S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Babylon rose from a Mesopotamian city on the Euphrates River to become a powerful city-state and later the capital city and namesake of one of the greatest empires in history. The city was located ...

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July 01 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Kenneth Heck

Ever since the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, mankind, (the sons of Adam), have made several attempts to unite themselves together, regardless of religion, under a single city or government. This universal yearning for a single government can only be explained as a presentiment for the eventual Kingdom of God upon the earth. Before the flood it appears the city built by Cain called "Enoch" after his son may be the first instance of such a government.

After the flood, the next instance was the city called Babel where the LORD confounded their language and scattered them abroad. What is wrong with centralizing humanity's government under a unified authority? It is intrinsically wrong when the correct principle of government or empire has not yet been revealed. The only true principle is to be found in Christ, the Lamb of God, and he would not be revealed for thousands of years, in the fullness of time. 

God permitted the people at Babel to continue to develop their ethnic governments and religions within their designated homelands until the time of the Gentiles. Great kingdoms arose during this time, such as the Egyptian, but these were all ethnic in orientation. True empires always contain many ethnicities and religions, with the conqueror's religion being first and foremost.

The time of the Gentiles began with the Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar. It was the first and highest of succeeding empires in the long development toward the last and permanent empire we call the Kingdom of God on earth. The great image of Daniel (Dan 2: 31-45) symbolically portrays these successive empires, and their final fall due to the stone made without hands (the stone representing Christ). 

In Rev 17 we have the final recorded instance of Babylon, called Mystery, Babylon. This is an future empire, that although not formally called Babylon, behaves much like Babylon. Why it should is a mystery in itself. We can say that with the recurrence of the state of Israel today, several other entities, such as Edom, Moab, and Ammon will also recur (Dan 11:41), and so perhaps will Babylon in a modern form. 

Babylon is spiritually unique because it is based on the head of gold, (Dan 2: 32) symbolically denoting the best of human wisdom. It was called the "lady of kingdoms" in Isa 47:5, and a "golden cup in the LORD'S hand" in Jer 51:7. These descriptions imply that Babylon originated before the four beasts of Daniel. Unfortunately, even the best of human wisdom falls far short of the divine wisdom of God, and Babylon has always been destined for final rejection in favor of Jerusalem and Israel.

Even today there is a global trend toward political integration. After WWI it was the League of Nations. After WWII it was the United Nations, a stronger version of the League of Nations, but now increasingly corrupt. In the event of WWIII, we may have an even stronger integration where nations give up some of the sovereignty to a central authority, thus paving the way for the Babylonian empire of Revelation. Babylon never starts out as intrinsically evil, either in the past or future, but rather quickly succumbs and falls from its original purpose, because good and evil will never exist harmoniously under one umbrella for very long.

February 14 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Al Mari Private practice as a cardiovascular & thoracic surgeon

The significance of the Babylonian Empire relates to Nebuchadnezzar's dream whose meaning was revealed by God in Daniel 2.

The dream was an image of head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze/brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. It represents successive Babylonian kingdoms with Nebuchadnezzar starting as the head of gold followed by others.

As to the identity of the kingdoms that followed Nebuchadnezzar's, the Bible was not specific. Although also alluded in the Bible, the Medo-Persian empire subdued it, and by history followed by the Greek and Roman empires. 

But, the narrative in Daniel, though not specific as to identity, was nevertheless precise in the description of the last succeeding kingdom. It is a divided kingdom of feet and toes with kings that are "mingled with the seed of men" (V41-43). This last kingdom will be confronted and replaced by the kingdom of God represented by a "stone cut out of a mountain without hands" (V 44-45) which "smote the image upon his feet"(V-34) and "filled the whole earth" (V 35). This will be the last kingdom whose destruction will end the "image" of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. 

Many interpretations of this image have been written and tied in with the "beast" in Revelation 13. What was not factored into were the "falling away first" and the man of sin" (2Thes. 2:3-12) "taken out of the way" and be revealed. 

It appears that prior to the destruction of the whole "image" it will be manifested as a kingdom like "feet of iron and clay" suggestive of a divided kingdom, 5 toes for each foot. Satan could get into this "man of sin" who would cause the "falling away" of 3 of the ten toes. 

Please compare and analyze:
Rev. 17:10-11 "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is (time of John in Revelation), and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." Notice that this "one not yet and still to come" is "of the seven (succession)" and "one of the fallen 1st 5, is the "eighth" and will go into perdition. 

Daniel 7:8 "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."

Rev 12:3 "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads"
Why with 10 horns, only 7 crowns for this seven-headed dragon?
Could it be that, 3 of the horns were displaced ("fallen away") by this "little horn" (Dan. 7:8) who then became the new 7th head (from the previous 5 fallen kings) of the remaining 7 horns, and also the 8th?

The final identity of this 7th/8th head/king will be revealed by the "2 witnesses" at the end-times.

February 16 2015 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report