A Possible Latter Day Sequence Of Events?

A Possible Latter Day Sequence Of Events?

So a possible sequence of events could be:

1.Literal Babylon is rebuilt, consciously reliving the ancient Babylon, and reviving her gods

2. A charismatic antichrist figure arises there, based on Nebuchadnezzar

3. He takes control of the Arab world by force and by political treaties, uniting them as a pan-Arab confederacy against Israel. This is the beast of the latter days. It persecutes true Christian believers.

4. This system then invades Israel; after the spirit and pattern of Nebuchadnezzar they take them into captivity in the Arab world (hence Ez. 20:33-38; Is. 11:11-16; Dt. 28:63-68 speak of the Jews being brought back in the last days from Babylon, Egypt, Arabia etc- where there are presently scarcely any Jews).

The Gospel is preached to the area dominated by Babylon; some respond.

5. The horns hate the whore- the members of the confederacy turn against Babylon.

6. The Lord Jesus intervenes and destroys Babylon so that the city is literally never again inhabited.

Current Evidence

There is ample evidence that the stage is being set for the fulfilment of stages 1-3.

1.Literal Babylon is rebuilt, consciously reliving the ancient Babylon, and reviving her gods

1.1     This is happening right now (see photos).

1.2 Saddam City, as it [was once] dubbed — or more correctly Saddamiat Al Tharthar (That Which Belongs to Saddam at Tharthar Lake) — is 85 miles west of Baghdad. It is so big that it includes 625 homes for the Iraqi leader’s “favourites”, Peter Hain, the Foreign Office Minister, said yesterday. The resort has stadiums, an amusement park, animal park, hospitals and the latest communications systems.

SOURCE: THE TIMES - UK

1.3 On the exact site of ancient Babylon, he has reconstructed the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, including the Procession Street, a Greek theater, many temples, what was once Nebuchadnezzar's throne room, and a half-scale model of the Ishtar Gate" (Charles Dyer, The Rise of Babylon, p. 27)

Shafqa Mohammed Jaafar, chief archaeologist of Babylon, explains : “Because Babylon was built in ancient times, and was a great city, it must be a great city again in the time of our new great leader”.

2. A charismatic antichrist figure arises there, based on Nebuchadnezzar

2.1 Saddam issued commemorative coinage with his image on one side, and King Nebuchadnezzar’s image on the other. He saw Nebuchadnezzar as his hero. The final leader of Babylon will ultimately do the same.

2.2 Placed atop some of the original bricks, marked with Nebuchadnezzar's name, are others that declare, "In the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt the Royal Palace”. A palace tour guide said, "Nebuchadnezzar was a man of war and peace, just as Saddam Hussein is".

Charles Dyer, author of "The Rise of Babylon" documents a fascinating event that took place in 1988 on the actual site of the ancient city of Babylon:

"It is a cloudless September night, and the moon casts its shining image on the banks of the gentle Euphrates River. Thousands of guests and dignitaries walk by torch light to Babylon’s Procession Street and enter the city from the north. Instructed to line the streets along the massive walls, the guests obediently follow orders. When the audience is in place, the dark-eyed man in charge nods, and the procession begins. Rows and rows of soldiers parade in, dressed in Babylonian tunics and carrying swords, spears and shields. Interspersed among the ranks of soldiers are groups of musicians playing harps, horns and drums. Clusters of children carry palm branches, and runners bear bowls of incense. Then come soldiers and still more soldiers in a seemingly endless line of men and weapons. After the procession, the guests attend a ceremony paying tribute to Ishtar, the mother goddess of Babylon." The director of that event, the International Babylon Festival, was celebrating the revival of the city from ancient times. By 1990, over sixty million bricks were on top of the very bricks that Nebuchadnezzar had laid.”

2.3

Modern King of Babylon

By Ken Raggio

Modern-day Equivalent of King Nebuchadnezzar

"Nowhere is that more visible than in Babylon, where the Iraqi leader is cast as the modern-day equivalent of King Nebuchadnezzar, the warrior and builder who came to power in 605 BC at the tender age of 25. Hussein, who helped stage a coup at age 31, has restored part of Nebuchadnezzar's 600-room palace”.

2.4 No one has ever mentioned the achievements of "Hammurabi," the founder of the first organized sets of law in human history. Or "Nebuchadnezzar," the national hero who was able to defeat the enemies of the nation on the land of "Kennan" [Canaan] and to take them as prisoner of war to Babylon. What we need now is to increase awareness in this regard. -- Saddam Hussein. He clearly had in mind to take Jews captive to Babylon from the land, perhaps thereby fulfilling Dt. 28, Zech. 14:1-3 and other prophecies which suggest that the Jews will be briefly taken into captivity in the last days. This kind of rhetoric is alive and well to this day in Iraq.

2.5 Noted John Burns in the New York Times International --

When Mrs. Jaafar, the archaeologist, was asked if Iraqis considered Mr. Hussein to be "the new Nebuchadnezzar," she laughed and replied, "Yes, of course!" Among Arabs, King Nebuchadnezzar is remembered as much as anything for the fact that he three times conquered Jerusalem, carrying tens of thousands of Jews back to Babylon. -- "New Babylon Is Stalled by a Modern Upheaval," October 11, 1990, p. A13.

