The Cradle is the Grave

Satan has longed for and worked toward manipulating the hearts of the unbelieving world powers to ultimately come back to one voice, one global nation. Defiance to God began with planet Earth's first city, Babylon, in the cradle of civilization. Earth's final defiance against God will once again emanate from Babylon in the battle of Armageddon that will sweep it away. The cradle of civilization will become a graveyard. Throughout Scripture, Babylon represents man's rebellion against God. It's a city marked by humanism, atheism, and hedonism. It is literally hell on earth, a city void of Christ. But in Revelation 18, God will finally destroy Babylon once and for all. How is it that the once beautiful and prosperous city gets reduced to rubble? The reason is that destruction and judgment is the future of everything that stands opposed to God.

Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey concludes his series called Armageddon and the Fall of Babylon. With this lesson, the cradle is the grave. Most of you have heard the phrase the cradle of civilization. Your middle school teacher might have described it in your social studies class or geography class as the Tigris Euphrates River Valley where civilization began. Geographical points of reference for the Garden of Eden provided in Genesis chapter 2 indicate the garden's location in this river valley with the Tigris and Euphrates flowing past this beautiful sanctuary where Adam and Eve tended the garden and the animals and walked with God. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, they were expelled from the garden. The human race began and flourished beyond that as well as every sin imaginable, including murder. Eventually, humanity reached such perverted and blasphemous conditions that God judged the world by sending a universal flood, literally wiping the human race along with the animal kingdom off the face of the earth.

However, God in his grace had first provided mankind with an invitation of mercy and grace. They were invited to come to the ark as Noah preached for 120 years, warning them of the judgment to come. But according to Genesis chapter 6, when it came, not one person outside the family of Noah responded, and the cradle of civilization became, and beyond around the world, a mass grave. Noah and all who would come through him were commanded to go out and enjoy the earth, populate it, worship God, and obey him.

Genesis 9, of course, following the promise of Genesis 3 that the one we know as Christ would soon come. Noah's great-grandson rebelled and instead called all of the people to gather together in that river valley and defy God. And so they gathered and built the first city after the flood, a city of rebellion against God, and its first Caesar was Nimrod. They also built, as we learned, their tower of Babel dedicated to the stars, moon, and sun, the zodiac, which was originated, created by the Babylonians, and they held the fact that certain signs in the sky and the movements of stars literally held people captive to some higher power, and the only way you could find your destiny would be to follow the signs. They had rejected the creator, and they had begun worshiping creation all the way back to the great-grandson days of Noah.

Genesis 11 reveals how God judged the human race again, this time by confusing their one language and separating them into a thousand plus different dialects and they couldn't understand each other and they literally scattered around the world. But Babylon was never completely abandoned. It grew in size and significance century after century until a king named Nebuchadnezzar would build it into its grandest state ever. Herodotus described the city, all 60 miles of it surrounded by a brick wall 87 feet thick, 100 feet high, so strong was it that 250 towers stretched from the top of the wall upward as if to tell any invading army don't even think about it. The Euphrates River ran through the city diagonally. The banks of the river as it ran through the city were beautifully walled with steps leading down to the water's edge. The hanging gardens created by Nebuchadnezzar built by his engineers to help pacify his homesick wife were quite the thing, terraced patios with exotic plants and flowers tended by gardeners and laborers 24 hours a day. These gardens would become one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Babylon was laid out with 25 main avenues that traveled through it in straight lines.

The streets were 150 feet wide. At the ends of each avenue would be gates as they ended from one side of the city to the other. Gates that Herodotus said were overlaid with brass that as they were opened and closed in the setting and rising of the sun they shone like leaves on fire.

It was an awe-inspiring sight. One of those gates was named the Ishtar Gate, named in honor of Ishtar, their chief goddess, the queen of heaven with her virgin-born son. That very gate, by the way, has been excavated. Now is in the museum in Berlin. I've seen pictures of it.

