Her Indictment and final destruction.
The fall of Babylon is predicted in detail in Isaiah chapters 13&14 and in Jeremiah chapters 50&51 along with many other prophecies. The sin of pride has beset her, like it did her predecessor Nebuchadnezzar who said "Behold this great Babylon which I have built." Indeed in Isaiah chapter 14 the pride of Satan is described, and this in the face of the creator God. It is written "pride goeth before a fall" and this is the fact here. She only gained her high position in the world by the sovereignty and grace of God, and now chooses to take the glory to herself. In James 3v6 "God resisted the proud." The word is that God sets armies against the proud who lift themselves up. Isaiah 13v1 begins "the burden (the mournful prediction) of Babylon......." The same chapter and verse 11 says " and I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease." God has decided that Babylon has come to an end and in verses 16-17 we have the two-fold aspect of how this come to pass.
- "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. A reading of these chapters reveal that these ten horns owe their power and position in the world to this woman who wooed them by her enchantments. What has suddenly changed? We shall find out next, but first we consider the extent of their hatred towards one whom they hitherto loved. We must take note that Babylon is destroyed by the ten horns, the ten kingdom confederacy which is the penultimate world empire. They shall make her desolate. She will be cut off without a friend anywhere. She will be marginalised and ostracised by the world community who before was head over them all. Again in Isaiah chapter 13 "Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. In the same chapters in verses 19&20 it says this "And Babylon the glory of kingdoms the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom & Gomorrah, it shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in in generation to generation." The ten horns shall make her naked. She who was dressed luxuriously and arrayed in purple and scarlet and decked in gold and precious stones and pearls, now she is naked, she is robbed of all her material possessions. he last two statements "shall burn her with fire and eat her flesh", symbolically portrays the annihilation of Babylon.
- How did this sudden reversal take place? The answer is staggering and very solemn. "God hath put it in their hearts to fulfill His will and to agree and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled." We ask ourselves to what extent will God use the forces of evil to accomplish His purposes, because accomplish them He will as the last phrase suggests "until the words of God be fulfilled." It says "God put it in their hearts." It was God who caused the ten horns to hate the whore and to destroy her. Jeremiah 50v25 says "the Lord hath opened His armoury and hath brought forth the weapons of His indignation; for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans". In 1st Kings 22v22-23 it says God sent a lying spirit to Ahab, which resulted in a course of action which led to his death. In 2nd Kings 19v7 it says that God used rumour to cause an army to turn its course to its eventual destruction. In Obadiah 1v1 he uses rumour to bring the enemies down upon Edom. The same happened in Jeremiah 51v46. In 2nd Thessalonians 2v11 it is written "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. God does not delude anyone nor lie to anyone but He will use those that do, to spread the rumour mill and set the demon doctrines in the hearts of those who have rejected Him. We need to be careful not to fight against God even in a small way. God uses the ten horns to destroy the whore.
God always gives warning of his judgments, which He is doing here, and He always gives reasons for His judgments. In Isaiah chapter 14 He tabulates the reasons for the judgments that will fall on Babylon; their arrogance and pride, chapter v11, their tyranny over the subservient nations, v9, their oppressions and cruel brutality to those weaker than themselves, v4; and of course in many places their antagonism towards His people Israel.
Amazon bookshelf George Neilly
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