The Destruction of Babylon. Isaiah 13-14; Jeremiah 50-51; Zechariah 5:5-11

 

It is important that we note the timing in Revelation chapter thirteen. It is clearly set in Isaiah 13:6 NASB “Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.” The phrase “day of the Lord” is a technical term that is used in numerous prophecies that only have their fulfillment in the end time. It does not refer to a literal 24-hour day. The Hebrew word yom, for day, can refer to a period of time when it is not used with a number-1st day, 2nd day, etc., or other qualifications such as in Genesis chapter one, “evening and morning were day one.” But we don’t have that with other terms such as the day of the Lord, it simply refers to a time that is related to the Lord as opposed to the time in history from the fall of man up to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ which is the time of man. There is the time of the Gentiles when man is given time by God to respond to God’s overtures of grace. But the time will come when God has given man all of the rope he needs to hang himself, and then God is going to return in judgment and establish His kingdom. The day of the Lord is often depicted with terminology related to labor pains, to the giving of birth to the kingdom of God. The pains of the Tribulation are depicted as labor pains. The term is a broad term that can be used for specific time periods within the broader concept and they can cover just about anything from the Tribulation to the Second Coming to the Millennial kingdom. Or it can refer to specific events within that time frame. In Isaiah 13:6 it is a future event, it is not a term to describe a historic judgment on Babylon.

 

Isaiah 13:7 NASB “Therefore all hands will fall limp, And every man’s heart will melt. [7] They will be terrified, Pains and anguish will take hold of {them;} They will writhe like a woman in labor, They will look at one another in astonishment, Their faces aflame.” We see in numerous place when we study the day of the Lord that it is compared to labor pains. [9] “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.” In verse ten are the astro-geophysical traumas that occur. [10] “For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light.” It is also a time of world wide punishment. [11] “Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.” So the judgment isn’t something localized to just the kingdom of Babylon. Throughout these passages there is specific reference to the ending of the pride of man, the arrogance of man. [12] “I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir.” That means that human beings are going to be almost wiped out and to find one is going to be as difficult as finding gold. That is an allusion to the kind of destruction that is going to occur at the same time as the destruction of Babylon. So this can’t refer to a historic fulfillment of Babylon because nothing like that has never occurred before. [13] “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.” This is the kind of astro-geophysical disaster that we have never seen before; it is only associated with the end times at the end of the Tribulation period.

 

Isaiah 13:19 NASB “And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” The area around where Sodom and Gomorrah were is just barren, empty wasteland. [20] “It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch {his} tent there, Nor will shepherds make {their flocks} lie down there.” We must remember this because this is stated five or six times within this chapter and Jeremiah 50 & 51: it will never again be inhabited. That cannot be said of Babylon historically. Babylon did not really diminish into almost nothingness until 1000 AD. Even during the last thousand years there have been various Arab settlements on the ancient site of Babylon. [21] “But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there. [22] Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers

And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her {fateful} time also will soon come And her days will not be prolonged.”

 

The other thing that is important to note here is that chapter thirteen cannot be separated from chapter fourteen. There is a continuation on chapter fourteen but a shift in focus. Where the focus in chapter thirteen has been on how God will judge Babylon, in chapter fourteen the focus is on what happens when God judges Babylon in relationship to His plan for Israel. There it is clear that there is a reunification of the northern and southern tribes at the time of the destruction of Babylon. That never happened historically. Isaiah 14:1 NASB “When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.” The strangers clinging would be Gentiles who have become believers and they recognize that salvation comes from Israel and Israel only in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Lord has mercy at the time when Babylon is destroyed; there is a reunification of Israel in their own land. 

 

Isaiah 14:2 NASB “The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them [Gentiles] as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.” This indicates a level of prosperity among the Jews and a level of affluence where they have servants. These servants are the Gentiles who have joined them. That didn’t happen in 538 BC when they began to return under Zerubbabel or of Ezra and Nehemiah; it has never happened historically. This has to all refer to some future event. Then verse three continues to identify the timing of this as the day of the Lord. [3] “And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved.” So there is the destruction of Babylon followed by a time of blessing, a time of world wide peace and stability. So Isaiah is saying that away down in the future when the Lord gives you rest from all of your enemies and Babylon has been destroyed, at that time in the future (which is still future for us) you are going to take up this proverb, this taunt about the king of Babylon. [4] “that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, ‘How the oppressor has ceased, {And how} fury has ceased!’” The events of chapter fourteen are really stated way in the future, at the end of the Tribulation, at the end of Daniel’s seventieth week, at the Second Coming, and it looks back on the career of this person called the king of Babylon. It is important to understand that what is stated—the event, the circumstances—in chapter fourteen isn’t something in the past, it is in the future; but from that future vantage point they are looking back to his past career and what he did. 

