Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word

Menu
Contact Us

Book of Jeremiah – Jer 51:17-32  God’s Elect are His Battle Axe

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Jer 51:17-32  God’s Elect are His Battle Axe

[Study Aired October 16, 2022]

Jer 51:17  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jer 51:18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Jer 51:19  The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.
Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.
Jer 51:24  And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.
Jer 51:25  Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
Jer 51:26  And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
Jer 51:27  Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
Jer 51:28  Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.
Jer 51:29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
Jer 51:30  The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
Jer 51:31  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
Jer 51:32  And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

This 51st chapter of Jeremiah concerns the judgment of Babylon. It is very instructive to note that we have already read verses 17-19 way back in chapter 10 which was concerned with the judgment of the “house of Israel”:

Jer 10:1  Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

Here are these two judgments. Jeremiah 10:14-16 is first:

Jer 10:14  Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jer 10:15  They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Jer 10:16  The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

As we just read in verse one of this chapter, these words are addressed to Israel. The fact that the exact same words are repeated to Babylon demonstrates that apostatized Israel signifies Mystery Babylon the Great, and that the Lord’s apostate people were of the same mind as Babylon long before they were delivered over to Babylon. The words addressed to Babylon are the exact same words addressed to the Lord’s apostatized people:

Jer 51:17  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jer 51:18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
Jer 51:19  The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

Israel, the Lord’s own people, Judah and Jerusalem, His apostatized unfaithful wife, signifies “the great whore… Mystery Babylon the Great”:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Rev 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

The next verse here in chapter 51 tells us that “the portion of Jacob” is as the Lord’s “battle axe and weapons of war”. The way we serve as the Lord’s “battle axe and weapons of war” in His hand is the same way we become His ‘fire’ with which He is, was, and will be judging and purifying His people.

This is the way we become a “weapon of war” in the Lord’s hand:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

It is only by being faithful to all the Lord’s Words that we can be His battle axe and His hammer, as the previous verse here in chapter 23 reveals:

Jer 23:28  The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

Our study begins with the Lord contrasting His servants with the servants of the adversary. The contrast is between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Our first verse describes Mystery Babylon as the seed of the serpent. These words describe all who are “of [their] father the devil”:

Jer 51:17  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jer 51:18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

It cannot be stated more clearly that idolatry signifies false doctrines… “his molten image is falsehood”. This statement that those false doctrines are “the work of errors” tells us that there is no such thing as a single lie. Every lie must be supported by another lie. Babylon, as we read in verse 7, is “a golden cup in the Lord’s hand”.

Jer 51:7  Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

It is with Babylon of old, with all its molten images and lying false doctrines that the Lord was, and still is, trying His people. Babylon of old, and Mystery Babylon in the New Testament, are still “the wicked… men of the world” who were and still are the Lord’s ‘sword’ and His ‘hand’ with which He chastens us:

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
Psa 17:14  From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

It is through knowing that the Lord Himself is working all things, the good and the evil, after the counsel of His own will (Isa 45:7 and Eph 1:11) that we can be His “battle axe, and weapons of war”. The Lord used physical Babylon to chasten ancient Israel, and He is still using spiritual “Mystery Babylon” as His sword and His weapons of war in His hand to chasten and scourge His elect whom He loves (Heb 12:6). The Lord sends away His own people into Babylon because that is where their heart already is. Israel was serving other gods long before the Lord finally poured out His judgments upon them by giving them over to a merciless pagan king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who was also worshiping false lying idols.

Deu 28:20  The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Losing our first love is the same as losing our fear of the Lord (Rev 2:4). However, when the Lord’s chastening grace has done its purifying work, that fear of the Lord is reestablished because of the chastening and scourging we endured at that time. Having received double for our sins instills a greater fear than we had at the time of our first love.

Nebuchadnezzar’s merciless treatment of the Lord’s own nation typifies merciless Mystery Babylon whose doctrines have absolutely no mercy toward us. They threaten us with eternal torment if we do not show up every Sunday morning and pay our tithes and fight her fights and fall at the feet of her ministers.

Your tithes and offerings are their litmus test of your loyalty to this whore. If you are ever so unfortunate as to need her help while being held by her fear, she will tell you that “Social Security will meet the needs of the poor these days” which was the doctrine of the church I attended for ten years. After my 90-year-old uncle had faithfully paid tithes and offerings to his church for decades, when he had an automobile accident and needed someone to sit up with him, he was told, “Wait until your veteran benefits kick in and you can afford to pay someone from the church to sit up with you.” These personal experiences brought to mind these words of the Lord concerning the ministers of Mystery Babylon:

Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

The Lord contrasts this slavish worship of false prophets who bring us into the “bitter” bondage of their false doctrines with the power and freedom from the lies and sins of Mystery Babylon:

Jer 51:19  The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

The Lord uses wicked men of this world to be His hand to chasten and scourge His rebellious people.  He also uses His elect who are faithful to His words to warn us all of the disastrous fruits of our rebellion against Him and His words and His doctrines, as His “battle axe and weapons of war”. As we just read in Jeremiah 5:14, His words spoken faithfully in our mouths become ‘fire’ which will consume the Lord’s own people who rebel against Him. The Lord has also labeled His faithful prophets as His “hammer that breaketh in pieces”:

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

The Lord uses the symbols of ‘fire’ and the symbol of “a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces” to signify His “portion of Jacob”, His elect. Notice all the things He does with His words in our mouths:

Jer 51:20  Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;
Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;
Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;
Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

Ten times we told ‘with thee’ I will judge and destroy the kingdom of the old man. The number ‘ten’ signifies corruptible, dying flesh throughout scripture, and “with thee”, as judges in the lake of fire, the Lord will “break in pieces… and… destroy [the] kingdom” of our old man, along with its powerful horses, chariots, men and women, old and young.

