1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,760 You know, there are certain names, places, and nations that are quickly recognizable 2 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:12,000 to the student of the Bible. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,560 And of course, one of the great thrills is that which some of you have had, and that 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:24,320 is to visit the lands of the Bible where that narrative took place, where that history came 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:34,320 to pass and to see firsthand many of these places whose names we've heard since childhood. 6 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,720 Regarding some of them, little is known. 7 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,860 Not much remains regarding some of the places. 8 00:00:40,860 --> 00:00:46,460 But other places are well documented, not only in biblical history, but in secular history 9 00:00:46,460 --> 00:00:48,180 as well. 10 00:00:48,180 --> 00:00:52,820 And Babylon is an example of the latter. 11 00:00:52,820 --> 00:00:58,480 To grasp the place of Babylon in the history of the world, it might be helpful to envision 12 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:02,680 four mountains with valleys in between them. 13 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:09,760 Because it seems to me that there are four peaks, shall we say, when the history of Babylon 14 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:18,880 comes before us in a magnificent way, in a way that should strike our attention, in a 15 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:25,180 way that would cause us to stand back and say, that is important. 16 00:01:25,180 --> 00:01:30,960 The history of Babylon has been a continuous one in many respects, but there are four peaks, 17 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:36,320 so to speak, when that history needs to be examined for us to understand what the Bible 18 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:42,120 says regarding the place of Babylon in the history of the world. 19 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:51,120 It might be best to say upfront that Babylon refers to a literal place, to a city, also 20 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,160 to an empire. 21 00:01:54,160 --> 00:02:02,320 But Babylon also in the Bible has symbolic or allegorical meaning as well. 22 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:10,440 For Babylon has represented in the Bible rebellion and defiance against God. 23 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:19,760 Babylon stands throughout the Old Testament in opposition to God and to his chosen people. 24 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:30,400 It is a godless human system as well as a place and a city. 25 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,120 And that will be more clear as we come to the end of our time tonight. 26 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:41,880 But as we think about the four peaks of Babylon's history, I think it's best to begin with 27 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:50,200 Genesis chapter 10, so I invite you to turn there with me. 28 00:02:50,200 --> 00:03:00,920 In Genesis chapter 10, we have recorded for us the descendants of the sons of Noah. 29 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:09,240 And beginning in verse 6, it is the descendants of his son Ham. 30 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:19,560 One of his sons was named Cush, and in verse 8 it says, now Cush became the father of Nimrod. 31 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,040 He became a mighty one on the earth. 32 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:26,760 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. 33 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:33,120 Therefore it is said, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. 34 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:41,760 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and also Erech and Achad and Akalna in the 35 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,360 land of Shinar. 36 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:53,000 And so we come across the name of one Nimrod, who is the great-grandson of Noah. 37 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:58,320 It says here that this one was mighty on the earth. 38 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:04,560 This is the same word that is used back in chapter 6 and verse 4, where it says, the 39 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:14,080 Nephilim were on the earth in those days, that is the days before the flood, and also afterward, 40 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:19,860 when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. 41 00:04:19,860 --> 00:04:27,000 Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. 42 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:36,240 This is not an easy Hebrew word to dissect, and yet it seems to imply much more than just 43 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,800 physical might or prowess. 44 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:47,080 When it calls Nimrod a mighty one on the earth, it's not saying that he rivals Arnold Schwarzenegger. 45 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:52,520 It has a whole lot more meaning than that, because the implication here in the might 46 00:04:52,520 --> 00:05:00,400 and the power of this man was that he was mighty and powerful in wickedness, in iniquity. 47 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:07,560 That certainly is the context in Genesis chapter 6, among those people called the Nephilim, 48 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:13,560 who were upon the earth in those days, as it speaks of the might of those people, their 49 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:23,600 renown, it's talking about their fame, their notorious reputation for wickedness. 50 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:28,240 The same thought seems to be true regarding Nimrod. 51 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,720 When it calls him a mighty hunter, another understanding of that phrase can be a mighty 52 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:40,600 rebel or a wicked rebel before the Lord. 53 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:46,280 We see regarding Nimrod that he founded a place that was called Babel, and it was in 54 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:50,260 the land of Shinar, which is the Mesopotamian area. 55 00:05:50,260 --> 00:05:55,580 If your Bible has maps in the back of it, you may want to look there as we're talking 56 00:05:55,580 --> 00:05:59,640 and find a map that deals with the ancient world. 57 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,680 Normally, that is included in the maps that are in the back of the Bible, and you will 58 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:10,480 find there perhaps all of these cities that are listed in verse 10. 59 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:18,320 Some of them are listed in my own Bible map, but the city of Babel is the one that has 60 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,200 come to be known as Babylon later on. 61 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:29,400 We find the origin of the city of Babel, this permanent settlement in the land of Shinar, 62 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:36,120 was Nimrod, Nimrod who was a mighty rebel against the Lord. 63 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:43,520 He represents a revival, it seems, of that pre-flood spirit of humanism. 64 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:51,000 Now remember, after the flood, there was only Noah and his wife, Mrs. Noah, and their three 65 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:58,320 sons and their three wives, and so Nimrod was born after the flood. 66 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:08,400 He seems to represent the pre-flood spirit of humanism, the autonomy of man, the rebellion 67 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:15,040 of man against God, and he founded Babel with that kind of a spirit, the spirit of human 68 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,380 independence from God. 69 00:07:19,380 --> 00:07:23,280 Now in chapter 11, we find out more regarding this place. 