Chapter 9: Nations – Babel to Babylon
When we first come into the faith, we’re taught about God’s heart for the people of the world. We’re taught that God does not desire for anyone to perish.{ccxlix} The heart of God is consumed with hope for souls. He loves, and therefore He does not want any to be cast into hellfire. The emphasis is actually so heavy, that it took for me to stop listening to people’s opinions before I came to any conclusions on what God’s heart truly is. Everyone has an opinion. Sadly, many opinions, if not all, are completely selfish. We desire to show that God’s heart is that He loved me. For those who are in the outside world, as long as they will do the same things that we have done to be saved, then we want to tell them they are completely secure and going to heaven.
I’ve wrestled with the Scriptures. I’ve probed the heart of God. I have sought to understand what God’s intention is. In this, I have become less focused upon the individuals, and more focused upon nations. While I have for so long believed that God has established Israel so that they would be redeemed, and that God loved them, I have also believed that God is only interested in people. The thought had never occurred to me that I was in the wrong, because that thought would actually indicate that those who taught me were also in the wrong. God is interested in both people and nations.
God is indeed interested in the individual.{ccl} Yet, something that we need to understand is that as much as it means to be an individual, we are born into a specific context. We are born into a specific nation, a specific locality within that nation, a specific race, a specific culture, and a specific family. More than our personalities and individual calling governs the person that God has made you or I to be. Our personality and calling is actually based upon who God has created us to be within our context. He has a heart for the nations, and even though patriotism can be an idol, I believe that God desires for all nations to be represented before Him.
The way that we do this is a very deep and rich subject. I have decided to devote three chapters to that one subject alone. Because this is so foreign to the mindset of many believers today, I feel the necessity of explaining out the pieces and details in a way that would help show forth how both individuals as well as nations work hand-in-hand together. God does not desire one over the other, and we shouldn’t expect that God only sees us as a means to an end – that end being the redemption of our nation. He is extremely jealous over every human being on the planet, and it is not correct to negate that. But with that being said, it is equally incorrect to negate the understanding of God’s jealousy over nations for the sake of being selfish and isolated.
We find the first mention of nations in regard to Noah and his sons. Out of Shem, Ham, and Japheth come all the families of the earth. Genesis 10 is called the Table of Nations, and from it stems all of the nations and peoples that we see today. What we need to note is both the nations mentioned, because the Scripture recognizes these peoples under a certain mindset and connotation, as well as the patriarchs from which they come. When God speaks about a certain people, he looks back to that patriarch. For example, we see in the book of Obadiah judgment to come upon Edom. Edom has Esau, the brother of Israel, as their forefather. The reason that God speaks of judgment to come upon Edom is because of the oppression that Esau has placed upon his brother Israel.{ccli}
Yet, neither Jacob nor Esau is alive. These are completely different people, and they are almost entirely assimilated from their origins. After a multitude of generations, they might still have the history or the remembrance of who they came from, but those people resemble neither Jacob nor Esau. And here lies the problem. Their heritage would say that as sons of Israel, the generations have a specific mode of living and purpose that they are to exist from. Likewise, as the brothers of Israel, Edom has a very specific purpose and mode of living that they too are supposed to uphold. When the people begin to act less like their patriarch, God holds them accountable for their wavering.
Does this make sense? To one degree, Edom is going to be under judgment for their actions against the people of God. To another degree, and an equally legitimate degree, Edom is going to be judged because they are not acting like Esau. Esau embraced his brother and they wept upon one another’s neck. Esau forgave Jacob after all his deception and manipulation to rob Esau of both birthright and blessing. Edom was not having the same reaction to Israel, but instead found an opportunity to take advantage of their brethren. This is the wickedness.
God holds accountable entire peoples and generations because of their lack of respect for their forefathers. Jesus at one point calls the generation He spoke to the same generation that killed Abel and Zechariah son of Berekiah.{cclii} Why? These people were acting in the exact same manner as previous generations. In order for we, who have been called out of being Gentiles and into the commonwealth of Israel, to fully represent who God has created us to be, we must wrestle with the implications of what it means to be adopted. We need to wrestle with the implications of no longer being called by our Japheth or Ham origin, but instead are being called sons of Shem. We need to wrestle with the implications of no longer recognizing ourselves as men and women from this or that background, but now adopted into the commonwealth of Israel.
