WEBVTT

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One of the most famous cities of the
Bible,

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Babylon, an empire that dominated the
ancient world as a center of trade,

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military power, culture and religion.

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Babylon, the symbol of wealth and
opulence, mystery and intrigue,

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decadence and corruption.

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Babylon, the imperial city of Hammurabi
and of Nebuchadnezzar, its greatest king.

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But at its peak, Babylon fell suddenly,
in a single night, by the decree of God

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Himself.

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That was over 2,500 years ago.

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Today, Babylon is rising again on the
Mesopotamian plain.

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Its partial rebuilding has captured the
attention of theologians, scholars and

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teachers of Bible prophecy alike.

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To some, it signals the rise of the
dreaded Babylon the Great, foretold in the

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book of Revelation.

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What relevance does it hold for us today?

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And why does the legacy of Babylon
continue to fascinate us?

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Join us as we explore Babylon,
past, present and future.

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Hello, I'm Neal Earle.

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For years, as a minister and as a
historian, I have been fascinated with the

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ancient Near East, especially as it
relates to the Bible.

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You know, when we think of the places
where the events of the Bible occurred,

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we usually think of Bethlehem,
where Jesus was born, Nazareth,

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where He grew up, or perhaps Jerusalem,
where He was crucified.

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But many famous events of the Bible took
place in a land hundreds of miles from

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where Jesus lived, in a part of the world
called Mesopotamia.

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Mesopotamia means the land between the
rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.

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Today, much of ancient Mesopotamia lies
within the borders of the modern country

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of Iraq.

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Mesopotamia is renowned as the cradle of
civilization.

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Some of its cities date back to the very
beginning of recorded history.

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Possibly the most famous of all is
Babylon.

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Located on the banks of the Euphrates,
about 60 miles south of present day

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Baghdad, Babylon has had a long and
fascinating history.

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Today, most of ancient Babylon is nothing
but crumbling ruins and broken remnants

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beneath the sands of time.

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So, why this fascination with a long-gone
empire and a decayed city?

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Well, there's a story here, an intriguing
story, and it's told through the hundreds

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of historical and religious texts that
have been uncovered by archaeology.

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This information, put together with the
Bible, makes the story of ancient Babylon

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an important one for us today.

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Because in the Bible, Babylon is more than
merely a place on the map.

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Babylon symbolizes an idea, a philosophy,
a way of thinking opposed to God.

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That ideology, based on human reason,
human pride and arrogance, often expressed

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as self-indulgent materialism,
is still with us today.

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That attitude caused God to intervene in
the affairs of ancient Babylon.

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As we'll see, the Bible writers chronicled
and preserved the story of ancient Babylon

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to give us insight into our world today
and far into the future.

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But before we consider what lies ahead,
let's examine what history can reveal to

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us, for history holds the key to our
future.

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Our story begins long before there was a
city named Babylon.

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It begins with a group of travelers who
made their way into the sun-baked plain of

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southern Mesopotamia over 2,000 years
before the birth of Jesus.

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The Bible tells us these wanderers were
descendants of the patriarch Noah and his

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family.

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In the decades following the great flood,
they migrated southward along the valleys

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of the Tigris and Euphrates.

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The book of Genesis tells us that Noah's
sons settled in the plain of Shinar.

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Shinar is the biblical name for the region
later called Babylonia.

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Today it's known as southeastern Iraq.

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God had wanted Noah's sons to move out and
fill the earth.

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Instead, they defiantly resolved to unite
under their own authority.

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They said to each other, come,
let us build ourselves a city with a tower

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that reaches to the heavens so that we may
make a name for ourselves and not be

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scattered over the face of the whole
earth.

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According to the first century historian
Flavius Josephus, the leader of these

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people was Nimrod, Noah's great-grandson.

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The Bible tells us Nimrod was a mighty
warrior on the earth.

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Under his leadership, the people began to
build a great tower.

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Nimrod wanted to excite people's awe and
wonder.

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He wanted to build an empire.

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He wanted to hold people together under
his authority.

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The Tower of Babel, I think, illustrates
that purpose perfectly because that's

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exactly what they attempt to do there.

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They attempt to be creators.

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Because when you stop and think of it,
Genesis presents creation in terms of

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being in the form and nature of God.

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And so we become little creators.

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And especially in roles of power,
they felt that they become creators.

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And so if you create something and feel
that it is so superior, then in a sense

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you can almost see yourself as being a
person of destiny, even somewhat divine,

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as the ancient rulers often thought of
themselves.

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To build a tower that would reach to the
heavens.

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Doesn't this sound familiar?

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It's humanity's age-old attempt to try to
reach the spiritual through the physical.

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Artists have offered their impression of
what this tower, the famous Tower of

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Babel, may have looked like.

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Some of them quite fanciful.

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More than likely it was a simple terraced
mound of brick and earth, not unlike the

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later temple towers known as ziggurats.

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Ziggurats are square at the base with
sloping step sides leading upward to a

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shrine at the top.

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The plain of Shinar is flat.

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A building just 100 or so feet high can be
seen for miles around.

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The medieval Tower of Samarra,
for example, located north of Baghdad,

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is a spiral minaret about 150 feet high.

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Its prominence throughout the region
serves as a convenient directional marker.

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In fact, some medieval travelers thought
it was the Tower of Babel.

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The Bible tells us that God allowed the
builders to work on the tower for a while.

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Then He intervened.

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The Lord came down to see the city and the
tower that the men were building.

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The Lord said, If as one people speaking
the same language they have begun to do

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this, then nothing they plan to do will be
impossible for them.

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Come, let us go down and confuse their
language so they will not understand each

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other.

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So the Lord scattered them from there over
all the earth, and they stopped building

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the city.

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That is why it was called Babel,
because there the Lord confused the

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language of the whole world.

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In a sudden act, God confused the language
of the people.

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A babble of voices arose on the
scaffoldings.

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Suddenly the foremen and architects could
no longer communicate with the workers.

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Panic reigned.

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The building of the city and its great
tower came to an abrupt halt.

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In the Akkadian language, the site of the
uncompleted city was known as the Gate of

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God.

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But the Hebrews named it Babel,
based on the Hebrew word meaning to

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confuse.

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Babylon is merely the Greek mode of
spelling the Hebrew Babel.

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Either way, Babylon and Babel are one in
the same.

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And Babylonia referred to the region
centered around the city.