70 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:30,240 It says, the whole earth used the same language and the same words, and it came about as they 71 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:37,460 journeyed east, that is the people, as they immigrated toward the east, they found a plain 72 00:07:37,460 --> 00:07:42,760 in the land of Shinar and settled there, and they said to one another, come let us make 73 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:48,400 bricks and burn them thoroughly, and they used brick for stone and they used tar for 74 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:56,000 mortar and they said, come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into 75 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:01,840 heaven and let us make for ourselves a name lest we be scattered abroad over the face 76 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,560 of the whole earth. 77 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:09,840 Now I think it's fair to say that that was, in fact, God's plan, that humankind should 78 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:17,400 scatter over the face of the earth and replenish the earth with the human population, that 79 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,360 the earth should be filled and subdued in that sense. 80 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:28,440 But we see here the spirit in man not wanting to scatter, but rather to remain together. 81 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:34,800 And so these people mentioned here begin to build a city and a tower. 82 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:40,440 And it says, the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had 83 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:46,320 built and the Lord said, behold they are one people and they all have the same language 84 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,600 and this is what they began to do and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible 85 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,840 for them, come let us go down. 86 00:08:54,840 --> 00:09:01,000 And there confused their language that they may not understand one another's speech. 87 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:07,200 And so it's obvious that the tower that was being built was to be a rallying point. 88 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:13,700 It was to be the focal point for that civilization and it was to represent man in his independence 89 00:09:13,700 --> 00:09:14,700 from God. 90 00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:19,000 And God clearly saw that, that's the way God evaluated it. 91 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:25,600 And in order to cause that to cease, God came down it says and he gave them different languages, 92 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:31,640 he scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth and they stopped building 93 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,760 the city therefore its name was called Babel. 94 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:41,920 Because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. 95 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:50,840 Now in the Akkadian language where Babel originates the word means gate of God. 96 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:54,720 And so that seems to be the name that the people had for it, that here was the gate 97 00:09:54,720 --> 00:10:00,400 of God and yet as the city was named Babel there was a double meaning to it and in the 98 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:08,240 Hebrew very similar word Babel means to confuse, it comes from that verb and that's where Moses 99 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:14,400 says that the name really finds its origin and that there God confused the languages 100 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:20,560 of men and God scattered man over the whole earth in order to bring to an end that rebellion 101 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:25,520 that Babel represented. 102 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:33,440 Well from secular history we learned that in time this area of Shinar or Mesopotamia 103 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:41,920 was developed by a people that were known as Sumerians, not Samaritans they were much 104 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:47,640 later but Sumerians, S-U-M-E-R-I-A-S, Sumerians. 105 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:55,160 The Sumerians precise origin is unknown and what examples we have of their written language 106 00:10:55,160 --> 00:11:02,640 seems difficult to relate to any other language that we know but their culture archaeologists 107 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:09,600 feel resembles that which was a part of the earliest civilization found in India and so 108 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:15,520 what we have here in the Sumerians are peoples whose roots go all the way back probably to 109 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,440 the text that we're reading about in the word of God. 110 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:25,240 For several hundred years the Sumerians were dominated by a people to the north of them 111 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,280 who were called Akkadians. 112 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:35,840 Now Akkadians are related to that other city that Nimrod founded Akkad, A-K-K-A-D and those 113 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:47,720 descendants who lived in that area dominated the Sumerians for a period of time. 114 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:52,160 Later on they were dominated by another group of people who were called the Guti people, 115 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:56,040 G-U-T-I, who were very fierce and barbarian. 116 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:06,680 But it was about 2100 B.C., about 4000 years ago, that the Sumerians rebelled and established 117 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:09,400 a nation of their own, a Sumerian nation. 118 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:15,440 Now I mention that because they had a capital city that they developed that was called Ur, 119 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:23,200 U-R and it was from that city Ur of the Chaldees as it is called in the Bible, this capital 120 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:29,720 city of the Sumerians that Abraham or Abram was called out from God just about this time, 121 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,080 2100 B.C. 122 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:38,000 He was called to go out of the land of Ur, the land of his fathers, into the land that 123 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:44,960 God would show him and his journey led him to Heron and then on eventually to the other 124 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:49,240 end of the Fertile Crescent in Palestine. 125 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:55,580 So we have a connection there with biblical history that it was from the Sumerian peoples 126 00:12:55,580 --> 00:13:03,200 and from the city of Ur that Abram was called out of God and there we have the plan of redemption 127 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:08,960 beginning to be fulfilled as God calls out his servant. 128 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:14,520 Well that's the first mountain peak so to speak, the origin of the city. 129 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:22,760 We come now after a couple of hundred years at least to another time when Babylon was 130 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:27,400 developed even more and it was what is called a city state. 131 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:34,440 In other words it was not a large empire but it was a city that controlled the area immediately 132 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:39,160 around it and so it was called a city state. 133 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,560 And it was in the second millennium B.C. that that area was conquered by a people called 134 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:49,640 the Amorites who are mentioned in the Old Testament of course and the city of Babylon 135 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:57,680 was restored and enlarged by the Amorites as their own capital city. 136 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:06,380 It was not long after that that the first dynasty of Babylon as it is called was formed. 137 00:14:06,380 --> 00:14:12,280 This is sometimes called Old Babylonia and its first king was a man by the name of Sumu 138 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:14,840 Abim. 139 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:20,880 He was the first ruler and he began ruling in about 1894 B.C. 140 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:29,040 Now I mention that because it was about that time that Joseph was down in Egypt and was 141 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:38,760 gaining power under Pharaoh and as you know was used to preserve his father Jacob and 142 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,480 his brethren in the time of famine. 