To Abram the call went, “Get thee out.”{ccliii} Likewise, for we who claim that same faith of Abraham, the call is made to get out of father’s home, out of country, and to leave our kindred. As the people of God, we are called to a certain lifestyle and culture unlike any other. We are ambassadors of heaven. Our culture is governed by God, and not by our nation’s culture or what we see around us. Even the Jewish people do not have this reality in their midst. Though they are technically the sons of Abraham by blood, many of the Jewish people live more like Japheth people. If you take away just three Jewish men from history, we no longer have modern times: Freud, Marx, and Einstein.
It is the call of God to His elect to come out from that. Yet, at the same time, there will be a people from every nation that are not within that election that will come up to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices. There are a people somehow that are not a part of the Bride of Christ, the City of God, that must come up to the City and bring their glory into it. There are a people that somehow continue to live, even into the New Heaven and New Earth, that are not a part of the holy people – the Bride of Christ. This is a mystery, and it needs to be unraveled delicately. God has not established the nations in order to cast them all aside. He has desired that not one nation should perish before His eyes, and that each one should somehow be represented before Him by a remnant people that make it into the New Heaven and New Earth.{ccliv}
Babel
We find the first episode regarding nations is at the Tower of Babel.{cclv} The nations come to the plains of Shinar, and they desire to build a tower that would reach to the heavens. There is a problem: in this plain there are no stones to build with. So, the people build their tower with bricks. They don’t even allow the bricks to dry out in the sun, but instead must bake them. Their plans are so imminent, so important, that they refuse to wait even the extra time for the bricks to dry.{cclvi} I’m not sure I can sufficiently describe the problem here. God did not grant that locality for building. The evidence is that there were no stones. What altar of the Lord has ever been built by something other than stone?
For the nations to take brick instead of stone is a subtle hint that this action was in disregard and contrary to what God had said. The word came to Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply.{cclvii} Instead, the nations came together so that they might not be scattered.{cclviii} This first episode regarding nations is vital, because it shows that from the inception of nations, the agenda of those nations has been their first priority. Which nation has asked God what their purpose is? Can you think of any nation or any people group in history that has sought the Lord that they might be found of Him?{cclix}
As nations, I can only think of one modern example that actually surrendered itself to the authority of God. Uganda in recent years has officially declared that they are now following what the Lord would specify to them as a nation. This is not the Christians of Uganda; the government and leaders of Uganda have made this statement. The question of whether it is possible for a nation to come to God is answered with a whole-hearted yes. It is not outside of the nations’ ability to be surrendered to God. What we learn from Babel is the inherent disregard for God and His purposes.
There is a real sense in which the nations have their own agendas to push. They have their own desires. Whether we’re speaking of genocide and supremacy that would demand ethnic cleansing, or whether we’re speaking of imperialism seeking for more territory, both are in complete opposition to God. As long as we are content as a nation, or more specifically as the people of God in the midst of our nation, to go with the flow and continue to seek our own glory and purposes, we will be given over into greater degrees to the principalities and powers of the air. We will not truly have the power and influence that we desire, because manipulation and violence is not power.
Love conquers all. When intimidation and force and coercion might cause for many to cower, love is what defeats all else. Until the nations are willing to cast aside their own ambition and motives to take up love, they will continue to starve for more. Satisfaction only comes when truth is obtained. Truth cannot be obtained when we’re wholly surrendered to the mechanisms and tactics of the devil. Demonic furor is a lie, and the perpetuation of a lie produces unreality. It is the lack of reality that has caused our societies in the Western world to go berserk. Rape, rampant sexuality, murder, road rage, idolatry to sports and Hollywood, hatred, selfish ambition, orgies, drunkenness and drug abuse, and all of the like are only outward manifestations of the inward unreality. When mankind is forced to live in the lie, they will seek anything to come out from the deadness of that lie. The lie produces numbness. That lack of feeling is what leads mankind to absolute corruption – anything to feel something.
It was at the tower of Babel that mankind was not content to wait. They could not be given to patience, even if it meant a better quality of brick. Bricks are imitations of stones. Stones represent the truth and reality of God’s building. Everything that was made for God, whether an altar or the Temple, was made either out of stone, or out of some sort of precious metal/gem. Nothing was made from bricks. When wood was used, it was typically overlaid with gold. Bricks are cheap imitations of what God demands. God demands stone, so we’ll make our own stones out of the clay from the ground. To build with stone is costly and time consuming. Yet, a brick is cheap and simple. You can make the bricks to all be one size and shape, so that they fit together nicely and neatly.
