“Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.” – Revelation 18:3

By the time you read this piece, the United States will likely be at war with Iraq- the ancient people of Babylon. Is this war prophetically significant? Does the Bible have anything to say about Babylon’ s role in the future? Is Babylon in the Bible related to modern day Iraq?

These questions can be solved by answering the question of whether or not all biblical reference to Babylon should be understood literally? I believe that they are. Dr. Charles Dyer says, ” The Bible mentions Babylon over two hundred and eighty times, and many of those references are to the future city of Babylon that is rising from the fine sands of the desert today.” [1] In fact, next to Jerusalem, Babylon is the second most frequently mentioned city in the Bible. But, what is her prophetic destiny? To properly understand these matters we must first start our journey by exploring Babylon’ s past, since her nativity helps to explain her future role.

Babylon PastThe ancient city of Babylon began shortly after the Flood and is an expression of man’ s direct rebellion against God and His command to ” Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1b). Thus, the kingdom of man began in Babylon as a direct act of rebellion against God. God intervenes and scatters rebellious mankind by confusing their languages and thus, the name of Babel was given to Nimrod’ s city because of God’ s judgment upon them (Gen. 11:1-9). Dr. Dyer explains: ” Babel was humanity’ s first united attempt to short-circuit God’ s purpose. This first post-Flood city was designed expressly to thwart God’ s plan for humankind. The people wanted unity and power, and Babel was to be the seat of that power. Babylon, the city of man trying to rise to heaven, was built in direct opposition to God’ s plan.” [2]

Babylon was again at the forefront[3] when God sent the Southern Kingdom of Israel (Judah) into the seventy-year captivity in the sixth century b.c. It was at this time that God gave Daniel many of His prophetic visions. Babylon is the first of four great kingdoms to arise during the ” times of the Gentiles” (Dan. 2 and 7). History reveals that Babylon declined until it was abandoned about two centuries after Christ. Although the city of Babylon sunk beneath the sands of time during the past seventeen hundred years, it has begun to rise in this century. Watch for Babylon to become a dominant force in the world religiously, commercially and governmentally for Revelation 17-18 predicts the destruction of that city and, in order to be the city those prophecies require, it must be rebuilt on a grand scale like in the days of Nebuchadnezzar.

Babylon FutureJust as Babylon has played an important role in past history, so she is scheduled by God- as revealed in prophecy- to play a central role in the future. Babylon will likely become the capital for the antichrist during the coming seven-year tribulation, as portrayed in the Left Behind novel series of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

Babylon was the most important city in the world for about 2,000 years in the past and the Bible tells us that she will be revived and brought onto the end-time stage to play a leading role (Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17- 18). End-times prophecy demands that Babylon be rebuilt and become an important city in world affairs during the tribulation. Isaiah 13:19 says, ” And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” The context of Isaiah 13 is ” the day of the Lord,” the most common Old Testament term for our more widely know term of the tribulation. Further, Babylon has indeed been conquered in the past, but never has she been destroyed cataclysmically (i.e., ” as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” ). In fact there are said to be about 250,000 people living in Babylon today. Revelation 18:16, 19 echoes such a sudden destruction from the hand of God, ” ‘ Woe, woe, the great city, . . . for in one hour she has been laid waste!’ ” Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum declares, ” the prophecies regarding the city of Babylon have never been fulfilled in the past, as any encyclopedia article on Babylon will make quite clear. In order for these prophecies to be fulfilled, it will require the rebuilding of the city of Babylon in the same general area. Ancient Babylon is in present day Iraq.” [4]Thus, Babylon has a great future role in history, but will be utterly destroyed in a moment of future history.

Babylon is pictured in Revelation 17- 18 as the source of ungodly religion, government, and economics. Virtually all unrighteous, end-time aspects of society are derived from a Babylonian source. The true character of Babylon is revealed to John in Revelation 17:5 as a mystery that is exposed as:

” BABYLON THE GREAT,

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS

AND

ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”

As the mother of all false religion, Babylon is the source from which arises false Christianity in our own day and certainly during the tribulation. All the streams of apostate Christianity- Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Liberal Protestantism- will converge into ecclesiastical Babylon (Revelation 17) during the tribulation. Dr. Dyer tells us, ” In Revelation 17, John describes a vision with two parts. The first part of the vision is a woman identified as ‘ Babylon.’ She is a city of extreme wealth that controls ‘ peoples, multitudes, nations and languages’ (Revelation 17:5, 15). She is the literal rebuilt city of Babylon.” [5] These will all continue their deceptive roles, but will experience God’ s judgment during and at the end of the tribulation. The same opinion and destiny is noted in Revelation 18 of commercial Babylon.

