Babylon and the Beast

Genesis 11

11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and

of one speech.

11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from

the east, that they found a plain in the land of

Shinar; and they dwelt there.

11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us

make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they

had brick for stone, and slime had they for

morter.

11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city

and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and

let us make us a name, lest we be scattered

abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and

the tower, which the children of men builded.

11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is

one, and they have all one language; and this

they begin to do: and now nothing will be

restrained from them, which they have imagined to

do.

11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound

their language, that they may not understand one

another’s speech.

11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from

thence upon the face of all the earth: and they

left off to build the city.

11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel;

because the LORD did there confound the language

of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD

scatter them abroad upon the face of all the

earth.


After taking a quick look at Babylon from the

perspective of the book of Daniel, it becomes

clear that over the span of the history of the

kingdom of man as it's recorded in scripture,

Babylon has come to symbolize the kingdom of man

just as Jerusalem is taken to symbolize the

kingdom of heaven. In the days ahead, I'd like

to take a little time to look at the history of

Babylon recorded in scripture. In order to gain

a broader perspective on the use of Babylon as a

metaphor for the capitol city of the kingdom of

man and the origin of all evil in its various

forms. We'll have a look at how Babylon is

mentioned in other passages in scripture. What I

hope to be able to do is to tie together the use

of false religion -- in modern times that would

probably be new age pantheism, idolatry -- the

worship of money and commercialism, and politics

-- the rhetorical approach that is something that

I think of as the postmodern dialectic; an

amalgamation of various sorts of utopian dogma

that I see clearly represented in the vision that

Daniel records of the statue whose feet are

composed of iron and clay and is interpreted to

represent end time government. All of these

various influences are what I would expect to be

the parts of the creature that Daniel saw when he

had his vision of the beast that arises at the end

time.


It's probably been about fifteen years or so that

I last had an opportunity to take a look at

prophecy recorded in the book of Daniel. At that

time I really had little if any interest in

scriptural prophecy related to end times.

Although from the time of my conversion to Christ

about thirty four years ago, I took time to read

through the books of Daniel and Revelation but

never imagined that the world stage was set for

these events to play out. Too many people were

searching back then, and trying to make poorly

fitted interpretations of prophetic scripture.

Now, I see that the earlier material that I had

to read was useful to the extent that it provided

a famework for understanding some of the events

that I should expect to see as the prophetic

stopwatch started the countdown to the final week

of Daniel's seventy weeks. Based on what I'm

seeing take place in the world around me, alot

has changed in the past fifteen or so years. As

I see it, the world stage is almost set and

rapidly moving in the direction of the

fulfillment of these ancient prophecies. From my

perspective, it's like watching a large jigsaw

puzzle come together so that you can begin to

make out the figures that are part of the full

picture on the box top. And just like a jigsaw

puzzle, once you get to the point of being about

half done, the remaining pieces begin falling

into place at a much more rapid pace.


Always, in the back of my mind, I realize that

even, or maybe I should say, especially, in the

modern evangelical world, who in my view, have a

culturally distorted view of scripture and

current events, there is little acceptance of the

prophetic message of scripture. This really

doesn't bother me much. It's long been my

opinion that the modern American evangelical

world is out to lunch, or asleep at the wheel,

whichever metaphor you prefer. This is exactly

as it should be. I remember, from years ago,

listening to the J. Vernon Mcgee series on the

apostate church, and thinking that he was a bit

ahead of his time, but nevertheless, I could see

that things were certainly headed in that

direction. Well, now I think that we have

arrived at that milestone. As soon as the

prophetic message is rejected, about all that's

left is apostacy.


One thing leads to another. But remember that

the apocalypse is a sudden and more or less

cataclysmic episode. If you even see it coming

at all, it's probably too late already. Maybe

kinda' like a tsunami. And all the pieces are

falling into place in sequential order. Just

over the horizon we ought to expect the coming

one world religion, one world commerce system and

one world political theory. Like a storm front

moving in, you can hear it, feel it and smell it

as it moves your way. Time to get on the Jesus

Bus before it leaves town.


It's hard for me to imagine that nobody else sees

things that I see. Even at this moment, it is

apparent that we live in a world that is engulfed

in fraud. So much that we encounter from day to

day is pure phoney baloney. Maybe, if you're a

little cynical, you might say that it's always

been that way. I can concede that point. We

watched the collapse of a major world superpower

when the USSR dissolved. If ever there was a

phoney system, that was it. It was a political

system based on pure fraud, and its demise was no

great shock to me. But what about this country?