We have here at Babel the very inception of unreality over the nations. That veil that blinds them{cclx} came upon them in the plain of Shinar. Those powers of darkness have desired to keep their place of authority ever since. To challenge that spiritual stupor over the nations, that kingdom that rules the kingdoms of the earth, is to place self in the most undesirable of places. We are asking for attack from those powers of darkness when we accept the call to come out from their rule. When we, by faith, come out from their kingdom and begin to look for a City that was not made by human hands, but instead who’s builder and maker is God,{cclxi} we put a target on our backs. This is not for the light hearted. This is an ultimate call. To come unto Zion is to find yourself at enmity with the world.
Here we have with the tower of Babel the very condition of all nations that continue to go their own way. Though they seem to have everything together, and they know what they are doing, the end result is confusion and dispersion. Just as God confused the language and scattered the people from Babel out to the ends of the earth, so too do we find this same result in empires of history such as Rome, Babylon, and the Mesopotamians. From our earliest archeological kingdoms to the more recent fall of nations such as Australia (before being settled by Europeans) or the Soviet Union, we find this pattern of confusion and dispersion.
Yet, though there is confusion and dispersion, there is still a record that God keeps. He still knows from where we come. Even modern archaeology has given some insight to where these peoples in Genesis 10 have gone. For example, Japheth begat Gomer, and Gomer begat Ashkenaz. Ashkenaz is the father of peoples in Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma, Tibet, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mongolia, China, Japan, Ukraine, Denmark, South Romania, Northwest Turkey, Galatia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Hungary, Austria, Northwest Russia, Germany, Scandinavia, and the Saxons. The people of Assyria, who came from Asshur, migrated north and east after being conquered. They settled in the Roman province called Germania (modern day Germany), and also in India, where they set up classes (the Cass System).
Nazi Germany desired to establish the “supreme race.” That idea actually comes from the ancient Assyrians, who called themselves the master race.{cclxii} It is thought by some that the Assyrians were actually the ones to establish Tsars, Kaisers, Caesars, and Shahs. The Holocaust was not an issue of a megalomaniac. The Holocaust was the outworking of a demonic spirit that possesses the Assyrian nation, and has imposed a false reality into the people’s mindset, and is at enmity with the Jewish people because they are God’s people. Nazi Germany was not Hitler versus the Jew. It was Assyria versus Israel – the same ancient enmity that we read of in the Bible.
Do you see why this is important to know? It is from these patriarchs that we find our eternal purpose and destiny as nations. The gods of this world have laid claim to the nations, and they do not desire to give up their seats of power. They can take possession of an entire people, as in Nazi Germany, in order to accomplish their plans and schemes. It behooves us to look into our own histories and understand what it is that governs our localities and nations. As the Body of Christ, we must engage those powers. There are no other people that have authority to engage them. But lets not rush out in some sort of gusto and immature zeal. The stakes are far too high to simply begin naming and claiming, and emphatically calling in the name of Jesus. What we’re dealing with in the area of the prophetic destiny of nations, and how to engage and wrestle the powers at a national level I will deal with more thoroughly in the next chapter.
Antichrist Kingdom
In the area of eschatology, something that it seems like everyone wants to know is, “Where does the Antichrist come from?” There are hints given, but in all honesty it is truly not most important. What is more important to understand is that the Antichrist Kingdom is actually already established upon the earth. If we can see the larger picture and then come into the smaller details, those smaller details will take on more depth and significance.
What do I mean when I say that the Antichrist Kingdom has already been established? Though the Antichrist is not a physical reality yet, there is a kingdom that Satan has placed his name upon. That kingdom is called Babylon. There is a continuum from Genesis 10:8-12 through to Revelation 17-18. We see in Genesis 10:8 that Nimrod is the father of Babylon, and at the end of the age, the kingdom that is being addressed is called Babylon. Though that nation is currently not on the map, it is still a present reality. I don’t think that the Antichrist will restore Babylon, and thus we’ll have modern maps with Babylon as a nation. The thing that is important to note is that it doesn’t matter if it is called Persia, Greece, or Rome; it is still Babylon.
We find in Daniel 2 a dream that King Nebuchadnezzar has. In the dream, there is a statue. This statue has a head of gold (Babylon), chest of silver (Medo-Persia), abdomen of bronze (Greece), and legs of iron (Rome). This statue had feet of iron and clay mixed together. Those feet are a representation of the Antichrist kingdom. Some have argued that the feet were the Roman Empire after the Caesars were established. I have no problem with saying both. There is a real sense that the Kingdom of God has been established upon the earth, but the ultimate fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was that all these nations were broken to pieces and blown away by the wind. What is necessary to note is that this statue is one statue. Though it has multiple elements, each representing a different nation, it is all one statue. All of these nations are connected in one manner: they are the parallel of one another.