3. The antichrist figure takes control of the Arab world by force and by political treaties, uniting them as a pan-Arab confederacy against Israel. This is the beast of the latter days.

3.1 Pan Arab unity is a major thrust of Iraqi policy:

Said Saddam Hussein in 1979 --

The glory of the Arabs stems from the glory of Iraq. Throughout history, whenever Iraq became mighty and flourished, so did the Arab nation. This is why we are striving to make Iraq mighty, formidable, able and developed. -- Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1990, p. 14A.

Note how Saddam saw the Arab ‘nation’ as one, led by Iraq / Babylon. This is exactly what we would expect from prophecies about the latter day beast.

3.2 Wrote Walter Laqueur in the Washington Post --

Saddam Hussein first appeared on the scene as a pan-Arab politician. His great hero is Nebuchadnezzar II, who was neither an Arab nor a Moslem, but the builder of a great empire (and the conqueror of Jerusalem). "Like Hitler, but Different," August 31, 1990, p. A25.

Saddam was not alone in his dream of a unified Arab nation. Nasser of Egypt reached for that goal in the fifties, and other Arab leaders strive for it today.

3.3 The Palestinian National Covenant (1964) “Article 10. Palestinians have three mottos: National unity, National mobilization, Liberation” [in English translation: Sadat Hasan, Introducing The Palestinian Liberation Organization, New York, USA: P.L.O., pp. 12-14]. Quoted in Y. Harkabi, The Palestinian Covenant And Its Meaning (London: Valentine, Mitchell, 1979 p. 109). These three principles are perhaps the three frog like spirits which come out of the beasts of the last days. These are the spirits which unite the kings of the land, i.e. the nations situated in the land promised to Abraham, in their unity against Israel. What is most important to me about Nebuchadnezzar is the link between the Arabs' abilities and the liberation of Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar was, after all, an Arab from Iraq, albeit ancient Iraq. Nebuchadnezzar was the one who brought the bound Jewish slaves from Palestine. That is why, whenever I remember Nebuchadnezzar, I like to remind the Arabs -- Iraqis in particular -- of their historical responsibilities. It is a burden that should not stop them from action, but rather spur them into action because of their history. --Saddam Hussein, 1979

3.4 There was from earliest times an association of 10 kings with Babylon. Much is made of how Babylon began with the reign of “the ten kings”. Berosus, a priest of Marduk’s temple at Babylon about 300 BC, in the second book of his history tells of the ten kings of the Chaldeans who reigned before the Deluge.

3.5 Sept. 21, 2000 - At least 47 countries will participate in Iraq's 10-day Babylon cultural festival which opens on September 22. The annual festival was launched in 1987, but was cancelled in 1990 and 1991 due to the Gulf War. Source: Yahoo . Thus many Arab nations will come together under the leadership of Babylon.

4. This system then invades Israel

Iraq is a major supporter of the P.L.O. Filastin is the Arabic word the P.L.O. uses to describe ‘Palestine’; they consciously see themselves as latter day Philistines in their struggle against the Jewish state; see Anis Sayegh [ed.], Filastiniyat (Beirut, Lebanon: P.L.O. Research Centre, 1968). Iraq and her Arab confederacy may be the beast, but the Palestinians may be the eagle power who come upon Israel so suddenly. The eagle is the heraldic emblem of the Palestinian National Authority. 

Summing up: it could really be that very, very soon this Arab confederacy / beast emerges under the leadership of the antichrist. The stage is perfectly set. It will arise suddenly and be destroyed suddenly- by the Lord’s return. May we be ready and waiting and separate from it.

Notes

(1) It should be noted that in 1922 the UK was given a mandate to establish a Jewish home- not a state. But the British allowed only 75,000 Jews to enter Palestine and then barred all further entry by Jews, in order to appease the Arabs. The British were seeking the support of the Arabs in their empire building in southern Arabia. After 1945, the British lost the mandate and the Jews had to force their way into Palestine. The state of Israel was established in the teeth of British opposition; it came into being as a result of a guerilla warfare against the British. And the Arabs had been schooled by the British to oppose Jewish settlement and statehood. In no way can it be said that the British enabled the establishment of the state of Israel- they fought against it, and turned away the Haganah ships, carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe back to the land. They even sunk some of them…

Babylon And Antichrist

Zech. 5:5-11 outlines a vision in which a woman who personifies “wickedness” is put into a basket with a heavy lead over, to stop her from escaping. This basket is then taken to Babylon to have a temple built around it. The idea of God restraining wickedness is undoubtedly picked up in the prophecy of the “man of sin” who is presently restrained, but will be released in the last days. Zechariah’s vision says that the “house” or temple of Babylon will rise again “when it is ready” (Zech. 5:11). The city where mankind’s first rebellion began against God will be the place where the final rebellion will be based.