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The story of the Tower of Babel was
designed to teach an important lesson.

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God's tolerance of human pride and
rebellion has its limits.

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And very early we see Babylon becoming a
symbol of opposition to God.

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In fact, human pride is a consistent theme
whenever the Bible mentions Babylon.

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The grandiose dreams of the builders of
the Tower of Babel makes an important

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historical benchmark.

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It gives us our first glimpse into a
civilization organized against God.

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The Tower of Babel was God's first
intervention in the history of Babylon.

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It wouldn't be the last.

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Over two centuries passed.

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Then we find Babylon re-emerging on the
world scene, this time under the Amorites.

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They founded a dynasty there around 2000 B
.C.

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Historians call this the Old Babylonian
Empire.

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The most famous king of this empire was a
ruler named Hammurabi.

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Hammurabi is perhaps best known for his
set of laws that have been preserved to

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this day.

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The famous Code of Hammurabi, one of the
first structured systems of law in

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history.

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The laws are inscribed on a polished black
diorite stela, or pillar, over 7 feet

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high.

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It's topped by a bas-relief showing
Hammurabi standing before the sun god

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Shemesh, God of Justice.

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The stela carries more than 4,000 lines of
cuneiform script in the Akkadian language

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containing nearly 300 legal provisions.

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They cover business, crime, family
disputes, agricultural interests and other

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matters.

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Though the Code invokes some harsh
punishments, it did bring law and order to

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a land where crime and disorder had long
held sway.

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Punishment was swift and certain.

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Under Hammurabi, Babylon achieved military
supremacy in Mesopotamia.

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He built an empire of unequal power.

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It stretched from the Persian Gulf to the
upper reaches of the Tigris River.

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Babylon became a leading literary and
cultural center, the intellectual capital

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of Mesopotamia.

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Babylonian civilization was highly
advanced.

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Mathematical and astronomical texts
reveal, for example, that the ancient

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Babylonians developed the 60-minute hour
and the 360-degree circle.

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Hammurabi extended Babylonian rule not
only by conquest, but also by trade.

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Babylon stood at the crossroads of world
commerce and communication.

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Caravans brought rare and exotic products
from far and wide.

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Cloves, indigenous to the Moluccas or
Spice Islands of faraway Indonesia,

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were among the many luxuries imported.

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The enticements of trade and commerce,
blended with religion, as we'll see,

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have always been key to the success and
dominance of the Babylonian system.

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Babylon, with its original name meaning
Gate of God, was a prominent religious

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center, and it boasted some of the most
striking temples of the ancient world.

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Like most ancient peoples, Babylonians
worshipped many gods.

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Their religion centered around idolatry.

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They feared the forces of nature.

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In the barren deserts of Mesopotamia,
the margin between survival and prosperity

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was a very thin one indeed.

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Too little or too much rain could wipe out
a whole year's food supply.

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The Babylonians worshipped scores of
different deities, looking to them for

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mercy and protection, conducting intricate
and sometimes chilling rituals.

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The gods needed appeasing.

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In ancient times, whoever controlled the
religion controlled the people.

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It was no wonder then that the Babylonians
believed their king reigned as the earthly

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representative of the gods.

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They were among the first to fuse religion
and politics into a totalitarian mindset.

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That mindset has carried on throughout
history.

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Idolatry permeated every facet of ancient
Near Eastern life.

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And the problem with this was that the
ordinary person was almost completely cut

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off from the knowledge of the true God,
the God of the Bible.

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This we will see is also the Babylonian
pattern.

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Hammurabi's laws enabled the king to
maintain strict control.

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After all, Babylon was built on slave
labor, and that state required complete

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subordination of the individual to its
power and its gods.

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The ancient monarchs were totalitarian.

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While they ruled, they had almost absolute
authority because they were the

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legislature, the judicial, and the
executive branch all tied up in one.

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Practically, historically, every king has
in a sense set themselves up as a little

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god.

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But there are very few rulers who
recognize God in terms of a power greater

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than they are.

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Oh, they may use the language,
but they see themselves as above the law,

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as the key interpreters of the law.

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So I always say there are just very few
rulers that you could say did not see

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themselves as little gods.

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Hammurabi forged one of the greatest
empires of the ancient Near East.

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He laid the basis of a civilization that
would endure for more than a thousand

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years after his death.

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But it was a civilization based on power,
prestige, the pursuit of wealth,

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and with little knowledge of the creator
God.

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Even Hammurabi's dynasty could not last
forever.

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After a reign of more than 40 years,
barbaric tribesmen from the mountains in

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the east moved in to raid and weaken
Babylonia.

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A long, drawn-out time of trouble began.

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Around 1600 years before Christ,
Babylon was sacked and burned by another

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people mentioned in the Bible,
the Hittites.

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The Hittites carried off Babylonian wealth
and prisoners to far off Anatolia,

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our modern Turkey.

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Later, the Assyrians, well-known to
readers of the Old Testament, conquered

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Babylon.

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Centuries of political chaos would prevail
before Babylon would rise again as an

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independent city.

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The first great age of Babylon had ended.

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Ancient Assyria was one of Babylon's
powerful rivals.

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This massive, human-headed, winged bull is
striking testimony to the power of

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Assyria.

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The Assyrian Empire was a huge military
machine, widely regarded as one of the

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most brutal and oppressive kingdoms in
history.

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In 689 BC, Assyria's hammer blows
inflicted the worst humiliation yet upon

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Babylon.

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In an attempt to throttle a Babylonian
resurgence, the Assyrian hordes under King

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Sennacherib pillaged and burnt Babylon.

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They threw its rubble into the Euphrates.

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The Assyrians flooded the city.

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Its very foundations were destroyed.

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Sennacherib boasted, I made its
destruction more complete than that by a

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flood, that in days to come the site of
the city and its temples and gods might

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not be remembered.

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I completely blotted it out with floods of
water and made it like a meadow.

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Sennacherib left Babylon thinking he had
dealt the death blow.

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He was painfully mistaken.

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Babylon does not go down easily.

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She would rise again to claim her revenge.

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And that's precisely what happened.

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The site of Babylon was eventually
occupied and rebuilt by the Chaldeans.

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It was the Chaldeans who finally humbled
proud Assyria.

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It was in the year 612 BC when the
Chaldeans stormed the walls of Nineveh,

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Assyria's capital city.

