Jesus Christ--Soon2Come: Babylon Rising--Nebuchadnezzar Returns?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Babylon Rising--Nebuchadnezzar Returns?

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 10:8-10

The name of Babylon had the original meaning of the "gateway of God" in the Akkadian language. This may be why Nimrod chose the location for his tower of futility. He was trying to block God's access into human affairs. However, God's purposes cannot be blocked by man nor demon. After the tower incident, the region was ever more called Babel or Babylon which in Hebrew means confusion. It is certainly confusion to think that you can defeat the living God!

Rebuilt Gates of Babylon

Years later, another ruler of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, raised up his version of the tower. It was some sort of gold statue placed in the plain of Dura according to Daniel 3:1. This statue was very near where the tower was built, and it is certain that Nebuchadnezzar saw himself as heir apparent to the godless man Nimrod. Like Nimrod, he chose to rebel against God's plan. Why did he make a statue of all gold? It is quite possible that he did not like Daniel's interpretation of a dream he had where the statue defining the ages only had a head of gold. He didn't want to be just the head, but he wanted all of history to revolve around him. At any rate, like Nimrod, his plans failed and his heirs would lose the kingdom to the Medo-Persians just as God had revealed to Daniel.

Saddam's Palace in Babylon

Yet, did you know that a man in our lifetimes saw himself as the heir apparent of Nebuchadnezzar? His name was Saddam Huessin. He began a very interesting project. He began the rebuilding of the ancient city of Babylon. For the most part, this city has partially fulfilled the prophecies of Isaiah. However, the very fact that it is being rebuilt shows that the total fulfillment of Isaiah 13 has not yet been fulfilled by God. Consider the following: "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there (Isaiah 13:19-20)." It is certain that this has not yet been totally fulfilled if the city is being rebuilt. This also means that there needs to be a city there that will be destroyed and forever abandoned.

Rebuilt Walls of Babylon

Another interesting thing that Saddam did was that he built around 50 very elaborate palaces throughout Iraq--the region of ancient Babylon. Why would you need these? Maybe it is to house the embassies of many nations that are confederated with a world ruler of the last days? Just a thought. Not only were these palaces rebuilt, like the city of Babylon, they were off limits as targets in both Gulf Wars. The rebuilt city of Babylon, to the chagrin of archaeologists worldwide, was home to a temporary camp of the US military and was damaged by digging and the travel of vehicles. Of course, this means we need to dump billions in to repair it and assist in its rebuilding.

One of Saddam's Many Palaces

Well how long could it take to rebuild Babylon for the Antichrist. Consider the building of the city of Dubai. Here is a picture from 1991.

Here is the same place just 17 years later in 2008. Wow!

It seems things can happen quickly in the world today. The quickest thing to be watching for is the gathering of the church as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4. It happens in the twinkling of an eye! Keep looking up, Jesus Christ is Soon2Come!