2 Thess. 2:3 is clear enough that the “man of sin” will arise in the last days immediately before the Lord’s return. We need not think that Christ is about to return until we see this person gloriously enthroned “as God”. This is what Paul seems to be saying. And when the Lord was asked for the signs of His coming, he started off by warning that false Christs would come (Mt. 24:4,5). 1 Jn. 2:18 says just the same: “It is the last time [RV “hour”]: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time”. This was true in the run up to AD70, and it will be true in the ultimate last hour too. Ezekiel 38 likewise speaks of a man called ‘Gog’, a “chief prince”, who would come against God’s people at the time of the end.

This is the man of whom Dan. 8:25 speaks- “he will destroy many and will stand up against the Prince of princes”, the Lord Jesus. This person is therefore and thereby ‘anti-Christ’, against Christ. One of Daniel’s terms for the antiChrist is “the little horn”. This alludes to the Semitic practice of anointing leaders- when the horn of oil was poured on the head, it seemed as if a horn was coming out of the head of the leader. This “little horn” is associated with, to the point that he is, the “abomination that maketh desolate” (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). This only had a partial fulfiment in Antiochus Epiphanes, because the Lord Jesus says Himself that this “abomination” will appear in the very last days as the special sign of His return. The vision concerned “the time of the end” (Dan. 8:16,17). There are often big leaps in Bible prophecy to the end time- and here we have such an example. Having spoken of the break up of Alexander’s Kingdom, Dan. 8:23,24 jumps right ahead to the last days: “In the latter part of their reign…a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastatiojn and will succedd in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people”. And yet he, or “the Prince of [his] host” will by himself offer “the daily sacrifice” [see Pulpit Commentaryon the textual problems here]. This along with 2 Thess. 2 and other passages demands a rebuilt temple to exist in Jerusalem, where Antichrist sits. And it can be no accident that the Jews are determined to build one. Perhaps they may have short term victory over their Arab enemies in order to do this. And then the Lord will come suddenly to His holy temple (Mal. 3:1) to destroy the Antichrist system enthroned there.

The little horn takes a stand against the Prince of princes and then is destroyed “but not by human power” (Dan. 8:25), i.e. he will be destroyed by the stone [Jesus] cut out without human hands. This is just the language of 2 Thess. 2, of how the Antichrist will be destroyed by the Lord’s sudden return. Micah and Isaiah call this individual “the Assyrian” (Is. 10:5; 14:25). We have shown elsewhere that the description of Lucifer being thrown out of heaven can be read as describing the fall of a future King of Babylon in the last days. The most comfortable understanding of antiChrist as being an Assyrian / Babylonian is that he will be an Assyrian / Babylonian, and ruler of those areas. A leader of Iraq would ideally suit this. And their leadership shows every sign of the aggression, meglomania and anti-Semitism which will characterize the antiChrist. Note too that Gog is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal- areas identified by some as being in present Iran / Iraq. The number of the beast is the number of a man (Rev. 13:18); he becomes personally identified with the system that persecutes the saints and Israel in the last days.

The “man of sin” will sit in the temple of God and proclaim that he is God. This is surely the “abomination that maketh desolate” that the Lord Jesus predicted would sit in the temple just prior to His return. The abomination makes “desolate”, clearly referring to Jerusalem being made desolate by Babylonian / Iraqi invaders (Dan. 9:2,17). Luke 21:20 parallels “the abomination that maketh desolate” in Mt. 24 and Mk. 13 with “the desolation of Jerusalem”. The abomination / abominator will stand “where he ought not” (Mk. 13:14 RV). He is the “one that maketh desolate” (Dan. 9:27 RV). A specific individual is clearly implied. Dan. 8:13 RV describes this person as “the transgression that maketh desolate”- yet it is the abominator that makes Jerusalem desolate. Therefore “the transgression” is surely being put by metonymy for a man, who will sit in the Most Holy place and make Jerusalem desolate. And 2 Thess. 2 says just the same- “the man of sin / transgression”. The whole tenor of the Daniel prophesies is that they refer to an individual who will arise in the last days- not someone like a Pope sitting in St. Peter’s for centuries. The vision of the 2300 days of abomination- the days during which the abominator will make Jerusalem desolate- “belongs to the latter days” (Dan. 8:26). These are the days during which the sanctuary and the host of God’s people will be “trodden under foot”; interpreted by the Lord as Jerusalem being trodden down of the Gentiles until “the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled”.