Literal BabylonDown through church history most Bible interpreters have thought that Babylon was some kind of code word for some other entity, like the Roman Empire, Roman Catholicism, apostate Christianity, or even the United States or Great Britain. However, I believe that just like Israel always refers to Israel in the Bible, so also Babylon always refers to Babylon.

First of all, I believe that the Book of Revelation is a Grand Central Station into which all future Bible prophecy flows. Dr. Fruchtenbaum explains it as follows:

The Old Testament prophecies are scattered throughout the books of Moses and the various prophets and writings. It would have been impossible to develop these prophecies into any chronological sequence of events. The value of the book of Revelation is not that it provides new information, but rather that it takes the scattered Old Testament prophecies and puts them in chronological order so that the sequence of events can be determined.[6]

When you study what God says about Babylon in the Book of Revelation, it is clear that those prophecies have not been fulfilled through past events, therefore, they must be fulfilled through future events as noted in Revelation. Revelation 17 and 18, which speak extensively about Babylon, have many allusions to such Old Testament prophecies about Babylon such as Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51, and Zechariah 5:5-11.[7] The only reasonable interpretation for a literal interpreter to reach is ” it is Babylon on the Euphrates.” [8] Dr. Robert Thomas goes on to say, ” In the future day anticipated in the pages of this prophecy, this city will become the focal point for a religious system staunchly opposed to the truth of Christianity. The system will thrive for a time in gaining influence over the commercial and political entities of its time, until the beast and the ten kings determine that it no longer has a usefulness for their purposed. They will then dismantle it.”[9] The Babylon of Revelation is literal and therefore these prophecies about her will be fulfilled in the future, perhaps even the near future.

Newspaper Exegesis?Preterists, like Gary DeMar, scoff at the prospects of a future rebuilt city of Babylon that plays a role in end-time prophecy. ” Should we expect a reconstituted Babylon in the future based upon events described in the Book of Revelation,” asks DeMar? ” Is Revelation’ s Babylon the same as the Babylon of the Old Testament? . . . Not at all.” [10] DeMar believes that those of us who see a correlation between current events and God’ s preparation for the coming tribulation period is ” newspaper exegesis.” He says that we are ” reading the Bible through the lens of current events.” [11] I contend that just the opposite is true.

For many years the literal interpreters of Bible prophecy have taught that Israel must return to the land before the tribulation, based up their understanding of the prophetic timetable. That has come to pass with the founding of the present state of Israel in 1948. There are back in their land and poised to fulfill their destiny when the tribulation begins. Those in the past, before 1948, did not believe this based upon what the newspapers said. Instead, they believed it because the Bible said so. It just so happened that God is bringing this to pass before a watching world as the newspapers chronicle current events. If this belief had been a function of ” newspaper exegesis” then we would not have begun proclaiming our view of a reconstituted Israel until that time. Instead, Bible students were proclaiming it as a future event for hundreds of years before it occurred.

In the same way, prophecy students have also taught for many years that there will be a Revived Roman Empire and the need for a rebuilding of the city of Babylon since these entities will play a specific role during the future time of great tribulation. Before Saddam Hussein rose to power, Charles Dyer completed his Th.M. thesis at Dallas Theological Seminary in May 1979, in which he argued for a future rebuilding of Babylon. Well before his time there was developing a loud chorus of Bible students who also contended that the Bible predicts a future rebuilding of the city of Babylon on the Euphrates River.

In my limited library, I have found a number of men who taught a future Babylon from Revelation 17- 18. They include the following: B. W. Newton (1853),[12] Robert Govett (1861),[13] G. H. Pember (1888),[14] J. A. Seiss (1900),[15] Clarence Larkin (1918),[16] E. W. Bullinger (1930),[17] William R. Newell (1935),[18] F. C. Jennings (1937),[19] David L. Cooper (1942),[20] G. H. Lang (1945).[21] I am sure that more could be added to the list.

Conclusion

Since a literal Babylon will have a role in the coming tribulation, it makes sense that the current war with Iraq, while not a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, most certainly is posturing of Babylon for her impending role. It will be interesting to see what transpires during this war and what insights we can gain as to how it may or may not be a preparatory stage for the tribulation. Maranatha!

 

Endnotes
[1] Charles H. Dyer, The Rise of Babylon: Is Iraq at the Center of the Final Drama?revised edition, (Chicago: Moody Press, [1991], 2003), p. 16.

[2] Dyer, Rise of Babylon, p. 47.

[3] For an overview of Babylon see our chart ” Babylon in History and Prophecy” in Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, Charting the End Times: A Visual Guide to Understanding Bible Prophecy (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2001), pp. 104-06. See also, Joseph Chambers, A Palace for the Antichrist: Saddam Hussein’ s Drive to Rebuild Babylon and Its Place in Bible Prophecy (Green Forest, AR, 1996).

[4] Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events, (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries Press, 1982), p. 192.