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Nineveh fell.

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It was utterly destroyed.

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Today the ruins of Nineveh attest to the
near total destruction of that ancient

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city.

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So complete was Nineveh's disappearance
that it wasn't rediscovered until just 150

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years ago.

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Assyria's power was broken.

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But under the Chaldeans Babylon was back
with a vengeance.

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And here is a major clue to biblical
history and prophecy.

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Babylon, this great city, this great
symbolic nemesis of God emerges repeatedly

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from the abyss of destruction.

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She reappears again and again on the stage
of history, powerfully influencing the

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course of civilization.

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The Assyrian collapse left a vacuum which
both Egypt and Babylon sought to fill.

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A thousand years after the golden age of
Hammurabi, Babylon at last had a chance to

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regain the prominence and prestige that
had once been hers.

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It was the summer of 605 BC.

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Well-armed Babylonian forces struck a
sudden and decisive blow against the

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Egyptians.

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Their forces met at Carchemish in northern
Syria.

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The battle cost Egypt its control of the
Middle East.

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Now, almost a millennium after Hammurabi,
Babylon once again held undisputed power

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in the ancient Near East.

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Yes, Babylon was back, but could a
resurgent, rebuilt Babylon avert the fate

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that had already overtaken Nimrod's city
and Hammurabi's empire?

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Time would tell.

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Babylon, past, present, and future.

19:26.100 --> 19:31.580
The Egyptian army of Pharaoh Necho II
clashed with Babylon in 605 BC at

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Carchemish on the Euphrates River.

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The fighting was fierce.

19:35.700 --> 19:37.080
Egyptian losses were staggering.

19:37.840 --> 19:40.080
The battle cost Egypt control of the
Middle East.

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The general who routed the Egyptians was
the 25-year-old crown prince of Babylon.

19:46.960 --> 19:51.740
He would later become Babylon's greatest
king, the legendary Nebuchadnezzar.

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Babylon would achieve its greatest glory
under this powerful ruler.

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Nimrod, Hammurabi, and now Nebuchadnezzar.

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The Old Testament rings with the terror of
his name.

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Under his rulership, Babylon became the
most powerful metropolis of its time,

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envied, feared by friend and foe alike.

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Nebuchadnezzar the king, from what we can
tell, is a composite of various aspects of

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human beings.

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He's powerful and ruthless when he needs
to be.

20:32.140 --> 20:37.880
He also, though, is a human being that has
his doubts, his questions.

20:38.680 --> 20:45.660
He can't answer all the questions,
so he tries to pull around him those that

20:45.660 --> 20:48.560
at least can answer some of those
questions.

20:48.980 --> 20:52.260
And if they don't answer them very well,
he eliminates them.

20:54.020 --> 20:59.100
And that would be true of many of those
Oriental despots.

21:00.340 --> 21:01.480
And Nebuchadnezzar is like that.

21:01.540 --> 21:02.620
He's also a builder.

21:02.880 --> 21:11.420
He wants his name carried on, so he builds
Babylon, but he also builds outside of

21:11.420 --> 21:11.780
Babylon.

21:12.680 --> 21:14.980
Again, he rebuilds temples.

21:16.400 --> 21:24.160
He does all these kinds of things in an
effort to please the gods, because he's

21:24.160 --> 21:25.880
not always sure what the gods are going to
do.

21:26.380 --> 21:32.000
Even though he might rule human beings,
he can't rule everything.

21:32.340 --> 21:37.180
And so you see this composite in one
individual.

21:38.560 --> 21:41.480
Now, we can't delve into his mind.

21:42.000 --> 21:49.080
We can only see what he attempted to do
and create and try to figure out what

21:49.080 --> 21:50.680
motivates this character.

21:51.360 --> 21:55.520
It was Nebuchadnezzar who conquered
Jerusalem in 605 B.C.

21:56.280 --> 21:59.700
During his reign, the kingdom of Judah was
reduced to a vassal state.

22:01.000 --> 22:05.380
Five years later, against the advice of
the prophet Jeremiah, the Jews rebelled

22:05.380 --> 22:06.120
against Babylon.

22:07.320 --> 22:11.320
Nebuchadnezzar retaliated two years after
that by laying siege to Jerusalem,

22:11.760 --> 22:13.380
the holy city of the Jews.

22:14.800 --> 22:17.480
Jerusalem fell in 597 B.C.

22:17.480 --> 22:22.460
At that time, Nebuchadnezzar took the
Judean monarch, young King Jehoiachin,

22:22.680 --> 22:23.700
back to Babylon.

22:24.560 --> 22:28.820
He then set up a puppet king, Zedekiah,
on the throne of Judah.

22:29.560 --> 22:33.640
All of this is mentioned by the biblical
writers, and interestingly enough,

22:33.800 --> 22:38.020
some of these very details are confirmed
by inscriptions found in the ruins of

22:38.020 --> 22:39.000
Babylon itself.

22:40.080 --> 22:44.960
This clay tablet from the British Museum,
called the Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle,

22:45.480 --> 22:47.460
was translated in 1956.

22:48.640 --> 22:53.360
It records the Babylonian defeat of the
Egyptians at Carchemish in 605.

22:53.640 --> 22:56.620
It tells us about Nebuchadnezzar coming to
power.

22:57.180 --> 23:01.560
It mentions the capture of Jerusalem and
the appointment of Zedekiah as puppet king

23:01.560 --> 23:02.000
in Judah.

23:02.900 --> 23:06.640
This is striking confirmation of some of
the most famous events in biblical

23:06.640 --> 23:07.100
history.

23:08.980 --> 23:12.680
But a decade later, Judah was to rebel for
the last time.

23:13.460 --> 23:16.700
Jerusalem's puppet king, Zedekiah,
plotted with the Egyptians.

23:17.620 --> 23:20.860
Nebuchadnezzar responded with a final
devastating attack.

23:22.540 --> 23:25.100
For 18 months, the city was besieged.

23:25.620 --> 23:31.060
Finally, in the summer of 587 B.C.,
Nebuchadnezzar captured and this time

23:31.060 --> 23:33.180
destroyed Jerusalem and its temple.

23:33.900 --> 23:38.540
He plundered its treasures and carried off
most of Judah's remaining population to

23:38.540 --> 23:38.920
Babylon.

23:45.200 --> 23:47.580
The kingdom of Judah ceased to exist.