It is quite clear that the Iraqi leadership would dearly love to sit and stand in the Sanctuary if they could get their hands on Jerusalem [as they vow they will]. He will sit there “as God”. Another place where we read of a man sitting in the temple proclaiming that he is God is in Ez. 28:2, where the King of Tyre proudly says that he sits as God ruling the seas of the people. The King of Tyre was a prototype for the latter day man of sin. And he was an Arab, too- what we would call a Lebanese. It could even be that the rebuilding of Babylon is to be associated with a rebuilding of Tyre. One of Nimrod’s characteristics- the founder of Babylon- was that he filled the face of the earth with cities. The King of Tyre was “in Eden the garden of God” where he was “anointed” and beautifully adorned (Ez. 28:12,14). These descriptions may be further information about the serpent in Eden, although omitted from the Genesis account. In this case, the fake-Christ [annointed one] is “the old serpent”, just as the latter day beast leader will be (Rev. 12). The beast is so often paralleled with its leader, just as the little horn seems to refer to both a leader and a nation / political system. The sudden destruction that comes upon Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2 is the same kind of thing spoken of in 1 Thess. 5:3- “When they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh”. The saying of peace and safety is exactly the language of Daniel regarding the false peace produced in the very last days by Antichrist. It could well be that under Babylon’s domination there is a brief boom period for the entire world. This ensures his political survival, and explains why all the world’s merchants will weep at his fall. This sorrow by the traders hardly seems likely to happen if the Vatican was destroyed. This person will accuse the brethren of Christ before the throne of God (Rev. 12:10), but will be thrown down by the Lord’s return and the establishment of the Kingdom. This is exactly the language of 2 Thess. 2 about the antichrist who is to be destroyed by the Lord’s coming. Yet the idea of a false accuser of the brethren before the throne of God takes us back to Job’s satan- who seems to have been an Arab pseudo-disciple, bringing down the outpouring of vial-like judgments upon God's ’eople (cp. the scene in Revelation).

Antichrist, the man of sin, sitting in the temple of God, is surely the abomination that Jesus said is to be in the temple in the last days, leading to the final desolation. Is. 14 describes the rise and fall of the King of Babylon; he too desired to set himself as God in the temple of God, having first terrorized the nations that dwell on the ‘earth’, those situated in the land promised to Abraham between the Nile and Euphrates. This seems so on the cards for latter day Babylon in the form of Iraq- to terrorize the Arab world into accepting her leadership, and then to seek to set up the King of latter day Babylon on “the mount of God”, Zion. Finally, Nahum speaks of how there was one specific Assyrian leader who was to be destroyed by the coming of Messiah. The phrasing is so similar to that found about the “man of sin”: “There is one gone forth out of thee, that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor…behold upon the mountains the feet of him [Messiah] that bringeth good tidings…the wicked one shall no more pass through…he is utterly cut off. He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face” (Nah. 1:11,15; 2:1 RV).

Latter Day Babylon Iraq

Latter Day Babylon

How this could come up about in reality need not worry us; if it does, then we would be guilty of seeking to fit current events into Bible prophecy, rather than being led by the prophecy itself. The beast will arise suddenly, from the barren desert, and will be destroyed suddenly. It will take the world by surprise; we shouldn’t be surprised, therefore, if we can’t perceive the signs of these things far in advance. It may be that Iraq uses an oil stranglehold to silence the West; Iraq has the world’s second largest production of oil. Jeremiah 49 contains a fascinating prophecy about Babylon’s conquests, which serves as a prelude to her sudden destruction in chapters 50 and 51. She will take Jordan (Ammonites and Moabites, :1-6), then Saudi Arabia (Edom, :7-22), then Syria (Damascus, :23-27), followed by “Kedar / Hazor” (I suggest this refers to Kuwait, :28-33), and finally Iran (Elam, :34-39). The reasons for identifying Kedar / Hazor with Kuwait are as follows:

-          Kedar lived “in the northern part of the Arabian desert” (Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary)- where Kuwait is situated.

-          “Hazor” means “the enclosed place”; and “the name Kuwait is a diminutive of the Arabic ‘kut’ or fortress” (Ahmad Mustafa Abu-Haninia, History Of Eastern Arabia p. 47).

-          “Hazor was located near the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf”- exactly where Kuwait is (Finis Dake, Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible p. 794)

-          The descriptions of Kedar / Hazor having their wealth stolen and them paralysed with terror is reminiscent of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The riches of Kuwait were taken back to Babylon. This feature of the prophecy (Jer. 49:28-33) could never have meaningfully been fulfilled in the past.

-          Note that the horn / antiChrist moves to the south [Kuwait?], to the east [Afghanistan?] and against Israel (Dan. 8:9).

Already Iraq / Babylon has attempted to invade Iran and Kuwait. Saddam Hussein and his successors were all distinctly pan-Arab in their outlook. They seek Arab unity under their leadership, however aggressively they achieve it, with a distinctly anti-Zionist agenda for that unity. Alternatively, it could be that Kedar is a more generic term for the Arabic peoples. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary says that Kedar “helped originate the Arab peoples”. They are called “the men of the east” (Jer. 49:28), which is “the general designation of the Arabs” (J.P.Lange, The Lange Commentary, Zondervan. 1976, p. 399). Whichever way we take it, Babylon never did all these things historically- they never invaded all the nations defined in Jer. 49, some of which never meaningfully existed at that time. So they must be fulfilled in our last days. And so we ask, Who is Babylon of the last days? It seems clear enough it cannot be the Roman Catholics- there is no sign they plan a violent invasion of the Arab world. But Babylon in its literal sense of Iraq, lead by an antiChrist, charismatic leader- this fits the bill admirably. In passing, the statement is often made that the “temporal power of the papacy” ended in 1870, according to some continuous historical views. If this is really to be accepted, then Babylon has lost its power, if it is to be equated with the Catholic church. Yet Babylon must be alive and powerful in the last days to fulfil the prophecies still outstanding. And there is no evidence that the ‘temporal power of the Papacy’ is over at all. But this in passing.

