Babylon's ultimate destruction is presented as a future event, distinct from its historical fall, aligning with prophecies in Revelation 18 and Jeremiah 50-51. The sermon argues that the historical fall of Babylon to Cyrus did not fulfill the prophecies of sudden, complete, and permanent destruction, nor the cessation of its inhabitants and crafts. It highlights that the prophecies predict a future rebuilding of Babylon, which will then face a final, cataclysmic judgment, paralleling the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This future judgment is intrinsically linked to the reunification of Israel and Judah and their entry into an everlasting covenant with God upon Christ's return.
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I feel I should give you just a little report on Mrs. Thomas. I saw her this afternoon at Cone Hospital. You know that she was in that serious automobile accident. The sternum is broken, a number of broken ribs. Her arm is broken, I think, at two places. Her leg is broken at two places at the top and once and down between the knee and the ankle as well. But she's going home Saturday. She has greatly improved. And I never thought she'd make it the first day that I visited the hospital. But the Lord graciously brought her through thus far.
And her daughter is taking her home to Ashboro this coming Saturday morning. So there's a lot to give thanks for in that area. For Mr. Issa. I visited him this week. And though he's confined to the house, he's not allowed to go out. And even though with his heart he's been to Chapel Hill, at least I think he said five times in the last three or four weeks with his heart, he says he goes down there and they give him a special medicine. It's like recharging a battery in a car. He said it keeps you going for a little while.
And he said, when it runs down, just go back and get some more. And that's the way he described it to me. But his heart is in bad condition. And he can be expected to go anytime. They wanted to give him a heart transplant, but he said no. And I feel that he made the right decision. And there are a number of reasons why I feel that way. If I were in his condition tonight, I'm sure that I would say I had the heart that God gave me. And if it's worn out, I want to go to be with the Lord. Because if the scriptures mean anything, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, which is far better.
So we read in Philippians chapter one. Paul said, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ. which is far better. And also all the many blessed promises in the Word of God that tell us in His presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. For the past two years I'd see Brother Isit walking with a little dog, holding the dog up like a baby, and he'd hardly talk when you'd see him on the road because he didn't have any breath. Just no wind at all. But I had a real good time with him yesterday in the things of the Lord.
Mrs. Fletcher also seems to be doing a bit better. I could keep going on and on. We need to pray one for another. And we have that privilege, praying one for another. tonight I would like to wind up this study on the subject of Babylon I invite you to turn to Revelation chapter eighteen and we're going to begin our reading at verse twenty one and we'll read to the end of the chapter and I'm going to try to pull all the strings together tonight if that's possible as to what we've studied over the past three or four Wednesday nights relative to the subject of Babylon verse twenty one and a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and it shall be found no more at all.
And the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsman or whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee. and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee, and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee, for thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain on the earth.
Now may the Lord bless this portion to our hearts. I believe that Revelation chapter seventeen and eighteen are a unit. The division between the chapters is unfortunate because I believe that they are both dealing with the same thing. Many scholars disagree with that. Many scholars tell us that chapter seventeen is a system, chapter eighteen is a city. You have real difficulty with that if you read chapter seventeen. I believe that it is presenting here the same truth that you have in the prophecy of Jeremiah chapters fifty and fifty one.
Last week what I did, I had you put your fingers at Revelation seventeen and eighteen and we kept flipping from Jeremiah fifty and fifty one and we found that there are parallels between the destruction of Babylon as predicted by Jeremiah the prophet, and they parallel the destruction of Babylon as described by John in chapters seventeen and eighteen. Now Babylon in these chapters, both in Jeremiah and also in Revelation, it is likened to a stone sinking in a body of water, never to rise again.
Now, since we've noted the parallels between Jeremiah and the Revelation, now we must examine the details of the destruction of the city. And I want to examine the details that are given, and they are important. They're just simply five of them, and we'll notice them, and we'll see the fulfillment of in the portion in Revelation seventeen and eighteen that Jeremiah predicted in chapters fifty and fifty one now what I'm going to do tonight I'm going to show that when Babylon was destroyed previously by the Persian armies under Cyrus that they Babylon was not destroyed according to Jeremiah's prophecy and that's going to be my main thrust tonight in order that you see that what Jeremiah spoke of is what you have here in Revelation seventeen and eighteen.
And I'm not watching Russia near as much as I'm watching Babylon. Did you get me? You know, a lot of Bible scholars are looking at Ezekiel thirty-eight and thirty-nine. I'm not watching that nearly as close. as I am watching for the rebuilding of the city of Babylon. I believe what you had in Revelation, seventeen and eighteen, is the destruction of a city that is going to be rebuilt along the Euphrates River where the city of old Babylon once stood. Now, I want you to notice five things.