This same parallel is made in Daniel 7:1-7. Four creatures come out of the sea. If you reference that with Revelation 13:1-2, you find that the Antichrist is a hybrid of all four of these animals. The four animals represent Babylon (lion), Medo-Persia (bear), Greece (leopard), and “Rome” (fourth beast). Rome is also the kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that is mixed with clay. In Daniel 7, however, the contrast between Rome and the Antichrist’s kingdom are not distinguished. Similarly, we find that in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 that literal kings are being addressed, but you come to a certain point through these prophecies and wonder if the kings are being addressed or if Satan is being addressed…
What is happening is the same phenomenon already explained. There is a connection between the heavenly reality of the principalities and powers and the earthly reality of a nation that is the corresponding counterpart. Zechariah 1:19 speaks of four different nations that “scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” Once again, we’re given the exact same mystery. The tower of Babel was in the plain of Shinar, which is Babylon. Are you starting to understand the mystery? The connection between the Antichrist and Satan is not so much about Satan becoming incarnate as it is a full representation of the kingdom of darkness made manifest upon the earth.
In Daniel 7 there is a horn that comes up upon the fourth beast, which has a description quite similar to the dragon in Revelation 12, 13, and 17. This little horn that springs up is the Antichrist. In the book of Daniel, we find that the prophecies are to be looked at side by side. What is mentioned in Daniel 2 corresponds to Daniel 7. The four metals and the four beasts are the same thing being described in two different manners. Then, when we come to Daniel 8, we find the dream of a ram with two horns and a goat with one horn. Notice in Daniel 8:3 that the description of the ram is that it has one horn longer than the other. If we reference that back to Daniel 7:5, we find that the bear representing Medo-Persia was raised up on one side. These two animals are representing the same nation – Medo-Persia.
Now notice that the goat is flying (Daniel 8:5). This is a similar detail mentioned in Daniel 7:6 about Greece. The leopard had four wings. Now note that in Daniel 8:8, the goat’s horn falls off and four horns replace it. The number four being associated with Greece both in Daniel 7:6 and Daniel 8:5-8 is a representation of the four kings that ruled after Alexander. When Alexander passed away, he decreed that the four mightiest men should take his place. So, Greece was divided into four sections. These four sections are then referenced as the four horns that “grew up toward the four winds of heaven.” Once again in Daniel 8, we find a “little horn.” This little horns grew on one of the four horns of the goat.
In Daniel 7, we see that the Antichrist will come out of Rome. Yet, in Daniel 8, we find that the Antichrist will come out of one of the four regions of Greece. What I suggest might be happening here is a hint of which area we are to look. In Daniel 11, the Antichrist is known as the “king of the north.” Some have argued that this is Antiochus Epiphanes, but that simply cannot be true. Antiochus does not match the prophecy of Daniel. Not only that, but many scholars will admit that the last five verse of Daniel 11 sound like they are to be pushed into the future with the Antichrist. Yet, when we follow the Hebrew antecedent backward in the text, we find that from Daniel 11:21 through to the end of the chapter is all speaking of the same person.
This chapter is not truly the chapter to get into lengthy discussion on the Antichrist and what he does. That will be examined at a later time. For now, we focus upon the kingdom that Satan has placed his name upon. Babylon was the first representation of that kingdom, and it then was captured by Medo-Persia. It was while being ruled over by the Persians that the message came to Daniel that the prince of Persia delayed the angel.{cclxiii} Here we must ask a significant question: Who is the prince of Persia? To wave our wand and say that who is being described here is simply the earthly ruler of Persia doesn’t cut it. That leaves too many open-ended questions. What makes much more sense is to say that the price of Persia being described is actually a demon, or Satan himself. We then read again in Daniel 10:20 that after the angel speaking with Daniel goes, the prince of Greece would come. Once again, it makes more sense to say these are demonic rulers in the heavenly realms over the nations.
Satan has placed his name upon Babylon, and has caused for an unbroken continuum through the ages. At the end of the age, when the Antichrist will be defeated by the return of Christ Jesus, we find that Revelation 17-18 describe the Antichrist kingdom as “Babylon”. Yet, Babylon would by this time have been destroyed for millennia. Hopefully now you can better understand the mystery at work here. The seven heads upon the beast in Revelation 17 are seven hills. They are also seven kings. It says in Revelation 17:10 that “five have fallen, one is, and one is to come.” When that seventh king does come, he will remain for only a little while. We know the seventh king is the Antichrist. It is of him that the riddle is given that he once was, now is not, and will be an eighth king.
