God Will Sweep His Enemies Away With A Broom of Destruction: The Lord of Hosts, that is the Lord of Battles, thus speaks concerning the political, economic and religious oriented phases of Babylonian activity now coming to judgment. Designated as Babylon the Great, the 18th chapter of Revelation depicts the violence of the destruction of the entire world Jewish economic system. The 17th chapter of Revelation reveals the demise of states: �Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming (the revelation of His presence). (2 Thessalonians 2:8) Isaiah declares that, in that day when the whole earth will be at rest and beak forth in singing (Isaiah 14:7), the Lord will have destroyed the staff of the wicked and the scepter and rulership of the Babylonian succession of nations will have passed away.
In the same way that Babylon laid the pattern of governments for centuries to come, it also set the standard of wealth for the continuation of commerce and trade during the centuries to come by making gold the criterion of wealth. Thus gold controlled the fluctuation in price values as a governor controls the speed of a steam engine.
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had an image of gold built on the Plain of Dura. It was mandatory for the heads of government, judges, counselors, and those in charge of the affairs of the provinces to come to Babylon for the dedication of this gold standard. The heads of all the nations Nebuchadnezzar had conquered also had to be present at this important economic conference as god was to become the standard of wealth in all commercial activities.
What was this image of gold? Some twenty years prior to setting up this image of gold, Nebuchadnezzar in a dream saw the image of a man which Daniel informed the King represented the four great world empires. Unfortunately, because of that vision, many Bible students have drawn the conclusion that the image of gold was that of a man. The very dimensions given as to the size of this image proves otherwise. It was sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. Thus, height and breadth are out of all proportion to the human figure. Furthermore, it is definitely stated to be the image of gold not that of a man. It was in fact a pillar or column of god, probably topped with the Babylonian winged disk, the emblem, or image of gold. Ferrar Fenton, in his translation, states that Nebuchadnezzar the King made a �golden column.� Moffatt uses the expression �a golden image.�
This gathering to Babylon of all the leaders and rulers of the nations is the first historical record of an economic conference. The purpose was to establish gold as the standard of wealth in all commercial activities. The very list of those called to be in attendance at this dedication service proves this to be correct. Thus, the King of Babylon brought to birth the gold standard which from that day to modern times has governed the value of labor, goods and all monetary systems.
For nearly three thousand years the inhabitants of the earth have become enslaved under an economic system. Many have suffered and died in their reverence and worship of gold. Rivers of blood have flowed because of the greed and lust of men to possess gold, the object of their adoration. Upon this Babylonian foundation of economics all nations have reared the superstructure of financial, economic and material well-being of the few at the expense of the many. Thus, the 18th chapter of revelation appropriately designates the entire business and commercial activities of the present order as �Babylon the Great.� Jesus named the system �Mammon� which no man can worship and remain true to God; �ye cannot serve God and mammon.� (Luke 16:13) All such men of the world have a price, the maiden for her virtue, the man for his integrity and uprightness.
When God organized His Kingdom at Mount Sinai, He set forth the perfect system of economic well-being. The book, �Digest of the Divine Law,� (Destiny Publishers, P.O. Box 177, Merimac, Mass. 01860) presents the blessings that will follow if we would heed and accept this Divine way of life.
When Daniel and his three companions were taken to Babylon and Daniel came into favor with the king, Daniel secured the appointment of the three to administer the business affairs of the Province of Babylon. As the result of the appointment, they had to be present at the economic conference when Nebuchadnezzar established the gold standard.
Daniel�s three companions, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (names assigned them by the king), being fully acquainted with the perfect economy, were in a position to assess the evils which would result from this new monetary scheme, wherein the worship of God would be set aside for the worship of gold. They knew that the Babylonian system would be the antithesis of all that the economic laws of the Lord embodies in order to bring about well-being and peace among the people. They refused to obey the king�s command and were cast into the fiery furnace and, except for Divine intervention, they would have perished. The full account of their refusal and the subsequent results are given in the third chapter of Daniel.