23:48.560 --> 23:50.260
The Jews became a people of exile.

23:51.680 --> 23:55.280
A poignant record of all of this is found
in Psalm 137.

23:56.300 --> 24:00.800
This beautiful song expresses the extreme
sadness of the Jewish captives,

24:01.440 --> 24:02.700
crying out for their homeland.

24:10.860 --> 24:22.240
We sat down and wept, when we remembered
Zion.

24:26.820 --> 24:39.100
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right
hand forget its king.

24:40.100 --> 24:47.120
May my tongue cling to the roof of my
mouth.

24:48.660 --> 25:07.000
If I do not remember you, if I do not
consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

25:15.120 --> 25:19.460
Babylon was at the height of her glory
when the Jewish exiles came streaming in.

25:20.180 --> 25:23.860
At their first sight of Babylon,
the captives must have been dazzled.

25:25.940 --> 25:30.060
According to Greek historians,
Babylon surpassed in splendor all the

25:30.060 --> 25:31.240
cities of the known world.

25:32.800 --> 25:35.840
Visitors came from many lands to view
Babylon's wonders.

25:36.880 --> 25:39.840
Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder as well
as a great general.

25:40.610 --> 25:44.520
Like Ramses II in Egypt, like Solomon in
Israel.

25:46.280 --> 25:51.100
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon was a city of
magnificent palaces, temples, parks and

25:51.100 --> 25:51.520
gardens.

25:51.960 --> 25:55.060
The sheer size and scale of the city was
overwhelming.

25:55.980 --> 26:00.560
Its population was estimated between
100,000 and 200,000.

26:01.780 --> 26:04.100
It was the largest city on earth.

26:05.160 --> 26:09.460
Our detailed knowledge about
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon is the result of

26:09.460 --> 26:13.540
the painstaking work of the German
archaeologist Robert Koldewey.

26:14.520 --> 26:20.220
When he began his excavations in 1899,
Koldewey's glowing reports were at first

26:20.220 --> 26:21.760
dismissed by his colleagues.

26:22.960 --> 26:27.800
But as his excavations began to uncover
the Babylon of the Bible as a historical

26:27.800 --> 26:31.080
reality, his work became the talk of
Europe.

26:31.980 --> 26:36.760
Just north of the city, Koldewey
discovered piles of beautiful blue-glazed

26:36.760 --> 26:38.140
bricks laying in the sand.

26:38.820 --> 26:42.880
The bricks had once decorated the walls
flanking the city's processional way.

26:44.840 --> 26:47.960
Brick was the standard building material
of the Babylonians.

26:49.700 --> 26:54.720
Koldewey sent the bricks back to Germany
for identification and reassembly.

26:55.700 --> 26:57.820
The results were astounding.

26:59.840 --> 27:04.540
Here, in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin,
are the actual bricks of Nebuchadnezzar's

27:04.540 --> 27:06.700
time reassembled.

27:11.120 --> 27:15.880
These magnificent lions, for example,
were a symbol of the goddess Ishtar,

27:16.040 --> 27:17.840
one of Babylon's major deities.

27:18.720 --> 27:22.940
There were 120 of these flanking the
approaches to the massive Ishtar Gate.

27:25.930 --> 27:29.350
This is what the processional way looks
like at Babylon today.

27:32.900 --> 27:37.380
The paving stones are the very ones upon
which Nebuchadnezzar himself walked.

27:38.340 --> 27:42.780
Its walls have been partially rebuilt by
archaeologists, and though they lack the

27:42.780 --> 27:47.600
beautiful glazed brick lions that once
adorned them, they still convey an idea of

27:47.600 --> 27:49.920
the magnificence of this famous boulevard.

27:52.420 --> 27:56.640
One man who was impressed by Koldewey's
discoveries was the pioneer motion picture

27:56.640 --> 27:57.680
director, D.W.

27:57.780 --> 27:58.140
Griffith.

27:58.960 --> 28:04.500
In 1916, Griffith produced Intolerance,
an historical film based on the theme of

28:04.500 --> 28:05.960
man's inhumanity to man.

28:06.880 --> 28:11.100
The centerpiece of Griffith's movie was a
spectacular reenactment of life in

28:11.100 --> 28:13.400
Babylon, climaxed by the city's fall.

28:18.720 --> 28:23.460
In the film, Griffith magically brought to
the silver screen the magnificence and

28:23.460 --> 28:28.680
grandeur of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon,
a city that had been buried for some 25

28:28.680 --> 28:29.240
centuries.

28:30.220 --> 28:34.580
When we use the phrase, pagan splendor,
it could have been coined for ancient

28:34.580 --> 28:34.980
Babylon.

28:36.200 --> 28:39.020
Griffith showed a Babylon of great
architectural wonders,

28:43.040 --> 28:48.100
a Babylon teeming with life and vitality,
its streets crowded with merchants,

28:48.400 --> 28:53.180
fortune tellers, strolling musicians,
money lenders, soldiers, prostitutes,

28:53.420 --> 28:56.000
government officials, bankers,
and slaves.

28:57.160 --> 29:00.940
Griffith offered the public its first
glimpse of the power and magnificence of

29:00.940 --> 29:05.980
Babylon in its heyday, and Babylon's
incredible greed and sensuality.

29:07.920 --> 29:12.080
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon would dwarf even
many of our modern cities in size and

29:12.080 --> 29:12.580
splendor.

29:13.400 --> 29:15.060
Let's try to grasp its immense scale.

29:17.240 --> 29:19.860
Babylon was roughly square in shape.

29:20.940 --> 29:25.120
Divided in half by the Euphrates River,
the city was built with precision.

29:25.700 --> 29:29.700
Its broad, straight streets crossed one
another at right angles like most cities

29:29.700 --> 29:30.080
today.

29:31.060 --> 29:34.640
Babylon was enclosed by a double defensive
wall circled by a moat.

29:35.660 --> 29:38.620
It was the most solidly protected city in
the ancient world.

29:39.940 --> 29:44.080
According to one ancient source,
Babylon's walls were over 300 feet high

29:44.080 --> 29:45.660
and 85 feet thick.

29:46.440 --> 29:50.580
There was enough space on top to enable a
four-horse chariot to turn completely

29:50.580 --> 29:51.040
around.

29:52.340 --> 29:56.560
The Babylonians felt that their walls were
impossible to scale or breach.

