Revelation 18 & Daniel 2: The Fall of Babylon Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody, and we're just going to go right back to a continuation of where we've come from in our previous programs in the book of Revelation, chapter 18 on this program. And we'll be looking at some of the things regarding, of course, the great world system, which I think the book of Revelation refers to as Babylon. For our television audience, again we'd just like to invite you to compare Scripture with Scripture, and remember we're just an informal Bible study. We have no axe to grind, we try not to attack anyone that doesn't agree with us, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. But search the Scriptures, and if you can see from the Scriptures that you can't agree with me, well then fine, that's your prerogative, because after all, as I've said so often on this program, God is not going to judge us, whether we were faithful to our denomination, but have we been faithful to the Word of God? And this is where it's at. Alright, I guess I better announce that all the programs are available on video, and we also have them available on audio now, as well as in the printed page, so if you're ever interested in any of that, you give us a call or write to us, and we'll get the information out to you. Now for those of you in the studio audience, you've already turned to Revelation 18, and let's just drop down for sake of time to verse 4, and remember we're dealing with that final world system. The whole economy, and that is religious, political, economic, the whole world system. And I don't think anyone can disagree with me when I say that with every passing day, the world is getting smaller and more closely knit, by virtue of now the internet and computers and the financial world, my, they can transfer trillions of dollars in split seconds over the computer network, and so I think even as I used to teach this years and years ago, I used to maintain that this Babylon and Revelation was simply the whole world system, and today of course it's far more believable than it was 20 years ago. So here we have it in verse 4, I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, in other words the things that will be coming upon this world in the tribulation period. Verse 5, For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her, even as she rewarded you, and double unto her, double according to her works, that is this world system. In the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. Now let's go on down to verse 7. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously. Now we realize that in many areas of the world it's still abject poverty, it's still abject disease, but for so much especially of the western world, and the industrialized world which of course would now include Japan and China is fast rising, for the industrialized world it's a lifestyle of sumptuousness. We know that, and here in America even the lower level on the economic scale, they live like millionaires compared to the poverty stricken of the world, and I think I've stressed it before, our whole system of advertising, what's it for? To convince people that they've got to have it, whether we need it or not. Everything is advertised in a way that they want us to want it, whether we can afford it or not. Well that's the world system tonight, and so this is the word, they live deliciously. Now then he says, So much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, I'm not a widow, and I shall see no sorrow. And again, look at the mentality of just the business world tonight. Just look at the mentality of our corporate people. Now I'm not picking out any individual, I know that everywhere there are still good people, but in general terms, what are they thinking? Profit, profit, profit, profit. Boy, as long as the stock market keeps going up, they're on cloud nine, and they've got no problems, they've got a big bank account, and whether it's on paper or not, that's beside the point. But they're living deliciously, and they think there is no end to it. But I've got news for them. It's coming to an end, and it's closer than most people think. Let's move back to the text, verse 8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, and I'm a literalist, I think it's going to happen in a matter of hours. But this whole world system is going to calamitously disappear. It's just literally going to fall. Reading on in verse 8. In one day, death, mourning, famine, she shall be utterly burned with fire, and she shall be burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God, who judgeth her. Oh, you see, the world has been enjoying the grace of God now for almost two thousand years. See, and I've always maintained the disasters, the floods, the earthquakes, that's not God's doing. He permits it. But God is not the God of nature primarily today, Satan is. And so all of the world's suffering and all their disasters, that's not God's wrath yet. That is simply permitting Satan to have his thing. But listen, once this tribulation seven years starts, then God's wrath is going to be evident. He is finally going to pay mankind for their total rebellion and their wickedness. Now let's go back to Jeremiah. Because Jeremiah has some tremendous prophecies concerning Babylon. The ancient Babylon, and then I think also in the long term view of present day world system Babylon. I don't think they're one and the same. Now I know there are some theologians and Bible teachers who feel that ancient Babylon will be rebuilt and will be the center of all this activity. And I don't think so. I think the Scripture meant what it said, that once Babylon was destroyed it would become nothing but a habitation of wild beasts and so forth. Now I know that Sodom Hussein, the leader of Iraq, has grandiose schemes of rebuilding the ancient city of Babylon a little ways south of Baghdad. And I know he's already spent great sums of money trying to put some things together, but it's not going. Tourists aren't going to it. And so I just cannot quite envision the ancient city of Babylon being rebuilt, although maybe I'm wrong and the others are right. But here in Jeremiah chapter 51, and let's come down to verse 7, Jeremiah 51 verse 7. "...Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken." Now here again we have to be careful. Babylon, of which Nebuchadnezzar and his son and grandson ruled, was the empire that covered the then known earth, didn't it? That part of the world that was civilized and occupied and so forth. So when it says the whole earth, it means at that particular time of the inhabited earth. The nations, reading on in verse 7, "...the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore are the nations mad, not angry, but they are mentally affected." And then come into verse 8, "...Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed, how for her take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed." Now I think here we have the near and the far in probably one verse. We know that once the Medes and the Persians gained entrance under the walls of ancient Babylon by drying up the river Euphrates and diverting it, and they went in on the dry river bed, suddenly the city of Babylon was destroyed and it fell almost overnight. But I think you can also take the long term view now, that the Babylon of the end time ages, which is this whole world wide system of economy and politics and religion, is also going to come under the wrath of God, and it too is going to be suddenly and totally destroyed. Let's come on down to verse 8 once again in Jeremiah 51, "...Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed, how for her take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed." Now let's move on in that same line of thinking to Daniel. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and let's go into that chapter that most of you are so well aware of, chapter 2, where you have the vision of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, how that he saw a great image, and behold a great image, this great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was, and this was what he saw, the head of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, and his feet part iron and part clay. Now you got the picture? Here stands this huge likeness of a man, a head of gold, the chest of silver, the belly or the abdomen area of brass, the legs of iron, and then the feet with the ten toes iron mixed in clay. Now the whole image of course was a preview of the coming great Gentile empires, that is in the ancient times. Those empires that had a direct relationship with the nation of Israel. Babylon was the first, and you know they were the ones that came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and took the Jews captive. Well, while Daniel and Ezekiel were servants of the Babylonian government, the next empire came up, and it was the Medes and the Persians. Well the Medes and the Persians held sway for a long period of time, but they were also over the nation of Israel. That's why they're in prophecy. And then after the Medes and Persians ruled the world for a period of time, here comes Alexander the Greek out of Greece, and he covers that whole then known world, including Israel and the Jews. And then of course you all know the next great empire that came was Rome, and Rome's heavy boots trampled again the streets of Jerusalem, and it was a Rome that finally destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A .D. So all of those empires were depicted in Nebuchadnezzar's dream vision. Now let's move on to verse 34. He says to Nebuchadnezzar, "...thou sawest until a stone that was cut out without hands," which means of course it had to come from the eternal God, "...thou sawest a stone that was cut out without hands, and it smote the image upon his feet," which was the final world empire, the feet made of clay and iron, "...and it smote it upon the feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces." And then verse 35, "...then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them." Now what's the prophecy? Well after all these Gentile empires that everyone had touched the nation of Israel, and you come all the way down through the ancient empires, and then of course you skip the centuries from Rome's original empire in 250-300 A.D., and you come all the way up to the end time and we have what we call that Revived Roman Empire, which are I think the Ten Toes of Iron, Mixed and Clay, which is probably, and I've always taught as the European Community, the Ten Nations of Western Europe. Now we know that today the Ten have gone up to 12, and they may go up to 13, 14, 15 depending on how many they bring in. But I will just guarantee you that by the time the Antichrist comes on the scene, and the European Community becomes in totality the Revived Roman Empire, it'll drop back to ten. Those other little nations one way or another will disappear, and it'll be the ten. Now it's on that last Revived Roman Empire, which is pretty much in place right now in our day and time, that Christ will strike at His coming, like a stone cut out without hand, just like a great boulder rolling down upon these feet made of iron and clay, which is the Revived Roman Empire. Now as it crushes up those legs, which were a picture of the Roman Empire, on up over the belly area which was a picture of the Greek Empire, on up over the chest the picture of the Median Persians, and on up over that head of gold the picture of Babylon. All vestiges, all remnants of any of those empires which are still with us today. You want to remember our whole system of banking and interest and usury originated in ancient Babylon. We have much in our culture that came out of the Median Persian Empire. Much of our architecture and much of our classical philosophy came out of the Greek Empire. Our whole system of courts and judges and law and a republican type of government came out of the ancient Roman Empire. And so all of these remains of these ancient empires will suddenly be rolled under this pictured stone, which is Christ at His Second Coming. And He will literally blow it all away. Now I think most of you have probably gone through our wheat country at harvest time, and now of course it's the huge combines, but it's the same picture that you have back here of the threshing floor. And what was the whole concept? That as the grain was separated from the chaff, wind was used to blow it away. Now that's why when you watch a combine out there in the field, why the chaff is blowing out the rear, but the grain is