Code Words in Bible Prophecy

 

The Use of Code Words? Are They Scriptural?: 

     ...  Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath: Revelation 16:19b.... And the woman whom you saw is that great city, which has kingship over the kings of the earth.

   In the end of days, there is a destruction of Babylon, the great city who sits on many waters, ruling over the kings of the earth. In order for a destruction to occur, there needs to be a great city - Rev 17, which is also a merchant port city - Rev 18. 

   Babylon aka: Babel, the land of Nimrod, is located in the land of Shinar, the land between the rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. In Zechariah 5:5-11 a woman named Wickedness is sealed inside an ephah (measuring basket for commerce) and transported to the land of Shinar where a temple is built for her. Inside the temple, the woman and the ephah are  placed upon a pedestal: for worship. It is easy to see where the woman and the ephah are going by reading scripture as written - the land of Shinar, the region of Babylonia. 

   The Bible is consistent with the location of Babylon, man, not so much. In scripture, Babylon is always Babylon. But when we get to the prophetic significance of Babylon found in Revelation 14:8; 16:19b; 17:1-18; 18:1-24, something changes; Babylon is no longer  Babylon. The prophetic significance of Babylon in the last days has been removed, and Babylon becomes a 'code word', indicating that Babylon is somewhere other than Babylon.

Expecting the Little Horn aka: Antichrist? Not so fast!

 The Fourth Kingdom - the Kingdom of Antichrist, the King's Image and the Beast:  

   Before the Antichrist can waltz out on the world stage and fill the role of global dictator, several things must be in place; Daniel's fourth kingdom, the beast of ten horns, must be in position of global dominance and, ten kings must rise out of this kingdom. 

   There are two prophetic portrayals of the fourth kingdom found in Daniel; the fourth beast of ten horns: Daniel 7:7-25 and the feet and toes of iron and shard clay: Daniel 2:40--45. The fourth beast, is the kingdom from where the little horn rises from - making the fourth kingdom, the antichrist kingdom. The fourth beast parallels the feet and toes of iron and shard clay, indicating that the tribulation kingdom rises in the latter days, after the prophetic time period of the legs of iron, has been fulfilled. 

   Nebuchadnezzar, ruled the entire middle east from Babylon. This kingdom was given to him by the God of heaven: Daniel 2:37-38, also Jeremiah 27:6-7. The King was plagued by a dream that haunted his waking hours and he tossed and turned in his bed. Nebuchadnezzar, the prideful king, worried about the future of his kingdom and what would become of it in the latter days: Daniel 2:28,29; 4:20. The dream image reveals the answers. 

   The dream was prophetic in nature, presenting a futuristic timeline of the Babylon kingdom. The image not only foretold of two additional kingdoms, one of silver and one of brass, that would rise to rule the middle east but, it foretold the prophesied fall of Babylon, and the rise of a fourth kingdom in the latter days, the feet and toes of iron and clay. 

   There are four kingdoms and four kings, but five time periods in Daniel 2, implicating that the time period that falls between the third kingdom and the fourth, fulfill the prophecy of the fall of Babylon. (2,565- 2,349 years so far) The focus of the dream image revolves around the desire of the king to know what will become of his kingdom in the latter days.... placing the entire focus of Daniel 2 on Babylon's fourth kingdom. 

Babylon the Great: Rome or Babylon?

   The prophecy of Revelation 17 details a great city, metaphorically depicted as a woman, who sits in the wilderness with her companion; a beast with seven heads and ten horns. The woman, dressed in scarlet and purple is a bastion of spiritual depravity, who has kingship over the kings of the earth in the last days. She is economically corrupt, a habitation of foul spirits, regulating a religious merchant system of buying and selling. 

   During the time period of great tribulation, those who wonder after the beast: R 13:3b; 17:8b, will bow in submission before its image, its name, or the number of the name of it, and receive a mark. The mark is worn on the right hand or the forehead, granting special privileges to buy and sell: 13:15-17. Those who refuse this global ordinance will be killed. 

   The woman, that great city who rules over the kings of the earth, will be a global economic powerhouse, regulating the flow of merchandise tied to the global spiritual harlotry of buying and selling: 17:1; 18:3,11-19. And, for this harlotry, she faces judgement.

   ...  Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath: Revelation 16:19b

    John is in the midst of great tribulation, serving as a witness, watching it unfold,  when an Angel appears. The Angel arrives to explain why Babylon has been singled out for  judgement. The Angel shows John the judgement of the woman arrayed in scarlet and purple, adorned with the riches of the world. The name written upon her forehead:  Babylon the Great indicates a middle eastern location, in the heart of the ancient Babylonian kingdom. In order for a judgement to occur, there needs to be a merchant city in the land of Shinar, the land between the rivers, the ancient Babylonian kingdom. 

   Revelation 17 - 18 details a great city which will exist in the future. But over the course of history,  Babylon has been removed from prophecy, and exchanged with Rome. Not only has Babylon been replaced by Rome, but, the prophetic significance of the entire middle east in the end of days, has been replaced by Europe. 

   Somewhere down the line, Rome replaced Babylon; removing the prophetic significance of Babylon in the last days.