143 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:49,960 And so about the time that Babylon arose for its second time of power, Old Babylonia it's 144 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:56,920 called, about the time that its first king came to his greatness in Bible history we 145 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:04,480 have Joseph down in Egypt so that kind of helps you relate that chronologically. 146 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:10,280 Now returning to Babylon, the most famous ruler in Old Babylonia in secular history 147 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,680 was a man by the name of Hemerabai. 148 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:21,720 He was the sixth king actually in Old Babylonia and reigned from 1792 to 1750 B.C. 149 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:23,080 He was a man of many interests. 150 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,080 He had a lot of culture about him. 151 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:33,120 He was a military leader, quite a politician, a refined statesman. 152 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,720 And he is best known for what is called the Code of Hemerabai. 153 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:44,560 If you've had any courses in world history or perhaps even in law you've heard of the 154 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,360 Code of Hemerabai. 155 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:54,080 This code was discovered in this century in 1901. 156 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,880 It was actually discovered in another city than Babylon but in that other city they found 157 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:06,320 an object called a stele which is an upright stone on which had been engraved some things 158 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,880 and originally this stone had been over in Babylon before it had been moved. 159 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:18,800 And Hemerabai had caused this engraving to be on the stone and what it was on the stone 160 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:23,040 was an outlining of the rights of individuals. 161 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:27,820 This was a brand new concept in Hemerabai's time. 162 00:16:27,820 --> 00:16:35,200 He outlined there furthermore the law of retaliation which became a very important thing, the lex 163 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,280 talionis. 164 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:44,280 And he described in his code varying penalties according to the social class of the person. 165 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:50,120 I don't want to belabor that point except to say that old Babylonia was best known for 166 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:55,880 this man and for what is called the Code of Hemerabai. 167 00:16:55,880 --> 00:17:00,960 Now about this same time that he lived and put together this code and wrote it upon that 168 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:08,200 stele, that piece of stone, the Jews were already in slavery down in Egypt. 169 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:15,560 Joseph had died and the new Pharaoh rose who knew not Joseph and the descendants of Joseph 170 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:22,760 and his brethren were in slavery and they would be yet for about another 300 years before 171 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,760 the Exodus. 172 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:33,280 Well long before the Exodus, Babylon was captured by a people called the Hittites. 173 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,680 That was in 1595 BC. 174 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:42,900 Now I mention the Hittites in particular because for a long time only the Bible recorded the 175 00:17:42,900 --> 00:17:45,320 Hittite nation. 176 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:52,480 There was no record of them in secular history at all and liberal quote scholars mocked the 177 00:17:52,480 --> 00:18:00,200 Bible saying that here was an example of biblical inaccuracy, the non-historical nature of the 178 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:07,280 Bible for it mentioned a very powerful people called the Hittites that didn't even exist 179 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,640 in the ancient world. 180 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:13,920 However much to the chagrin of those people who believed that eventually the archaeologists 181 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:19,320 dug far enough and at the right places to find out that there was a Hittite nation after 182 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:24,280 all and that in fact it reigned just at the time that the Bible says it did and it was 183 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,640 just as powerful as the Bible says it was. 184 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:34,280 And the Hittites conquered Babylon about 1595 BC. 185 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:41,560 Later however it was overthrown by a group called the Cassites who were barbarians. 186 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,800 They had no interest in culture at all. 187 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:51,880 The only contribution that can be found from the Cassites is that they introduced the horse 188 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,440 into the Tigris Euphrates Valley. 189 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,000 Before that the horse was not known there. 190 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:03,520 But because these were such a barbarian people Babylon went downhill and it lost most of 191 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,240 its splendor and its power. 192 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:12,800 And so that ended that second mountain peak of Babylonian history. 193 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:18,840 The people of Babylonia failed and ended because of the Hittites and then the Cassites who 194 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,160 overthrew the people. 195 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:25,960 Now let me just mention as an aside at this point that at this same time about 500 miles 196 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:31,520 up the Tigris River if you look on your map in the back of the Bible you will find a small 197 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:37,880 kingdom perhaps mentioned, the kingdom of Asher. 198 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:44,120 The people who lived in that little kingdom came to be known later as the Assyrians. 199 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:51,100 And I mention them because as they rose to power over the centuries they had a part in 200 00:19:51,100 --> 00:19:58,360 beginning the third stage of Babylonian history, the third peak of history which is called 201 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:01,320 Neo-Babylonia. 202 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:10,960 And here we come beyond Babylonia a city state to an empire that ruled a vast territory. 203 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,560 And we also move several hundred years. 204 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,080 We've just talked about 1595 BC. 205 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:22,520 We're going to skip about 700 years now and come to the eighth century BC. 206 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:28,520 And now the Assyrians who we just mentioned have risen to power and they took an interest 207 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,000 in Babylonia. 208 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:38,120 They did so because their king, Shalmaneser III, was asked to come to Babylon to help 209 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:41,040 settle a political rivalry. 210 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:48,040 However once getting interested in it, being the kind of a power they were, they didn't 211 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,920 lose interest in Babylon. 