One of the besetting sins of the Babylonian economy is the interest charges, that is usury, as stated under the law of the Lord. Thus, the law of the Lord declares: �Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals; usury of any thing that is lent upon usury...that the Lord thy God may bless thee.� (Deuteronomy 23:19-20)
Ferrar Fenton translates this: �You shall not take interest from your brothers; interest upon money; interest upon food; interest upon anything which can be lent at interest...so that...God may bless you.�
Omri was King over Israel and of him it is stated: �But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him.� (1 Kings 16:25)
He made Israel to sin in that he turned away from the laws of the Lord and instituted a system of laws of his own making which conformed with the laws of Babylon, wherein gold was worshiped to the extent that all of God�s bounty was valued in terms of gold or money and loans subject to interest. Thus, Israel departed from observing and keeping God�s law and no longer believed in the Lord their God: �And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.� ( 2 Kings 17:15)
It is well to note that, when money becomes the thing of value instead of a medium of exchange to serve the needs of mankind, then we have made money produce money in the form of interest rather than increasing wealth through the value of goods and services. Micah states that the Lord is against all such evil; that is, the scant measure, the wicked balances and the bags of deceitful weights and then the declaration: �For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lis, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.� (Micah 6:12)
The Prophet sums it all up in the declaration: �For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.� (Micah 6:16)
Ferrar Fenton translates part of this verse to read: �I therefore will make you a ruin, And your populace bring to contempt.�
Finally the northern Kingdom, the House of Israel, because of their sins and the failure to keep the terms of the covenant God made with their fathers, was taken into Assyrian captivity. As a nation, they had failed in the administration of righteousness and they began to suffer in accord with the terms of the punitive clauses of the law of the Lord. A time limit was set when the period of punishment would end and the House of Israel would become the recipient of Divine blessings. A time limit of �seven times� or 2520 years was to be the duration of this time of chastisement. That time period began to expire with the defeat of Napoleon as we entered the beginning of the 17th century.
It also is essential to recognize that, as a result of the House of Israel being subject to seven times of punishment, during the years involved the Gentiles were to become predominate in world activity and rule. Thus, the establishment of the Babylonian Empire marked the beginning of the Times of the Gentiles. This Times of the Gentiles wold begin to end following the proclamation of the Identity of the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and kindred peoples as the House of Israel in the world today. With the increase in power and colonization, as the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic people began to spread abroad in the seventeenth century, the proclamation of their identity began to confirm their ancestral origin. By the beginning of the nineteenth century that identity had been fully established, but our national and spiritual leaders refused to accept this fact or bring our nation to conform with what God required of them as His Kingdom people.
Peace and prosperity were now to end as God prepared to move in judgment to compel an awakening and the acknowledgment on the part of His Kingdom people of the necessity to keep the term of the Covenant. World War I not only marked the beginning of the time when God, through the pressure of adversity, would compel His people to turn unto Him, but would also denote the beginning of the end of the Times of the Gentiles.
Please take note that1260 days after the assassination of the Archduke of Austria on June 28, 1914, by a Jewish assassin, making World War Inevitable, Jerusalem was liberated from Turkish control on December 9, 1917. The sign had thus been given that the Times of the Gentiles was ending, for Jesus said: �Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.� (Luke 21:24)
It is also well to observe that, while peace was taken from the earth with the beginning of World War I in 1914, we entered that place or period in history called Armageddon, which time period is destined to end with the complete destruction of Babylon the Great, the worldwide economic structure. In Revelation, chapter 18, reference is made to three different stages of one hour, each marking the progressive steps in the demise of the world economic system. One hour (15 years) after the beginning of world War I in 1914 came the Wall Street crash of 1929 which was a major signal of the coming economic holocaust that would mark the ending of Armageddon and the beginning of the Great Day of Divine Wrath.