I've stood by some of the procession way in the museum with my wife in Vienna in just stunning blue stone with gold leaf dragons and lions painted on it. Nebuchadnezzar's own inscription was excavated and he had written that these gates and this city was built, and I quote the translation of his inscription, so that man might stand in awe. Through those gates, perhaps even the Ishtar Gate, would come a young teenager entering the city of Babylon named Daniel. He would eventually prophesy that Babylon would fall to the Medes and Persians in chapter 2 of his book.

That would come true. Babylon would fall, according to Daniel chapter 5, and history records for us outside of scripture that Darius defeated Babylon. And from that point forward, Babylon limped along for a while.

But then came another claimant to world power by the name of Alexander the Great. When he arrived in Babylon, he decided that he would stay there and rebuild its glory and make it his capital city, and so he dismantled Nebuchadnezzar's centuries-old palace and planned to rebuild it to its original glory, but he died before he could hardly begin. It again sort of went out of sight until another world leader stepped onto the scene by the name of Napoleon, who made plans to rebuild Babylon as he raced to conquer the Western world.

I have read that in the French Department of War in Paris, there are records of surveys and maps of Babylon made at Napoleon's command. He had intended to rebuild the ancient city. In fact, he had intended to call it New Babylon, making it his capital and the governmental and commercial center of the Western world.

He too failed. Again, Babylon slipped off the radar of world attention and turned to God. But now there was, for the last 100 years or so, another reason for this city to capture the attention and imagination and certainly the desire of mankind. In a word, oil. Iraq sits on one of the world's largest known crude oil reserves. Well, of course, problems have plagued that region, namely in the form over the last few decades of a tyrant who had visions of rebuilding Babylon and owning the world. He even declared himself to be the next Nebuchadnezzar. You know him by the name Saddam Hussein. He would spend millions of dollars rebuilding the palace of Nebuchadnezzar on the same plot of ground where the original palace had stood.

You can go online and look at the pictures. Mark Hitchcock in his book entitled The Second Coming of Babylon provided in that book the religious motivation behind Saddam and the religious motivation, the religious side of news rarely makes it into ABC, NBC and even Fox News. Saddam not only wanted to destroy the Jews, which he certainly did because he hated them, but Iran as well.

Why? He hated Iranians as much as Jews simply because Iranians are the descendants of the Persians who had originally defeated his forefather and he wanted revenge. He had taken on as a personal quest the right to renew the honor of his forefathers by conquering Persia, now modern day Iran, along with the Jews. And Saddam's desire to get rid of Iranians and Jews, he certainly had obstacles in his quest also to rebuild Babylon. One of them, of course, was money.

It would cost millions and millions of dollars. In fact, we now know that it was his need for money that he invaded Kuwait. He wanted to monopolize at least 10% of the world's oil reserves so that he could what? This is what we have, the missing pieces are so he could rebuild and fund the rebuilding of New Babylon. But he failed, like all the others before him.

He failed his subjects too. He was only one more applicant for a world ruler. He was only one more hopeful king of Babylon. Now the question would come to mind, why would Satan, the enemy of God and God's people, even conceive of the idea and even believe it possible that somebody will come along one day and rebuild Babylon?

Because he has most certainly read the record of scripture, that's why. Since Genesis chapter 11 and the overthrowing of Nimrod and the scattering of the people, Satan has longed for and worked toward manipulating the hearts of the unbelieving world powers to ultimately come back to one voice, one people, one global nation. The empire that will one day rise from the rubble will indeed rule over a one world religion and a one world government and it will again build a tower, so to speak, that defies creator God. Fits the biblical record of history and prophecy perfectly.

So unlike many supposed ministers and pseudo scholars of the Bible and authors, Satan evidently believes the Bible. Defiance to God began with planet Earth's first city, Babylon, in the cradle of civilization. Earth's final defiance against God will once again emanate from Babylon and the battle of Armageddon that will sweep it away into rubble once again finally as millions die in defiance to God.

People will flock back. The cradle of civilization will become a graveyard. John gives us the details. I'm at Revelation chapter 18 and verse 1. After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority. The earth was illumined with his glory and he cried out with a mighty voice saying fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.

