonders of the World, and turn it into a cultural center and possibly
even an Iraqi theme park.”
“Factories are churning, Iraqi security forces are patrolling
and the streets pulsate with life—children bounding to school, crowds wading
into markets, taxis gliding by,” reported the Times. “Emad lafta
al-Bayati, Hilla’s mayor, has big plans for Babylon. ‘I want restaurants, gift
shops, long parking lots,’ he said. God willing, he added, maybe even a Holiday
Inn.”
*****
Jordan says preachers and others will look at Paul’s warnings
about the “last days” and say the events we’re seeing in the Middle East today
represent “shadows” of end-times prophetic events.
“The little caveat preachers like to use is, ‘Well, maybe it’s
a shadow,’ and maybe it is—I don’t know,’ ” says Jordan. “I do know that
Jerusalem has to be in the land of Palestine before the Antichrist can ‘rescue’
them. I know they have to have a temple in order for it to be destroyed, so
that isn’t there yet. That still has to be rebuilt.”
*****
Specifically, Paul warns in II Tim. 2: 3-9 “that in the last
days perilous times shall come.
[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
[3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
[4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
[5] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
[6] For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
[7] Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
[8] Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
[9] But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”
[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
[3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
[4] Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
[5] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
[6] For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
[7] Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
[8] Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
[9] But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”
Jordan says of this passage, “Notice there’s not a thing in
that list that couldn’t fit today. You say, ‘Does that means it’s the last
days?’ Yep, sure does. You look down through that list and there are general
moral and spiritual conditions of declension that are true in any age.
“You know why it is that way? These are general trends,
because at any time the Lord could come and take away the Body of Christ. It’s
a mystery age and the conclusion of it is a mystery too.
“So when you look around and think, ‘Boy, things are so bad
the Lord’s just gotta come,’ that’s what you’re supposed to think! You’re not
supposed to look around and say, ‘Man, things are so good, the Lord could leave
us here for another 5,000 years anyway!’ You’re supposed to be conscious of the
imminence of His coming at any moment.”
(new article tomorrow)
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