In Revelation 18, the world economic structure, designated as �Babylon the Great,� is likened to a woman who has glorified herself and lived deliciously and, in spite of inevitable coming judgment, is depicted as saying in her heart, �I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.� (Revelation 18:7)
Many economists today voice this same expectation (especially with the stock market reaching new highs every few weeks) and, though recognizing the rising economic problems, express confidence of the ultimate economic recovery and coming financial prosperity. Isaiah predicts otherwise: �Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.� (Isaiah 47:1-11)
Because this is a remarkable prediction of the ultimate and sudden destruction of the worldwide economic structure, also foreseen by John in the 18th chapter of Revelation, we are also quoting the Ferrar Fenton translation of this prediction by Isaiah in that the added emphasis is worthy of consideration, for the day of the fulfillment of this prophetic forecast is apparently at hand: �Come down, and sit in the dust, you, virgin daughter of Babel; And sit on the ground unthroned, you, the girl of the Kasdim, For no more will they call you the refined and protected. Lend a hand to the mill and grind flour, Shave your tresses and strip off your robe, Bare your legs, and wade over the streams; Strip yourself bare, exposing your shame, I avenge, and I will regard none...Sit silent, and walk in the dark, you, the girl of the Kasdim; For no more they will call you the Princess of Kingdoms. I was vexed with My People, and I punished my country, I gave them into your hand, but you have not shown them mercy. You laid heavy yokes on the old; and said �I am Princess for ever.� so you laid not those things to your heart, nor remembered the future.
But, hear this now, you Lady, who sit at your ease, Who say to your heart, �I exist, and none else with me; I shall not be a widow, or know of bereavement,� But both shall arrive at a stroke, and in a single day, Bereavement and ruin come on you, a widow, in spite of your craft, and great strength of Allies; For you trusted in sin, saying, �No one will see me.� Your Science and Learning, themselves will overthrow you, though you said in your heart. �I shall last, if none else!� So loss will come on you, whose dawning you know not, And calamity fall which you cannot avoid, And unknown desolation rush suddenly on you.�
Ezekiel adds his testimony to the ultimate overthrow of the economic world structure. The Lord uses the prosperity of the Prince of Tyrus in his trading and merchandising as emblematical of such activity as the age draws to a close. The pronouncement of judgment upon the economic activities of that day is prophetic of the judgment John was informed in the 18th chapter of Revelation would destroy present-day commerce and trade.
It is stated that, by wisdom and understanding, the Prince of Tyrus had acquired great riches and, by the multitude of his merchandise, he had created violence. The Lord declared: �Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.� (Ezekiel 28:18)
John beheld this sudden destruction of our present world economy stating, �She shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.� (Revelation 18:8)
John is also given a preview of the process of disintegration of the world economy beginning with the passing of judgment upon the entire system. We are today eyewitnesses to that which John beheld. He refers to the consternation that occurs as the result of the curtailment in trading and of the hour when such judgment will come. He refers to the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones, along with all types of merchandise, as well as food and even the souls of men who readily relinquish standards of righteousness for a price. The exclamation follows: �In one hour so great riches is come to nought.� (Revelation 18:17) Following this declaration is the final exclamation, �For in one hour is she made desolate.� (Revelation 18:19) John is made acquainted with the final suddenness of the destruction of Babylon the Great, our present world economic system, by the following illustration: �And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.� (Revelation 18:21)
While there is a time involved in the phases of judgment overtaking the present world economic system, and we are today eyewitnesses of what Ezekiel proclaimed would be a destroying fire within the system itself (Ezekiel 28:18), yet, Isaiah informs us that in a moment, in one day (Isaiah 47:9), will this world economic system be destroyed. The reason that only one day is thus mentioned in which this will be accomplished is that the sudden appearing of the sign of the Son of man, an event wholly unknown to the economic world, will be devastating and will cause a complete collapse of all human activities. John confirms the suddenness of this coming destruction for, after having proclaimed the economic certainty of perpetuity, �I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall se no sorrow,� he declared: �Therefore shall her plaques come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.� (Revelation 18:8)
The clue that confirms what will take place that will cause such destruction of the entire word economic system in one day is revealed in an analysis and understanding of the meaning of the first verse of the 18th chapter of Revelation. Who is this angel coming down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was bathed in His glory? Ferrar Fenton thus translates this verse and the second verse also: �After this, I saw another angel descending from the heaven, possessing great authority: and the earth was illuminated with his majesty. And with a voice of strength he proclaimed: Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen!�
The King James version translates that the �earth was lightened with his glory.� Ferrar Fenton, as shown, speaks of the earth being illuminated by His Majesty. The Greek word thus translated glory or Majesty can also be rendered to be praise or worshiped. This is applicable to Deity.