It seems likely therefore that ‘Babylon’ of the last days will rise to political and military dominance in the Arab world. The 10 nations / horns / leaders which exist in the land promised to Abraham- the “kings of the earth / land”- will give their power to Babylon, by force and by political manoeuvre, and this system will then invade Israel. The horns hating the whore implies there will be inter-Arab friction apparent in the beast system throughout its' existence. "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (Mt. 24:7) will be a sign of the last days. In the AD70 context, this referred to friction between the Semitic peoples living around Israel; and the Lord's words are clearly an allusion to 2 Chron. 15:6, which specifically uses the phrase about inter-Arab friction. The fragile alliance between them will then be broken by the Lord’s return, the horns will hate the whore and destroy her. They give their power to the beast for but “one hour”. Daniel seems to associate a covenant which is then broken with the latter day Antichrist. Is. 30:27-31 speaks of the latter day Assyrian as placing “a bridle in the jaw of the people causing them to err”, referring to some kind of covenant / agreement which forces others to follow their direction. The Lord’s especial fury will be against the individual latter day Nebuchadnezzar who leads the invasion. The future leader of Babylon, after the example of Saddam Hussein, will see themselves as Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah and Micah describe the latter day invader of the land as “the Assyrian” (Is. 10:5; 14:25; 30:31; Mic. 5:1-6). This itself suggests we are to see the individual who heads up the invasion, the rosh / chief prince of Ez. 38:2, as an ethnic Assyrian / Iraqi. Dan. 8:24,25 invites us to see the same- the “king of fierce countenance” stands up out of the area of northern Iraq / northern Iran.

The great, terrible beast of the last days is an aggregate of all those that went before it. It includes the total number of heads and horns which they featured. Likewise the whole image of Dan. 2 stands erect in the last days, headed up by a latter day Nebuchadnezzar [note that he personally was the head of gold, rather than the gold representing Babylon’s empire). All the nations which formed part of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman empires will be amalgamated into this latter day beast system, under the leadership of a latter day Nebuchadnezzar. These nations include:

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Portugal, Spain, France, England, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the former Yugoslav republics, Romania, Albania, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan- as well as Iraq. It is chillingly significant that this list of nations is almost identical with a list of those areas which for the first time ever now have many true Christian converts living in them. It could be that this is God giving them a final opportunity to repent. It would seem that the core of the beast system will be the 10 kings of the earth / land promised to Abraham that will be the horns who form part of the system but then turn against the whore finally. Daniel 7 says that the Antichrist takes three of the other nations of the former Roman empire by force. But Dan. 8:25; 11:21 say that he will have power over the other nations by treachery, cunning treaties and manipulation. We will only finally understand all this when we see it happen. Dan. 8:26,27 and 12:6 tell us that the meaning of the visions are sealed until the time of the end, i.e. when they start to be fulfilled. “The revelation awaits an appointed time; for it speaks of the end” (Dan. 12:2). We may speculate about who and what and where, but these things are sealed up until they actually happen- thenwe will understand. It is therefore not so that these prophecies are designed to encourage “saints of all ages”- for the meaning of the prophecy is sealed up until the time of the end. However, it is possible to see in the process of formulation of correct understanding that seems to be happening in our community that we are being prepared for the last days. Likewise the world-wide spread of the Gospel and the return of the Jews to their land are beginning in embryo. The vision was to be made plain, so that a herald may run with it (Dan. 12:2,3 Heb.). The latter day preaching of the Gospel world-wide will be motivated by this true and thrilling understanding of latter day prophecy. We will see our place in God’s larger plan, and respond to it. Many will run to and fro to increase knowledge, i.e. to increase knowledge amongst others- for running to and fro will not increase knowledge amongst the runners (Dan. 12:4). Yet according to 2 Thess. 2, there will be a massive apostasy from the Truth in the very last days, whilst antiChrist is enthroned. Could this not be because so many of the true Christian community have been expecting that antiChrist will not reign like this, that Israel will never possibly be overrun, and that they have had to own up to having been looking the wrong way in their decades of analysis of the Roman Catholic church and Russia? When they finally own up to the anti-Semitism of Britain, will it not be they will find it hard to maintain faith in a God whom they had hitherto believed had prophesied that Tarshish / Britain would save Israel ⁽¹⁾? And yet, the Gospel will be accepted world-wide in the final preaching of it; and when it has gone into all nations, then shall the end come. It could well be that a materialistic, self-satisfied, dogmatic, divisive Anglo-saxon brotherhood is replaced in the very last days by a genuinely international world-wide community of new believers.