going up in the bin. They still use wind to separate it, it hasn't changed a bit. And so this is the picture that these nations of the world, these great empires and all that remains of them will just blow away like the chaff of a threshing floor. What a concept! And I think this is what's really built in then to the closing verses of the book of Daniel where Daniel is told to wait 75 days. And I think it's that 75 day period of time that will literally cleanse the planet of everything that has remained. Well anyway, there are still so many other things even in the New Testament with regard to these end time scenarios. Let's turn a minute now if you will with me to Luke chapter 21, where again Jesus is speaking during His earthly ministry. Matthew 21 verse 25, and this is all in perfect accord with the Old Testament prophecies as well as Revelation 18. Luke 21 verse 25, And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, and the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken, because God's wrath is being poured out. And then verse 27, Oh after all of these cataclysmic signs, all of the devastation of earthquakes and volcanoes and meteorites and famine and floods, you name it. After all of this, then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, look up, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. Now remember Jesus here is speaking to the Jew, and He's speaking in reference to His Second Coming, not the Rapture. This is the Second Coming. Now He's got to keep those two totally separate. They are two totally separate events. But when Jesus speaks of end time scenario, it's the Second Coming. It's when He will come and stand there on the Mount of Jerusalem, of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem. All right, let's go to Matthew 24, and we'll see some more of much the same language. Matthew 24, and I've got to find the verse a minute. Come all the way down to verse 37. Maybe I should use verse 36. This prompts so many questions from the television audience especially. Why did Jesus say something like this? Matthew 24, now let's drop down to verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only. You'd be surprised how many people say, well what does this mean? When Jesus Himself said that He didn't know the day or the hour, well you know my answer for all it is, and I think we touched on it again in one of our classes during the last week, when Jesus took on His form of flesh, did He stop being God? No. He was totally God, but He was totally man. Did He ever let Him cross over? No. Now here He speaks from His humanity side. Now from His humanity side He didn't know the day and the hour. He was human, but had He spoken from the God side, what could He have said? The exact day and hour. He knew, but you see He wasn't playing games because He spoke from His humanity side, and He could honestly say, no man knoweth the hour. Well as a man, He could say that He didn't know. But had He spoken from His deity side, He could have given the exact hour, day, year and minute. But now let's go on, verse 37, But as the days of Noah were, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days that were just before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Now stop a minute. We know from Genesis that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence on the one hand, but on the other hand, what were they doing? Doing all the activity of normal business and living. They were working, they were building, and they were marrying, and they were giving in marriage. Now there's nothing wrong with those things, but you see they were under such intense activity, and along with all the corruption and murder, they were heading for their doom. And there stood the old ark of building, and even after it was finished, God left the gangplank down and the door open for how long? Seven days. Why? Those people that were so wrapped up in all the things of their world could have stepped in, they could have escaped the flood, they could have escaped God's wrath, they could have enjoyed salvation. The door was open. How many took it? None, except Noah's family. Not a one. Well you see we're almost at the same place today. Now I know we're reading a lot about so-called revivals and spiritual awakenings, and I certainly hope that's true, but I tend to disagree. I maintain the world today is so busy. In fact I was reading an article just the other night by a pretty famed child psychologist in one of our eastern universities, and he said the same thing that I've been telling my people here in Oklahoma. Our kids today are just constantly pressured with activity. Now there's nothing wrong with those things in themselves, but if you keep a kid hopping from his school work to soccer to football to baseball to golf to drama to music, what has he got time for? Nothing else, and that's exactly what's happening. Our kids are so busy, and parents are so busy keeping their kids busy, they don't have time for the Word, and our kids are not being taught the Word. They don't have time. And this guy was basically saying the same thing, not from a spiritual side, but strictly from the psychology side for children, that they can't handle this constant go, go, go. But that's exactly the way it was before the flood. I'm sure of it. They were so busy. They were in such intense activity, they had no time to think about the coming wrath of God in the way of the flood, and here we are. Not one bit different. Now let's go on back for just a few moments of the program that's left to Revelation 18, and the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, that is the world system, they shall bewail her, they'll lament for her, they'll see the smoke of her burning, and they'll stand afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come, and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for man buyeth their merchandise no more." Now what's going to happen? All of a sudden all these great financial centers, London, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, you name it, all around the globe are suddenly going to disappear from view, and the survivors are going to bewail and they're going to mourn and they say, Oh, what's going to be the end of all this? Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.