Majesty: Strong�s Concordance: #3172� megalosune (meg‑al‑o‑ soo'‑nay); from 3173; greatness, i.e. (figuratively) divinity (often God himself): KJV‑‑ majesty.
We also find the reference to such Glory associated with God the Father or His Son Jesus Christ.
Glory: Strong�s Concordance: #1391� doxa (dox'‑ah); from the base of 1380; glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective): KJV‑‑ dignity, glory (‑ious), honour, praise, worship.
Ezekiel witnessed the appearing of the Glory and, following a description of what he had witnessed, exclaimed: �As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about (many colors). This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face.� (Ezekiel 1:28)
Later, following the account of rebuilding the Temple, Ezekiel looking toward the east exclaimed:�And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.� (Ezekiel 43:2)
John in Revelation, when he beheld our Lord in all His glory, exclaimed, �And his voice as the sound of many waters.� (Revelation 1:15) Furthermore, Jesus said of His coming: �For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.�(Matthew 24:27)
Following the shaking of the powers of heaven (that is, splitting the atom), Jesus said: �And then shall appear (that is, shine) the sing of the son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.� (Matthew 24:30)
John also witnessed the coming in great power with the earth illuminated by His Glory. In a mighty strong voice He declares the destruction of the entire world economic system, designating it as the fall of Babylon. In that day when the Glory of the Lord lightens the heavens and illuminates the earth, it will be as though a great millstone was cast into the sea with the result of a gigantic tidal wave sweeping the earth (the stone will be thrown in the midst of mankind and they will spread out like waves of water, destroying everything in their path), engulfing all continents and destroying all the cities of the nations. As stated in �Study in Daniel� (Study in Daniel, Destiny Publishers, P.O. Box 177, Merimac, Mass. 01860): �In this way we have depicted the economic chaos that will affect all nations when Babylon the Great falls. The world economic slate will be wiped clean. Vested interests, banking institutions, insurance companies, annuity funds and all interest-bearing saving and hoarded wealth of every description will be swept away. Thus, the way will be prepared for the institution of the God-given Israel economy. This is the judgment passed upon Babylon the Great, and happy indeed is the man whose wealth has been invested in Kingdom securities.�
Not only will the appearing of the Son of man with power and great Glory signal the abrupt end of all commercial activity but such ending will be a contributing factor enhancing the difficulties that will be faced during the coming Day of Wrath. The appearing of the sign of the son of man, making inevitable the sudden destruction in one day of the economic activities of the nations, will also signal the beginning of that Day of Wrath. Thus, John stated, as the result of the appearing of that sign and the accompanying great disturbances, that the kings (presidents, prime ministers, etc.) of the earth, the great men and the rich; in fact, all those who are unprepared and spiritually unready, will seek to hide from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb exclaiming: �For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand.� (Revelation 6:17)
Malachi asks a similar question: �But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?� (Malachi 3:2)
The Prophet then proceeds to give an answer: �Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord harkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.� (Malachi 3:16-17)
Jesus refers to His unheralded sudden thief-like appearing when the sign of the son of man (Matthew 24:30) bathes the earth in its glorious light revealing His presence: �For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.� (Luke 221L35) He then addresses the watchmen: �watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.� (Luke 21:36)
John reveals that, in the day when worldly riches are swept away, there will be weeping and mourning on the part of multitudes, but also John declares that the apostles, prophets and saints will rejoice for God hath avenged you on her. (Revelation 18:30) Then the summation as to why God will thus destroy the economic system designated as Babylon the great (Revelation 18:24), for �In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.� A most soul-searching question for each of us to seriously consider is this: In which group will our name be listed, will it be with those who weep or with those who rejoice? All signs, plus the present endeavor to support at all costs a sagging economy, constitute a major signal to give special heed to our Lords� admonition (Luke 21:28): �When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (deliverance) draweth nigh.