212 00:20:51,920 --> 00:21:01,960 Later on one Meradock Baladin proclaimed Babylon independent from Syria and tried to throw off 213 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,840 these interested Assyrians. 214 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:09,920 He did this in 722-721 BC. 215 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:17,840 That by the way is the same year that the Assyrians went down to Samaria to the northern 216 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,960 kingdom called Israel and captured it. 217 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:28,040 Remember this morning we mentioned that after the death of Solomon the people of Israel 218 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,960 divided into two nations, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. 219 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:38,800 And the two were at times friendly and most of the time were hostile toward one another 220 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,200 though they were of the same parentage, the same heritage. 221 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:48,800 The northern kingdom, Samaria it was called at times with this capital city called Samaria, 222 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,280 was always a wicked nation, not one good king in all of their years. 223 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,440 And now God brings them into judgment. 224 00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:03,840 He ends that northern kingdom of Israel, Samaria, in 722 when the Assyrians come down and take 225 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,760 them away. 226 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:13,160 Babylon was able to sustain its independence from Syria for a period of time, about ten 227 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:22,440 years before its next king who was called Sargon II of Assyria regained control. 228 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:27,560 Now earlier I mentioned Meradock Baladin and some of these names may get confusing to you 229 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,200 but bear with me. 230 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:35,040 Meradock Baladin who had been this king of Babylon who tried to throw off the Assyrians 231 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:42,000 initially and now was overthrown again by the Assyrians, they did not kill him but rather 232 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:48,600 they allowed him to live and he took advantage of that and after a few years he was able 233 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:56,360 to bring together enough people to again make a bid for power in about 703 BC. 234 00:22:56,360 --> 00:23:00,600 Now I mention that because again that ties into biblical history and I'd like you to 235 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:09,840 turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 20 where he is mentioned. 236 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:15,440 He wants to come to power again but in order to really throw out the Assyrians he needed 237 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,280 some help. 238 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:24,760 And so he went to Hezekiah who was the king of Judah and asked Hezekiah to join him in 239 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,720 an alliance to fight off the Assyrians. 240 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:36,440 Well it says in verse 12 of 2 Kings 20, at that time Meradock Baladin, a son of Baladin, 241 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:41,000 king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah for he had heard that Hezekiah 242 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,040 had been sick. 243 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:48,360 Now this was not just a get well card, understand that he was doing this in order to try to 244 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:52,440 bribe him to get involved in this alliance. 245 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,680 And Hezekiah listened to them and showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, 246 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:04,120 the spices, the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in the 247 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:05,120 treasuries. 248 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:10,240 There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 249 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,480 Oh what a foolish man Hezekiah was. 250 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:20,840 These Babylonians came down bringing this offering, bringing the get well wishes, bringing 251 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:26,520 the invitation, Hezekiah join us against the Assyrians and he took advantage to brag a 252 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:28,520 little bit. 253 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:33,560 He wanted to show off the riches of his realm and so he took these people from Babylonia 254 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:38,880 on a little tour of his kingdom and of all of his riches. 255 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:46,400 Isaiah knew that that was a mistake and so in verse 14 Isaiah the prophet came to king 256 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:51,320 Hezekiah and said to him, what did these men say and from where did they come to you? 257 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:58,160 And Hezekiah said they came from a far country from Babylon and he said what have they seen 258 00:24:58,160 --> 00:24:59,160 in your house? 259 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:05,120 And so Hezekiah said everything and Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord, 260 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:10,160 behold the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have 261 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,920 laid up in store to this day shall be carried to Babylon. 262 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:20,040 Nothing shall be left says the Lord and some of your sons who shall issue from you, whom 263 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:25,920 you shall beget shall be taken away and they shall become officials in the palace of the 264 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,160 king of Babylon. 265 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,120 And so Isaiah warned Hezekiah about what had happened. 266 00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:38,960 He says you have blown it, your majesty, because some day these people are going to come back 267 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,160 and they're going to want to clean out all the treasures that you've showed them and 268 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:50,080 some of your own descendants are going to be carried away to Babylon as captives. 269 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:53,480 Well Hezekiah did not go along with the deal. 270 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:59,200 He backed out of the alliance, nonetheless, back over in Babylon now, Meradok Baladin 271 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:06,780 made his play for power and Sennacherib who was of Assyria countered against him and foiled 272 00:26:06,780 --> 00:26:16,560 his plan and years after that following several intrigues, Sennacherib finally went to Babylon 273 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:21,360 and sacked it and declared it to be abandoned for 70 years. 274 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:23,940 He said no one is to live in this place. 275 00:26:23,940 --> 00:26:32,280 He was fed up with the intrigues in Babylon against the rule of his country, the Assyrians. 276 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,280 However it wasn't long after that that Sennacherib died. 277 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:40,760 By the way you will recognize the name Sennacherib from the Bible. 278 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:47,000 After he had died his son came to power, Esar Haddon was his name, and as soon as he came 279 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,840 to power he rescinded the decree his father had made about Babylon, went back to the city 280 00:26:51,840 --> 00:27:01,600 there and rebuilt it, reestablished it, and yet it remained dominated by Assyria until 281 00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:05,120 626 B.C. 282 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:10,440 Now if you've been listening the last few weeks you know that 626 B.C. is an important 283 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:17,960 year because that was the year that there was a Chaldean governor by the name of Nabal 284 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:25,080 Pulasar who rose up and managed to throw out the Assyrians once and for all. 285 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:34,300 In fact he conquered the Assyrians, he did them in, and this man Nabal Pulasar was invited 286 00:27:34,300 --> 00:27:40,520 to become the king of Babylon which he did become. 