Number one, Babylon is to be destroyed suddenly. Jeremiah fifty verse eight says, and we looked at this verse last week, by the way, all these verses we have already read. So what I'm going to say to you tonight is what I basically said to you last week, but I'm going to give you reasons now to do some thinking in five areas relative to what we went over last week. First, Babylon is to be destroyed suddenly. Jeremiah fifty verse eight says suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken. Now when Babylon fell as you read the account in Daniel chapter five when Babylon fell Cyrus helped rebuild portions of the city that were in a state of decay.
Babylon did not fall suddenly. Well it did fall in one night which is sudden enough but it was not destroyed like a a stone being dropped into a lake never to be found. It was not destroyed in that sense. In fact, the city Babylon became one of the provincial cities of the Persian Empire. And you remember that the Persian Empire had a hundred twenty-seven provinces, and one of the provincial cities was Babylon. Furthermore, the actual destruction of Babylon was a a gradual decaying process that took centuries.
It was not sudden. But both Revelation and Jeremiah teach that when Babylon is destroyed as decreed by God, it is going to be a sudden destruction. And since you have your Bible open at Revelation eighteen, I'll show you how sudden it is. Look over at verse seven. at the end of the verse. It says, For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.
But the second thing that we want to notice tonight is Babylon is going to be destroyed completely. You have that in Jeremiah chapter fifty verse three, again in verse thirteen, again in verse twenty-six, again in verses thirty-nine and forty, and in chapter fifty-one and verse twenty-nine. Now one of the main themes of these verses in Jeremiah is that Babylon will be judged, and when Babylon is judged it will be complete and permanent. God in these verses is vowing to blot out the name of Babylon from under heaven.
That is what he is vowing. This did not happen when Babylon fell to Medo-Persia. Koldaway, the German archaeologist, who did most of the excavating in the old city of Babylon, he mentions that there was a village within the ancient city of Babylon in which he lived and he had his headquarters there. And Jeremiah tells us that Babylon will never be inhabited. No man will dwell there. And that same truth we read tonight from Revelation eighteen.
There won't be any craftsmen there. There won't be the sound of the millstone there. No matter what craft he be, won't be found in Babylon. Babylon is going to be destroyed completely. It never was. Furthermore, in the Zunderman Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, in this, it shows a picture of part of a present town within the city walls. And Wiseman in the International Bible Standard Encyclopedia. The nineteen seventy-nine edition, not the older edition, but the nineteen seventy-nine edition states that a partial restoration has already begun and that the modern village of Jumumuma, I hope I said that right, is located within the walls of ancient Babylon.
The Word of God says it will never be inhabited. Furthermore, Jeremiah predicted that when the city of Babylon fell, it would never be inhabited again, and this has not been fulfilled literally. Jeremiah fifty verse thirteen, therefore, is yet to be fulfilled. Thirteenth verse of the fiftieth chapter. But now notice something else. There's a third reason that I believe in the rebuilding of Babylon. And you know where Babylon was situated, don't you? It is in the present land of Iraq, that country of Iraq, which is at war with Iran.
And it is Babylon in Revelation seventeen and eighteen, according to the last verse of chapter seventeen, is a great city that reigns over the kings of the earth. Now, I'm going to tell you a story. And I want you to listen to me. Any one of you who know my sister, Mary, will know that she is not a believer. Last Friday morning, she called me to tell me about the death of a cousin, a medical doctor in Pennsylvania, a close friend of ours, and he died of cancer. He worked up to within two weeks of his death.
closing his office and within two weeks he died. And she called me to tell me this Friday morning. My brother was trying to call me Friday night or Thursday night and he couldn't understand why I didn't answer it. But I was at the banquet with you all. However, Mary in her studies, I said, Mary, aren't you concerned concerning the way in which the world is going? And I began talking to her about this. And I said the war in the Persian Gulf and everything. And she worked for Bethlehem Steel Company. And she said when I worked for Bethlehem Steel, there was hardly a day that went by that I did not send a check to an oil company for thousands upon thousands of dollars.
Nothing to send a check for sixty thousand dollars one day and send a check for thirty the next day and for a number of thousands the next day. And Bethel Steel is not the largest of the steel companies. The industrialized nations, friends, live on oil. They move on oil. And the greatest oil is in the Middle East. And of course she said, we sent checks to all the major oil companies. So much oil. Bethlehem Steel uses. And that's just one of them. But in the course of our conversation, she told me about Liza Manelli. Now, she's some movie star singer or something.
