As something that has not happened yet, and is
still to yet be completely fulfilled.
That makes sense, and I have agreed with that
for years.
At the same time, I have read were many cite:
Jeremiah
50:3 For out of the north there cometh
up a nation against her, which shall make her land
desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall
remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
32 And
the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none
shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his
cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
40 As
God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the
LORD; so shall no man
abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell
therein.
Jeremiah
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.
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.
42 The
sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the
multitude of the waves thereof.
43 Her
cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a
wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither
doth any son of man pass
thereby.
Isaiah
13:19 And Babylon, the glory of
kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It
shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt
in from generation to generation: neither shall the
Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the
shepherds make their fold there.
They say that this was completely fulfilled,
already, by the Medes and Persians.
Yes, the Medes and Persians took the city.
However, the city was not yet burnt up, and
many people continued to dwell there.
The scriptures speak of the city under Cyrus,
and even calls him the king of Babylon:
Ezra
5:13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus
made a decree to build this house of God.
17 Now
therefore, if it seem good to
the king, let there be search made in the king’s
treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether
it be so, that a decree was made of
Cyrus the king to build this house of God at
Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us
concerning this matter.
Then after Cyrus' reign, the city was
still not yet burnt up, and many people continued to
dwell there.
The scriptures speak of the city under
Darius:
Ezra 6:1 Then
Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in
the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid
up in Babylon.
Then after Darius' reign, the city was
still not yet burnt up, and many people continued to
dwell there.
The scriptures speak of the city under
Artaxerxes, when Ezra went from Babylon to Jerusalem:
Ezra 7:6 This
Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was
a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God
of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his
request, according to the hand of the LORD his God
upon him.
Ezra 8:1 These
are now the chief of their fathers,
and this is the genealogy of them
that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of
Artaxerxes the king.
Also, during Nehemiah's governorship, the
city was still not yet burnt up, and many people
continued to dwell there
Artaxerxes is even called the king of
Babylon.
Nehemiah 13:6
But in all this time was not I at
Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of
Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and
after certain days obtained I leave of the king:
History claims that, later, Alexander the
Great wanted to build up the city, and that he even died
there, in Babylon.
Then the new testament mentions the church
which had been established among the Jews still living in
Babylon, before 70 AD.
I Peter 5:13 The church that is at Babylon,
elected together with you,
saluteth you; and so doth Marcus
my son.
Some people claim that Peter wasn't actually
writing to a messianic Jewish church in Babylon.
They say Peter was using the name Babylon as a
code word for Rome.
Both Luke, in Acts, and Paul, in his epistles,
mentioned Rome, without substituting a code word for it
Even towards the very end of his ministry,
Paul still mentioned Rome directly:
II Timothy 1:17
But, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very
diligently, and found me.
No, trying to say that Peter used the name
Babylon as a code word for Rome,
may
be related to trying to also claim that Babylon had
already been burnt up, and was completely desolate.
Jewish history in Babylon continued to
flourish in Babylon, after that.
After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD,
Babylonian Jewry became more important, and then
especially after the bar Kochba revolt.
During the 200's AD to the 400's AD, yeshiva
commentary on the Bible, there, became well accepted by
world Jewry.
It became the basis for what was called the
Babylonian Talmud.
People point to Isaiah 13:20, and say that
because today there are ruins there, and no Arabs pitching
tents there,
that
this is proof that the city had been totally destroyed,
and all prophecies fulfilled.
However, it took over a thousand years, from
the time that the Medes and Persians entered the city, to
end up like it is today.
That is certainly not a sudden destruction,
like what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah.
So,
is it possible, like the destruction of Damascus, that
the complete fulfillment of the destruction of Babylon
is yet to happen?
If
so, then whatever is the fulfillment of Revelation 17
and 18,
may
also be what receives the complete fulfillment of the
sudden burning up and total destruction of Babylon?