Prophecies of Isaiah, Pt 7
There are so many sections of Scripture within the Old Testament that highlight future events, many of which are closely connected to the nation of Israel, that it behooves us to consider the overall force of all Scripture when discussing these subjects. In our quest to learn more about specific prophecies found within Isaiah, we have gone from a basic introduction leading up to Isaiah 7, where we learn of the specific sign that God Himself would provide; the birth of Messiah, to more specifics about the Son that was to be born in Isaiah 9. From there, we moved onto Isaiah 11, which speaks of the peaceful, righteous future rule of Jesus over all the earth.
Our fourth installment of Isaiah brought us back to Isaiah 2, which also speaks to the fact of Messiah Jesus’ rule over the earth in the coming Millennial Kingdom. Part five of this series focused in not necessarily on specific prophecies, but on the way Isaiah felt about himself after realizing how filthy he was in God’s Presence. It was only after He was made ceremonially clean through the touching of a hot coal to his lips by one of the seraphim was Isaiah able to move on with a far greater understanding of God’s grace over Creation.
Part Six brought our focus on God’s plan for Babylon’s complete and total destruction, which may yet be future. That article was followed up with the one titled “Babylon’s Future Demise.” I’d like to use this article to focus even more on the future Babylon because between Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation alone, God focuses on His plans to destroy Babylon.
What is interesting of course, is that Babylon was not destroyed when the Medes-Persians conquered that city. They essentially incorporated Babylon into their growing kingdom so in that sense, their conquering of Babylon did not fulfill prophetic discourse related to the absolute and total annihilation of Babylon.
Even with the kingdom following the Medo-Persian Empire – the Grecian Empire – Babylon wasn’t completely destroyed. In fact, Dr. Charles Dyer points out in his book, Future Babylon: The Biblical Arguments for the Rebuilding of Babylon – that when Cyrus the Mede went into conquer Babylon, which was under Belshazzar at that time, people were not slaughtered en masse. In fact, historical records point to the fact that Cyrus deliberately told his soldiers to treat the people with kindness.
Yet, reading Isaiah 13-14, Jeremiah 50-51, and Revelation 16-18 tells us that many will die and there will be terrible destruction when Babylon is finally and ultimately destroyed. Does this mean that Babylon, the city, will rise again from its own ruins? God promised that once He destroyed Babylon, nothing would live there except scorpions, snakes, and a few other things. It would be as Sodom and Gomorrah and we know that these cities of the plains, once destroyed by God never rose again.
But what about Babylon? In his book, Dyer compares many portions of Scripture (allowing Scripture to interpret itself), and ultimately comes to rest on the belief that Babylon will rise again and will become a major city of the future that will be completely destroyed during the coming Tribulation period. Dyer’s book, a short one at 130 pages loaded with important information, is broken up into five sections:
- Why Do Protestants Interpret Babylon Spiritually?
- What Happened to Babylon Historically?
- What Does the Bible Say about Babylon?
- Conclusion
- Study Guide – Why Does Babylon Matter Today?
His section dealing with the history of Babylon is enlightening. Dyer details Babylon’s temporary destruction by Sennacherib in 698 BC. He then discusses the details of Babylon’s fall to Cyrus (the Mede) in 539 BC. I’m familiar with both of these points of time in history. However, his third point (under point #2), deals with Babylon’s history after these two situations, from 530 BC all the way to AD 1975. It’s a fascinating read, taking us all the way through Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Regarding Babylon, there appears to be a great deal of misinformation on the ‘Net as is usual. The sad part is that at least some of this misinformation comes from people who claim to be Christians. One individual says this about Babylon’s Tower of Babel.
If one would ask a westerner “Where is Mount Babel?” They would probably think the question is regarding a biblical or an archaeological site in Iraq. But if one asks an Arab today, “where is Mount Babel?” They would tell you that its (sic) in Mecca and it has 7 massive buildings on top of it called “The Towers Of The House” that overlooks the Ka’ba, Islam’s holiest place.
The individual quoted above is attempting to show that the Babylon mentioned in Scripture is not associated with the Vatican. To that end, I would certainly agree with him. However, he makes his own unreasonable (and unscriptural), jump to say that today’s Mecca is where the Biblical Babylon of the future will be located and in fact, is already located there. To this, I would thoroughly disagree.
