Babylon, That Great City
Babylon was founded by the evil Nimrod in the land of Shinar, which was one of the first, if not the very first, lands inhabited by the children of Noah after the flood. The remains of the cursed city of Babylon can be found today, uninhabited, in the Middle Eastern country of Iraq. Saddam Hussein said he would rebuild the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel. Hussein claimed to be the reincarnation of the ancient Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Since Saddam’s military overthrow, his grandiose schemes aren’t likely to see fruition. It’s hard to accomplish these phenomenal feats from the inside of a prison cell.Audio Options: | MP3 |
Babylon, That Great City
Psalms 90:2:
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
The God of the Bible is He who has created all things out of that which is invisible—the God of all, who has no beginning. He has no end. He dwells in a dimension that man cannot see in the carnal state, yet He is fully transcendent. He fills all things. He knows every thought, and even the imaginations of the thoughts. He knows the information stored in every single neuron. There are no gods beside Him, and certainly none above Him. He is the God of love, but also the God of fierce judgment and punishment. The Word of God states in Hebrews 10:31:
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now imagine, this unfathomable God communicates with those who love Him on a very personal, one-on-one daily basis. We have needs. He has the supply. We have problems. He has solutions. We have questions. He has answers. If you have never heard the still, small voice of God, you can hear Him today. If you have never met His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, meet Him today. Click on to "Further With Jesus" for immediate entrance into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.
GOD SAID, Isaiah 13:17-22:
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 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.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
GOD SAID, Jeremiah 51:11, 12, 14, 25, 26, 31, 57, 58:
11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
MAN SAID: Prophecies of the Bible are just vague generalizations, and just about anything can be made to fit.
Now THE RECORD: Babylon was founded by the evil Nimrod in the land of Shinar, which was one of the first, if not the very first, lands inhabited by the children of Noah after the flood.
The remains of the cursed city of Babylon can be found today, uninhabited, in the Middle Eastern country of Iraq. Saddam Hussein said he would rebuild the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel. Hussein claimed to be the reincarnation of the ancient Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.
Since Saddam’s military overthrow, his grandiose schemes aren’t likely to see fruition. It’s hard to accomplish these phenomenal feats from the inside of a prison cell. I speak facetiously, of course, for God said it will not be inhabited.
In the archaeology section of this website, we talked about the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel, from which the word babbling comes. It was at the Tower of Babel that God confounded the languages of the earth and caused everybody to speak different languages. This was the beginning of nationalities. Prior to that time, we all spoke one language. In another entry, we listed the names of some famous gentlemen—linguists—who said they could certainly prove that everyone on the entire earth spoke the same language at one point in time. The archaeological record reports the same truth. It should be noted that anthropologists trained in molecular biology have established that the entire world’s human population is rooted in one common mother and one common father. This testifies of one common language—one common beginning.
The city of Babylon was a mighty city. You’ve all heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the fiery furnace. You’ve also heard the story of Daniel and the lions’ den. They both took place in Nebuchadnezzar’s city of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, who was one of the greatest rulers to ever rule on Earth, reigned in the famous city of Babylon. The walled city was 196 square miles, consisting of a northern wall over 30 stories high. To find a building 30 stories high today, one would need to visit a large city. A 30-story wall alone would make Babylon impregnable. But all the way around the wall was a massive moat. Without airplanes or heavy artillery, how does an enemy cross a moat and scale 30 stories to get inside a city to overtake it, when all of the walled city’s army is also standing around the top of the wall shooting down at them? Obviously, the city was impossible to penetrate.
Concerning the dimensions of Babylon, www.unmuseum.org weighed in with the following:
"In addition to its size," wrote Herodutus, a historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick, and 320 feet high. (The outer walls were) Wide enough, he said, to allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were "not as thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside the walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to the heavens. [End of quote]
Archaeologists question the exact magnitude of ancient Babylon’s walls and dimensions, yet all agree that it was an architectural and engineering marvel, unduplicated in its time.
Nevertheless, God made some very specific prophecies against Babylon. In Isaiah 13:19, the Lord said He was going to make Babylon like Sodom and Gomorrah, and totally empty it of inhabitants. In Jeremiah 51, and also Isaiah 13, God said that the great and immovable city of Babylon would never be inhabited again. Also in Isaiah 13, He said the Arabs would refuse to put their tents there, and the shepherds would have no flocks around the city. He also said in Isaiah 13 that desert creatures would inhabit the city. God said in Jeremiah 51 that all the beautiful, costly stones used to build the city of Babylon and its beautiful gates and temples would all be left in place. The prophecy also tells us that there would be very few visitors to the city, and that it would end up being covered in swamps. This prophecy was made several hundred years before it happened.
