Babylon Then and Now
The story of Ancient Babylon’s demise is reflected in the Sixth Trumpet and the Sixth Bowl of Wrath in the Book of Revelation. In Daniel, on the eve of the city’s conquest by the “Medes and Persians,” the crown prince, Belshazzar, gave a feast “for a thousand of his lords” and “tasted wine” from the sacred vessels that Nebuchadnezzar looted from the Temple in Jerusalem, thereby disrespecting the God of Israel while also praising the false gods of Babylon.
In Revelation, this incident is
behind the portrayal of the “inhabitants of the earth” who refuse to
repent of their sins despite enduring the “plagues” unleashed by the
first six of the “Seven Trumpets.”
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| [Babylon - Photo by ONUR KURT on Unsplash] |
Moreover, the overthrow of the Neo-Babylonian Empire by the “Medes and Persians” is echoed in the “Sixth Bowl of Wrath” where the “kings of the east” are released from the Euphrates River for the final battle on the “great day of God the Almighty.”
Thus, in Revelation, Ancient
Babylon, going back even to the story of the Tower of Babel, serves as the
prototype of End-Time “Babylon,” the “Great Whore who sits on many
waters… and is drunk with the blood of the saints.” God will use the “kings
of the east” to annihilate her, and her allies and vassals, the “kings
and merchants of the earth,” will mourn her destruction.
HANDWRITING ON THE WALL
Belshazzar’s celebration was interrupted
when a mysterious hand wrote unknown letters on the wall that none of the
Chaldean “wise men” and astrologers could read or interpret. Only the
prophet Daniel was able to explain the king’s dream. In the process, he issued
a stern rebuke to the Babylonian potentate for his blasphemy:
- (Daniel 5:20-23) – “But against the Lord of the heavens have you uplifted yourself, and the vessels of his house have they brought before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine therein, and GODS OF SILVER AND GOLD, OF BRONZE, IRON, WOOD AND STONE, WHICH SEE NOT NOR HEAR NOR KNOW HAST THOU PRAISED, whereas, God in whose hand your breath is and whose are all your ways, HIM HAVE YOU NOT GLORIFIED.”
In contrast to his noble ancestor, Nebuchadnezzar,
Belshazzar failed to humble his heart. Instead, he profaned the Lord’s sacred
vessels. Rather than honor the “Most-High” as Nebuchadnezzar did, he praised
the false gods and idols of Babylon.
The same hardness of the heart is reflected
in the Book of Revelation. After the sounding of the “Sixth Trumpet,”
four angels are loosed from the Euphrates that then arouse a massive army that slays
a “third of mankind.” This is the latest and worst of the series of “plagues”
inflicted by the series of “Seven Trumpets.”
But the men who survived all “those
plagues” continued to refuse to repent. Rather than acknowledge the God of
heaven, they paid homage to “the IDOLS
OF GOLD AND OF SILVER AND OF COPPER and of stone and of wood, WHICH CAN NEITHER SEE NOR HEAR NOR WALK.”
And their stubborn refusal more than
justified God’s “wrath” when the “Seventh Trumpet” sounded,
ushering in the “Day of the Lord,” the time of God’s judgment and wrath
on the wicked - (Revelation 9:13-20, 11:15-19).
SIXTH TRUMPET - SEVENTH BOWL
Verbally, the “Sixth Trumpet” is
linked to the “Sixth Bowl of Wrath” by the reference to the “Euphrates
River.” Just as the “four angels” were “loosed” from the
river to attack men, so the emptying of the “Sixth Bowl” dried up the Euphrates
in preparation for the invasion by the “kings of the east,” an attack that
culminates in the Battle of “Armageddon.”
And that battle causes the destruction of End-Time “Babylon” when the seventh angel pours out the “Seventh Bowl of Wrath upon the air” - (Revelation 16:12-21).
Similarly, on the night when the army of
the “Medes and Persians” captured Ancient Babylon, the attacking
force first dammed the Euphrates so that its troops could enter the massively
walled city along the newly dried riverbed. Thus, the “great city” of
Nebuchadnezzar was conquered in one night, and Belshazzar, the last ruler of
the Neo-Babylonian Empire, was slain – (Daniel 5:24-31, Isaiah 44:27-45:1,
Jeremiah 50:38-42).
And so, in Revelation, key events
from the Book of Daniel become patterns for the final cosmic conflict
between the “Lamb” and the “Dragon,” and the victory of the holy
city, “New Jerusalem,” over “Mystery Babylon, the Great,” the
city that is full of the “abominations of the Earth.”
Thus, the overthrow of the Neo-Babylonian
Empire by the “Medes and Persians” foreshadowed the destruction of “Babylon”
at the end of the age. Biblically speaking, she is far more than a once great
city of the ancient world. The “Great Whore” is a present reality that has
stood in opposition to God and His people since the founding of human civilization.