Number Ten – Completeness of the Flesh

It is the Lord’s elect, those who remain faithful to Him and His doctrines to the end, who are promised to be made kings and priests who will judge this world. After that He will use His faithful elect to judge angels with the very same fiery words with which we are ourselves being judged “according to our works” in this present time:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The answer to Peter’s rhetorical question (1Pe 4:17) is that those who are not dying now, while judgment is “first… on the house of God”, will be the second to be judged at the “great white throne… judgment/lake of fire/second death”. It is “the second death” simply because those who are dying now are dying with the judgment which “first began at us”, whereas those not being judged in this present time, are not dying with judgment, and will therefore be the second to be judged. Being judged first must be accompanied by the process of dying daily. If not, judgment will accompany the death of the rebellious carnal mind in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

As our dear sister, Ernie, pointed out this past week, the word ‘after’ here in Hebrews 9:27 is:

The first use of a word in scripture is always very instructive of how it is meant to be understood. Following that principle, here is a cut and paste from an email our brother Tony Cullen sent us this week, which makes this point very well:

We must all leave our first love, our Maker and Creator. We are not aware at that time of the severity of our evil works in believing the lies of the serpent, but in doing so we, by the Lord’s design, become the servants and children of our “father the devil” even as we “believe on [Christ]” (Joh 8:44):

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 8:44  Ye [who believe but do not “continue in my word”] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Jer 51:24  And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

“Their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight” can refer to the evil the Chaldeans do to us, as well as referring to the evil done to Babylon by the Lord’s ‘battle axe [and] weapons of war’. Either way it refers to the Lord’s vengeance against Babylon, and in type “the evil that they have done in your sight” refers to “the vengeance of the Lord and of His temple” as we were twice told in recent studies:

Jer 50:28  The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

Jer 51:11  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.

The Lord shows us all His judgments upon Mystery Babylon in our sight. It will take place in this present time for the few who are called and chosen and faithful to the end. The Lord showed King David that it will also take place in the lake of fire upon “them that obey not the gospel of God”. Of course, ‘the lake of fire’ is not specifically mentioned, but this is what the Lord revealed to King David:

Psa 73:3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psa 73:4  For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
Psa 73:5  They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Psa 73:6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Psa 73:7  Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Psa 73:8  They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
Psa 73:9  They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Psa 73:10  Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Psa 73:11  And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
Psa 73:12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Psa 73:13  Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
Psa 73:14  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Psa 73:15  If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
Psa 73:16  When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Psa 73:18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Psa 73:19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
Psa 73:20  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

King David did not use the words ‘white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death’, but he is speaking of “their end” – the end of all those who will have a part in “the resurrection of damnation” [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment].

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment].

This is how they are brought into desolation… in a moment” (Psa 73:19):

Jer 51:25  Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

Mystery Babylon “destroys all the earth” both inwardly and outwardly, because it is through the rebellious religions of this world that “the first man, Adam, the son of God” is being destroyed. Just as the Lord showed King David that the rich of this world will be “cast down into destruction” even if “there are no bands in their death [in “this present time” (Rom 8:18)], neither are they plagued like other men” in this life. He is also showing Jeremiah that mystery Babylon, which is destroying all the earth, will herself also be destroyed and be “made… a burnt mountain”.

The next few verses inform us of just how thoroughly the Lord will destroy Mystery Babylon:

Jer 51:26  And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.
Jer 51:27  Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers.
Jer 51:28  Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.
Jer 51:29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

These words perfectly describe the work which the Lord is doing to Mystery Babylon in each of His elect. When we read, “Prepare the nations against her”, we must acknowledge that since she “destroyed all the earth”, these nations are the very nations she sat upon and destroyed with all her spiritual fornication and false, lying doctrines (vs 25). The thoroughness with which this is accomplished is expressed in the book of Revelation, which informs us that the commandment to “blow the trumpet” (vs 27) is done with “seven… trumpets”:

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

The seventh trumpet is the seven last plagues, and it is the seventh plague which informs us that all the trumpets and the plagues comprise the judgment of “great Babylon”:

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath [The seven last plagues (Rev 15:1)].

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 16:20  And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Rev 16:21  And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

What does ‘hail’ signify in the scriptures? We are not left to guess. The holy spirit tells us:

Isa 28:2  Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.

