When God speaks, you can be sure His words will happen! Amen?
God's word is always true! We need to know the foundations of our faith surely. We need to put all our trust in God and His word. We need prayerful study. We need to believe. We need to act upon what God says, and take everything He says "to the bank" (we can trust that His word is always good, always dependable).
During some of my recent studies through the prophecies of Isaiah, I was refreshed to see so many evidences of God's word prophetically spoken and historically fulfilled. God's word stands tested and true.
One of the prophecies I read over was that of ancient Babylon. God told how it would be wasted. Not only did God say it would happen, 150 years before it ever did, He also told exactly who would do it - the Medes and Persians. Furthermore, He not only told what and who would end Babylon, but He declared it would be final! There would be no return of the physical city of Babylon.
During it's day, the ancient city of Babylon was the height of glory and achievement. It contained one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world - the hanging gardens of Babylon. It was the joy of the Chaldeans, the pride of Nebuchadnezzar, the height of prowess, and the center of worldly focus, as far as kingdoms go. Ancient Babylon, the capital city, held perhaps even more prowess than Washington DC and the White House in its own day and time (if not just as much).
But where is it today? The city of Babylon lies waste in the Iraqi desert. No one lives there, there is no city life, no ancient customs to carry on, no traditions, no merchants, no business, no faith centers, no nothing...just some old ruins in the heart of the Iraqi desert, crawling with lizards, snakes, scorpions, owls and who knows what else.
How is it that such a metropolis and center of culture and civilization, from the height of world power, could be laid waste, abandoned, broken down, and forgotten?
Because God said it would be.
God humbles the pride of mankind into the dust. Those who think they stand above Him and His plans and His word will surely find something else coming!
The prophetic word of God speaks, saying:
"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" (Isaiah 13:17-22).
And that word has been fulfilled with perfect exaction! Even to this very day, over 2500 years after Babylon's fall by the Medes and Persians, the city still remains a demolished dust-heap. Only the ruins of that once greatest of all cities remain.
Man's pride is humbled into the dust. Babylon is wasted!
You know? There's another Babylon scripture speaks of. A prophetic Babylon. The Harlot of Revelation 17. She is very proud! A city of all cities, who rules over the world. She has reigned in the past, she will reign in the future...but not forever. She is in bed with the kings of the earth, a center of centers, so great and praised within the political realms of today. The Bible tells us that her "deadly wound" would be healed and that "all the world" will "wonder after the beast" on which she sits (Rev. 13:3; 17:1-6). Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, is very proud, very powerful, very ruthless, and very influential.
Yet, God will bring her to the dust as well. She will be mourned and wept over by the sinful world (Revelation 18). But it will be the triumph of God and the praise of His people to see her come down under God's judgment, and all the wickedness that is in her and the world.
These prophecies have been spoken by God. They will surely be fulfilled!
Today, we need to understand these prophecies of the Bible. We need to study. We need to trust in God. His word alone will stand and no other!
Have faith in God, my friend! Trust Him and His word! Preach the truth in Jesus (Rev. 14:6-12). Live the faith. And let's be ready for Jesus to return, and deal out His justice. May many others get ready too.
Blessings,
Pastor Ben