Mystery Babylon

(Ezekiel 8:10)

“So, I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.”

(Revelation 18:2)

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

The Roman Empire Re-Considered.

No matter what form future empires may take, the bible gives us the critical insight that the flawed model of empire that has come down through history has only a finite period time left to stand

 (Daniel 2: 36-45) This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.   And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.   And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.  And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.   And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.   And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.  Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Human attempts at political and religious unity have not brought world peace. When Christ comes to earth for the second time He will therefore topple the empires and powers of this world and set up the eternal Kingdom of God on earth

( Revelation 14:8) ( Revelation 11:15) This global kingdom and its government will be nothing like that which has come before; it will be free of all violence, corruption and greed.

In contrast to the deeply flawed and distinctly human secular and religious rulers who have exercise power and dominion over the earth’s people and empires,

 ( Isaiah 9:6-7) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 

 A taste of just how different the prophesied Kingdom of God and its king, will be.

The takeaway for us seems to be that while Rome established the standard for world ruling empires and emperors for the past two thousand years it is apparent it cannot form the basis of government that will ultimately prevail on earth. And given the former empire’s track record, that can only be viewed as a good thing.

 Mystery Babylon, is it a force to reckon with?

Shalom!