619
T H E K I N G ’ S
B U S I N E S S
October 1924
Will Babylon Be Rebuilt? James Dunbar, Invercargill, New Zealand Author of ‘‘What Shall be Done in the Dry?” “Mespotamia and Babylon,” etc. There are many differing views regarding the rebuilding of Babylon. The author of this exceedingly interesting and thought-provoking article gives one.
reason and revelation, that Babylon must be restored and inhabited, so that the doom of the city will take place exactly as stated by the prophets in the Old Testament. Babylon gained its great name and reached the height of its glory under Nebuchadnezzar about 600 B. C. It had an area of over 100 square miles with walls 75 feet high, pierced by many gates. When Cyrus the Persian took the city and Belteshazzar was slain, it received no damage, and continued as a Persian city until the year 331 B. C., when Alexander the Great took possession and determined to make it the greatest city of his empire. The city suffered no damage at this time when the Persian •yoke was ex changed for the Grecian. The same is true as to Macedon ian, Roman, Parthian and Mohammedan occupation. The city was never destroyed or hurt as the Bible describes its utter desolation to be, though it has gradually fallen into decay and ruin and for hundreds of years has been heaps of ruins, the broad streets that used to traverse the city being plainly seen. An important statement is made in connection with the final destruction of Babylon, when God has fulfilled all that prophets spoke concerning its final doom. It is found in Jeremiah 51:25, 26. “ I will stretch out My hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt moun tain, and they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations.” , It will be seen that if all the judgments are past and gone regarding Babylon, as evidenced by its present deso late and ruined condition, then no one will ever take any stones for building purposes from its ruins. God’s Word is very definite. What do we find when we come to look into the condition of the ancient city today? A large town, Hillah with a population of 15,000, stands alongside the site of the ancient city, built out of the stones, or bricks, of Babylon. Either the Scriptures are not true, or God has not finished with Babylon. The latter is certainly the answer. If this is so, we would expect to have some indication in the Word of God. It is important always to find corroborative evi dence in the Scriptures, for any statement we' may make, and this truth regarding the building again of Babylon in the near future is no exception. The prophet Zechariah in Chapter 5, vs. 5-11, gives the circumstances under which a house is to be built in the land of Shinar, in a far distant day. In vision, he sees an ephah going forth. (An ephah, is a common measure of quantity in commerce.) The talent of lead that is next men tioned tells us of weights, also used in commerce. Commerce to be Restored This weight and measure is controlled by a woman, who is seen in vision in the midst of the ephah. Her name is Wickedness. Two women transport the ephah and lead (the commerce) to the land of Shinar, to build a house and establish the woman. We may learn from this that two nations with rapid means of transport will assist in build ing this house. It does not appear difficult to discover who the woman is, and what the house is. They are the city and all it stands for, soon to be reared on the ruins of ancient Babylon in the land of Shinar or Mesopotamia.
■HIS is a most interesting question and has occupied the attention of many students of prophecy in all ages. The popular answer is “ No,” and there are many who will say that the present state of the ruins of that wonderful city of ancient times, is in exact keeping with the great and minute prophecies given by Isaiah and Jeremiah 2500 years ago. Moreover, the references to Babylon they say, as given in Revelation, are a direct reference to Rome and Roman Catholicism. The purpose of this article is to look into these prophe cies and show that neither assertion is true to Scripture, and therefore we must look for another explanation of the statements, as given to us in the Old and New Testaments. The Great War, just completed, has done much to fur ther the fulfilment of prophecy. It is said that the declara tion of war in 1914, followed immediately on the close of a conference to pray for the Lord’s Second Coming, and was taken by many as God’s answer to their prayers. Mingling of Iron and Clay We have it clearly foretold in the Scriptures, that the close of this present dispensation will he followed by a period of great unrest and bloodshed; a rebellion against all authority and rule. We do not wonder then to see the rise of Bolshevism— a product of the war— and the springing up of democracy, with the attendant fall of many crowned heads. In the vision of the great image which Daniel saw, the legs of the image were made of iron, denoting the hard, unbending imperialism - of Rome. The materials in the feet, however, was iron mixed with clay. We under stand by this, that at the time of the Lord’s coming in glory to take His great power and reign, th^ Kingdoms of Europe, at least, will be partly Imperialistic and partly Demo cratic, or iron and clay—which can never mingle and have nothing in common. We see this result already in Europe. The cry is in many places for a republic. The clay was first seen in the time of the French Revolution. Taking the proportions of the feet, to the body of a man, we should be now on the verge of the formation of the toes of the great image Daniel saw. We are safe in saying, that if the Scriptures state any thing about a man, a city or a nation, and these statements have not been verified during their existence, God will bring that man, city or nation into being and prominence again, and fulfil His word. We cannot gainsay the fact. Prophecies concerning Greece have not been fulfilled, hence Greece came back on the map, because of the battle of Navirino in 1823, after being off the map as an indepen dent nation for 1900 years. Egypt too, because of the war, has a prince of her own blood on the throne— the first one for 2,000 years. The prophecies concerning Judas were never fulfilled. He seems to be the beast “ raised out of the earth”^resurrection— in Revelation 13. (See “What Shall Be Done in the Dry?” )* Babylon Not Yet Completely Destroyed In like manner, anyone who has a mind to search must come immediately to the conclusion that no siege that ever Babylon as a city underwent, has any likeness to what is clearly stated in the inspired prophecies. It stands to
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