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"Her time (i.e. Babylon's time) is near to come . . . . . FOR the Lord will have mercy
on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land . . . . . and they shall
rule over their oppressors" (Isa. 13: 22, 14: 1-4).
"In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they
and the children of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall go, and seek the Lord
their God . . . . . join ourselves to the Lord by a perpetual covenant that shall not be
forgotten" (Jer. 50: 4, 5).
"In those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought
for, and there shall be none" (Jer. 50: 18-20).
The fall of Babylon synchronizes with the restoration of Israel and Judah. It must
therefore be future. Further, the Scriptures already considered declare that this blow shall
fall in the Day of the Lord.
"Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand: it shall come as a destruction from the
Almighty . . . . . and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees'
excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah" (Isa. 13: 6-19).
(b) Other signs.
The fall of Babylon is placed in a setting of world-wide judgment.
"I will punish the WORLD for their evil" (Isa. 13: 11).
The fall of Babylon is accompanied by signs in the heavens.
"The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun
shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine . . . . .
therefore will I shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the
wrath of the Lord of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger" (Isa. 13: 10 and 13).
This is dated for us in Matt. 24: as being "immediately after the tribulation of those
days", and is closely connected with the Lord's parousia.
The fall of Babylon is to be sudden.
"Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her" (Jer. 51: 8).
"Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come" (Rev. 18: 10).
The gradual decline of Babylon in no sense corresponds with this emphasis upon its
sudden end. In the days of Alexander the Great, Babylon was a city strong enough to
have attempted resistance against him. It did not do so, but welcomed the conqueror,
who commanded the rebuilding of its temples. Babylon therefore was not suddenly
destroyed when the Medes took the kingdom. In the time of Tiberius Strabo speaks of
Babylon as being "to a great degree deserted". Peter wrote his epistle from Babylon,
where a church had been formed. In A.D.460 a writer says that Babylon was only
inhabited by some Jews, and from Babylon soon after this was produced the Babylonian
Talmud. In A.D.917 Ibn. Hankal speaks of Babylon as "a small village". In A.D.1100
a fortified town is mentioned, named Hillah (from Arabic to rest, to take up abode).
In A.D.1811 Hillah was visited by Rich who found a population of between six and