29:57.940 --> 30:00.800
Defensive towers were positioned at
regular intervals.

30:02.340 --> 30:05.280
But Babylon's walls were only the
beginning of its wonders.

30:06.080 --> 30:09.840
The processional way was the main
north-south avenue of the city.

30:10.520 --> 30:14.820
It was over 70 feet wide, paved with stone
and flanked by carved lions.

30:15.900 --> 30:20.260
The magnificent processional way led
northward to the great temple dedicated to

30:20.260 --> 30:21.200
the god Marduk.

30:22.240 --> 30:24.640
It was the most impressive street in the
ancient world.

30:27.580 --> 30:31.500
This is the Ishtar Gate, magnificent and
imposing.

30:32.340 --> 30:35.260
This was one of eight fortified gates of
the ancient city.

30:36.980 --> 30:40.540
They named it after Ishtar, the popular
goddess of love.

30:44.240 --> 30:48.460
As with the glazed bricks from the
processional way, German archaeologists

30:48.460 --> 30:53.180
also shipped these vividly colored bricks
back here to the Pergamon and reassembled

30:53.180 --> 30:54.460
this magnificent gate.

30:55.600 --> 31:00.880
The Ishtar Gate was renowned throughout
the world, a symbol of Babylon's unrivaled

31:00.880 --> 31:01.800
power and might.

31:02.480 --> 31:06.600
Through it passed the victorious armies of
mighty Babylon as they returned home from

31:06.600 --> 31:07.740
distant conquests.

31:09.600 --> 31:12.440
The actual Ishtar Gate is in Berlin.

31:13.560 --> 31:17.600
Tourists at Babylon can view a half-size
replica at the entrance to the site.

31:18.260 --> 31:20.140
This was built by the Iraqi government.

31:23.020 --> 31:27.020
Not far from the Ishtar Gate,
Nebuchadnezzar built a magnificent palace.

31:27.620 --> 31:31.540
This palace contained five great
courtyards surrounded by many apartments

31:31.540 --> 31:32.220
and suites.

31:33.240 --> 31:36.660
Nebuchadnezzar's throne room lay directly
to the south of the central courtyard.

31:37.660 --> 31:42.400
Proud Nebuchadnezzar called his palace,
the marvel of mankind, the center of the

31:42.400 --> 31:45.540
land, the shining residence, the dwelling
of majesty.

31:47.480 --> 31:51.760
This modern reconstruction gives us some
idea of what the palace looked like in

31:51.760 --> 31:52.780
Nebuchadnezzar's day.

31:53.840 --> 31:58.740
Modern bricks stamped with the name Saddam
Hussein sit atop the ancient bricks

31:58.740 --> 32:00.680
bearing the stamp of King Nebuchadnezzar.

32:01.960 --> 32:06.100
The new bricks substitute for the broken
and pilfered bricks that once formed the

32:06.100 --> 32:07.840
upper courses of the ancient palace.

32:09.740 --> 32:14.520
With a little imagination, you can step
back in time and enter the palace.

32:16.120 --> 32:20.500
Travel through the main entrance,
cross the eastern courtyard into a second

32:20.500 --> 32:23.760
court, and then on into the large central
courtyard.

32:24.960 --> 32:30.120
This central courtyard under
reconstruction is an open area measuring

32:30.120 --> 32:32.400
200 feet by 180 feet.

32:33.380 --> 32:38.300
Here, 25 centuries ago, walked visiting
dignitaries, foreign ambassadors,

32:38.740 --> 32:41.140
court officials, slaves, and exiles.

32:43.320 --> 32:47.860
Just to the south of the central courtyard
is Nebuchadnezzar's grand throne room.

32:48.920 --> 32:50.060
Let's have a look inside.

32:52.040 --> 32:56.100
The throne room measures 170 feet by 56
feet.

32:56.800 --> 33:01.220
It compares in size with the famous Hall
of Mirrors at Versailles in France.

33:03.920 --> 33:09.600
Upon this dais, partly recessed into the
wall, stood the throne of Nebuchadnezzar

33:09.600 --> 33:10.180
himself.

33:11.400 --> 33:15.940
In Berlin's Pergamon Museum is a
reconstruction of a glazed brick frieze

33:15.940 --> 33:17.420
from the walls of the throne room.

33:18.140 --> 33:22.820
It gives us a taste of the magnificence of
the architecture and decorations of the

33:22.820 --> 33:24.560
royal palace in its heyday.

33:25.440 --> 33:27.300
What a place this must have been.

33:28.260 --> 33:30.340
The effect must have been overwhelming.

33:31.400 --> 33:33.080
And that was precisely the point.

33:34.020 --> 33:37.420
Nebuchadnezzar's public works were
designed to imprint the glory of Babylon

33:37.420 --> 33:39.740
and its gods on everyone's mind.

33:41.460 --> 33:45.600
Just to the west of the palace,
along the Euphrates River, lay the famous

33:45.600 --> 33:50.760
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world.

33:51.800 --> 33:55.560
It's said that Nebuchadnezzar built the
hanging, actually terraced gardens,

33:55.880 --> 33:57.540
to please a favorite wife.

33:58.620 --> 34:03.380
This young queen, unused to the flat,
hot Mesopotamian plain, longed for the

34:03.380 --> 34:05.500
cool mountains and forests of her native
land.

34:09.720 --> 34:13.880
Until recently, many archaeologists
believed that the hanging gardens had been

34:13.880 --> 34:15.540
situated near the Ishtar Gate.

34:16.620 --> 34:20.720
It was there, at the northeast corner of
the palace, near the Ishtar Gate,

34:20.920 --> 34:24.220
that Professor Koldewey had discovered an
unusual structure.

34:25.040 --> 34:29.540
It was an underground crypt consisting of
a series of 14 arched vaults.

34:30.280 --> 34:33.080
Nearby was a unique well with three
shafts.

34:33.760 --> 34:37.540
He and later archaeologists concluded that
the vaults were constructed to support

34:37.540 --> 34:41.360
some enormous weight, possibly the
foundations of the hanging gardens.

34:42.020 --> 34:46.520
But today, many archaeologists believe the
vaulted chambers served as a warehouse and

34:46.520 --> 34:51.460
administrative complex, because they found
ration lists for Jewish exiles.

34:52.540 --> 34:56.640
The gardens then would have been more
logically situated at the other end of the

34:56.640 --> 34:58.320
palace, nearer the river.