But she's well known. The daughter of Judy Garland. I don't know these movie stars. But anyway, she was down in Vero Beach with two other movie stars. And my sister got involved with them some way, and she even took one of them to the airport. And Liza Manelli said, her money is going to the rebuilding of Babylon. And my sister, who knows not God, who would not understand the implications of our text here, she told me this without ever knowing what she told me. I said, what did you say, Mary? And I had her repeat it.
And it's an amazing thing. It made almost whole chills go down my back. For you see, Babylon in Revelation, seventeen and eighteen, and this is what I'm trying to point out. Babylon is seen here as the great city that rules over the kings of the earth and is riding the beast. And the beast is the antichrist who is going to control the economy of earth. According to Revelation chapter thirteen. And this is why my eye is on Babylon. So when we talk about the rebuilding of Babylon, I just simply wanted to reinforce you that story.
I was shocked. I'll be honest with you. And I used it to witness to my sister. And when I witnessed to her, the telephone line got as quiet as the mouth. She just doesn't answer me. But I told her she'd better do some serious thinking. The coming of the Lord, I believe, is drawing near. Now I tell you, when he comes, it's all over for those who know not God and who have not obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I gave you two reasons. Now I move to the third. The building materials of Babylon are never to be used. In Jeremiah fifty-one in verse twenty-six.
It tells us that the bricks of Babylon, and the word stones are used there. And bricks in Babylon, made of clay, were there stones. Never forget that. And when it speaks of building materials never to be used, it speaks of total destruction and ultimate destruction. And the history of ancient Babylon does not correspond with that prophecy. because a lot of the materials of old Babylon were used in the rebuilding of other places, of other cities. There's a fourth reason I want to leave with you. Believers are told to flee the city.
They are told to flee the city in Jeremiah fifty verse eight, chapter fifty one, verse six, and again in verse forty five of chapter fifty one. Now this warning to flee the city not only appears in Jeremiah fifty and fifty one it also appears in Revelation chapter eighteen in Revelation eighteen verse four we read and I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues this almost reminds me When we talk about the destruction of Babylon, what you have concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain in the days of Lot.
Why was Lot in Sodom anyway? Lot was in Sodom to make money. Now there's nothing wrong making money. And there's nothing wrong making money in Sodom. As wrong. if you don't make it your number one priority the word of God tells us in the New Testament that Sodom would have remained until the time of Christ had they had some light but the problem with Lot when he was in Sodom he was giving no light as a child of God whatsoever he was going along with business as usual day by day and beloved I always enjoyed working public work.
I did as much witnessing when I was an electrician as I do now. Just didn't teach as much, that's all. You couldn't. Didn't have classes, that's all. But every day was a new day to witness to somebody. And if I was on a big construction job, I tried to organize a Bible reading at noon time to the fellows that were there. I was only working as an electrician to pay expenses. That's all. It's the only reason I was an electrician, just to get by, just to pay expenses. And God tells these people who are in Sodom, why would they be there?
Well, that's where the money is. That's where the best jobs are. And you see, we're living in a day, friends. When our young people, even that grow up in assemblies and in Bible teaching churches, where we claim that we love the Lord, how many are studying to go to the mission field? How many really put the spreading of the gospel as a number one priority? And we need to ask ourselves these questions. How many of the men that we work with really know where we stand spiritually? How many of the people that we come in contact with really know where we stand?
This is one of the things that I love about Brother Sutton. I've met a lot of people from Duke Power in my time since I'm in Burlington, and everybody knows where Brother Sutton stood with the gospel. He told them. Do you? Do you? See, this is the thing that's important. I'll tell you, I'm going to tell you a little story of Mrs. Patton. I met one of the workers from down there. They call him Stumpy, I believe. He's just a little fellow. Boy, he knows where Mrs. Patton stands. Boy, he blessed my soul. He didn't know what he was really telling me. I was just so listening.
And I heard of somebody who's talking about Christ on the job. That's the thing that's important, friends. That's a thing that's important. Come out of her, my people. And both in Revelation and in Jeremiah. God said to Lot, before he came out of Sodom, he says, Come out. I can't do anything as long as you're there. And you have that in Genesis chapter nineteen. For in answer to Abraham's prayer, God asked, or Abraham interceded that God would not destroy. the righteous were the wicked, and God graciously undertook for Abraham. And God told Lot, he said, Do you see how important prayer is?