Isaiah 14:5-7 NASB “The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution. The whole earth is at rest {and} is quiet; They break forth into shouts of joy.” At the time this is happening the whole earth is at peace. That can only be the Millennium, looking back at events during the Tribulation period.… [9] “Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.” This proverb focuses on the fact that this personage has been wiped out and judged with the destruction of Babylon, and at the time of his judgment he was cast into Sheol, into the pit, which is comparable to the abyss in Revelation chapters nineteen and twenty. [15] “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.” Who is this describing? The text is using personification to depict the joy of hell, as it were, welcoming this person to the pit.

Isaiah 14:16 NASB “Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, {saying,} ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms…” These are the kings of the nations who followed the king of Babylon; they are down there already. They have been defeated and have been sent to Sheol; they are waiting for him, and when he arrives they will say to him, “Have you also become as weak as we are?” They are addressing the king of Babylon who is really Satan, the power behind the throne, and they are looking at him as he arrives in the abyss. [11] “Your pomp {and} the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out {as your bed} beneath you And worms are your covering. [12] How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!” They are addressing the real power behind the Antichrist who is the dragon or Satan, and they are addressing the motive that led him to deceive the nations, culminating in the great end time battles during the Tribulation period.

 

Isaiah 14:13 NASB “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God [rule the angels], And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.’” When did he say this? This would take us back to his original fall; this is the thinking that characterized Lucifer at the time of his fall. His basic statement is that he is going to function as God. Then what they said to him, v. 15: “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.” Sheol here can also be a generic term for the grave. This is more general language used in poetry and there is not a specific analysis here where he goes from point A to point B to point C. It is describing his judgment and collapse.

 

The passage then goes on to describe what he did, but that only happens during the Tribulation period with all of the judgments that occurred. Isaiah 14:19 NASB “But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse. [20] You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever…. [22] I will rise up against them,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the LORD. [23] ‘I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,’ declares the LORD of hosts.”

 

Revelation 19:20 NASB “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.” They move from their mortal body to whatever their immortal body is instantly into the lake of fire. [21] “And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

 

Revelation 20:1 NASB “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; [3] and he threw him into the abyss, and shut {it} and sealed {it} over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.” That is the event that is being described in the poetry of Isaiah chapter fourteen. It is what happens when the beast and the false prophet and Satan are judged and destroyed, and this taunt is set up from those who have preceded them and reminding them of their arrogance and their attempt to rule the world.

 

The point is that the prediction in Isaiah is that Babylon would be completely destroyed. When Isaiah wrote this it was some two hundred years before Babylon was going to destroy the northern kingdom. The major power at the time Isaiah wrote was Assyria. This announcement in Isaiah was made long before Babylon was a threat to the southern kingdom.

 

Jeremiah chapters 50 & 51 come at the end of a series of judgments against the nations surrounding Israel which start in chapter 46. When Jeremiah is writing Babylon is the key power and Babylon has already attacked and defeated Israel on two occasions, and this could even be written after 586 after the destruction of the temple. It is in this chapter that we have the prophecy related to the destruction of Babylon.    

 

Jeremiah 50:3 NASB “For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!” Persia would have come from the east and could not be the empire that fulfills this prophecy. This prophecy is going to be fulfilled by an international coalition of nations that come out of the north that will conclude at least Turkey, probably Russia and some other European powers. [4] ‘In those days and at that time,’ declares the LORD, ‘the sons of Israel will come, {both} they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God they will seek.’” At the time this destruction is prophesied of Babylon something else is going to happen in relation to Israel. This is a return of the Jews to the land in repentance and turning back to God. [5] “They will ask for the way to Zion, {turning} their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the LORD {in} an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.” That is the establishment of the New Covenant—Jeremiah 31:31-33. So it is clearly stated that the destruction is from an enemy from the north, it occurs at a time that will immediately precede the reunification of the northern and southern kingdoms and the return of the Jews to worship the Lord. That has not yet happened in history.

 

Jeremiah 50:8 NASB “Wander away from the midst of Babylon And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans; Be also like male goats at the head of the flock.” There is a command here to flee, but when the Persians came in and defeated the Babylonians Daniel stayed there. But here the believers are commanded to flee before this judgment takes place. [9] “For behold, I am going to arouse and bring up against Babylon A horde of great nations from the land of the north, And they will draw up {their} battle lines against her; From there she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior Who does not return empty-handed…. [15] Raise your battle cry against her on every side! She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen, Her walls have been torn down. For this is the vengeance of the LORD: Take vengeance on her; As she has done {to others, so} do to her.” We are told that this period is called vengeance from the Lord. The Hebrew word for vengeance isn’t the idea of a self-serving vendetta, it is the idea that is applied to God of bringing about justice in history.

