2-5 A Possible Latter Day Sequence of Events?
2-5 A Possible Latter Day Sequence Of Events?
So a possible sequence of events could be:
1.Literal Babylon is rebuilt, consciously reliving the ancient Babylon, and reviving her gods
2. A charismatic antichrist figure arises there, based on Nebuchadnezzar
3. He takes control of the Arab world by force and by political treaties, uniting them as a pan-Arab confederacy against Israel. This is the beast of the latter days. It persecutes true Christian believers.
4. This system then invades Israel; after the spirit and pattern of Nebuchadnezzar they take them into captivity in the Arab world (hence Ez. 20:33-38; Is. 11:11-16; Dt. 28:63-68 speak of the Jews being brought back in the last days from Babylon, Egypt, Arabia etc- where there are presently scarcely any Jews).
The Gospel is preached to the area dominated by Babylon; some respond.
5. The horns hate the whore- the members of the confederacy turn against Babylon.
6. The Lord Jesus intervenes and destroys Babylon so that the city is literally never again inhabited.
Current Evidence
There is ample evidence that the stage is being set for the fulfilment of stages 1-3.
1.Literal Babylon is rebuilt, consciously reliving the ancient Babylon, and reviving her gods
1.1 This is happening right now (see photos).
1.2 Saddam City, as it [was once] dubbed — or more correctly Saddamiat Al Tharthar (That Which Belongs to Saddam at Tharthar Lake) — is 85 miles west of Baghdad. It is so big that it includes 625 homes for the Iraqi leader’s “favourites”, Peter Hain, the Foreign Office Minister, said yesterday. The resort has stadiums, an amusement park, animal park, hospitals and the latest communications systems.
Source: The Times - UK
1.3 On the exact site of ancient Babylon, he has reconstructed the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, including the Procession Street, a Greek theater, many temples, what was once Nebuchadnezzar's throne room, and a half-scale model of the Ishtar Gate" (Charles Dyer, The Rise of Babylon, p. 27)
Shafqa Mohammed Jaafar, chief archaeologist of Babylon, explains : “Because Babylon was built in ancient times, and was a great city, it must be a great city again in the time of our new great leader”.
2. A charismatic antichrist figure arises there, based on Nebuchadnezzar
2.1 Saddam issued commemorative coinage with his image on one side, and King Nebuchadnezzar’s image on the other. He saw Nebuchadnezzar as his hero. The final leader of Babylon will ultimately do the same.
2.2 Placed atop some of the original bricks, marked with Nebuchadnezzar's name, are others that declare, "In the era of Saddam Hussein, protector of Iraq, who rebuilt the Royal Palace”. A palace tour guide said, "Nebuchadnezzar was a man of war and peace, just as Saddam Hussein is".
Charles Dyer, author of "The Rise of Babylon" documents a fascinating event that took place in 1988 on the actual site of the ancient city of Babylon:
"It is a cloudless September night, and the moon casts its shining image on the banks of the gentle Euphrates River. Thousands of guests and dignitaries walk by torch light to Babylon’s Procession Street and enter the city from the north. Instructed to line the streets along the massive walls, the guests obediently follow orders. When the audience is in place, the dark-eyed man in charge nods, and the procession begins. Rows and rows of soldiers parade in, dressed in Babylonian tunics and carrying swords, spears and shields. Interspersed among the ranks of soldiers are groups of musicians playing harps, horns and drums. Clusters of children carry palm branches, and runners bear bowls of incense. Then come soldiers and still more soldiers in a seemingly endless line of men and weapons. After the procession, the guests attend a ceremony paying tribute to Ishtar, the mother goddess of Babylon." The director of that event, the International Babylon Festival, was celebrating the revival of the city from ancient times. By 1990, over sixty million bricks were on top of the very bricks that Nebuchadnezzar had laid.”
2.3
Modern King of Babylon
By Ken Raggio
Modern-day Equivalent of King Nebuchadnezzar
"Nowhere is that more visible than in Babylon, where the Iraqi leader is cast as the modern-day equivalent of King Nebuchadnezzar, the warrior and builder who came to power in 605 BC at the tender age of 25. Hussein, who helped stage a coup at age 31, has restored part of Nebuchadnezzar's 600-room palace”.
2.4 No one has ever mentioned the achievements of "Hammurabi," the founder of the first organized sets of law in human history. Or "Nebuchadnezzar," the national hero who was able to defeat the enemies of the nation on the land of "Kennan" [Canaan] and to take them as prisoner of war to Babylon. What we need now is to increase awareness in this regard. -- Saddam Hussein. He clearly had in mind to take Jews captive to Babylon from the land, perhaps thereby fulfilling Dt. 28, Zech. 14:1-3 and other prophecies which suggest that the Jews will be briefly taken into captivity in the last days. This kind of rhetoric is alive and well to this day in Iraq.