Latter day Witnessing To Babylon

According to Rev. 17 & 18, the latter day Babylon persecutes the saints, both Israel and the believers, and extends her power over “all the earth”. Her leadership sits on seven mountains. All attempts to identify these with literal hills in Jerusalem or Rome seem to me rather futile as the prophecy states clearly enough that these seven mountains represent seven kings (Rev. 17:9,10 RV “they are seven kings”). And there are very few symbols in Revelation which we are intended to interpret dead literally. The latter day Babylon will therefore head up a confederacy of seven nations. When the mountains flee in Rev. 16:10, Babylon loses the support base of the coalition she leads. These kings are described in Rev. 17:18 as the kings of the land- that promised to Abraham. And within the boundaries of that land we find seven such nations- Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran. The appeal in Rev. 14:6-8 and Rev. 18:4 for Christian believers to “come out of her” would imply that there are believers within those nations and that there will be a major witness made to her- and it is surely highly significant that there has been a great growth in conversions in those areas in recent times! This is a sure sign that we are approaching the time of the end. Sadly Rev. 18:24 implies that believers will be murdered in these areas in the final tribulation- and already the persecution and murder of Christian converts is in full swing there. The description of Babylon sitting upon various peoples, nations and tongues is to be connected with the same use of the phrase in Rev. 5:9 and 7:9 to describe the world from which Christian believers are drawn out. And significantly, the same phrase is very commonly used in Daniel to describe the area ruled over by historical Babylon (Dan. 3:4,29; 4:1; 5:19; 6:25; 7:14). God will make the various nations under Babylon’s rule to “agree” (Rev. 17:17)- there will be an unprecedented unity amongst those nations located within the land promised to Abraham. Pan-Arabism will triumph in the end. The resolution of the Iran-Iraq tensions is one example of this ‘agreement’ being reached. This union will lead to economic prosperity for the region (Rev. 18:3)- easy to imagine, given the huge oil wealth of these areas. Babylon will become a fake Kingdom of God; hence she is described in terms elsewhere applied to the people and land of Israel (Rev. 18:22,23). Babylon is arrayed in fine linen (Rev. 18:16) as a pseudo-bride of Christ.

Babylon As Capital Of The Beast

The image of Daniel 2 must stand complete in the last days- the whole image, not just the toes, are to be broken in pieces “together”. Babylon, the head of gold, must therefore rule over the system which the image represents. Daniel 7 depicts the various metals of the image as various beasts. The final beast of the last days incorporates all the elements of the previous beasts. But her head will be Babylon, replete with a latter day Nebuchadnezzar. Note that the first three of the empires of Daniel’s image had Babylon as their capital. It is appropriate that the latter day revival of the image and beast has Babylon likewise as it’s capital. It surely cannot be accidental that in Babylon today, “the ancient temple of Ishtar has been rebricked, replastered and whitewashed…carved into the bricks are reliefs of oxen and a mythical beast called the mushrishu, with the head of a serpent, body of a fish, front legs of a lion, and back legs of an eagle” (Chattanooga New Free Press, April 5, 1987). Latter day Babylon chooses to identify itself as an amalgam of beasts! 2 Thess. 2 says that the man of sin will sit in the temple of God showing himself to be God. This exactly fits what we would expect of an Arab dictator- Nebuchadnezzar carried the vessels of Yahweh’s temple into his own temple, setting himself up as God Himself.

Habakkuk speaks of how Babylon will be headed up by an individual- he speaks sometimes of “he”, sometimes of “they”; the RV cp. AV interchanges the pronouns. Babylon will be headed up by her charismatic ruler, who will “gather to himself all the nations and take captive all the people” (Hab. 2:4,5). This is just the picture in Ez. 38- the ‘chief prince’ of Gog / Assyria / Babylon will be like an iron guard around the other nations which will come up with him. The Babylonians are raised up as an “hasty” people- i.e. the whole time scale will be limited. He will sweep across the whole earth / land in a kind of blitzkrieg. His cavalry will “fly”- the whole impression is of a lightening rise to power and invasion. It won’t be something that can be predicted and mapped out over decades of ‘signs of the times’ articles in Christian magazines. Hab. 1:15 describes him as fishing with a drag net, gathering men of all nations- exactly the same image used by the real Christ in describing His saving work, as opposed to the destructive work of this Arab / Babylonian antichrist. Note too how Nebuchadnezzar was described as a lion, with eagle’s wings, eating grass like an ox, his hair like an eagle, with the the heart of a man. In him were manifested the four faces of the cherubim: lion, ox, eagle, man. He was a fake manifestation of God, just as antichrist will be.

The Revival Of Babylon Iraq

 The Revival Of Babylon

Unfulfilled Prophecies About Babylon

The whole prophetic meta narrative of the Bible is in many ways a tale of two cities- Babylon and Jerusalem. There are times when Babylon masquerades as Zion- a false city of God with a false Messiah leading her. Babylon / Babel was a city built to reach unto Heaven, in contrast to the true city of God which comes down from Heaven (Gen. 11:4 cp. Rev. 21:2). And there are times when Zion in her apostacy has appeared as Babylon. But in the final conflict of the last days, these two cities will be literally pitted against each other. Zion will briefly succumb under the might and pride of Babylon, to rise again in eternal glory. It was in Babylon where Nimrod first built the tower of Babel, the first organized rebellion against God; and it was there that God first entered into open judgment of flesh and humanity en masse. And it is here likewise that His purpose with sin and His true people will likewise be fulfilled. Babylon was also called Su-anna, “the holy city”. Yet “the holy city” is Jerusalem, thus making Babylon a fake Zion. Herodotus says the city was square, just as new Jerusalem. We have shown elsewhere that the events of the Babylonian invasion are typical of the last days. That invasion was “the time of [Israel’s] trouble” (Jer. 11:12), clearly typical of Jacob’s latter day “time of trouble”.

“Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19). And yet Babylon was never suddenly overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah in their fiery destruction. It was conquered by the Medes and Persians and fell into decline, but it was not violently destroyed. Likewise: “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again he will choose Israel and settle them in their own land....They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.... On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended! .. . All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing” (Isaiah 14:1-4, 7). When Babylon is ultimately destroyed, Israel will finally be at Peace and will dwell in safety. Israel has been a nation since 1948, but not for one day has the nation of Israel known real peace or ease. It has never been able to claim all the lands God promised the Israelites, and Israel's Arab neighbours have been a constant threat and danger.

There is the assumption by many that all the O.T. prophecies about ‘Babylon’ were fulfilled in the overrunning of Babylon by the Medes. However, there are many details of those prophecies which didn’t have a total fulfilment, and this we must see what the Medes did as but a partial, incipient fulfilment of what is going to come in the last days. This also requires that we understand ‘Babylon’ as literal Babylon- for it was against her that the prophecies were uttered in the first place. And quite clearly, the prophecies of Revelation against ‘Babylon’ are extensions of those of the Old Testament. We therefore are encouraged to see the ‘Babylon’ of Revelation as the Babylon of the prophets- i.e., literal Babylon. Jeremiah 51 predicts the judgment of Babylon, and yet v. 46 says this is a time when ruler will figh ruler. And this is quoted in Mt. 24:6,7 as being specifically applicable to our last days.

Here are some of the unfulfilled details, which require a latter day fulfilment:

-          Literal Babylon decayed due to the ravages of time, whereas Babylon was to fall “suddenly” (Jer. 51:8). And Rev. 18 tells us that the fall of Babylon will be “in one hour”, smiting her down suddenly in her prime. This must be future in its fulfilment. Rev. 18:22 and 14:8 both speak of “Babylon is fallen” as applying to a latter day scenario. And yet these words are lifted straight from Is. 21:9 and Jer, 51:8, prophecies about literal Babylon being destroyed suddenly- a destruction which is clearly future, seeing the city was never so suddenly destroyed in the past. The suddenness of the destruction is a keynote of these prophecies.

-          Jer. 51:42 states that Babylon is to be submerged underwater. Maybe this is yet to come upon a revived Babylon.

-          When Babylon falls, Israel and Judah would repent and unitedly return to Zion with singing and enter into the everlasting covenant (Jer. 50:4,5). This didn’t happen when Babylon ‘fell’ before, even if it had the potential of coming true.

-          The poor and needy would trample down Babylon (Is. 26:6).

-          It is not true that Babylon has been uninhabited “for ever”. “The city of Babylon has never ceased to exist. Although its name was changed on two occasions, it has never been totally unpopulated. Hillah presently has 250,000 citizens and was built almost entirely of bricks from the parts of the old city of Babylon” (Joseph Chambers, A Palace For The Antichrist p. 146). Note too that the Babylonian Talmud was written by Jews living in Babylon in the 6^th century AD. 1 Pet. 5:13 may well imply there was even an ecclesia there in the first century.

-          “For the Lord will have mercy upon Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them [the Babylonians], and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors” (Is. 14:1,2) has never been fulfilled yet. It will be in the last days; and at this time, as Is. 14 goes on to detail, Babylon [literal Babylon, in the context] will fall.

Other prophecies about the sudden destruction of literal Babylon- which can only be latter day in their application- are also the basis for the words of Revelation about latter day Babylon. Consider:

“Thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me: I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children” (Is. 47:8)	“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously…for she hath said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow” (Rev. 18:7).
“But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood” (Is. 47:9)	“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning” (Rev. 18:8)
“Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up” (Is. 47:13)	“For by thy sorceries…” (Rev. 18:23)

Therefore we conclude that the Babylon of Revelation is the Babylon of Jeremiah and Isaiah, literal Babylon, which awaits her full punishment. This conclusion is strengthened once it is appreciated how the harlot Babylon of Rev. 17, loud, gaudy, decked with jewellery and painted face, is replete with reference to Semiramis, the goddess / mother of Nimrod, and one of the patron gods of literal Babylon.

We have shown elsewhere that the antichrist is a mimic of the true Christ; his kingdom is a parody of God’s Kingdom. And the King of Babylon claiming “I am and none else beside me” are the very words of Yahweh- the King of Babylon is clearly to be identified with the man of sin, who sits as God in God’s temple (2 Thess. 2). But the similarities run deeper. The Babylonian epic of creation is a parody of the Genesis account; the flood has its’ counterpart in the epic of Gilgamesh; and the Code of Hammurabi, an early ruler of Babylon, was clearly an anti-law of Moses. And Saddam Hussein’s supporters used to greet him as the Messiah of the Arab world (Chambers, p. 45). Now Saddam has passed off the scene, but the point is that a similar charismatic leader could arise and be the antichrist.

