GOD S PLAN FOR IRAQ (Part II) In our previous study concerning God s plan for Iraq we began from Isaiah 14:24-27. We very simply took Isaiah s prophecy as meaning what he said. We didn t try to symbolise here or introduce another meaning to it there. When we start to read our own notions and ideas into God s Word, we run the danger of heaping upon ourselves problems we don t need to introduce. Especially in the realms of eschatology (the doctrine of the end times ), it is best not to stray away from the literal meaning of the passage, unless the passage clearly directs us otherwise. Isaiah 14 is said to be all about Babylon but it s not really for v.1 explains it is mainly for Israel s encouragement, the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve. So, to a certain degree, the chapter relates to Babylon but within the context of God s plan for His people, Israel. Hence, the detail from v.4-23 concerns an already, - in the mind of God, - judged literal Babylon for He has determined ( and note the tense), v.22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. 23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. Now, some say this has already taken place. Babylon as a city and a kingdom is finished, it is no more. But Babylon is not finished. There remains a Babylon today, at a place called Al Hillah, sixty-two miles south of Baghdad. Of course, it is presently nothing like the Babylon of ancient times. However, prior to the Iraqi war, Saddam Hussein s prime aspiration was to rebuild the ancient city and to establish himself as a kind-of modernday Nebuchadnezzar. He was initiating a plan to reconstruct the ancient buildings, to introduce modern facilities for creating a thriving centre for tourism and commerce, along with a new palace for himself. All this was set out in his 1978-87 Archaeological Restoration of Babylon Project.
2 Following the collapse of Saddam, and in particular the damage by the coalition forces who used it as a base from 2003-2204 the Iraqi administration caused an uproar and they successfully appealed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO, https://en.unesco.org/) to repair the destruction. There then followed the recommendations from The Final Report On Damage Assessment in Babylon, and it was decided, based on the results, the SBAH [the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage] should develop and implement a site management conservation plan for Babylon in close cooperation with the UNESCO ICC [International Coordination Committee] Babylon Sub- Committee. (http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php- URL_ID=39369&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html) In other words, Saddam s vision is being continued by UNESCO and they are heading up the rebuilding of this once great city. Therefore, Babylon has not yet been destroyed in the way God says it will. At the moment it is being slowly awakened out of its sleep, and UNESCO plans for it to become a thriving enterprise. It continues to have a purpose in God s plan for the end of time. Babylon, that ancient city in the land that is today called Iraq. Just to reiterate Allow the Bible to speak without interpreting it, - simply take it as it says it, unless it is obvious it means something else and when it means something else it will tell you, e.g. Rev. 17: 17:1 I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues v.3 having seven heads 9 The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. So, when Babylon is mentioned unless it clearly is used in symbolic terms, it means literal Babylon in the same way as Egypt means a literal Egypt and Rome means a literal Rome. We are abusing God s Word when we interject and interpret it to suit our own imaginations and theories. Unless it directs otherwise, keep it as it is! So, Is. 14:24 means exactly what it says, The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: 25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
3 26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? And we looked at the origins of Babylon, - the earliest days of the kings in their kingdom, and we noted the first time the word kingdom is used in Scripture it relates to the kingdom of Babylon. We also looked at the whole scope of the land of Assyria and Babylon and how their ancient territories constitute modern-day Iraq. When we read prophecy concerning these two former nations we must recognise they form the country of Iraq at the time of the end. But something I didn t mention last time i.e. how Babylon enters onto the scene. At the commencement of Scripture, our attention is concentrated upon Adam and Eve, and their offspring that would become the founding fathers of the nation of Israel. Gen. 1 and 2 feature the creation story; ch.3 the Fall; ch.4 - the birth of Cain and Abel, Abel s murder and Cain s curse; ch.5, - genealogies, especially the genealogy of Seth; - chs. 6-9 Noah Then all of a sudden we cross from the story of how God was developing a people unto Himself and into the beginnings of Babel The story takes a fantastic leap into a nation built upon man s rebellion as epitomised by Babylon. This Babylonish defiance is established to continue throughout the whole of Scripture. We see it, particularly, in the prophecies of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel, and in some of the minor prophets. For example, the prophecy of Nahum is written against the