Jeremiah 25:1-11 -- Seventy years are fulfilled
1 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
To understand this word we have to have an understanding of what Babylon and Judah represent. Judah was one of the twelve tribes of Israel and when Israel split into two kingdoms they were the ones that continued to worship in Jerusalem. They are also the tribe that King David was from and the tribe Jesus was descended from. They were the law givers, the covenant keepers. In the simplest terms I would say that Judah represents God’s people on earth where Jesus is their king. In a word it is the church. So then what does Babylon represent? This is the place that Abraham was called out from, it is a place that built a tower to the heavens in competition with God, a tower built and founded upon idolatry. But in the context of today we should also look at what Revelation 18 says:
2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.
So the first thing that stands out is “the great”. There are only a few nations right now that can consider themselves great. China, but they are usually referred to as the Great Dragon. Revelation refers to the Dragon and Babylon as both being “great” but also being different. You might also consider Europe as a kind of reformed Roman empire to be great as well. However, they are associated with Rome, not Babylon. Many bible scholars consider Babylon to refer to the USA. I think that would have been a very difficult theory to support a hundred years ago. A hundred years ago we were not
“a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.”
However, Revelation is quite specific and says that Babylon “has become” this habitation of demons. In the last 70 years there has been an amazing “becoming” in the US that has shocked the rest of the world. In the sixties we had several key assassinations that forever changed our government. Since that time the military industrial complex has been firmly in charge of our country. 50 years ago we had our first gay pride parade. In the 1980s we had the AIDS epidemic and we had the Iran Contra affair.
3 For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen;
The Iran contra affair is a perfect example of what Revelation is referring to when it says that the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen. The CIA cut a deal to sell arms to Iran, illegally, to raise money to fund a coup in Nicaragua, also illegal. In the 1990s we had the collapse of the USSR and we also had the Gulf war. The developing world refers to the CIA as "Cocaine Importing Agency". That is the "wine" of the "wrath" of her fornication.
and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.
NAFTA also went into effect in the 90s. This bill gutted our manufacturing in the US outsourcing it to China, Asia, and Mexico. In the 2000’s we had 9/11 attack and also the mortgage meltdown. I could go on but the recent election and allegations of fraud and the complete refusal of the government leaders and officials to investigate this supports this verse that yes, the US could indeed be considered “Babylon the Great”. When you talk about the merchants of the whole earth getting rich from her it is very hard to make a case for any country other than the US. The merchants of the world include the oil industry, made rich by the power of the USA's wantonness. The merchants of the world include those that sell guns, again waxed rich by the power of the USA's wantonness.
4 And though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.” 7 “But you did not listen to me,” declares the Lord, “and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
This is talking about the church. So during the same time that the US was “becoming a dwelling of demons” the Lord was warning the church. There have been people warning about the teaching concerning excessive grace that does not require holy living. Gospel messages that don’t include the call for repentance from sin. The prosperity gospel that equates monetary blessings with spiritual blessings and turns the worship of God into the worship of mammon. Of course when we talk about the Lord warning the church we have to go to Revelation 2-3 where we see the warning concerning Jezebel and her fornication and the deep things of Satan. We are warned that if we don’t repent the Lord will come as a thief and we won’t know the day or hour. Philadelphia is warned to hold fast what they have and not to let anyone take their crown.
8 Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
This is the portion that brought me to this word. This is the word in Jeremiah that Daniel refers to when he says he realized that they would be in Babylon for 70 years. The prophecy in Daniel is fully concerned with Jerusalem and it was 70 years ago on January 23, 1948 that Israel recognized Jerusalem as their capital. That would be an interesting coincidence except for the fact that we also have Israel making peace treaties with several countries concerning Jerusalem this year, which is another portion that Daniel prophesied about. So then if Babylon represents the US (we are examining this hypothesis) then after 70 years, after Jan 23, 2021 the Lord will bring the King of Babylon who includes “the peoples of the North” apparently this king is a globalist and is working with China, Russia and Europe. The lord will bring this king against the church. What are they planning on shutting down churches, making it illegal to preach the gospel, requiring pastors to marry people in violation of the New Testament? Are they going to require that the churches pay for abortions? Will they go as far as what they are doing in China where churches have to have a portrait of Xi in the sanctuary and sing the national anthem as part of their worship service. What does it mean to make them “an object of horror and scorn and everlasting ruin”? I am reminded of Lot. The account of the angels going to deliver him is certainly an account of horror. But in addition it is an account of scorn as the people tell him to shut up why should they listen to Lot. Of course once fire falls on Sodom and Gomorrah it was a place of everlasting ruin. Lot is a type of the rapture according to Jesus, but not of the glorious rapture at the beginning of the tribulation but rather the rapture of those who barely escape the fire in the middle of the tribulation. So then it appears that after Jan 23, 2021 the Great tribulation would begin and that during this time the Christians who remain are made an object of horror and scorn and everlasting ruin. If that is true then during these seventy years from 1950 to 2020 the church became “a desolate wasteland”. Desolate is a place of bleak and dismal emptiness. That has certainly been a major concern for many denominations in the US over these last 70 years. What has been true of these denominations is that they have not listened to the Lord’s word. Again and again they have argued that this word or that word no longer applies to today. They have treated the Lord’s word and His name as though it were vain and empty.