The Antichrist will be another Nebuchadnezzar. That doesn’t necessarily mean that his name will be Nebuchadnezzar, nor does it mean that he will restore Babylon, but like John the Baptist was supposedly Elijah, this man will have the same kind of authority and glory as Nebuchadnezzar had. In the passage in Revelation 17:9-10, we can define the seven hills that are also seven kings as follows: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Antichrist.{cclxiv} These are the seven kingdoms that oppressed the people of Israel, and there are seven kings that specifically should be noted. The Pharaoh of Moses’ day, the Assyrian king that captured Northern Israel, Nebuchadnezzar, the Medo-Persian king that captured Babylon, Alexander, and Augustus Caesar.
Now, the truth is that when John would have written this down, Augustus Caesar would have been dead. Yet, in his place reigned another under the title of Caesar. I’m not sure how specific we need to truly be; it seems to be enough to simply list the nations and let the details sort themselves out. We find in Revelation 17:12 the description of those ten horns again. The ten horns upon the fourth beast in Daniel 7 are described as ten kings. We find the same mention of ten kings in Daniel 2:42 and 2:44. Daniel directs the attention to those toes, and finish his statement by saying, “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom…” These are all passages that help to direct us to an understanding of the Antichrist and his kingdom. Just like with the Tower of Babel, all the nations will submit unto Babylon and worship the beast. As it was in the beginning, so shall it be at the end, for God has established the end from the beginning.
Now, in relation to the question of the Antichrist, we find many Scriptures in the Old Testament about certain rulers that come to an end, or certain kingdoms that come to an end, and history does not match it. We also find certain prophecies coming forth that seem to sound quite related to prophecies concerning the Antichrist. Yet, these passages are about nations like Moab, Tyre, Egypt, Assyria, and other nations that are not a part of that continuum mentioned from Daniel 2 and 7. There is a sense of immediacy in the prophetic texts, where the prophecies were fulfilled in their day and age. Then, the prophecies also look past the immediate to a type. The Antichrist is a type. Just like Moses and David are a type of Christ, so too these pagan kings are types of the Antichrist. This is vital to understand.
When we read texts from the Old Testament, and they are technically not about the Antichrist, but the words seem to be speaking about the Antichrist, this should be our question to ask. Is it possible that this king is a type? Is it possible that God is speaking to or about this country or king, and yet is looking beyond that country and king? We can trace the roots of these places back to the table of nations, and we find that a demonic force governs them. There is a certain spirit that pervades the nations mentioned in Scripture. The Amalakites (sons of Esau) act quite a bit like wolves. Egypt is the nation of oppression and slavery. Assyria is the nation of the “supreme race”, and they boast and gloat over all other nations because of it. Moab is addressed almost like a people that know God, but do not act like they know God (much like the apostate Church). These are spirits as much as they are nations.
So, to see past the simple textual implications and to perceive the spirit behind these nations and kings being addressed, we uncover much more than just the prophetic utterance regarding certain biblical peoples. This is in no way special pleading, either. I am one who holds to the literal fulfillment of prophecy. I don’t think that we should be searching for supernatural or spiritual interpretations. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and 2:7 we read of a man of iniquity and a mystery of iniquity. The man of iniquity is the Antichrist,{cclxv} and the mystery of iniquity is the very thing I’ve been expressing. To what degree are we addressing human depravity, and to what degree are we addressing the influence and manipulation of the principalities and powers? This is the mystery. When we see the spiritual reality behind the earthly manifestation, we have begun to perceive the mystery that is already at work in the world.
Right now, that mystery cannot be fully discerned and perceived. It takes an apostolic or prophetic man to be able to come to understanding in that manner. Yet, in the day of the revealing of the man of sin, this mystery will be fully discerned and understood, not only by apostolic and prophetic men, but also by the whole of the Body of Christ. This is currently at work, and only those foundational men can understand it, but when it is revealed through the Antichrist, all of God’s people will see and perceive. This is not to say that it is past being understood in theory or concept. What I am implying is that this mystery cannot be fully understood in the depths. Who can truly discern whether we are acting out of depravity or demonic manipulation?
I don’t claim to have this understanding myself. I recognize the mystery, and I perceive the reality of it. But I in no way have come to full understanding of this mystery. When we understand that the nations are both literal and symbolic, and we see that the kings are both literal and types, it helps us to better understand the prophetic texts. It takes discernment to know what prophecies fit where. Some truly don’t fit in the last day’s scenario. Other texts only fit in the last day’s scenario. As the Body of Christ, we need to wrestle with this together to come to understanding of God’s prophetic intention for our nation, as well as God’s prophetic intention for all nations. That understanding only comes when we see the patterns of God that reveal the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of godliness.