Babylon Fall In Bible And History Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper Comparing the autumn of the Historical Babylon and the Babylon of Revelation To understand the symbolism between the two Babylon # 8217 ; s of the bible, one must first understand the autumn of each and how the two comparison. There is a batch to be said about the events that took topographic point during autumn of the Historical Babylon how these events are related to the autumn of the Babylon of Revelation. To get down with I will depict the autumn of the Historical Babylon and so associate this to two mainstreams of idea sing the autumn of the Babylon of Revelation. These two thoughts are the futuristic and the historical positions of Babylon? s autumn. The ground for these two separate positions is because there is surely no book in the Bible that has given more trouble to translators than the book of Revelation. Many things about it continue to perplex the serious Bible pupil, and many points remain vague. ( ref. # 4, p.220 ) Ancient Babylon Babylon was an tremendous metropolis and thought by its dwellers to be inviolable. Some estimations put the country of the metropolis at every bit much as 200 square stat mis, with many Fieldss and groves within the metropolis walls ( ref. # 2, p320 ) . The river Euphrates flowed through the metropolis, come ining in under the metropolis walls. The walls of Babylon are believed to hold been around 80 pess thick, with some country being over 120 pess midst ( ref. # 7, p.68 ) . 100 Gatess of bronze gave entry to the metropolis. In 604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar led an invasion of Jerusalem, taking many Jews prisoner and get downing the imprisonment and seven times punishment that had antecedently been prophesied. At this clip Babylon was the greatest imperium on Earth, but a new force was emerging. The Medes and Persians were going a mighty imperium. In the clip of Belshazzar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, war was ramping between the two imperiums. The Babylonians, which were non caring about the enemy who were even so at the Gatess of the metropolis, engaged in a immense, bibulous party. During this banquet the aureate vass, taken from the temple at Jerusalem and reserved for pure service to God, were abused at the bid of the male monarch. The judgement of God was revealed by the authorship on the wall . That dark the metropolis was invaded, and the Medes and Persians under Darius and Cyrus were winning ( ref. # 1 p.431 ) During the dark of the drunken banquet, the river and its feeders that ran under the metropolis walls were blocked and the H2O diverted into canals and pools dug by the Medes and Persians for that intent. The consequence was that the ground forces of the Medes and Persians could literally walk in under the wall. The ground forces entered Babylon at one terminal and quickly moved through the metropolis, run intoing small opposition from the guardians, who were caught wholly off-guard. The metropolis of Babylon was utterly destroyed ( ref. # 7 ) . Babylon had a warning of their judgement for over 100 old ages, a warning given by God Himself. The warning was scorned and ignored by a Godless people. This foolish rejection of the Word of God led to entire devastation. The promise of the return of Christ, signaling the terminal of the universe, as we know it, has been scorned by world, merely as the prognostication of the autumn of the Babylonian Empire. This is why the book of Revelation relates the autumn of Babylon with the modern twenty-four hours universe. Work force and adult females today would instead indulge in a drunken party than seek the Lord. The demand to hold a spirit-filled-soul, and to stay in the Spirit grows more pressing every twenty-four hours. Jesus said, Watch, for you know non when your Lord may come! Babylon of Revelation This Babylon is of class a symbolic figure stand foring the immorality on Earth that distracts God # 8217 ; s kids from their committedness to Him. Babylon is called the great prostitute in Revelation. This indicates a Babylon that allures, tempts, seduces, and draws people away from God. The actual Babylon of Biblical times reminded one of the pleasure-mad, chesty, anti-God civilizations that put pleasure in front of all else. Babylon of old was described as of the lecherousness of the flesh, the lecherousness of the eyes, and the pride of life, ( 1 John 2:16 ) . In Revelation 18 John writes, And I heard another voice from Eden, stating, Come out of her, my people, that you may non take part in her wickednesss and that you may non have of her pestilences. Here John is speaking about Babylon ( see verse 2 ) . Christians are to populate in the universe, but they are non to be of the universe. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 6:17, Therefore, come out from their thick and be separate, says the Lord. and do non touch what is dirty ; And I will welcome you. Babylon is the universe, the seduction of the universe, at any minute of history, which would pull away a Christian from God. In John # 8217 ; s twenty-four hours Babylon would have been represented by the Roman Empire. Today, it would be represented by all civilizations that seek to score the Christian off from God. The futuristic position of the autumn of Babylon It is the desire of the futuristic reading that in context, the autumn of Babylon is straight related to an eschatological scene. Certain transitions relate the autumn of Babylon to the Day of the Lord. Babylon # 8217 ; s autumn and the Day of the Lord. The futuristic translators insist that Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13 decidedly establishes the scene for the autumn of Babylon as the Day of the Lord. To these translators the Day of the Lord is ever an eschatological event. Since in Isaiah 13:2-16 the nomenclature Day of the Lord appears these poetries must hold a future fulfilment. But if these poetries have a future fulfilment so it would look to be impossible to interpret poetries 17 through 20, which describe the overthrow of Babylon as holding been fulfilled in the yesteryear. The decision is hence offered that since the autumn of Babylon as prophesied in Scripture is to take topographic point in the scene of the Day of the Lord ; and since the Day of the Lord is yet future, so it follows that the devastation of Babylon yet awaits fulfilment. The futuristic translators point out that the prognostication of Babylon # 8217 ; s autumn non merely relates to the Day of the Lord but besides to the events that mark the beginning of the Millennium. The transition which most clearly supports this contention is Isaiah 14:1-7. This thought points out that there are at least three things in these poetries refering Israel # 8217 ; s history, which have non come to go through: ( 1 ) God has non yet set them in their ain land ( 14:1 ) ; ( 2 ) Israel does non yet possess the peoples of the Earth for retainers and servants ( 14:2 ) ; ( 3 ) Israel has non yet taken them captive whose prisoners they were, nor ruled over their oppressors ( 14:2 ) . Thus Scripture makes Babylon # 8217 ; s fall contemporary with two concurrent events-the forgiveness of Israel and the coming Day of the Lord. Even if it could be shown that the devastation of Babylon and its land has reached a point that adequately answers to anticipations of Scripture esteeming it, a resurgence of Babylon would still be necessary in order for Bible to be accomplished. The Historical View of Babylon? s Fall The Babylon function is played several times in the Scriptures. In Revelation the three angels would get down to wing one after the other. The first angel announced the beginning of the judgement period which precedes the coming of Christ. God called many around the universe to get down to analyze the 2300-day prognostication. The most outstanding of these was a Baptist husbandman, William Miller. In 1818 he came to the decision that the judgement would get down around 1843 and that Jesus would so return in glorification to cleanse the Earth by fire. ( Of class he was incorrect about the return of Je Sus. ) His public ministry began in 1831. Before the clip of letdown in 1844, had been joined by about 300 other curates. 135,000 people are estimated to hold expressed their committedness to the motion. This was a important portion of the population of the United States ( ref. # 8 ) . Thus 1831 would tag the beginning of the call of the foremost angel ( Rev. 14:6, 7 ) . As the motion was coming to its flood tide, the Protestant churches began to denounce the new thoughts, puting themselves in the place of corrupted Babylon. The 2nd angel # 8217 ; s message, hence, began shortly before the clip of letdown in the autumn of 1844. The 3rd angel predicts God # 8217 ; s concluding wrath for those who accepted the animal # 8217 ; s grade. It began when the significance of his message was discovered from the Bibles by those who seriously studied and prayed after the letdown. And there followed another angel, stating, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great metropolis, because she made all states drink of the vino of the wrath of her fornication. ( Rev. 14:8 ) The Historical interpiters believe that Babylon was the Roman church which developed new philosophies adulterated by uniting Biblical truth with heathen beliefs. The effects of the Counter Reformation and the refusal of the Protestant churches to go on seeking the Bibles for new truth, was conveying them into the cantonment of religious Babylon. The poetry merely quoted, the angel merely says Babylon is fallen. Can be contrasted to the message of the powerful angel of Revelation 18 who cries out mightily in a loud voice with the same message. The angels continue to wing and the messages continue to be progressively pressing until the flood tide in chapter 18. There the concluding call is given to come out and the penalty of pestilences predicted by the 3rd angel is given to Babylon who is pictured as the adult female on the animal. It is in this sense that Protestantism may be said to hold fallen. Reminder of what happened in 1844 The coming sermonizers were incorrect about Jesus coming in 1844, and the churches of the clip rightly pointed out their mistake. The churches failed, nevertheless, to acknowledge the leading of God and refused to see that the temple to be cleansed was in Eden ( Heb. 8 ) . In other words, these Protestant churches rejected the thought that something of import had happened. At the same clip the huge bulk of the people who had been moved by the Holy Spirit to atone and prepare for the judgement rapidly returned to their old ways without farther survey