Where Is Modern Day Babylon? Is This Important To Bible Prophesy?

Where Is Modern Day Babylon? Is This Important To Bible Prophesy? September 20, 2016

Where is modern day Babylon located today? Does Babylon play a role in the end time events mentioned in Bible prophecy?

A Superpower

Jeremiah the Prophet was a contemporary of the mighty empire of Babylon, the most dominant power the world had ever seen up to that point, and so it’s no surprise that Jeremiah wrote more about Babylon than any other author in the Bible (151 times), but he was writing specifically to warn the nation of Judah about God’s impending judgment over their idolatrous practices. When “Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things” (Jer 20:1), against Judah, “Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord” (Jer 20:2), but when Jeremiah was released the next day, he told Pashhur, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword” (Jer 20:3-4). And Judah was taken captive by Babylon not long after he said this, and Babylon carried away all the wealth of the nation (Jer 20:5), but when the Apostle John wrote about “Babylon,” he may have already been familiar with the ancient power and so they may be regarded as an arch-type of a dominate world power that will even exceed that of ancient Babylon. Even as powerful as Babylon was in Jeremiah’s day, that empire will pale in comparison to the end-time Babylon that will rise someday.

The Former and the Latter

There are a lot of prophecies that can be seen as having a former and a latter, and one such case in point is in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, and where He elaborates very deeply in response to His disciple’s two questions. Their first question was, “Tell us, when will these things be?” but also “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age” (Matt 24:3b), so the first question is “When will the temple be destroyed?” and the second was, “What are the signs of the end of the age (when Jesus returns)” (both paraphrased)? It’s important to note that His “disciples came to him privately” (Matt 24:3a), so these prophecies weren’t given to the masses, as many of His previous teachings had been. The temple indeed was destroyed in AD 70 and about one million Jews died at the hands of the future Roman Emperor, Titus; and there are striking resemblances to some of the plagues in the Book of Revelation and the destruction of Jerusalem. Some Bible scholars believe that many of Jesus’ prophecies were already fulfilled before AD 70. The exception was His visible return. Jesus’ return comes just after the gospel is preached to all nations (Matt 24:14), so what is “all nations” referring too? Does this mean that every single nation around the globe would hear the gospel or every single person would hear the gospel and then the end comes? The way the Jews regarded “all nations” at that time may have been only those nations that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Africa, and parts of Asia-minor. Remember, Paul even wanted to go to Spain, but by the time AD 70 comes, the gospel had spread around the Mediterranean nations and beyond, so to the Apostles, the gospel did reach what they considered “all nations” in their day, or at least prior to AD 70. Later, the Apostles took the gospel to even further parts of the world. Matthew went to Africa, Bartholomew (Nathaniel) may have been martyred in present-day Armenia, Thomas went to India, and Jude went to Persia.

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Is Babylon a Financial System?

You read about Babylon throughout the Bible, but there is something specific about the Babylon mentioned in the Book of Revelation, where the Apostle John writes that this end time power “was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (Rev 13:7a), and has such control that all “authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation” (Rev 13:7b). This totalitarian system is so dominant that it “causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead” (Rev 13:16), “so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev 13:17). That makes it one potent worldwide economic system and a true history-maker.

This kingdom of darkness will insist on people worshipping the beast and to receive a mark. They must either do that or starve to death. By the way, this “mark” could be any number of things. In the Old Testament period, just after Israel had been freed from their bondage to the Egyptians, God wanted them to remember that it was “By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery” (Ex 13:14), and He wanted that memory to “be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt” (Ex 13:16). God’s purpose was to keep that in their minds for all generation. Put another way, God wanted them to keep that knowledge in the upper most parts of their minds, as if to say “mark that.”

Financial Control

The reason that Babylon has authority over “every tribe and people and language and nation” (Rev 13:7b) is because it controls the financial system of the world and you can’t buy, sell, or trade without having the mark. That includes buying food for you or your family. Empty stomachs make people do almost anything. For those saints who refuse this “mark,” they will be conquered for a time, perhaps being many being martyred. These could be those who will be saved during the tribulation because they ask, “how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth” (Rev 6:10)? A power that holds total economic control is one way to take the world captive and to do it without force. Just as the ancient superpower Babylon made captives of the nation of Judah, so will the latter day Babylon do the same, except on a much wider, global scale. It’s important to know that the Book of Revelation is not written strictly in chronological order, so we might not see everything happen in the exact time order in which it will occurs in history. One thing for sure, whoever controls the ability to buy food, controls the people, but even this dominating world power will fall, and it will fall fast and hard, as John writes the words down of an angel, who says, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast” (Rev 18:2). Does the angel say Babylon has “fallen, fallen” twice because the first Babylonian world power, which was eventually crushed by the in 539 BC, by Cyrus the Great who invaded Babylonia, turning it into a colony of Achaemenid Pesia.

Conclusion

Another great fall is coming for everyone who dies without saving faith in Christ. That’s because if you die without Christ, you die with the wrath of God abiding on you (John 3:36b). Today can be your day of salvation or for anyone else that repents and trusts in Christ (2nd Cor 6:2). Tomorrow may be too late, because Christ may appear today or tonight, or a person might not live beyond today or tonight, since it is after death that judgment comes (Heb 9:27). A willful rejection of Jesus in this life will result in a final judgment someday, without the possibility of appeal (Rev 20:11-15).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.


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