Where does the U.S. stand today? Once upon a

time, the U.S. was an unparalleled success, and a

'christian' nation. In case you haven't noticed,

we keep drifting further and further away from

the ideals that we've held in the past. Look

around. What are you seeing? Whatever social

metric you choose to examine, I believe that

you'll find a trend toward decline. Health?

Check. Family? Check. Wages? Check. Debt

levels? Check. Criminal activity? Check.

Quality of education? Check. There is an

element of systemic fraud creeping into every

aspect of modern American life. More than

anything, it's the compromise of orthodox

christian doctrine that bothers me. Without

christian orthodoxy, we are probably finished as

a nation that affords liberty to the common

citizen, because as it is stated in the founding

documents, we are endowed by our Creator. As

soon as you reject this seminal doctrine, you are

digging the grave of liberty.


Another aspect of this apocalyptic view is that

many respond to it as doom and gloom and the sky

is falling. Then, it's dismissed offhand as a

rant, with no basis. However, in my view, the

central issue is -- oh no, not that -- the truth.

All I can claim with regard to this accusation is

that I am not the one who recorded the text of

scripture. It was here long before my arrival on

the scene, and it will remain after my departure.

The eternal word will never perish. Whether you

see it as bad news or good news is based on

perspective. My effort is aimed at seeing it as

it is, rather than choosing any preconceived idea

based on what I find appealing to myself or to

others. I have no organizational institution to

answer to, or a favorite academic theory. I

prefer to take as literal a view as possible, and

then apply a symbolic interpretation that fits

within that point of view.


From a literal point of view, it seems there is a

parallel relationship between the establishment

of Babylon as the capitol of the kingdom of man

and the rule of the beast. From that

perspective, in order to make sense of the

direction that the kingdom of man is headed we

have to take a closer look at the city of

Babylon, and look for it's symbolic

interpretation as it represents the kingdom of

man. It not something that I would pay much

attention to, except that it is given alot of

attention and significance in the text of

scripture. I suspect that it is most relevant to

the degree that it provides an accurate context

in which to interpret the message of scripture.

The message of scripture is NOT about the kingdom

of man and is, in fact, at odds mostly, with the

kingdom of man. The message is that the kingdom

of man is destined for failure because it is

based on the worship of false gods. And worship

is the essence of life. But that doesn't seem to

discourage those who wish to establish a kingdom

here below, that stands in opposition to the

authority of the kingdom of heaven. This is the

direction that (d)evolution is leading toward and

it is laid out in some detail in the text of

scripture just so that we will know without a

doubt that this plan is included in the

foreknowledge of G-d, who sits upon the throne of

his universe in complete control of both the

kingdom of man and the kingdom of heaven. What

that leaves for us, is to choose whom we will

worship. We are given an option to choose the

worship of the kingdom of man, personified by the

person or people who are the horns on the head of

the beast that Daniel sees or we can choose to

worship our Creator. That's the literal choice

that we have, and the original model of liberty.


Liberty originated in the mind of our Creator, it

is not an invention of man, or of any of the

kingdoms of man. Man invented another model of

'freedom' and it is the Orwellian model of

slavery is freedom. It's been around a while

too. And that is the promise offered under the

rule of Babylon. What we see in the rule of

Babylon is only a reflection of the endless

rebellion in the heart of degenerate man, and his

ruler Satan, against the authority of the only

true G-d, the most Holy God of scripture.


In the passage above it the first recorded

episode of man's attempt to build Babylon, the

symbolic kingdom of man, they wanted to make

their own way to heaven. v.4 That didn't work

out so well. But it hasn't discouraged the

rebellion in the heart of man. Verse one also

catches my attention. A world of one language

and one speech is a fantasy of the new world

order monolithic government, since it would allow

the same cooperative effort to establish man's

kingdom that we see recorded in this passage.


Shinar (v.2) refers to the area that is now known

as modern day Iraq. And from the Nelson Study

Bible there is this note for verse nine:

"There is a pun in the name Babel that no Hebrew

reader would miss. The verb for confuse sounds

similar to the name of the city. The principal

city of ancient paganism (Babylon) is merely a

sight of confusion because there the LORD

confused the language. Babel (and Babylon)

serves as a name and symbol in the Bible for

activities directed against G-d by the nations of

the earth. (see Rev. 17)."