Volume 2, Issue 5
23 Nov 2016
 As we taught in our last issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, to understand the significance of Babylon, the head of gold of Nebuchadnezzar’s nightmarish image, as well as the significance of all subsequent Gentile world powers, including the ultimate and final Gentile superpower at the end of time, we must go back to the beginning of time. In two of the earliest and most important chapters of the Bible’s book of Beginnings—the book of Genesis—we can learn all we need to know to understand what is going on in our fallen world today, what has transpired in our fallen world in the past, and what the Bible predicts will happen in our fallen world in the future.
The first of these two important chapters, as we explained in our last issue of Piecing Together Bible Prophecy, is the darkest chapter in the Bible, Genesis chapter 3, which tells the tragic tale of the Fall of man. Man fell in the Garden of Eden when he decided to usurp the place of God in his life by choosing to live by his own wits—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—rather than by God’s Word—the tree of life. By choosing human reason over divine revelation as the final arbiter of good and evil, as well as the sole authority for faith and practice, fallen man joined league with fallen angels in their attempted usurpation of the throne of God. Consequently, just as Lucifer and his angels were expelled from Heaven and fell into corruption over their rebellion against God, so also our original parents, Adam and Eve, were expelled from the Garden of Eden and fell into corruption over their rebellion against God.
Whereas the fall of Lucifer and his angels could not possibly corrupt God’s incorruptible Heaven, but merely got them thrown out of that incorruptible place as fast as lightening (Luke 10:18), the fall of man, despite Adam and Eve’s expeditious expulsion from the Garden of Eden, still resulted in the corruption of the whole earth. Furthermore, since men are unlike angels, who do not reproduce, the corruption of Adam and Eve has been passed down to their progeny, the whole human race. Therefore, the simple explanation for the corruption of the earth and the whole human race is traceable back to the shade beneath the dark tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where Adam and Eve decided to go their own way by living by their subjective thinking rather than to go God’s way by living by His objective truths.
Having looked at the first of these two early and important chapters in the book of Genesis, we now turn our attention to the second. In Genesis chapter 11, we are told the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. At first glance, this story may appear on the surface to be little more than a good story to tell our children in Sunday School. However, if you take the time to dive beneath the surface and to plunge down into the depths of the profound insights this story provides, you will find yourself enlightened about all of the dark goings-on in this fallen world, those that have happened in the past, those that are happening in the present, and those that the Bible predicts will happen in the future.
To truly understand this incredibly important chapter of God’s Word, we need to begin with a brief look at a most insidious human philosophy. Utopianism is the belief that mankind is capable of creating a future utopian civilization; in other words, utopians believe in fallen man’s ability to create his own heaven on earth. Although the idea is strewn throughout literature, it is the ancient Greek philosopher Plato who is credited with its origin. In his Critias and Timaeus, Plato wrote of the mythical Lost City of Atlantis, a highly intelligent utopian civilization that sank into the sea “in a single day and night of misfortune.” While some insist that the Lost City of Atlantis actually existed, most concede that it was fabricated by Plato for the purpose of adding credence to his Republic, a work within which Plato proposes the possibility of an ideal civilization ruled by a Philosopher class, protected by a Warrior class, and served by a Producer class.
Although the idea is generally believed to date back to Plato, the term “utopia” appears to have been coined by the English statesman and humanist Thomas More, who wrote an essay by that title in 1516. More’s essay tells a fanciful tale of a fictitious explorer’s discovery of a rationally organized society. In a strange twist of irony, More’s essay is attributed with the birth of modern utopianism; despite the fact that it appears to have been More’s intention to repudiate rather than substantiate utopian thinking.
More constructed the term “utopia” from Greek words meaning “no place.” His insinuation is unmistakable; there is no place in this fallen world where utopia or heaven on earth will ever be found. While many, such as Francis Bacon, the author of The New Atlantis, disagreed with More and continued to maintain the possibility of a manmade utopia, others, such as Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, and George Orwell, the author of 1984, became dystopians, writing of the hell on earth that would be created by utopians’ pursuit of heaven on earth. Though today’s world would do well to heed the warnings of Huxley and Orwell, the Bible foretells our unfortunate and ultimate failure to do so.
Contrary to popular belief, the true roots of utopianism can be traced back to a much older and far more ominous source than utopianism’s initial musings in the mind of Plato. As the Scripture clearly shows, fallen humanity’s first attempt at manmade utopia was the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). The Tower of Babel represents fallen man’s initial attempt at glorifying himself by building his own heaven on earth. That this was the clear intention of Babel’s ill-fated tower builders is made abundantly clear by their audaciously articulated ambitions: “Go to, let us build us a city and tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
According to Genesis 11:2, Babel was located on “a plain in the land of Shinar.” This region, later known as Babylonia or Mesopotamia, has been called the “Cradle of Civilization.” It was here that the Garden of Eden was found and that human civilization originated, a fact attested to by all reputable archeologists and historians. As the site of man’s original sin and expulsion from Eden, as well as the incubator of fallen man’s aspirations toward manmade utopia, this strategic spot carries great symbolic significance in Scripture.
With the lone exception of Jerusalem, Babylon is the most talked about city in the Bible. It serves throughout Scripture as the antitype of Jerusalem. For instance, Jerusalem, which is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Revelation 19:9-10), depicts the capital of the Kingdom of God, whereas Babylon, which is called “the great whore” (Revelation 17:1-5; 19:2), depicts the capital or center of operation for the kingdom of this world. Although ancient Babylon perished long ago, never to be rebuilt (Jeremiah 50:35-40; 51:25-29, 61-64), its typology lives on in each ensuing age wherever the political, economic, cultural and religious center of the world is found. In Peter’s day, it was Rome, as is proven by the apostle’s reference to the church in Rome as “the church in Babylon” (1 Peter 5:13). In our day, it is America, the world’s sole remaining superpower.
In the Scripture, Jerusalem is called the “city of God” (Psalm 46:4; 48:1, 8; 87:3; 101:8; Revelation 3:12). It is a “heavenly” city (Hebrews 11:16) built by God (Hebrews 11:10) for the glory of His name (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 14, 18, 21; 2 Chronicles 6:4-6). Although the earthly city of Jerusalem serves as a type of the heavenly city, it is not to be confused with that which it symbolizes; namely, the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, today’s foremost school of eschatology, premillennialism, often exalts Biblical types (the earthly city of Jerusalem) to synonymity with their truths (the heavenly city of Jerusalem); thus, confusing the two and leading Christians to chase shadows rather than the spiritual substance the shadows are meant to merely silhouette.
The Bible describes Babylon in a number of ways. It refers to it as “great” or the “great city” (Daniel 4:30; Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:18; 18:2, 10, 16, 18, 19, 20). It calls it “the jewel” and “queen of kingdoms” (Isaiah 13:9; 47:5). It identifies it as “the glory of the Babylonians’ pride” and as “the praise of the whole earth” (Isaiah 47:5; Jeremiah 51:41). Obviously, such glowing descriptions are from the world’s perspective and not heaven’s, which sees Babylon as evocative of fallen man’s attempts at forging his own way to heaven (false religions) and creating his own heaven on earth (one world government). Although Babylon was the first great Gentile world power and the birthplace of false religion, it is not to be confused with that which it symbolizes; namely, the kingdom of this world.
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Don Walton
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