35:00.460 --> 35:02.260
Imagine what it must have been like.

35:02.840 --> 35:04.320
Babylon was at its zenith.

35:04.860 --> 35:08.860
Her towering walls were emblazoned with
the colorful symbols of a great empire.

35:09.640 --> 35:15.460
Yes, Babylon was impressive, but it was
also notorious for decadence and

35:15.460 --> 35:16.340
sensuality.

35:19.190 --> 35:24.310
Cut off from the true God, addicted to
commerce and idolatry, Babylon's moral

35:24.310 --> 35:28.670
decadence and corruption plummeted to such
a level that Babylon became known as the

35:28.670 --> 35:29.810
cesspool of vice.

35:30.430 --> 35:34.230
That was quite a distinction, especially
in the generally licentious climate of the

35:34.230 --> 35:35.090
ancient Near East.

35:35.890 --> 35:40.430
Once again, we see Babylon as a symbol of
all that is opposite to the way of God.

35:43.050 --> 35:46.730
Obsessed with their evil pleasures and
filled with pride over their great

35:46.730 --> 35:51.410
achievements, the people of Babylon,
like their king, drifted inexorably toward

35:51.410 --> 35:52.390
a day of reckoning.

35:53.430 --> 35:57.870
It's easy to see how people could have
been seduced by the wealth, power and open

35:57.870 --> 35:59.890
sensuality of Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon.

36:00.750 --> 36:05.050
Through Babylon's wealth and commercial
enticements, the people of the ancient

36:05.050 --> 36:10.110
Near East were seduced into serving the
gods of Babylon, Marduk and Ishtar.

36:10.730 --> 36:15.990
As we'll see later, the Babylon as
described in the book of Revelation is

36:15.990 --> 36:19.710
also an enticing mixture of idolatry and
commercial power.

36:22.390 --> 36:26.550
Another dominant landmark of
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon was a massive

36:26.550 --> 36:28.790
seven-stage tower or ziggurat.

36:29.390 --> 36:33.910
This great edifice was reputedly built on
the site of Nimrod's original tower of

36:33.910 --> 36:34.210
Babel.

36:34.730 --> 36:38.550
The ziggurat was located about half a mile
south of the royal palace.

36:39.410 --> 36:43.830
Standing nearly 300 feet tall,
it was about the same height as the Statue

36:43.830 --> 36:45.230
of Liberty in New York Harbor.

36:46.530 --> 36:52.050
The Babylonians call it a Temen Anki,
the house that is the foundation of heaven

36:52.050 --> 36:52.470
and earth.

36:53.210 --> 36:56.130
It was topped by a temple covered with
blue-glazed bricks.

36:58.330 --> 37:02.770
Nebuchadnezzar boasted, I raised the
summit of the tower of stages so that its

37:02.770 --> 37:04.150
top rivaled the heavens.

37:04.850 --> 37:07.190
The attitude of Nimrod was alive and well.

37:09.290 --> 37:11.470
Nothing is left of the ziggurat today.

37:12.010 --> 37:14.610
Only the crumbling brickwork of its base
remains.

37:15.390 --> 37:19.330
The tower was long ago quarried for its
bricks and is now simply a hole in the

37:19.330 --> 37:19.690
ground.

37:21.790 --> 37:25.650
Opposite the ziggurat stood a huge temple,
the Temple of Marduk.

37:26.330 --> 37:30.790
It housed the great statue of Marduk,
said to have been made of 22 tons of gold.

37:31.990 --> 37:34.930
He was commonly called Bel, meaning Lord.

37:36.170 --> 37:40.190
From Marduk's shrine, Nebuchadnezzar
spread the knowledge of Bel throughout the

37:40.190 --> 37:41.150
ancient Near East.

37:41.990 --> 37:46.370
This is one reason the prophet Jeremiah
singles out Marduk in a prophecy

37:46.370 --> 37:48.210
predicting Babylon's downfall.

37:50.370 --> 37:52.090
Babylon will be captured.

37:52.650 --> 37:54.230
Bel will be put to shame.

37:54.710 --> 37:56.530
Marduk, filled with terror.

37:57.410 --> 38:01.150
Her images will be put to shame and her
idols filled with terror.

38:01.910 --> 38:05.830
A nation from the north will attack her
and lay waste her land.

38:06.570 --> 38:07.990
No one will live in it.

38:08.470 --> 38:11.370
Both men and animals will flee away.

38:13.910 --> 38:16.110
Yes, Babylon looked impregnable.

38:16.590 --> 38:21.170
Its power and its wealth dominated the
ancient Near East, but so did its cruelty

38:21.170 --> 38:22.670
and its rank idolatry.

38:23.430 --> 38:28.110
As we saw at the Tower of Babel,
God does not forever tolerate human pride

38:28.110 --> 38:28.570
and arrogance.

38:29.610 --> 38:32.470
In his mercy, God tried to warn
Nebuchadnezzar.

38:33.390 --> 38:37.510
Nebuchadnezzar began having troubling
dreams, but they were dreams of warning

38:37.510 --> 38:39.210
from the creator God himself.

38:40.390 --> 38:42.190
Nebuchadnezzar did not know all was
happening.

38:42.890 --> 38:47.310
Neither did anyone in his court,
except one, a young Jewish captive,

38:48.410 --> 38:50.130
a man of God named Daniel.

38:54.750 --> 38:58.470
Babylon, past, present and future.

39:06.440 --> 39:09.700
Nebuchadnezzar had built the greatest
empire of the ancient Near East.

39:10.120 --> 39:12.500
As a general, he was unsurpassed.

39:12.600 --> 39:14.100
He was also a very shrewd ruler.

39:14.700 --> 39:18.760
When the king's armies had carried Daniel
and other prominent citizens of Jerusalem

39:18.760 --> 39:22.980
back to Babylon, Daniel was placed in
Nebuchadnezzar's own court.

39:24.040 --> 39:33.420
And ancient kings often chose foreigners
to fill those key spots because they are

39:33.420 --> 39:42.020
not the threat to the throne that someone
of their own ethnic or national identity

39:42.020 --> 39:42.680
would be.

39:43.380 --> 39:52.060
So you use a foreigner, like a Jew,
because you use his ability, but at the

39:52.060 --> 39:56.460
same time you are not threatened by that
individual.