[5] Dyer, Rise of Babylon, p. 162.

[6] Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, p. 9.

[7] For a list of the 550 Old Testament allusions in Revelation see Fruchtenbaum, Footsteps, pp. 454-59. For a defense of a literal Babylon and how the Old Testament references in Revelation support that view see Charles H. Dyer, ” The Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17- 18,” two parts,Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 144, No. 575 (July-September 1987), pp. 305-16, and No. 576 (October-December 1987), pp. 433-49. See also Charles Harry Dyer, ” The Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17- 18,” Th.M. thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1979.

[8] Robert Thomas, Revelation 8- 22: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), p. 307.

[9] Thomas, Revelation 8- 22, pp. 307-08.

[10] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church, (Power Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), p. 358.

[11] DeMar, Last Days Madness, p. 210.

[12] B. W. Newton, Thoughts on the Apocalypse, and Conversation on Revelation xvii.

[13] Robert Govett, The Apocalypse Expounded., Vol. 4, pp. 4-7.

[14] G. H. Pember, Mystery Babylon The Great, pp. v, 22.

[15] J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation, p. 397.

[16] Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth, pp. 140-44.

[17] E. W. Bullinger, Commentary on Revelation, p. 530.

[18] William R. Newell, Revelation: A Complete Commentary, p. 268.

[19] F. C. Jennings, Studies in Revelation, p. 476.

[20] David L. Cooper, World’ s Greatest Library Graphically Illustrated, p. 100.

[21] G. H. Lang, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 305.

An important issue that divides most preterists from futurists is the meaning of the biblical phrase ” the age to come.” Also, one’ s understanding of a related term ” the present age,” is significant to a right understanding of the biblical view of prophecy. I believe that this present age refers to the current church age that began almost 2,000 years ago on the day of Pentecost when the church was founded. It will end with the rapture of the church. The age to come is a reference to the millennial kingdom that will commence with the second coming of Christ and last for one thousand years.

Preterist Misunderstanding

It will not surprise regular readers to learn that preterists usually believe that the phrase ” current age” referred to the approximately 40-year period between the earthly ministry of Christ and the destruction of the Jerusalem in a.d. 70. Preterism teaches that most, if not all, of the Book of Revelation and the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24- 25; Mark 13; Luke 21) were fulfilled in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in a.d. 70. They also believe that ” the age to come” refers to the current age in which we now live, which began after a.d. 70. Gary DeMar says the following:

The ” end of the age” refers to the end of the Old Covenant redemption system with its attendant sacrifices and rituals. . . . The ” end of the age” refers to the termination of the exclusive Jewish entitlement to the covenant promises and the inclusion of the Gentiles into the blessings of the covenant and the privileges of the gospel and kingdom (Matt. 21:41, 43; 22:10). ” End of the age” is a covenantal phrase. With the temple destroyed, there would be no way and no need to carry out the rigorous demands of the sacrificial system, a system that was predestined to pass away with the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Jesus.[1]

Wow! DeMar produced a lot of speculative thought out of those four little words, ” end of the age.”

Preterists tend to believe that the phrase ” present age” or ” this age” refers to the approximately 40-year period between the earthly ministry of Christ and the destruction of the Jerusalem in a.d. 70. Thus, as DeMar indicated, that means that after a.d. 70 we are in what the Bible refers to as ” the age to come.” Full preterist (i.e., no future second coming) Don Preston says, ” If we understand Jesus’ ‘ this age’ to be the Mosaic Age in which he was living and the ‘ age to come” as the Christian Age, there is no difficulty.” [2] However, is that how the Bible really uses that phrase and related phrases? I do not think so!

Jewish Perspective of Bible Prophecy

The Jewish perspective of Bible prophecy viewed history as consisting of two ages. The first was this present age, the age in which Israel was waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The second was the age to come, the age in which all promises and covenants would be fulfilled and Israel would enter into her promised blessings as a result of Messiah’ s coming. The present age would be terminated by the appearance of Messiah, and the coming age would be introduced by His advent. The present age, then, was to end in judgment, and the coming age must be preceded by this devastation.[3]

The disciples, who were questioning Jesus on the Mount of Olives, linked Christ’ s words of judgment about the destruction of the present Temple with the invasion of Jerusalem that was predicted by Zechariah. The disciples believed that it would precede the advent of the Messiah.

In Zechariah 14:4 the prophet describes the advent of Messiah to institute His kingdom as follows:

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

This coming was to be preceded by an invasion and capture of Jerusalem (Zech. 12:1-3; 14:1-3). However, Jerusalem would be delivered by the coming of Messiah from the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4-5) and then the glory of the kingdom would be realized (Zech. 14:14-15). This is when the ” age to come” would arrive.

