Will the ancient city of Babylon be rebuilt in the end times according to Les?
No. The view presented is that the ancient city of Babylon will not be rebuilt in the end times. The speaker rejects that expectation, saying Scripture meant Babylon's destruction would leave it a habitation of wild beasts, though he acknowledges other Bible teachers disagree and allows he may be wrong.
Les explains that he does not equate ancient Babylon with the present-day world system Babylon. He notes that some theologians and Bible teachers believe ancient Babylon will be rebuilt and become the center of end-time activity, but he does not think so. He says Scripture meant what it said: once Babylon was destroyed, it would become only a habitation of wild beasts. He also mentions the leader of Iraq's grandiose schemes to rebuild ancient Babylon south of Baghdad and the great sums already spent, yet says it is not going and tourists are not going to it. He concludes he cannot envision the ancient city being rebuilt, though he admits he may be wrong. He then reads Jeremiah 51:7, where Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand that made all the earth drunken, referring to Nebuchadnezzar's empire over the then-known inhabited earth, and verse 8, "Babylon is..."