city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Nimrod built Babylon, and then Nineveh was built. We know how Jonah was sent to preach judgment against it, but the people repented. Many years later, God sent Nahum and this time there would be no repentance. And God spoke through His servant, Nahum 1:11 There is one come out of thee [i.e. Nineveh, v.1 the evil one (the antichrist) will come], that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor [violently anti-god and anti-christ]. He carries this purpose in his soul, - he hates God and is totally in opposition to God. Note the AV margin, Hebrew, a counsellor of Belial. Nevertheless, this evil one who comes from Nineveh and sets upon the people of God will be judged for God says He will take vengeance on His adversaries, and the adversaries of His people. We often highlight the types of Christ in the Old Testament, for example, we have Moses who was a mediator between God and His people, there was Joseph who was the saviour of his people in Egypt, and there was also Boaz the kinsmanredeemer. However, there are also types of the Antichrist in both Old and New
4 Testaments. And so similarly we see types of the antichrist throughout history, such as Nero and Hitler types that will ultimately culminate in the antichrist. There is no doubt about it that Nimrod was a type of antichrist, Gen. 10:8 He began to be a mighty one in the earth Not all of a sudden, but gradually and he established himself, - God didn t make him a king, - he set himself up as the king of Babel in outright defiance of God (v.9). He was the mighty one, the rebel and others built their standards upon him. He seemed to be virtually indestructible. Nothing seemed to stop him and his companions. But notice, their plans were thrown into disarray when the Lord descended from Heaven (v.5-9) the Lord came down a foretaste of Christ s coming. And after the Lord came down, notice how in Gen. 12, the promise was given to Abram to inherit the land. Another example of an antichrist character was Amraphel, King of Shinar (Gen. 14:1. Shinar means country of two rivers and its capital was Babylon. Incidentally, one of his partners was the king of Elam (Iran, Persia) Even away back in ancient times they were causing havoc! In the midst of their battles Melchizedek king of Salem came and brought order and relief. Who was Melchizedek? He was king of Salem, reigning in Jerusalem/Zion the priest of the most high God. This was Christ in the Old Testament the Melchizedek referred to in Heb. 5:6,10; 6:20; 7:1,10,11,15,17,21 the King of righteousness (Gen. 14:18) a picture of the true Christ overcoming the antichrist. And after the events in chapter fourteen, and the arrival of Melchizedek, - the Christ-figure, - God restated His promise to Abram, 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. In Judges 3:8, Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years. 9 And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. 10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim. 11 And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. Chushanrishathaim was the king of Mesopotamia, and his name means twicewicked Cushan from Cush and Ham. He was an evil man who was terribly cruel to the people of God. However, Israel cried out to the Lord and the Lord raised them up a Saviour (v.9, margin), Othniel. By the way, the name Othniel means lion of God and he was from the tribe of Judah!
5 Sennacherib was the mighty king of Assyria (II Kings 18,19) who besieged Jerusalem and mocked God, seeking to undermine Him and to delude His people. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, also ransacked Jerusalem and terrorised the people of God. He also desecrated the temple and stopped the worship of God. During the time of Daniel, he commanded all the people, - even the people of God, - to worship him. All these people, - and there are more illustrations, - were from the ancient Assyria and Babylon that constitute the modern-day Iraq. Why is there so much trouble coming from this region, especially within the last one hundred years? Has not God been preparing for what He sets forth in His Word? Britain and France have been involved in the region for a long time. Russia has been involved too, and also the United States but the region is more volatile and dangerous than at any other time But, remember, it is God Who is in control not Islam or any Antichrist the land will produce. It is God Who sovereign. Some people think we are crazy when we speak like this but we are simply saying it as the Bible tells it, and God s people need to believe it in order to be prepared. The good news, though, - as prophets like Isaiah and Nahum preached, - when Christ comes back again to establish His Kingdom even this former region that gave Him such opposition many, - even within this nation, - will come to recognise Him as the Lord and King. Isaiah prophesied, Is. 19:23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. Is. 27:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. Is. 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. Yes, destruction for the city of Babylon (cf. Rev. 18), but hope for Assyria. May the Lord keep our minds in tune with His Word so that as we listen to what is going on around us today, we can see the complete picture that the glory of the Lord will one day shine all across this world! Is. 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.