287 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:48,480 He was a mighty man of war but he died in 605 B.C. 288 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,880 Now again if you've been listening the last few weeks you'll recognize that year because 289 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:57,880 that was the year that his son became king in his place. 290 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:03,800 His son's name was Nebuchadnezzar. 291 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:10,920 Nebuchadnezzar as we have studied became the greatest king during this third period of 292 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,560 Babylon's history, this third mountain peak. 293 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:21,360 And as you know he attacked Jerusalem once in 605 B.C. and just like Isaiah had warned 294 00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:28,240 Hezekiah he cleaned out the temple, he took away captives including Daniel, he came back 295 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:36,740 in 597 took more treasure, he took out some more captives including Ezekiel, and finally 296 00:28:36,740 --> 00:28:42,560 when he had had enough of the rebellion of the Judeans he came back once more in 586 297 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:47,360 he besieged the city and destroyed it. 298 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:54,600 And the people of Israel or Judah were taken away to Babylon and thus to continue their 299 00:28:54,600 --> 00:29:03,120 70 years that we looked at this morning, 70 years of captivity to the Babylonians. 300 00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:07,480 Now as we saw a couple of weeks ago Babylon eventually fell. 301 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:15,760 Nebuchadnezzar was a great king, the most powerful king of his day but he died in 562 302 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:21,640 B.C. and after him as we have seen there were several kings and finally Belshazzar was on 303 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:27,160 the throne, he was killed and the nation was overthrown by the Medes and the Persians in 304 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,560 539. 305 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:38,960 And so the Medes and the Persians took over and under their rule the city of Babylon languished 306 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:44,600 because they were involved in wars all over the place and in fact you can probably see 307 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:49,520 in one of your maps how extensive their kingdom was all the way it reached all the way over 308 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:55,200 to the edge of Europe all the way over to India, vast empire the Medes and the Persians 309 00:29:55,200 --> 00:30:00,980 tried to maintain but it was very expensive for them to do that and they could not keep 310 00:30:00,980 --> 00:30:07,160 up all of these cities and one of the cities that languished was the city of Babylon and 311 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,840 so it began its decline. 312 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:20,160 It was several hundred years later in 331 B.C. that the city had another visitor, this 313 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:28,480 one from the west, one who came speedily from the west like a goat charging his way, you 314 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:30,800 remember his name? 315 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:35,600 Daniel had prophesied that he would come and that he would bring the extension of the Greek 316 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:43,960 Empire, his name is Alexander the Great and on October the 1st 331 B.C. Alexander entered 317 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:50,880 into the city of Babylon to the joy of the people who were very tired of the Medes who 318 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:58,800 hated them and he conquered the city and then he was named the King of Babylon. 319 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,000 Alexander was not the kind of man to stay around and enjoy his spoils, as you know he 320 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:09,680 had a real zest for power, he had a taste for conquering nations and so he went on beyond 321 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:14,280 Babylon conquering the land of the Medes and the Persians all the way over to the Indus 322 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:21,200 River, the border of India and then he turned around and he came back and nine years later 323 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,400 came back to the city of Babylon. 324 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:31,020 It seems as though he intended to make Babylon if not the major city of his empire at least 325 00:31:31,020 --> 00:31:36,280 one of the major cities and Alexander put together some fabulous plans for renovating 326 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:38,800 the city of Babylon. 327 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,840 Keep in mind that Babylon has always represented man's rebellion against God, it's always 328 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:51,540 been the focal point of man's autonomy against God and that certainly was Alexander's attitude. 329 00:31:51,540 --> 00:31:58,460 So he wanted to resurrect this city of Babylon that Nimrod had begun centuries before, make 330 00:31:58,460 --> 00:32:05,240 it a great city again, but he only got started on his plans because not long after he had 331 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:13,920 begun his renovation, Alexander died in the city of Babylon on June the 13th 323 BC and 332 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:19,840 after that the city of Babylon declined quickly, one of his generals Seleucus became responsible 333 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:26,960 for that area but he built his capital in another location, forgot the city of Babylon 334 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,640 and it just went downhill. 335 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:39,000 Although the city was inhabited until 100 AD, about the time that John the Apostle died, 336 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:45,440 it was inhabited at least by a priestly cast of people, the city never had its power back 337 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:49,200 and it certainly declined in that third period. 338 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,600 Now we have a mention of Babylon in the New Testament in kind of an interesting context, 339 00:32:53,600 --> 00:33:01,280 I'd like you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. 340 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:09,300 Peter is writing to the Jews of the dispersion, Jewish believers of the dispersion, those 341 00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:14,400 who had become Christians and who for their faith had suffered and been dispersed throughout 342 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:24,640 the Roman Empire and he says in verse 13 chapter 5, she who is in Babylon chosen together with 343 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:31,460 you sends you greetings and so does my son Mark, by Mark he means John Mark, undoubtedly 344 00:33:31,460 --> 00:33:37,320 not his physical son but his spiritual son in the faith, but that interesting word she 345 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:42,060 who is in Babylon chosen together with you sends you greetings. 346 00:33:42,060 --> 00:33:49,040 This may be understood that Peter himself was in that literal city of Babylon over in 347 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:54,740 the land of Shinar which is just a fraction of what it used to be in its glory, it still 348 00:33:54,740 --> 00:34:01,000 had a small population and that there were some Jews who had been dispersed who were 349 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:06,880 there who were believers and Peter was visiting them and sent greetings to those who were 350 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:07,880 receiving the letter. 