39:57.140 --> 40:01.420
Among this select group were Daniel and
his three companions, Shadrach,

40:01.720 --> 40:02.740
Meshach and Abednego.

40:03.680 --> 40:07.440
Although they were captives, they remained
completely loyal to the true God,

40:07.720 --> 40:08.560
the God of Israel.

40:09.420 --> 40:13.900
Their experiences of standing up to
materialism and idolatry are among the

40:13.900 --> 40:15.380
best known stories of the Bible.

40:16.360 --> 40:20.200
When Daniel's three friends refused to
worship a golden statue which

40:20.200 --> 40:24.420
Nebuchadnezzar had set up, the enraged
king committed them to the famous fiery

40:24.420 --> 40:24.920
furnace.

40:27.460 --> 40:32.620
Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and his

40:32.620 --> 40:34.280
attitude toward them changed.

40:34.660 --> 40:39.320
He ordered the furnace heated seven times
hotter than usual and commanded some of

40:39.320 --> 40:44.600
the strongest soldiers in his army to tie
up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and

40:44.600 --> 40:46.360
throw them into the blazing furnace.

40:46.920 --> 40:51.740
So these men, wearing their robes,
trousers, turbans and other clothes,

40:52.100 --> 40:54.620
were bound and thrown into the blazing
furnace.

40:55.480 --> 41:00.380
The king's command was so urgent and the
furnace so hot that the flames of the fire

41:00.380 --> 41:04.080
killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego.

41:04.560 --> 41:08.740
And these three men, firmly tied,
fell into the blazing furnace.

41:10.100 --> 41:14.860
Then king Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his
feet in amazement and asked his advisors,

41:15.380 --> 41:18.200
weren't there three men that we tied up
and threw into the fire?

41:18.860 --> 41:20.660
They replied, certainly, O king.

41:21.260 --> 41:26.180
He said, look, I see four men walking
around in the fire, unbound and unharmed,

41:26.580 --> 41:29.160
and the fourth looks like a son of the
gods.

41:31.740 --> 41:35.680
For once outflanked, the astonished
Nebuchadnezzar called Shadrach,

41:35.840 --> 41:37.480
Meshach and Abednego to his side.

41:38.540 --> 41:41.580
The fire had not harmed their bodies,
nor did they smell of smoke.

41:42.380 --> 41:46.580
In an amazing turnabout, Nebuchadnezzar
praised the god who had sent his angel to

41:46.580 --> 41:47.120
rescue them.

41:47.800 --> 41:49.920
He promoted them to high positions in his
kingdom.

41:51.040 --> 41:55.200
The relationship between Daniel and
Nebuchadnezzar was a strange one indeed.

41:56.040 --> 41:59.820
On one hand there was Nebuchadnezzar,
pagan ruler of the known world,

42:00.000 --> 42:03.880
whose dazzling accomplishments rested on
military force and slave labor.

42:04.560 --> 42:08.700
On the other, a young Jewish captive
brought from his homeland to Babylon,

42:09.360 --> 42:12.960
a servant of the one true God,
yet loyal to his new king.

42:14.820 --> 42:18.560
Nebuchadnezzar is presented as being,
at least in the book of Daniel,

42:19.180 --> 42:26.300
somewhat sympathetic to the god of Israel
and the god of Daniel.

42:26.860 --> 42:33.160
But to call Nebuchadnezzar someone who has
placed his faith in the god of Israel and

42:33.160 --> 42:34.160
Daniel, I would say no.

42:34.620 --> 42:42.560
These ancient kings were great politicians
and, you know, they made decisions on that

42:42.560 --> 42:46.320
which was based, they felt, in terms of
their own favor.

42:47.460 --> 42:51.840
It was while Daniel was captive in Babylon
that he and the king began having

42:51.840 --> 42:53.380
disturbing dreams and visions.

42:54.460 --> 42:56.960
God was giving them both insight into the
future.

42:58.040 --> 43:02.560
The second chapter of the book of Daniel
records one particularly disturbing dream

43:02.560 --> 43:03.440
of Nebuchadnezzar.

43:04.140 --> 43:05.220
Daniel describes it.

43:09.480 --> 43:15.180
You, O king, were watching, and behold a
great image, this great image whose

43:15.180 --> 43:19.800
splendor was excellent stood before you,
and its form was awesome.

43:22.140 --> 43:24.840
This image's head was of fine gold.

43:25.480 --> 43:27.920
Its chest and arms of silver.

43:31.500 --> 43:33.940
Its belly and thighs of bronze.

43:37.540 --> 43:38.920
Its legs of iron.

43:40.620 --> 43:43.460
Its feet partly of iron and partly of
clay.

43:45.200 --> 43:49.820
You watched while a stone was cut out
without hands, which struck the image on

43:49.820 --> 43:52.860
its feet of iron and clay and broke them
in pieces.

43:53.760 --> 43:58.980
Then the wind carried them away,
and the stone that struck the image became

43:58.980 --> 44:02.360
a great mountain and filled the whole
earth.

44:05.140 --> 44:07.900
No wonder this dream troubled
Nebuchadnezzar.

44:08.620 --> 44:12.820
Daniel told the king both what he had seen
and gave him an interpretation,

44:13.260 --> 44:14.940
a revelation from God himself.

44:15.900 --> 44:18.840
The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar's
empire.

44:19.360 --> 44:24.700
The silver, bronze, and part iron,
part clay portions of the statue

44:24.700 --> 44:27.100
represented successive kingdoms.

44:27.600 --> 44:29.560
Each was inferior to the one before.

44:30.940 --> 44:35.800
The stone symbolized the ever-ruling
kingdom of God, the unseen God who

44:35.800 --> 44:39.040
determines the fate of all kingdoms,
including Nebuchadnezzar's.

44:39.940 --> 44:44.000
When Nebuchadnezzar heard this
interpretation, he fell on his face before

44:44.000 --> 44:44.360
Daniel.

44:45.000 --> 44:50.020
Once again he praised the God of Israel,
but the old arrogance soon reasserted

44:50.020 --> 44:50.440
itself.

44:51.160 --> 44:55.460
The book of Daniel portrays Nebuchadnezzar
in the mold of many dictators we've seen

44:55.460 --> 44:57.000
strut across the stage of history.

44:57.460 --> 45:00.200
He was filled with pride and given to fits
of rage.

45:00.540 --> 45:03.260
He controlled a great empire, but he
couldn't control himself.