to understand what had happened to the computations and events predicted. In contrast to the futuristic position of Babylon # 8217 ; s fall the historical interperters holds the position that the Old Testament prophecies associating to the autumn of Babylon have already been fulfilled. They contend that the prognostications sing Babylon # 8217 ; s autumn do non associate to one specific historical state of affairs but to an ideal autumn of the metropolis. The definite historical beginning of the ideal autumn of Babylon is indicated in the prognostications of the coming of the Medes ( Isaiah 13:17 ; 21:2, 3 ; Jeremiah 51:11, 28 ) . Cyrus is named as the leader in the expedition against Babylon ( Isaiah 44:28 ; 45:1 ) . Because of these definite historical allusions the historical school of translators can non see how the autumn of Babylon could be an eschatological event. While the futuristic translators distinguish between the Babylon of Revelation 17 and that of chapter 18 the historical translators, as a regulation, do non. Whatever reading is given to the prostitute of Revelation 17 is besides given to the city of chapter 18. Among the translators who reject any mention to actual Babylon in Revelation, three positions prevail. Some hold that Apocalyptic Babylon is the nonliteral application of that name to a wholly different metropolis, Rome. Others hold that Apocalyptic Babylon is the apostate church. A 3rd group holds that the term Babylon in Revelation applies to a system or civilisation instead than to any specific geographical centre. However diverse their accounts of the Apocalyptic Babylon may be, these translators are convinced that no mention to actual Babylon is intended. They feel that the impression that actual Babylon is to be rebuilt is in struggle with the Old Testament prognostications, which indicate Babylon is to be destroyed and neer once more inhabited. Decision Disclosure has been really hard for many to understand for many scriptural bookmans, nevertheless in researching the two mainstreams of idea sing the autumn of Babylon of Revelation I have come to my ain apprehension that the autumn of Babylon has yet to come. And I am reassured of this because Revelation gives inside informations related to the collateral harm caused by the autumn of Babylon. Which seems that these are warnings and descriptions of things to come. Besides I believe that Christ warns of the autumn of Babylon in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Predicted by a narrative Jesus told This form of events traced in Jesus # 8217 ; narrative of the 10 virgins. All carried oil in their lamps, but five foolish 1s didn # 8217 ; T carry excess oil with them. The foolish virgins ran out of oil and were non admitted to the nuptials. All are claiming a topographic point in the nuptials but some won # 8217 ; T be every bit ready as they had imagined. The nuptials represents the clip when the members of the land of God are identified in judgement and go the bride of Jesus. In Luke 12:32 we see Jesus coming out from the nuptials and into the marrying banquet. Thus the nuptials begins before Christ returns in glorification. It ends at that clip when we go to observe the matrimony supper of the Lamb ( Rev. 19:9 ) . Many of the mentions seem to bespeak that autumn of Babylon will strongly impact the societal and economic construction of the universe. They imply that the creativeness, accomplishment and of course hardworking nature of adult male will all of a sudden come up losing. And darkness will fall on world as the visible radiation of the universe ; the tapers shine no more at all in thee ( Rev.18:23 ) . The nazarene related the visible radiation of a taper to the interior spirit of adult male, comparing it to either immorality ( darkness ) , or goodness ( light ) ( Luke 11:33-36 ) . Revelation states that when Babylon falls, she is to be utterly burned with fire ( Rev.18: 8:9 ) . At Pentecost, linguas of fire Saturday over the caputs of the apostles, but they were non harmed. Alternatively they received the Holy Spirit ( Acts 2:1-4 ) . The firebrand that destroys Babylon will non be made of the natural stuff we worlds might foremost see. The fire that destroys Babylon is the fire of the Holy Spirit. And as its power inundations the Earth, whether straight or through adult male, it will finalise the remotion of adult male # 8217 ; s bondage to the physical universe and set him everlastingly free. What a fantastic twenty-four hours this will be, when we will be set free! 1. Jones, Alonzo Trevier. The Great Empires of Prophecy. Chicago: Reappraisal and Herald Publishing Company, 1898. 2. Goodspeed, George Stephen. A History of the Babylonians and Assyrains. New York: Charles Scribner? s Sons, 1917. 3. King, Leonard W. A History of Babylon. London: Chatto and Windus, 1919. 4. Hislop, Rev. Alexander. The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, Bible Truth Depot, 1944. 5. Winckler, Hugo. The History of Babylonia and Assyria. New York: Charles Scribner? s Sons, 1907. 6. Parrot, Andre. Babylon and the Old Testament. New York: Philosophic Library, 1958. 7. Saggs, H.W.F. The Greatness that was Babylon. New York: Hawthorn Books Inc. Publishers, 1962. 8. Maxwell, C. Mervyn. God Cares Vol. 2. Boise, Idaho ; Oshawa, Ontario, Canada: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1985.