 

This destruction will occur at a time when Israel is scattered like sheep. Jeremiah 50:17 NASB “Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven {them} away. The first one {who} devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one {who} has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” It will precede the return of Israel to the land again, vv. 19,10. NASB “And I will bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.” So this is a time when the nation is redeemed and in the land, in the kingdom. This destruction of Babylon is clearly a future Babylon. [23] “How the hammer of the whole earth Has been cut off and broken! How Babylon has become An object of horror among the nations!”

Jeremiah 50:32 NASB “The arrogant one will stumble and fall With no one to raise him up; And I will set fire to his cities And it will devour all his environs…. [39] Therefore the desert creatures will live {there} along with the jackals; The ostriches also will live in it, And it will never again be inhabited Or dwelt in from generation to generation. [33] As when God overthrew Sodom And Gomorrah with its neighbors, declares the LORD, No man will live there, Nor will {any} son of man reside in it.”

Jeremiah 50:41 NASB “Behold, a people is coming from the north, And a great nation and many kings Will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.” So this will be an international alliance that invades from the north and destroys Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:5 NASB “For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken By his God, the LORD of hosts, Although their land is full of guilt Before the Holy One of Israel.” This comes after a long period of time after Israel has thought that they had been forgotten by God. In vv. 6 & 45 again we have this prediction that people need to flee and also that it is the time of then Lord’s vengeance, a time when he will bring justice against Babylon. Cf. v.11.

Jeremiah 51:24-26. We are told that it will be destroyed but the building materials aren’t even to be reused to build other things. That really hasn’t been true in history. “But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the LORD. “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD, “And I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags, And I will make you a burnt out mountain. They will not take from you {even} a stone for a corner Nor a stone for foundations, But you will be desolate forever,” declares the LORD.” Again, never fulfilled in history.

 There is one other passage in the Old Testament that is important for us to look at. Zechariah begins with eight different night visions that are described from the end of chapter one and going through chapter six. In chapter five is the seventh of these visions. Zechariah 5:5 NASB “Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.’ [6] I said, ‘What is it?’ And he said, ‘This is the ephah [basket] going forth.’ Again he said, ‘This is their appearance in all the land [7] (and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.” The idea in the basket is that this is, in our language, a bushel. When we hear the term “bushel” we immediately think of some sort of measurement for grain or something of that nature. It brings to mind something related to agriculture. An ephah was a large measurement that was used for measuring wheat or grain or something of that nature. The ephah was the large container which would be how the grain would be stored and how it would be transported. So we are thinking in terms of commerce—storing grain and moving it from one location to another. The ephah here is going to represent commercial activity. Inside the basket was a woman. The heavy lead cover would keep the woman trapped inside the basket, and this depicts God’s control of history and God’s control of the commerce related to this woman. In God’s sovereign plan this dimension of commerce is under God’s control and is not going to be released until the moment of God’s timing.

The woman is then given a name: “Wickedness.” Zechariah 5:8 NASB “Then he said, ‘This is Wickedness!’ And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.” So the woman is covered and kept down inside the basket—all symbolic indicating God’s control over this economic system. [9] “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. [10] I said to the angel who was speaking with me, ‘Where are they taking the ephah?’ [11] Then he said to me, ‘To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.’” They are going to build a house of worship in the land of Shinar—Babylon. They are going to build a temple and this is where they are going to take the woman and the basket, and this is where she is going to be released. This shows a connection between worship or religion and commerce. It is a future event; all of these visions relate to end times of Israel during the Tribulation period. We see certain parallels with Revelation chapter seventeen. In Zechariah there is a woman sitting in a basket; in Revelation 17 there is the woman sitting on the beast. The woman in both cases represents this end time system. In Zechariah there is an emphasis on commerce; in Revelation there is an emphasis on commerce in 18:13. In Zechariah the woman is Wicked; in Revelation the woman is the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. In Zechariah a temple is built for the woman, indicating a connection between religion and this commercial economic system; in Revelation the woman is related to religious idolatry. The future Babylon connects a political system, an economic system and a religious system. In Zechariah the woman is taken to Babylon; in Revelation the woman is called Babylon.

We have a future restoration of a literal Babylon in Iraq that will become the economic center for the end time kingdom at the end of the Tribulation period. Babylon will be destroyed and wiped out by God as part of the judgments of the day of the Lord at the conclusion of the Tribulation period. The destruction of Babylon will then become part of the day of the Lord events and part of the end of the Armageddon campaign and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on the earth.          

This shows a unity of Scripture; it shows the fulfillment of Scripture, that even though Babylon is pretty much laid waste now it has not fulfilled the prophecy as God described it. So it will be a future time when there is that resurrection. This also shows as we study through these things that the very core of the thinking that we have characterized by the king of Babylon is pride and arrogance. Pride and arrogance are at the every core of man’s rebellion against God, but also pride and arrogance are at the core of every human system—religious, economic and political—because we are all fallen and we live in a fallen world. The only time there is going to be any kind of economic solution and any true political system is when Jesus Christ returns and establishes His kingdom.

 

Illustrations