351 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:12,800 However, the better understanding I think is that Peter was using the word Babylon here 352 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,440 as sort of a code word. 353 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:22,040 In other words, Babylon here doesn't represent that city of Babylon but it was a code word, 354 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:29,120 a symbolic name that Peter was using for Rome because tradition does tell us that Peter 355 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:37,880 spent a number of years in Rome that he may even have been executed there at Rome and 356 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:48,000 that he's probably here saying these Christians who are in Babylon i.e. Rome send you greetings 357 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:53,280 and it may be for some security reasons that he decided to call it Babylon rather than 358 00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:54,280 Rome. 359 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:59,320 But remember, Babylon is not only a literal city but in the Bible it's symbolic of 360 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:04,680 human rebellion against God and the Roman Empire, the capital city being Rome, was in 361 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:10,120 rebellion against God and was persecuting believers and so that may be why he called 362 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,000 it Babylon. 363 00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:16,000 Now we want to come to the fourth mountain peak as we bring this message to a close and 364 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:23,140 we find this in the book of Revelation, 1st and chapter 14. 365 00:35:23,140 --> 00:35:30,000 Again the symbolic use of the name is the best understanding as we come here. 366 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:36,200 The Bible indicates that in the last days there will yet be another Babylon. 367 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:40,720 There are some who argue that the literal city of Babylon will be rebuilt and there 368 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:48,720 have been those who have suggested the rebuilding of the city of Babylon. 369 00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:54,440 But here in the book of Revelation it seems best to understand it not as that literal 370 00:35:54,440 --> 00:36:03,000 city of Babylon but as a name for perhaps another city but certainly a system that is 371 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:10,800 anti-God, a system that is both religious and commercial that is opposed to God. 372 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:17,160 In chapter 14 of Revelation in verse 8 it says, And another angel, a second one, followed 373 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:25,360 saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of 374 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,800 the wine of the passion of her immorality. 375 00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:35,800 Well now these angels are speaking of something that had not yet happened as the book of Revelation 376 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:40,960 falls out chronologically but which was sure to happen and so they're speaking ahead of 377 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:45,680 an event to encourage the saints who are suffering. 378 00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:47,880 Babylon is going to fall is the point. 379 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:53,920 Then again in chapter 16 in verse 19 it says, And the great city was split in three parts 380 00:36:53,920 --> 00:37:01,520 and the cities of the nations fell and Babylon the great was remembered before God. 381 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:06,760 Now believe me that's not a good sign for Babylon because it says it was remembered 382 00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:14,880 before God to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath. 383 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:22,400 And so now the time has come for the judgment to fall upon this end time Babylon. 384 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:27,000 Babylon is described for us in chapters 17 and 18 and obviously we don't have time to 385 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:30,480 look at this in its detail. 386 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:39,880 However we do find that this future Babylon that John foresees in the book of Revelation 387 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:48,240 fulfills it represents the consummation of Nimrod's dream. 388 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:58,280 It is a civilization, a system of humanity and very likely a capital city of that system 389 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:03,520 that is organized in its defiance against God. 390 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:10,560 I believe as I interpret the book of Revelation in a historical grammatical sense that is 391 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:19,800 in a literal sense that this city of Babylon is related to the revived Roman Empire which 392 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:29,400 will be under the leadership of Antichrist the end time emperor of the Roman Empire. 393 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:35,920 And in chapter 17 we have described to us the religious system that is associated with 394 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:38,880 this future Babylon. 395 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:46,240 It is described here symbolically as a woman in verse 4 who was clothed in purple and scarlet 396 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:50,800 and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. 397 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:56,920 And so you see here a very regally dressed woman. 398 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:03,920 There's royalty that appears to be involved here, a lot of adornment, riches, but having 399 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:12,640 in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. 400 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:17,880 And so the exterior is very ornate. 401 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:24,960 There is gold and silver and all these precious things but the inside, the essence of what 402 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:29,560 this system is all about is immorality and abominations. 403 00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:37,800 And upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, quote, Babylon the great, the mother 404 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:42,960 of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. 405 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,760 Now that is the name given to this woman who is symbolic. 406 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:52,000 And as you look at the chapter this represents a religious system. 407 00:39:52,000 --> 00:40:03,600 It is an occultic, a demonic amalgamation of many religions at the core of which is apostate 408 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:08,200 Christendom. 409 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:13,920 In other words we are told that Christianity, Christendom in its broadest sense is going 410 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:18,720 to grow more and more corrupt and apostate in the last days. 411 00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:24,000 But it will join forces with every unclean thing you can imagine. 412 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:29,160 Every kind of religion will all be brought under this umbrella that is represented here 413 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,120 by the name Babylon the great. 414 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:37,200 It is apostate religion which is in defiance against God. 415 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:43,160 It will be led by one called in the book of Revelation the false prophet. 416 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:53,200 And this very powerful religious leader will lead the masses of anti-Christ empire in worship 417 00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:56,560 of this individual. 