God said, Lot, I can't do anything as long as you're there. Come on. Get out. And the same call comes to those who dwell in Babylon. Now, when Babylon fell, the Jews We don't have any record of them fleeing the city of Babylon. When Babylon fell under the, when the Persians under Cyrus captured the city. We don't read of that. In fact, when they did return under Zerubbabel and under Ezra, a lot of them preferred to live in Babylon rather than flee the city.
They had been there seventy years. They were settled down in Babylon. They didn't want to go back with Ezra. And you remember, Ezra even had to reprimand those who were of the priestry line for not wanting to go back and establish the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem. Just the opposite of what you have in the prophecy of Jeremiah. Call to flee. But the final... thing that I want to take up with you tonight. We're going to turn in the Bible for this one. And to me, it is the most clinching argument and the one that we need to really consider. Israel and Judah to be reunited at the time.
Let's look at Jeremiah chapter fifty now. And just for a few moments, read a verse or two. In Jeremiah chapter fifty, verse one tells us and gives us a context of these next two chapters it has to do with Babylon the word that the Lord spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet but now notice verse four in those days the days here that he's speaking of are the days when Babylon is going to be destroyed notice it says in those days and at that time says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together.
Now that word together is important. You know why? Under the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Judah and Israel were divided. Judah being the southern kingdom with Judah and Benjamin and the Levites and the priests and the kingdom of Israel on the north were the ten tribes. The kingdom of Israel went into captivity about a hundred and twenty-five or two hundred and fifty years before the kingdom of Judah did on the south. They were divided. But at this time, you and I can't tell. We only know them as Israel.
There's no division any longer among them between Israelites and those of Judah. They're all Jews. They're all Israelite. So you see, he's talking here about them coming together, going and weeping. They shall go and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual and everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten. And beloved, Israel. is going to enter into the everlasting covenant with the Lord at the time when they're delivered, when our Lord returns in power and great glory.
So we read in the scriptures. It is at that time that they're going to be delivered. When our Lord returns, Zechariah twelve, ten, they shall look unto me whom they have pierced. They shall mourn for him as one mourner for his firstborn son. It is at that time that they're going to be delivered. What have we learned from this? The Jews didn't return to the Lord after their escape from the Babylonian captivity the other time. Furthermore, Israel and Judah did not unite nationally as the refugees drifted back into the land. And third, there was not a day of national repentance and forgiveness.
for the remnant that returned. But I want you to see the cause and effect relationship. The destruction of Babylon is connected in this passage as cause and effect with the re-establishment of Israel as a nation. Did you catch that? And if you listen, what's wrong over there in the Middle East tonight? What's the war over? The war is over, the fact that there's a nation of Israel there, and the Arabs don't want it. They want to run her into the sea.
And Israel is what Zechariah says in Zechariah thirteen, a burdensome stone among the nations. Nobody knows how to handle her. and nobody knows what to do with her. The other thing I want you to notice relative to the cause and effect relationship, and that is, it is at this time that Israel enters into the everlasting covenant. And to me, that's the most clinching thing there is. For the everlasting covenant, you and I are partakers of it now. It's the new covenant that our Lord spoke of when he took the cup at night, and he said, this cup, is the New Testament in my blood, or the New Covenant.
It is a New Covenant spoken of in Hebrews eight and in Hebrews ten. And in that day, Israel is going to enter into it. The blessings of the New Covenant that are yours and mine today. But Israel is still on the outside. Israel has rejected Christ. Oh, there are few that have trusted Christ, and we thank God there's always a remnant according to the election of grace. According to Hebrews or Romans eleven and verse five, there's always a remnant of Israel that has believed down through the centuries, but as a whole they have not. There's a day coming when they will. And that day coming is when our Lord returns.
And it's the cause and effect relationship. That's when Babylon... is going to be destroyed according to that text. See, I believe John and Jeremiah were talking about the same city, a city that is going to be rebuilt in the land of Iraq on the Euphrates River or after Euphrates River in that particular land. And according to Zechariah five, wickedness is going to return. and it's going to set on its own base there in the land of Shinar.
The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Be ye also ready, the Lord said, for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes. Now let's pray. We thank thee, our Father, for the privilege of opening your word. And we ask you that by thy grace thou wilt enable us to behold thy grace and thy glory. Help us to look carefully at the keys that you give us in the study of Bible prophecy for Jesus' sake and for his glory and for our being awake, for we're not children of the night.
We are children of the day. And help us to live that way. For Jesus' sake, amen.