Christ’ s Perspective of Bible ProphecyJesus uses the same vocabulary, in the same way when He says, in Matthew 12:32 ” And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come.” Christ clearly distinguishes between the present age and the age to come. Meyer says of ” this age,” that it ” is the period previous to the coming of the Messiah . . . as Jesus understood it: the time before the second coming.” [4] He says of ” the age to come,” that it is ” the period that succeeds the coming of the Messiah . . . as Jesus understood it: the time that follows the second coming.” [5] Jesus says, in Matthew 13:49 ” So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous,” as He continues to speak within the contemporary Jewish framework.

The disciples concluded that the judgment Christ had predicted was the one that would terminate this present age. After this judgment Messiah would come to introduce the age to come. Thus they asked their questions that precipitates the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24:3 ” Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of theage?” Later, after His resurrection but before His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission and said in Matthew 28:20 ” lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” continuing to speak within the framework of ” this age” and ” the age to come.”

The Apostle’ s Perspective of Bible Prophecy

The Apostle Paul continues use of the same language when he says in Ephesians 1:21 that New Testament believers have been given a position in Christ ” far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.” Paul tells us in Galatians 1:4 that Christ ” gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Paul also tells Christians in Titus 2:12 that God’ s grace instructs ” us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.”

Paul’ s continues to use the phrases ” this age” and ” the age to come” in the way that Christ used it. Even though Jesus had come, Paul still views the current church age as the time leading up to the coming of the Messiah, thus, we are still in ” the present age.” This means that the ” age to come” has not yet arrived and will come at the second coming, a time which is still in our own day a future event.

Even after a post-resurrection, 40-day period of instruction by Christ to the disciples ” of the things concerning the kingdom of God” they ask Jesus in Acts 1:6 ” Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus did not rebuke or correct the nature of their question as illegitimate, instead He said, ” It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” This clearly implies that there will be a future kingdom, as they thought, . . . but not yet. The kingdom is a reference to the age to come. Our Lord tells His disciples to go preach the gospel throughout the world.

In Acts 3, Peter is preaching the gospel to Israel and says in 3:17 that his Jewish brethren and their rulers ” acted in ignorance.” The he says the following:

But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.

In a similar vein, we see in Acts 15 that James says to the Jerusalem Council:

And after they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, ” Brethren, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. And with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, ” after these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, in order that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name.”

James did not believe that ” the age to come” or the kingdom had arrived, or he would not have made the above statement. It is clear that the New Testament writers of the Epistles continue to use the phrase ” this age” to refer to the time before the arrival of the Messiah, who will at that time bring with Him the kingdom, which is also still future to our own day.

ImplicationsSince the second coming of Christ has been postponed until after the current church age and tribulation, the current church age is presented by the writers of the New Testament Epistles as the last period of history until this present age is terminated, which will give rise to ” the age to come.” Three New Testament passages (Rom. 16:25- 27; Eph. 3:1-13; Col. 2:4- 3:3) teach that the church age is a temporary mystery in the overall plan of God. Thus, the church age is a continuation of ” this present age” from the time of Christ. Yet because of further New Testament revelation about the church age, we know that when it ends at the rapture, there will not be anymore stretching out of the time frame what will lead to ” the age to come” – the time of Messiah’ s kingdom.

There is an urgency concerning the entire church age in which we now live. For example, Paul, speaking of the entire church age, calls it ” the present distress” (1 Cor. 7:26). Because Christ could return at any moment at the rapture, church age believers are always to be ready and always waiting for His return. Notice the following list of New Testament passages that teach this doctrine: 1 Corinthians 1:7; 16:22; Philippians 3:20; 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 9:28; James 5:7-9; 1 Peter 1:13; Jude 21; Revelation 3:11; 22:7, 12, 17, 20.

Preterists see the end of the age occurring by a.d. 70. Since the New Testament Epistles were written to instruct Believers in how to live until this present evil age comes to an end, it follows that all the doctrine and instruction applies only during the 40-year period that ended in a.d. 70. Logically, which they rarely realize, it means that they are wrong to apply the teaching and instruction of the Epistles to their lives, since they believe that they are living in ” the age to come.” This explains why some preterists believe that they are in the New Heavens and New Earth, yet they have no specific revelation, which tells them how to please God. NO! We are not living in the eternal state. We are still awaiting the any-moment return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Maranatha!

 

Endnotes
[1] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), pp. 69- 70.

[2] Don Preston, Into All The World: Then Come The End (Ardmore, OK: no publisher, 1996), p. 31.

[3] J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come: Tracing God’ s Kingdom Program and Covenant Promises Throughout History (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1990), p. 248.

[4] H. A. W. Meyer, ” The Gospel of Matthew,” 2 vols, in Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The New Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1878), vol. 1, p. 342.

[5] Meyer, ” Matthew,” vol. 1, p. 342.