The Lord has just informed us He will destroy His enemies, including and especially Mystery Babylon, with His “mighty and strong one” which He likens to “a tempest of hail and a destroying storm and a flood of mighty waters”. We are told that this ‘hail’ and these ‘flood of mighty waters… shall cast down to the earth with the hand”. What exactly is it which the hail and the storm of mighty waters cast down? Verse 17 answers this question:

Isa 28:17  Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

‘The hail’ and ‘the mighty flood of waters’ are both the same thing. They signify the words of Truth which are so abhorred by the mighty men of Mystery Babylon who are the purveyors of all the lying false doctrines of that great world-wide harlot system. Every man identifies with his own thoughts. Every man is ruled over by the doctrines he believes and to which he yields his life:

Jer 51:17  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
Jer 51:18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

Rom 6:16  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

“The cup of her fornication” is filled with all the deadly, lying false doctrines of Mystery Babylon and Mystery Babylon is all the religions of mankind. It is through her lying rebellious false doctrines that Mystery Babylon has made all men to drink, and yet “in His day”, when the Lord appears as lightning which is seen from one side of heaven to the other side of heaven, those ‘heavens’, which signify the hearts and minds of all men, will at that moment begin to be purged of all those lying false doctrines by the ‘hail and the flood of mighty waters’ which are the fiery words of Christ in Himself and in His Christ who will speak only His Truthful words faithfully, and ‘in His day’ His elect will be given power to make those words the law of the land:

Luk 17:24  For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

“In His day” the Lord will work conditions on this earth to be such as they will cause all men to acknowledge that “His day” has arrived, and all the lies of all “the mighty men of Babylon” will be revealed for what they are to the extent that there will be no fight left in ‘the mighty men of Babylon’ nor in the ‘ten horns’ which are on the beast upon which the woman sits (Rev 17:16-17).

Jer 51:30  The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.

‘Egypt’ and ‘Babylon’ are both symbols of that which enslaves the Lord’s people, but “In His day” the Lord will turn the tables and give the dominion of this earth over to His faithful elect. “In His day” when the time is come, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” (1Th 4:17) and will make the heart of the men of Egypt to “become as women”:

Isa 19:1  The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
Isa 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. [We are witnessing the fulfilment of this prophecy in this present world]
Isa 19:3  And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof [To the extent that ‘Egypt’ cannot legally distinguish a boy from a girl]: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
Isa 19:4  And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
Isa 19:5  And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.

Isa 19:8  The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. [All of the false ministers of Egypt]
Isa 19:9  Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. [“our righteousnesses are as filthy rags”]
Isa 19:10  And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.

Isa 19:12  Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
Isa 19:13  The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof [“They shall believe a lie” (2Th 2:10-11)].
Isa 19:14  The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

Egypt is merely an earlier type of Babylon:

Jer 51:31  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
Jer 51:32  And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

Look at how accurate this prophecy of the fall of physical Babylon was. It all happened to them, and it was all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Co 10:11):

The physical fall of physical Babylon typifies the spiritual fall of Mystery Babylon the Great, who we are “in the spirit in the wilderness”:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

The destruction of physical Babylon came as a complete surprise to Babylon and her king, and it happened just as both Revelation and Daniel tell us… “in the same hour… that night” (Dan 5:5, 30).

Dan 5:1  Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.
Dan 5:2  Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.
Dan 5:3  Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
Dan 5:4  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
Dan 5:5  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Dan 5:6  Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.
Dan 5:7  The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Dan 5:8  Then came in all the king’s wise men: but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof.
Dan 5:9  Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonied.
Dan 5:10  Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house: and the queen spake and said, O king, live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed:
Dan 5:11  There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
Dan 5:12  Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation.

The words, “There is a man in your kingdom” reveals to us that the Lord’s elect are made known to the rulers of this world, and that man is Daniel, who typifies “one of the seven angels” who makes known to the king of Babylon within us, the “man of sin” within us, who typifies all ‘Mystery Babylon’. This man is the angel who shows us the imminent fate of Babylon:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Dan 5:13  Then was Daniel brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?
Dan 5:14  I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
Dan 5:15  And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof: but they could not shew the interpretation of the thing:
Dan 5:16  And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom.
Dan 5:17  Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. [We do witness against this world]
Dan 5:18  O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
Dan 5:19  And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
Dan 5:20  But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
Dan 5:21  And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
Dan 5:22  And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this;
Dan 5:23  But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
Dan 5:24  Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written.
Dan 5:25  And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Dan 5:26  This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
Dan 5:27  TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Dan 5:28  PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

Dan 5:30  In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
Dan 5:31  And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

When Babylon finally fell within each of us, it was a “short work the Lord worked”. There will be an outward fall of the Mystery Babylon out of which we have all come. “In His day” that work will also be “a short work”:

Rom 9:28  For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

While it is a painful, agonizing “experience of evil” it still works a good work of humbling us and making us seek to be faithful to “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, fearing to add to or take away from it or to so much as “think above that which is written”:

Deu 4:2  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other. (ACV)

If we are granted to fear to add to or take away from the words of God and we are afraid to even “think above that which is written”, then we, too, can say with the apostle Paul:

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

That was Paul’s assurance to us, and that was the prayer of the apostle Peter:

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Other related posts