418 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:03,440 He will direct the attention and the adoration of the masses to this very powerful Christ-like 419 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:11,600 figure who will come on the scene initially as a man of peace, of great charismatic ability, 420 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:19,320 a great leader, a marvelous politician only later to reveal his true, iniquitous, wicked 421 00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:20,320 character. 422 00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,600 He is a man of lies, a man of murder. 423 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:26,160 But he doesn't come on that way at first. 424 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:35,760 And as he comes on with this appearance of Messiah, the modern day Christ, the Christ 425 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:43,720 for the new age, if you please, the false prophet will rise up and say here he is and 426 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:51,720 here are miracles that prove that this is the Christ spirit who has come back to the 427 00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:52,720 earth. 428 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,440 Behold what he can do. 429 00:41:55,440 --> 00:42:03,840 And with his miracles that Paul calls lying wonders performed by the power of Satan, he 430 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:11,120 will deceive many who have rejected the truth of the gospel and who are therefore turned 431 00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:15,040 to believe the lie about this man. 432 00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:22,120 And they will fall into the power, the hypnotic power of this one and will be a part of this 433 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:28,960 religious system here that is a part of Babylon in the end time. 434 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:37,000 Now it mentions here a further description of the beast that this woman rides upon. 435 00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:44,000 Let me just point out in verse 9 that it says the seven heads of this beast are seven mountains 436 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:50,440 on which the woman sits and they are seven kings. 437 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:53,220 And he goes on to mention some more about these kings. 438 00:42:53,220 --> 00:43:00,120 Now it may well be that in addition to representing people, the seven mountains represent seven 439 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:09,200 hills or mountains upon which this capital city, the headquarters of this apostate church, 440 00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:13,120 where this church will reign, where it will rule. 441 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:19,880 And this has for centuries been identified with Rome, the city of Rome. 442 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:26,960 I would not be surprised to eventually see a movement away from Brussels as being the 443 00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:32,920 capital of the United States of Europe, a dream by the way that goes all the way back 444 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:39,600 through Napoleon and back through history, but a movement to see that capital shifted 445 00:43:39,600 --> 00:43:44,440 from Brussels to the city of Rome. 446 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:50,240 Now the harlotry that is mentioned here in connection with this religious system indicates 447 00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:53,040 her unfaithfulness to the true God. 448 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:56,400 It says that she is drunk from the blood of the saints. 449 00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:02,600 In other words, she will be deeply involved in persecuting true Christians and she will 450 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:10,360 be allied, this religious system, with Antichrist for the first three and a half years of his 451 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:11,720 reign. 452 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:18,760 The beast will carry her along and use this religious system to help bring together his 453 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:20,080 power. 454 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:26,760 However, after three and a half years, the beast will turn on the religious system and 455 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:27,760 do it in. 456 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:31,760 And his real character will come out. 457 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:37,960 Now in chapter 18, as I move ahead here and close, we see another aspect of this renewed 458 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:43,520 Babylon, this fourth mountain peak of Babylon's history described. 459 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:47,260 It is the political commercial system. 460 00:44:47,260 --> 00:44:54,640 It is that aspect of this future empire that will be controlled by the beast, by the Antichrist. 461 00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:56,800 He will dominate most of the world. 462 00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:59,820 He will control world commerce. 463 00:44:59,820 --> 00:45:07,440 He will by his economic power put tremendous pressure upon the saints of God so that they 464 00:45:07,440 --> 00:45:14,440 cannot buy or sell because they refuse the mark of identification with the beast. 465 00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:24,760 Ultimately, this whole system, which will possibly be headquartered in Rome, this whole 466 00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:32,280 system, Antichrist's thing, his power base, will collapse. 467 00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:40,800 And we see here the peoples of the earth mourning and crying out, whoa, whoa, as they look upon 468 00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:49,180 this city in its destruction and this system as it collapses under the judgment of God. 469 00:45:49,180 --> 00:45:54,760 There will be tremendous mourning because everything that these worldlings have lived 470 00:45:54,760 --> 00:46:02,600 for, all that they've dreamed about, all of their hopes will collapse with the passing 471 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:06,200 away of the future Babylon. 472 00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:09,720 And we see that anguish described here in this chapter. 473 00:46:09,720 --> 00:46:15,140 However, we also see in the last part of the chapter quite a contrast. 474 00:46:15,140 --> 00:46:22,800 And that is that as this future Babylon collapses and the empire of Antichrist is judged, the 475 00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:33,320 saints in heaven will begin rejoicing and shouting their praise to God. 476 00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:39,800 Verse 21 says, thus will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will 477 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:43,400 not be found any longer. 478 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:52,720 And heaven rejoices as the followers of Antichrist weep over the destruction of this system. 479 00:46:52,720 --> 00:47:04,000 And so we have four peaks of Babylonian history throughout human history. 480 00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:10,000 Four times when Babylon has come to the front and then sunk back, a time yet to come, a 481 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:16,680 time at the end, a time that very well may be fulfilled in the generation of the people 482 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:18,440 alive on the earth today. 483 00:47:18,440 --> 00:47:21,000 Now you say, well that's all very interesting. 484 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:22,560 How does that apply to us? 485 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:27,040 Well, I suppose there are several things we might say, but let me encourage you tonight 486 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:30,240 with this thought. 487 00:47:30,240 --> 00:47:35,480 That is the sovereignty of God in human history. 488 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:40,300 Whether you look on the local or the state scene or you look on the international scene, 489 00:47:40,300 --> 00:47:45,920 it is encouraging to remember that God is still in control. 490 00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:53,280 That there is nothing that is beyond God's oversight. 