Isaiah’s account, dated by Usher, was prophesied over 400 years before its fulfillment. Let’s put this into perspective: We could compare this to making a prediction of the downfall of Phoenix, Arizona, and having it come to pass in the year 2400. Or, it could be likened to making numerous contingent predictions in the year 1600 of the destruction of a city which was to take place in the year 2000. God said it was going to be covered with swamps (Isaiah 14). At this present time, much of it lies under swamps. In past times, this beautiful, majestic city was one of the major trade centers of the world.
Just prior to the beginning of Babylon’s downfall, its king, Belshazzar, who was Nebuchadnezzar’s offspring, decided to throw a party. He invited all his lords, princes, wives, and concubines, and chose to mock the God of Israel. He took the golden and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple at Jerusalem, and used them in his drunken celebration, mocking the God of creation.
It was at this party that the often-quoted, ancient cliché, "the handwriting is on the wall," came into being. While the Babylonian king and his friends were having a gay old time, a hand—just a hand—appeared, and began to write on the wall. The king was petrified, "and his knees smote one against the other." He called for his astrologers and soothsayers, but no one could interpret the writing. The queen told Belshazzar to call for the old man Daniel, the Hebrew captive, to interpret the writing. Daniel came and rebuked the wicked king before interpreting the handwriting. The interpretation is written in the book of Daniel, chapter 5: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." It means "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and the Persians."
At the very same time that the king of Babylon was hearing the judgment of God, the Persian king was outside the impregnable city initiating the plan of Babylon’s destruction. Two Babylonian defectors told the Persian commander of a way to tunnel under the city. In one awesome night, the Persian king diverted the water of the moat, tunneled under the walls of the city, and killed the King of Babylon while he slept.
It was several hundred years later that Babylon became totally uninhabited. Even to this day, the Arabs will not pitch their tents in the area of Babylon. They’re afraid to be there during the night, saying the place has evil spirits. The shepherds no longer have sheep folds there either. They don’t lead their flocks to that area because the soil no longer yields the kind of vegetation on which sheep graze. It is neither a place that is visited, nor were the stones removed from this city to build other cities (a common practice in those days). And, as prophesied by Isaiah, it is covered with swamps.
These predictions, eight in all, were given to scientist Peter Stoner. He was asked to evaluate and provide the odds of a man actually making these predictions about a certain place and having them come to pass. What are the odds that a human being could do this? The chances of a man making these predictions and having them come to pass is one chance in five billion, according to Stoner. Imagine, only one chance in five billion that a man could correctly make these predictions. It means that there are 4,999,999,999 chances out of five billion that it was God who made these predictions.
Remember the hypothesis from a prior GodSaidManSaid study relating to carbon-14 dating methods. In this hypothesis, carbon-14 dating had one chance in 10,000 of being wrong. Even with these dramatic odds, people accepted and still accept carbon-14 as an accurate dating method and consider it proof that the earth has actually existed for tens of thousands of years, versus the approximate 6,000 years that God said it’s been in existence. But, they have no secular history to support it. They have no witnesses. They have no proof.
We have given you some prophecies that God made hundreds of years before they came to pass. We have the probabilities, the unbelievable odds of making these predictions and having them come to pass. We also have witnesses—proof, the ancient history that has recorded the identical events.
GOD SAID, Isaiah 13:17-22:
17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 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.
21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
GOD SAID, Jeremiah 51:11, 12, 14, 25, 26, 31, 57, 58:
11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee.
25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
31 One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
MAN SAID: Prophecies of the Bible are just vague generalizations, and just about anything can be made to fit.
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
Authorized King James Version
GodSaidManSaid, "Tower of Babel"
Stoner, P., Science Speaks
www.unmuseum.org
Additional Audios
- Sodom and Dots
- Noah—Extraordinary Evidence
- The Saga of the Serpent
- Noah’s Ark—Fact or Fiction Updated
- The Ghost Species & Genesis 6: The Story Continues
- Satellite Images & the Garden of Eden
- And There We Saw Giants, the Sons of Anak
- Dinosaurs Updated
- Six Thousand-Year-Old Earth
- Archaeology Says "I Found Sodom!"
- Carbon Dating and 2+2=5
Power Verse
Acts 1:8 (KJV)
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.