THE AMERICAN NEW WORLD
ORDER SYSTEM MUST GIVE
WAY TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

There are some who suggest that Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 together with Isaiah chapters 13 and 14 and even (as strange as it might seem) Revelation 17 and 18 were fulfilled when Cyrus took Babylon in B.C. 541 - and that these verses have nothing to do with events yet future. But there is too much in these chapters which were not accomplished when Cyrus took the ancient city of Babylon. For example, both the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah, like those of the Revelation, indicate that Babylon [Prophetic Babylon] is to be destroyed suddenly and catastrophically - "in one short hour," NEVER TO BE INHABITED AGAIN!! But when Cyrus took the city in B.C. 541, he took it so quietly and with such little commotion that some of the inhabitants did not know until the third day that Belshazzar had been slain and the city taken.

Some years later, it revolted against Darius Hystaspis, and in B.C. 478 Xerxes took the city and plundered it. But he did not destroy it. In B.C. 331, Alexander the Great prepared to lay siege to the once again thriving and powerful city, but the citizens threw open the gates and received him with acclamation. During the subsequent wars of his generals, Babylon suffered much and was finally brought under the power of Seleucis. In B.C. 293 Seleucis founded Seleucia in the neighborhood of Babylon, and the rival city gradually drew off a large portion of Babylon’s inhabitants so that by A.D. 15, Strabo spoke of the city as being largely deserted.

Nevertheless, there still existed within the city a large Jewish population left over from the "Captivity." Indeed, we find that the Apostle Peter wrote his First Epistle from Babylon in A.D. 60 (I Peter 5:13).

About the middle of the Fifth Century, Theodoret spoke of Babylon as being inhabited only by Jews who still had three Jewish schools or "Yeshivas" there. In the last year of the same century, the Talmud was issued from Babylon and accepted as authoritative by Jews throughout the world.

In A.D. 917 Ibu Hankel mentioned Babylon as still being in existence, and by A.D. 1100 it had again grown into a city of some importance. Shortly afterwards, it was enlarged, fortified and renamed "Hillah." In 1898, Hillah contained about 10,000 inhabitants and was surrounded by fertile lands and beautiful groves which stretched along the Euphrates River. [It should be noted in this connection, that the American army has a powerful military encampment in Hillah today, making it all the more apparent who now is the real "Master of Babylon" - both literally and figuratively.]

During this entire period (B.C. 541 - A.D. 2005) it could never be said that "neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall shepherds make their fold there" (Isa. 13:20). Nor could it be said of Babylon - "Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land WHEREIN NO MAN DWELLETH, neither doeth any son of man pass thereby." (Jer. 51:43). Nor could it be said, "... and they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith the Lord" (Jer. 51:26), for many towns and cities have been built from the ruins of Babylon - Seleucia by the Greeks, Ctesiphone by the Parthians, Al Maiden by the Persians, and Kufa by the Caliphs. Indeed, in Baghdad today (the capital of modern Iraq) Babylonian stamped bricks may be frequently noticed.

But Isaiah is still more specific, for he locates the time when his prophecy will be fulfilled. He calls it the "DAY OF THE LORD" (Isa. 13:9) - that is to say, at the end of the "Great Tribulation." Moreover, he says that when Babylon is destroyed, "The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine" (Isa. 13:19; see also Luke 21:25-27). Surely nothing like this happened when Cyrus took Babylon in B.C. 541.

In the description of the destruction of the city of Babylon given in Revelation 18, we are told that Babylon’s destruction will be accomplished in "ONE HOUR" (verse 19). Again - this is certainly not the description of events which surrounded Cyrus’s taking of the city. In addition, we are told in the same chapter that she is to be destroyed by fire (Rev. 18:8-9, 18) and this is in exact harmony with the words of Isaiah 13:19 and Jeremiah 50:40. Moreover, in Revelation 16:17-19, we are told that an earthquake will shake the city at the time of its destruction. No such earthquake ever shook the city when Cyrus took it in B.C. 541.

Obviously, then, the Babylon that is described in Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51 and in the Revelation is not the ancient city of Babylon, but some great "latter-day" nation which by means of its enormous military and economic might will establish its ascendancy over the world. [Please see chapter 14 of the Antipas Papers, "The Beast of Revelation 17," for a more extensive discussion of these matters.]

All this should be of some importance to you! Why? - because that means when Jeremiah says, "FLEE OUT OF THE MIDST OF BABYLON, and deliver every man his SOUL: be not cut off in her iniquity ..." (Jer. 51:6), and, again, when he says, "FORESAKE HER ..." (Jer. 51:9) he is speaking to YOU. These verses parallel Revelation 18:4, where Christ bends over the parapet of heaven (as it were) and cries out, "... COME OUT OF HER , my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4) YOU ARE TRULY "PLAYING THE FOOL" IF YOU DO NOT TAKE THESE VERSES VERY, VERY SERIOUSLY.