491 00:47:53,280 --> 00:48:04,800 Man can rebel against God, he can maneuver, he can defy God within certain boundaries, 492 00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:07,840 but he can't go beyond that. 493 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:15,680 And inevitably the current of history is in the direction that God wants it to go. 494 00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:24,040 Now I mention that because there is a temptation I think for Christians to become discouraged 495 00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:28,120 with what we see in the world today. 496 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:34,200 Whether you look in our state scene and you see important moral issues that can't get 497 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:43,640 through our state legislature, talking about the value of life, a very basic moral quality 498 00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:48,520 that has been a part of the Judeo-Christian heritage in this civilization, and that cannot 499 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:51,880 be guaranteed by our legislature. 500 00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:56,460 You have a great movement against the rights of life. 501 00:48:56,460 --> 00:49:04,680 Or you talk about even the direction of our government and its policies in the world today. 502 00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:09,680 We might be discouraged and we think, well, where is God in all of this? 503 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:11,800 Remember God is in control. 504 00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:17,600 And I shared this with Wendell Brown before the service tonight as we were praying together. 505 00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:25,760 I believe that God is allowing the cup of iniquity in the United States to be filled 506 00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:28,680 up. 507 00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:33,000 And I believe that we're going to lose more battles than we're going to win. 508 00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,980 I do not mean to be pessimistic. 509 00:49:35,980 --> 00:49:38,000 I mean to be realistic. 510 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:45,200 I believe the whole shift is now away from where it's been over the last 10 or 15 years 511 00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:49,040 and the power is moving quickly in the other direction. 512 00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:54,160 And that God is allowing that so that the cup of iniquity in the United States can be 513 00:49:54,160 --> 00:50:01,640 filled to the brim and God will be righteous when he brings about judgment upon this nation. 514 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:07,580 There can be no question in anybody's mind that this nation deserves and will deserve 515 00:50:07,580 --> 00:50:12,780 what God will allow to come to pass over the next few years. 516 00:50:12,780 --> 00:50:16,440 For our nation is going to collapse, folks. 517 00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:18,400 It is going to collapse. 518 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:20,220 It must. 519 00:50:20,220 --> 00:50:24,440 That doesn't mean that we ought to throw up our hands and just give up. 520 00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:25,540 No, not at all. 521 00:50:25,540 --> 00:50:27,960 We have a commission. 522 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:28,960 We're to proclaim the gospel. 523 00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:31,440 We're to be salt and light in our world. 524 00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:37,760 But our nation, the United States of America, is but another Gentile world power. 525 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:45,400 And in the end, all of the Gentile nations must come under the judgment of God and will. 526 00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:49,400 And so our nation is headed for judgment. 527 00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:54,800 And as the shift takes place and as iniquity begins to abound more and more and the love 528 00:50:54,800 --> 00:51:01,560 of many begins to wax cold and when there's not even the natural affection of parents 529 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:09,120 for their own children, whether they be born children or unborn children, and all of the 530 00:51:09,120 --> 00:51:16,880 indications of iniquity that are described in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and in 1 Timothy chapter 531 00:51:16,880 --> 00:51:19,160 4, all of those things are coming in the last days. 532 00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:23,700 As all of that develops and God allows it to develop, he's simply in the end going to 533 00:51:23,700 --> 00:51:30,040 prove his righteousness in bringing judgment even upon this nation. 534 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:33,760 And we might say, oh, but there are way too many Christians here for God to allow that 535 00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:34,760 to happen. 536 00:51:34,760 --> 00:51:41,440 Hey, there was a remnant in Judah, too, when Nebuchadnezzar took that nation. 537 00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:50,920 But the nation was sent into judgment because as a people, they turned to idolatry and immorality. 538 00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:55,200 And though there is a remnant of true believers in our nation, God is not going to spare our 539 00:51:55,200 --> 00:51:56,720 nation because of the remnant. 540 00:51:56,720 --> 00:51:58,440 I'm convinced of that. 541 00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:01,600 Eventually, this nation, too, will go into judgment. 542 00:52:01,600 --> 00:52:06,000 And so what kind of people ought we to be in this day? 543 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:10,760 And how ought we to be preparing ourselves for what is coming? 544 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:15,760 God is the God of history and ultimately God is going to win. 545 00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:20,380 Somebody has said, I can't be a pessimist because I know the last chapter of the book. 546 00:52:20,380 --> 00:52:23,960 We know in the end how things are ultimately going to turn out. 547 00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:30,600 We need to be preparing ourselves for what is coming and rejoice that ultimately, hallelujah, 548 00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:33,940 the Lord our God omnipotent reigns. 549 00:52:33,940 --> 00:52:38,840 And though there may be defeats and there may be suffering ahead, ultimately God is 550 00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:41,480 on the throne. 551 00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:45,800 And he has set his king upon his holy hill of Zion. 552 00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:53,280 And that king must reign and will reign one day over a kingdom of righteousness and justice 553 00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:58,240 and truth upon the earth. 554 00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:01,240 Let's pray. 555 00:53:01,240 --> 00:53:07,960 Lord I pray that our hearts might be stimulated with these thoughts, that we will be sobered, 556 00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:16,440 that we will be challenged to be godly people, a people of the book, a people of prayer, 557 00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:27,600 a people set apart and different in this age as the world, as we have known it, begins 558 00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:31,800 to come to its assigned culmination. 559 00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:37,600 We bless you that you are the God of history and that ultimately human rebellion represented 560 00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:46,320 in our study tonight by Babylon and human defiance against your kingship must fail. 561 00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:52,560 And we pray as our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on 562 00:53:52,560 --> 00:53:57,800 earth as it is in heaven. 563 00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:03,960 Sanctify us and may we be encouraged by knowing that we belong to the king, that we're on 564 00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:12,480 the side of victory in the end, and that we have a job to do to be faithful to Jesus Christ. 565 00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:17,120 And may we be about our Lord's business. 566 00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:20,160 In Jesus' name, amen. 567 00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:23,200 Thank you for your patience tonight as we have looked through the study of the word 568 00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:34,320 of God you're dismissed.