For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. Babylon wants the city of dreams. It's now the city of nightmares. Now is this literal Babylon? Could this be a code name for New York or Paris or Berlin or Rome? Well if we answer that question by starting with the Old Testament we discover that whenever the word Babylon appeared every time it showed up it referred to literal Babylon that city which is now located in modern Iraq. Whenever Revelation uses the name of a city it's to be taken face value unless there's something in the text that would indicate otherwise which happens at times. In fact going back into Revelation chapter 11 John refers to Jerusalem as Sodom and Egypt. He uses it metaphorically. And he prefaced that by writing the city which is mystically called Sodom and Egypt.

So the reader is given clear clues that he's using the term figuratively. Furthermore the city of Babylon the literal city on the Euphrates fits the criteria for this city described in Revelation 17 and 18. We've learned already that Babylon the word Babylon represents a city and a religious system. We've seen in chapter 17 the collapse of Babylon who's called the mother of harlotry the religious system that's the fountainhead of the poison of all false religion.

We've seen it collapse. And now in verse 2 we're told that the city no longer is the word mystery attached which was found in chapter 17. Now the city is announced to have fallen in judgment as the tribulation comes to a close. John here's another voice look at verse 4. I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues for her sins have piled up as high as heaven and God has remembered her iniquities as we've already seen those that have accepted Christ after the rapture and there will be millions of believers still living of every tribe tongue nation people group they're given unique and sometimes special warnings here's another one troubles coming to Babylon those of you that live in it you might want to move her judgment will be justified because Babylon is refused justification by God through the gospel of Christ. I want you to notice a word that appears several times in this chapter her judgments verse 7 will be delivered to the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously. In other words Babylon creates her own new class of perversion and opulence the entire city will be a literal playground for the rich and famous and there will be no boundaries to their sinful behavior and their pride and their arrogance will be unbounded as well notice what might be easy to miss back in verse 7 for she that's Babylon for she says in her heart I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and I will never see mourning that's a quote from Isaiah 47 that speaks of the near end disaster Babylon and speaks certainly of the of the of the long view of of prophecy and this ultimate fulfillment she says I'm a queen in other words I will never be deposed again this is my eternal throne who would imagine the greatest empire which is the hub of all world commerce and world trade and world power ever suffer any kind of collapse I mean if Babylon says I will never be defeated again who would ever deny it yet judgment falls and the world will watch as Babylon burns to the ground as Christ returns now most of this chapter is the lamenting over all that is lost commercially but there are three categories of people that are crying over the fall of Babylon the first category we could simply call the monarchs of the earth verses 9 and 10 they lament the fall they're weeping why they've lost their power they've lost their connection they've they've lost their their sovereignty the second category are the merchants verse 11 John tells us they're weeping and mourning over her because no one buys their cargos anymore they've lost their wealth they've lost their occupation their careers gone they're destitute now the third category are the mariners look down over 17 for one hour such great wealth has been laid waste and every ship master and every passenger and sailor and as many as make their living by the sea stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning saying what city is like the great city and they threw dust on their heads and were crying out weeping and mourning saying whoa whoa the great city listen they're all weeping why because they've rebelled against God who's now moved in judgment now they're weeping because they've lost all their stuff so here you have monarchs merchants mariners representing literally every class every occupation in society some are now standing in their executive suites halfway around the world watching perhaps on satellite television babylon burn and they're bursting into tears not often do you see a man weeping in public and here all of humanity is bursting into weeping and wailing why because they're out of fellowship with God the almighty sovereign no they just aren't getting their way and the city of man has fallen see this here revelation chapter 18 is pearl harbor it is the stock market crash through western eyes it is the great depression it is the bubonic plague it is the holocaust all rolled up into one hour the fall of babylon is predicted in verses one to eight the fall of babylon is lamented in verses nine to twenty finally the fall of babylon is completed in the last paragraph an illustration will be used by an angel to talk of its utter collapse verse 21 then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying so will babylon the great city be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer now the next few verses reveal the complete and utter loss music ceases verse 22 and the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer all music is silence no more parties no more revelry no more singing work ceases careers end john writes further verse 22 and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer domestic life ceases look further and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer every ancient home ground its own grain with a handheld millstone the only thing i can think of that's comparable is my little coffee bean grinder i have in the kitchen up in one of the cupboards and and i'll pour some beans in there and push the button fortunately i'm not having to do this i don't think i'd make much coffee i just plug it in and it grinds it every every home in john's day had a little hand mill where they grind what's happening there's no one preparing food because there's no one home verse 23 the lamps are all gone out the great city his gates were like leaves on fire is now a darkened place a gloomy place uninhabited except for the picture here of demons swirling about bewailing their defeat and carrion birds swooping in to pick at the remains marriages cease john writes as if to reinforce that there's no hope in ever rebuilding babylon verse 23 for the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer so music work marriage domestic life commerce career politic power everything imaginable like a candle is snuffed out in the city of man in its final gasp of defiance coming back full circle after centuries of that which represents rebellion is now over and maybe you're wondering are we any closer to that period of time and of course preceding that the rapture of the church surely there's no interest in rebuilding babylon now oh there will always be someone it's interesting if you read just read public information now today the united nations educational scientific and cultural organization now that saddam is gone is pumping millions of dollars into babylon and several other historical sites in iraq with the help of private donors i've read the united nations is hoping to turn babylon into a thriving center of tourism and commerce our own government you may have heard recently pledge nearly one million dollars of tax money to help rebuild the city of babylon in iraq i was invited to join a conference called the joel rosenberg joel is the author of a number of best-selling books that kind of sift through the news accounts of the middle east and looks at it through the lens of prophetic scripture and i joined about 20 25 other pastors and christian leaders on the phone as joel talked about current events now somebody had given me rosenberg's recent bestseller epicenter published by tindale i hadn't read it i haven't read anything by him after he talked for some time he asked if we had any questions and after a few did i i wanted to ask him this question and i had a chance to do it i asked him if he believed in a future war between jerusalem and a literal babylon in light of our study i knew i'd be having today just a few days later and he said absolutely in fact i wrote an entire chapter in my book on that i was obviously the only person on the phone that hadn't read his book and i i well he was kind to me he just kept going and he said this and i wrote it down so i could quote him everything's moving toward that end i believe the ultimate showdown will be between jerusalem and babylon i hadn't read his book but i have read this one and i couldn't agree more there is a final battle between the kingdom of man and the kingdom of god there's a final duel so to speak between the antichrist the king of a rebuilt babylon and jesus christ the king who returns to jerusalem and listen i've said it before and i'm gonna say it again the king of jerusalem wins he wins in fact he's already won and he's already spelled out to the defeat still yet future and the next chapter chapter 19 has the tribulation ends what what struck me in light of what rosenberg had written what struck me is after he wins the very next thing that happens is that the saints are singing the very first word in their hymn is the word and i'm already wanting to preach it i'm sorry it's late is the word hallelujah i have to check it again but i believe it's the first time it appears in the book of revelation hallelujah the defeat of babylon and all that it represents is certain god already is victorious and that victory will culminate at the future time in light of the fact that god wins the only appropriate response is to trust him now when god comes being on his side of the final conflict is the only safe place to be we're glad you joined us today here on wisdom for the heart with steven davie with this lesson steven concluded a series called armageddon and the fall of babylon today's lesson is called the cradle is the grave if you joined us late or if you want to hear this lesson again or any of the messages in this series we've posted it to our website wisdomonline.org those resources are free and i hope you'll visit wisdomonline.org to access them i also hope you'll take the time to contact us especially if you've never introduced yourself to us before we have a gift and an information packet that we'd like to send you you can contact us by email by sending it to info at wisdomonline.org be sure and include your name and mailing address when you write you can also call us at 866-48-bible we'd love to hear from you and please join us next time for more wisdom for the 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