The accounts of the latter day invasion of Israel all feature a single charismatic individual, who will be destroyed personally by the Lord Jesus at His coming. This is Paul’s “man of sin”, Daniel’s aggressive king of fierce countenance, Ezekiel’s Gog, the chief prince. It is also the person referred to by Micah: “And this man [Messiah] shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land” (Mic. 5:1,2). The Lord Jesus will save His people in the latter days from an “Assyrian”. It has been shown that Assyria and Babylon are used almost interchangeably in Scripture (H.A. Whittaker, ). Gog was a Jew who apostatized and went to live in Assyria / Babylonia, according to 1 Chron. 5. This is why he has the appearance of spirituality; and he may even be an Arab Christian. I say this because 2 Thess. 2 describes him as “the son of perdition”, exactly the phrase used about Judas, the false disciple of Jesus. Notice how Tariq Aziz [Iraqi foreign minister at the time of writing] and other leading members of the Iraqi cabinet are in fact Arab Christians, not Moslems.

Historical Evidence That Literal Babylon Has Yet To Fall

Summing up, the following prophecies were given against Babylon by Isaiah and Jeremiah:

1. Babylon to be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

2. Never to be inhabited.

3. Never to be built from generation to generation.

4. Never an Arabian to pitch his tent there.

5. Never shepherds to make their folds there.

6. To be destroyed suddenly.

7. To be made a desolation.

8. Not a stone from ancient Babylon to be used in building.

9. To be a desolation, wilderness; no man to dwell or pass there.

Yet in 1900 it could be said of Hilprecht, an archaeologist: “Before Professor Hilprecht left Babylonia, he accepted a cordial invitation from the German expedition working at Kuwairesh, a small Arab village on the Euphrates, beautifully situated between the palm groves at the foot of the ruins which cover Nebuchadnezzar’s palace in ancient Babylon” . This contradicts prophecies 1–5 above.

Again, “The expectations that interesting treasures of art would be discovered in the interior of the palace have not yet been realized, the history of Babylon’s gradual decay being unfavorable to such expectations” - contradicts 6–7 above.

Again, “The expectations that interesting treasures of art centuries has served as the almost inexhaustible quarry for public and private buildings, from the embankments of the Tigris opposite Bagdad to the modern structures of the Hindiya canal and in the town of Hillah”- contradicts 8–9 above. [These quotes are taken from an article in Bibliotheca Sacra, July 1950].

The prophecy of Isaiah 13:5–13 seems to be a picture of the final “day of the Lord,” and not necessarily of Babylon’s fall in 538 B.C. Never did anything like this destruction occur when Babylon fell. She fell quietly. In fact one part of the city did not know that the Medes and Persians had entered the city until sometime later. The invaders dried up the Euphrates’ river-bed and marched in beneath the city gates. The Babylonians were taken completely by surprise. Pember says, “After Cyrus entered Babylon with joy and gladness, he enlarged the royal palace, the seat of royalty; and Merodach, whom the Babylonians had grieved, daily rejoiced the heart of his followers. His wide-spreading forces were distributed over the land peacefully; and he repaired the cities, and made the children of Babylon joyful”. Babylon has never been without an inhabitant. No violence was done in 538 B.C., as already seen. In 516 Darius made a siege to quell a revolt. Only 3,000 were killed. The rest of Babylon he allowed to remain. In 478 Xerxes plundered, but did not destroy the city. In 331 Babylon received Alexander with open arms. Strabo says that Seleucia, a city named after the Seleucidae, was situated near Babylon. It drew many people from Babylon, so that Babylon became almost, but not quite, deserted. In 450 A.D. Theodoret said that Babylon was inhabited by only a few Jews- so there was clearly some habitation there. However other sources say that three universities flourished there. At this time the Babylon Talmud became widely known. In 917 Babylon was still in existence, though now a small village. In 1100 Babylon’s name was changed to Hillah (“rest”). It had two Arab mosques, therefore had grown a bit. The name Hillah has designated Babylon to the present day. In 1585 the bishop of Freisingen said that half of the old city of Babylon was desolate, but the other half was flourishing. He obtained this information from travellers. In 1888, Pember’s time, Babylon had grown to about ten thousand in population. In 1920 Hillah had about twenty thousand people, mostly Arabs. It boasted wool and cotton textile manufacturing, but its chief occupation was cultivating the date palm. In 1936 the population had grown to 30,000. The city lies on the Bagdad to Basra rail-line. Pember also mentions the stone taken from Babylon for building purposes which, according to Jeremiah, was never to be done after it fell. He claims that many villages and towns have been built from Babylonian stone. Such cities as Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Al Modain, and Kufa are some of these.1. The destruction of the city is a sudden thing. The phrase “in one hour” occurs several times in Rev. 18. This destruction is like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Literal Babylon was not destroyed “in one hour” in 536 BC. The predicted fall of Babylon must therefore be in our last days.

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