Mecca is not where Ancient Babylon or the Tower of Babel were located. The Babylonian Kingdom was in the place that is now, shared by numerous countries, Iraq is chief among them. In fact, the group called World Monuments Fund (WMF) is one of the main groups seeking to rebuild the ancient city of Babylon, something that began in earnest during the reign of Saddam Hussein, who literally called himself “Son of Nebuchadnezzar.”
Though archaeological efforts have slowed greatly because of wars and upheaval in that area of the world, movement and plans continue with respect to resurrecting Babylon, at the very least, in a form that will be viewed by millions of tourists throughout the world. In spite of a slow down, the WMF continues its work to uncover and rebuild Babylon. Are they unknowingly fulfilling prophecy?
WMF’s caption: Foundations of the Tower of Babylon or ziggurat as seen from the air, 2004.
The truth regarding the city of Babylon is that it is not in modern-day Mecca (or the Mecca of old). This Mecca is way too far south of Iraq where the original city of Babylon existed. WMF’s involvement in the restoration of Babylon and surrounding areas has allowed them to have cataloged the area’s digs with pictures. Among other things, they believe they have uncovered the foundation for the ziggurat the Bible calls the Tower of Babel.
The ancient city of Babylon is believed to be not far from the modern city of Baghdad. The two cities are separate entities and there appears a push today to see them as the same city even though they are not in the exact same vicinity.
If Ancient Babylon was not far from modern-day Baghdad in Iraq, it is a sure bet that if the Bible tells us the city will once again rise from the ruins to become a world-renowned city of which the “kings of the earth” partake of Babylon’s pleasures for ill-gotten gain, then that city will be in the same area it once stood. There is no reason for it to be anywhere else and as I’ve said many times before, the only way to put it someplace else is by allegorizing or spiritualizing the text of the Bible.
With respect to the individual quoted above regarding Mecca, this person tends to make huge jumps based on what he hears about or reads in the news regarding certain Muslim leaders in various places of Europe. On several occasions, he seems to imply President Erdogan of Turkey is the Antichrist. This is dangerous to start putting people’s names with this upcoming final man of sin. It’s been done plenty of times by many authors and commentators over the years and there is really no room for it.
The world will not know who the Antichrist is until he manages to broker a “peace” agreement between Israel and the surrounding Arab nations (Daniel 9:27). When that occurs, then God will have revealed the Antichrist to the world. Only those steeped in Scripture will realize it. Many will miss it entirety, focusing on the fact that apparently real peace in the Middle East has finally come to the world and everyone can be happy. It won’t last though because as Scripture points out (Daniel 9:27, 2 Thessalonians 2, etc.), this same individual who brokers a peace deal will be the one who breaks it only three and a half years into the seven years of alleged peace.
Global society is without doubt moving toward the end of these last days. Though we have an American president who now seems to support the rule of law, ultimately, God’s purposes will prevail. No president – no matter how righteous – will keep the coming Tribulation from happening or the other parts of prophetic Scripture that must still find fulfillment.
It will be interesting to see what transpires over the next few years regarding Babylon. Will it rise again? If so, what will it be like? Chances are great that this city, according to Scripture, will be rebuilt and play a part in the coming Tribulation. However, what is far more important for each and every Christian is to live in a way that glorifies God so that others might see the difference in our lives and be pointed to the God of glory, who has died for their sin.
While it can be beneficial to note the times, we do not do so out of fear, but out of expectation. We fully expect God to fulfill His promises and to bring all things under His physical rule as He returns to this earth at the end of the Tribulation.
During the coming Tribulation, with Christians having been raptured prior to the beginning, it will appear to humanity that all vestiges of Christianity and even religious thinking (except religious humanism, aka Eastern Mysticism/New Agism), will be gone. Humanity will feel the “victory” of having arrived to a place where it will most certainly feel like peace has been achieved. Of course, this will be an illusion and the renewed city of Babylon may well be part of that illusion.
Entry filed under: Atheism and religion, christianity, Cultural Marxism, Demonic, devil worship, dispensationalism, Eastern Mysticism, Emotional virtue, new age movement, Political Correctness, Politically Correct, Politics, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, Satanism, second coming. Tags: babylon, city of babylon, mecca, nebuchadnezzar, president erdogan, saddam hussein, tribulation, turkey.
Study - Grow - Know 
Recent Comments