Is Babylon symbolic of this world’s various oppressive systems that will eventually be destroyed? Let’s look at Jeremiah 51.
Though Babylon was an instrument of punishment against Judah, did they go too far, committing atrocities, desecrating the temple, and continuing in their idolatry?
This is what the Lord says: I am about to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon and against the population of Leb-qamai [Chaldea]. I will send strangers to Babylon who will scatter her and strip her land bare, for they will come against her from every side in the day of disaster.
Don’t let the archer string his bow; don’t let him put on his armor. Don’t spare her young men; completely destroy her entire army! Those who were slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, those who were pierced through, in her streets. For Israel and Judah are not left widowed by their God, the Lord of Hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. (Jer 51:1-5 HCSB)
Can circumstances change, so that one time God said not to flee Jerusalem, but now to flee Babylon?
Flee from Babylon, and each of you, escape with your life! Don’t be destroyed because of her guilt, for it’s time for the Lord’s vengeance. He is paying back what is due to her. Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine, therefore the nations have gone mad.
Suddenly, Babylon fell down and was shattered. Wail for her! Bring balm for her wound, perhaps she will be healed. We tried to heal Babylon, but she wouldn’t be healed. Leave her, and let each of us go to his own country. For her judgment has reached to the heavens, and is lifted up to the sky. The Lord will vindicate us. Come! Let us declare the work of the Lord our God in Zion. (Jer 51:6-10 ISV)
Who will destroy Babylon? Did the Medes and Persians invade Babylon from the north? Is a key statement: though abundant in treasures, Babylon’s end has come?
Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.
O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. The Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. (Jer 51:11-14 KJV)
How great is the one true God? Are molten images a lie, a work of mockery?
It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens. When He gives forth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain And brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
All mankind is senseless, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image, For his molten images are a lie, And there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And of the tribe of His inheritance; Yahweh of hosts is His name. (Jer 51:15-19 LSB)
Is judgment about to fall upon Babylon, not just for general sins, but also for atrocities committed against Zion?
He says, “You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter nations, And with you I destroy kingdoms. With you I shatter the horse and his rider, And with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, And with you I shatter man and woman, And with you I shatter the old man and youth, And with you I shatter the young man and virgin, And with you I shatter the shepherd and his flock, And with you I shatter the farmer and his team, And with you I shatter governors and officials.
“But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord. (Jer 51:20-24 NASB)
Why does God call Babylon a destructive mountain, not even useful for stone masonry?
“I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the Lord. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain. No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord. (Jer 51:25-26 NIV)
Would God be sending a coalition of nations, the Medo-Persian empire, against Babylon?
Set up a banner in the land, Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations against her, Call the kingdoms together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a general against her; Cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts. Prepare against her the nations, With the kings of the Medes, Its governors and all its rulers, All the land of his dominion.
And the land will tremble and sorrow; For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant. The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, They have remained in their strongholds; Their might has failed, They became like women; They have burned her dwelling places, The bars of her gate are broken.
One runner will run to meet another, And one messenger to meet another, To show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on all sides; The passages are blocked, The reeds they have burned with fire, And the men of war are terrified. (Jer 32:27-32 NKJV)
Is all this detail to offer reassurance of justice and rescue to those who have suffered under a brutal regime?
This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Babylon is like wheat on a threshing floor, about to be trampled. In just a little while her harvest will begin.”
“King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has eaten and crushed us and drained us of strength. He has swallowed us like a great monster and filled his belly with our riches. He has thrown us out of our own country. Make Babylon suffer as she made us suffer,” say the people of Zion. “Make the people of Babylonia pay for spilling our blood,” says Jerusalem. (Jer 51:33-35 NLT)
While God brought Babylon to punish Judah, did they go too far, with excessive brutality and arrogance? Is this why He punishes Babylon as well?
Therefore Yahweh says: “Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you. I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. Babylon will become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. They will roar together like young lions. They will growl as lions’ cubs.
When they are inflamed, I will make their feast, and I will make them drunk, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake up,” says Yahweh. “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats. (Jer 51:36-40 (WEB)
Does the pride of Babylon picture the arrogance of this world’s idolatrous and oppressive systems?
How Sheshach [Babylon] has been defeated, the pride of the whole earth taken captive! How Babylon has become a wasteland among the nations! The sea has risen over Babylon; its pounding waves overwhelm her. Her towns are devastated; her land is scorched and barren, a place where no one lives or dares to pass through. I will punish Bel [an idol] in Babylon; I will force him to vomit what he’s consumed. Then nations will no longer stream to him, and Babylon’s walls will collapse! (Jer 51:41-44 CEB)
Is leaving Babylon symbolic of separating ourselves from worldly ways?
Get out of Babylon, my people, and run for your lives, before I strike the city in my anger! Don't be afraid or lose hope, though year after year there are rumors of leaders fighting for control in the city of Babylon. The time will come when I will punish Babylon's false gods. Everyone there will die, and the whole nation will be disgraced, when an army attacks from the north and brings destruction. Then the earth and the heavens and everything in them will celebrate. Babylon must be overthrown, because it slaughtered the people of Israel and of many other nations. (Jer 51:45-49 CEV)
Will God punish Babylon and her images for desecrating the temple in Jerusalem?
“You who have escaped from the sword, go, do not stand still! Remember the Lord from far away, and let Jerusalem come into your mind: ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach; dishonor has covered our face, for foreigners have come into the holy places of the Lord's house.’
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will execute judgment upon her images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me against her, declares the Lord. (Jer 51:50-53 ESV)
How much are our nations like Babylon, mighty, proud, and headed for destruction?
The sound of a cry from Babylon! The sound of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! For the Lord is going to devastate Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. Their waves roar like abundant waters; the tumult of their voice resounds, for a destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon. Her warriors will be captured, their bows shattered, for the Lord is a God of retribution; He will certainly repay.
I will make her princes and sages drunk, along with her governors, officials, and warriors. Then they will fall asleep forever and never wake up. This is the King’s declaration; Yahweh of Hosts is His name. This is what Yahweh of Hosts says: Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished, and her high gates consumed by fire. The peoples will have labored for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire. (Jer 51:54-58 HCSB)
What act did Jeremiah perform to illustrate Babylon’s fall?
This is the message that Jeremiah the prophet delivered to Neriah’s son Seraiah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with King Zedekiah of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. Jeremiah wrote on a single scroll all the disasters that would come on Babylon, all these things that were written about Babylon.
Jeremiah told Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, and say, ‘Lord, you have declared about this place that you would destroy it so that there wouldn’t be an inhabitant in it, neither human nor animal, because it will be a wasteland forever.’
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a rock around it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. Then say, ‘Babylon will sink like this and won’t rise from the disaster that I’m bringing on her. Her people will be exhausted.’” This concludes the writings of Jeremiah. (Jer 51:59-64 ISV)
Is this also symbolic of the fall of the final Babylon at Christ’s return?
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Rev 14:8 KJV)
Is Babylon symbolic of this world’s various oppressive systems that will eventually be destroyed? You decide!