2.5 Noted John Burns in the New York Times International --
When Mrs. Jaafar, the archaeologist, was asked if Iraqis considered Mr. Hussein to be "the new Nebuchadnezzar," she laughed and replied, "Yes, of course!" Among Arabs, King Nebuchadnezzar is remembered as much as anything for the fact that he three times conquered Jerusalem, carrying tens of thousands of Jews back to Babylon. -- "New Babylon Is Stalled by a Modern Upheaval," October 11, 1990, p. A13.
3. The antichrist figure takes control of the Arab world by force and by political treaties, uniting them as a pan-Arab confederacy against Israel. This is the beast of the latter days.
3.1 Pan Arab unity is a major thrust of Iraqi policy:
Said Saddam Hussein in 1979 --
The glory of the Arabs stems from the glory of Iraq. Throughout history, whenever Iraq became mighty and flourished, so did the Arab nation. This is why we are striving to make Iraq mighty, formidable, able and developed. -- Los Angeles Times, October 12, 1990, p. 14A.
Note how Saddam saw the Arab ‘nation’ as one, led by Iraq / Babylon. This is exactly what we would expect from prophecies about the latter day beast.
3.2 Wrote Walter Laqueur in the Washington Post --
Saddam Hussein first appeared on the scene as a pan-Arab politician. His great hero is Nebuchadnezzar II, who was neither an Arab nor a Moslem, but the builder of a great empire (and the conqueror of Jerusalem). "Like Hitler, but Different," August 31, 1990, p. A25.
Saddam was not alone in his dream of a unified Arab nation. Nasser of Egypt reached for that goal in the fifties, and other Arab leaders strive for it today.
3.3 The Palestinian National Covenant (1964) “Article 10. Palestinians have three mottos: National unity, National mobilization, Liberation” [in English translation: Sadat Hasan, Introducing The Palestinian Liberation Organization, New York, USA: P.L.O., pp. 12-14]. Quoted in Y. Harkabi, The Palestinian Covenant And Its Meaning (London: Valentine, Mitchell, 1979 p. 109). These three principles are perhaps the three frog like spirits which come out of the beasts of the last days. These are the spirits which unite the kings of the land, i.e. the nations situated in the land promised to Abraham, in their unity against Israel. What is most important to me about Nebuchadnezzar is the link between the Arabs' abilities and the liberation of Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar was, after all, an Arab from Iraq, albeit ancient Iraq. Nebuchadnezzar was the one who brought the bound Jewish slaves from Palestine. That is why, whenever I remember Nebuchadnezzar, I like to remind the Arabs -- Iraqis in particular -- of their historical responsibilities. It is a burden that should not stop them from action, but rather spur them into action because of their history. -- Saddam Hussein, 1979
3.4 There was from earliest times an association of 10 kings with Babylon. Much is made of how Babylon began with the reign of “the ten kings”. Berosus, a priest of Marduk’s temple at Babylon about 300 bc, in the second book of his history tells of the ten kings of the Chaldeans who reigned before the Deluge.
3.5 Sept. 21, 2000 - At least 47 countries will participate in Iraq's 10-day Babylon cultural festival which opens on September 22. The annual festival was launched in 1987, but was cancelled in 1990 and 1991 due to the Gulf War. Source: Yahoo . Thus many Arab nations will come together under the leadership of Babylon.
4. This system then invades Israel
Iraq is a major supporter of the P.L.O. Filastin is the Arabic word the P.L.O. uses to describe ‘Palestine’; they consciously see themselves as latter day Philistines in their struggle against the Jewish state; see Anis Sayegh [ed.], Filastiniyat (Beirut, Lebanon: P.L.O. Research Centre, 1968). Iraq and her Arab confederacy may be the beast, but the Palestinians may be the eagle power who come upon Israel so suddenly. The eagle is the heraldic emblem of the Palestinian National Authority.
Summing up: it could really be that very, very soon this Arab confederacy / beast emerges under the leadership of the antichrist. The stage is perfectly set. It will arise suddenly and be destroyed suddenly- by the Lord’s return. May we be ready and waiting and separate from it.
Notes
(1) It should be noted that in 1922 the UK was given a mandate to establish a Jewish home- not a state. But the British allowed only 75,000 Jews to enter Palestine and then barred all further entry by Jews, in order to appease the Arabs. The British were seeking the support of the Arabs in their empire building in southern Arabia. After 1945, the British lost the mandate and the Jews had to force their way into Palestine. The state of Israel was established in the teeth of British opposition; it came into being as a result of a guerilla warfare against the British. And the Arabs had been schooled by the British to oppose Jewish settlement and statehood. In no way can it be said that the British enabled the establishment of the state of Israel- they fought against it, and turned away the Haganah ships, carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe back to the land. They even sunk some of them…