45:04.260 --> 45:07.680
Daniel warned Nebuchadnezzar that the God
who controlled all the kingdoms of the

45:07.680 --> 45:10.600
earth would humble him if he didn't change
his ways.

45:11.400 --> 45:13.060
The warnings fell on deaf ears.

45:13.440 --> 45:17.260
Instead of giving God the glory,
Nebuchadnezzar saw himself as the source

45:17.260 --> 45:17.780
of greatness.

45:18.720 --> 45:23.800
The book of Daniel describes how God
humbled this proud king and how God taught

45:23.800 --> 45:29.020
him there was a kingdom far more powerful
than Babylon, a spiritual kingdom,

45:29.720 --> 45:31.040
the kingdom of God.

45:33.160 --> 45:37.700
While walking one day on the roof of his
palace, Nebuchadnezzar at the height of

45:37.700 --> 45:39.880
his greatness looked out over the city.

45:40.320 --> 45:42.280
He just couldn't help himself.

45:42.920 --> 45:49.400
He boasted, Is not this the great Babylon
that I have built for a royal dwelling by

45:49.400 --> 45:52.880
my mighty power and for the honor of my
majesty?

45:53.980 --> 45:57.920
While the word was still in the king's
mouth, a voice fell from heaven,

45:58.720 --> 46:01.400
King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken.

46:01.940 --> 46:04.520
The kingdom has departed from you.

46:05.460 --> 46:09.780
That very hour the word was fulfilled
concerning Nebuchadnezzar.

46:10.340 --> 46:13.700
He was driven from men and ate grass like
oxen.

46:14.180 --> 46:18.900
His body was wet with the dew of heaven
till his hair had grown like eagle

46:18.900 --> 46:22.000
feathers and his nails like bird claws.

46:25.140 --> 46:26.980
He was given over to insanity.

46:27.780 --> 46:31.080
For seven years he behaved more like a
wild beast than a human being.

46:32.060 --> 46:35.460
At the end of the seven years,
Nebuchadnezzar's mind was restored.

46:35.840 --> 46:38.220
But the experience had taught him a
crucial lesson.

46:39.060 --> 46:41.520
It is perhaps the key lesson in the book
of Daniel.

46:42.040 --> 46:46.320
God, not petty princelings, holds ultimate
authority over this world.

46:47.220 --> 46:50.940
The Bible records Nebuchadnezzar's warning
to those who would follow him in positions

46:50.940 --> 46:52.020
of power and authority.

46:52.840 --> 46:57.300
Whether in the cabinet room or the
boardroom, it's advice that all of us

46:57.300 --> 46:58.480
would do well to heed.

47:02.460 --> 47:07.140
At the end of that time, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward

47:07.140 --> 47:09.620
heaven and my sanity was restored.

47:10.320 --> 47:12.220
Then I praised the Most High.

47:12.580 --> 47:15.560
I honored and glorified Him who lives
forever.

47:16.560 --> 47:19.120
His dominion is an eternal dominion.

47:19.760 --> 47:23.020
His kingdom endures from generation to
generation.

47:24.320 --> 47:28.440
No one can hold back His hand or say to
Him, what have you done?

47:29.260 --> 47:33.440
Everything He does is right and all His
ways are just.

47:34.160 --> 47:37.660
And those who walk in pride, He is able to
humble.

47:39.860 --> 47:44.420
But if Nebuchadnezzar had learned this
important lesson, his descendants had not.

47:45.340 --> 47:49.660
After a 43-year reign, Nebuchadnezzar died
in 562 B.C.

47:50.460 --> 47:55.000
He was succeeded by four kings within a
period of seven years, each successor

47:55.000 --> 47:56.340
weaker than the one before.

47:57.460 --> 48:01.880
The last king of Babylon was Nabu-Nayyad
or Nabonidus.

48:02.520 --> 48:05.360
He seized the throne in 555 B.C.

48:05.880 --> 48:11.560
His son and crown prince was Belshazzar,
the one the Bible calls Belshazzar.

48:12.400 --> 48:17.600
For reasons not fully clear, the scholarly
and eccentric Nabonidus spent the last ten

48:17.600 --> 48:21.000
years of his reign at the distant oasis of
Tima in Arabia.

48:21.740 --> 48:23.520
He was studying history and religion.

48:24.460 --> 48:28.060
While Nabonidus was away, his son
Belshazzar ruled in Babylon.

48:29.280 --> 48:32.420
Now comes a fascinating piece of Bible
detective work.

48:32.980 --> 48:37.560
For centuries, Belshazzar's name was found
nowhere outside the book of Daniel.

48:38.200 --> 48:43.340
Historians named Nabonidus as Babylon's
final king, but no Belshazzar.

48:44.660 --> 48:50.500
No wonder some skeptics rejected Daniel's
statements about Belshazzar, labeling them

48:50.500 --> 48:53.960
fiction or one of the Bible's historical
mistakes.

48:54.860 --> 48:58.880
But in 1854, several small clay cylinders
came to light.

48:59.740 --> 49:03.240
They were found here, at Ur of
Mesopotamia.

49:03.760 --> 49:07.000
They were inscribed with accounts of the
rebuilding of this ziggurat by King

49:07.000 --> 49:07.620
Nabonidus.

49:08.560 --> 49:12.900
The inscriptions concluded with prayers
for the health of Nabonidus and for his

49:12.900 --> 49:15.760
eldest son, the crown prince, Belshazzar.

49:17.660 --> 49:22.640
And as for me, Nabonidus, the king of
Babylon, protect thou me from sinning

49:22.640 --> 49:27.260
against thine exalted Godhead,
and grant thou me graciously a long life.

49:27.780 --> 49:32.520
And in the heart of Belshazzar,
my firstborn son, set the fear of thine

49:32.520 --> 49:33.700
exalted Godhead.

49:35.540 --> 49:40.340
This archaeological find is important for
the story of Daniel, because the

49:40.340 --> 49:44.760
inscription sheds light on Belshazzar's
command in the fifth chapter of Daniel,

49:45.080 --> 49:45.960
in verse 29.

49:47.040 --> 49:51.040
This is where Belshazzar proclaimed Daniel
the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

49:52.120 --> 49:56.820
Nabonidus was first, Belshazzar was
second, and Daniel the third.

49:57.720 --> 50:01.400
This is a striking example of the Bible's
often minute accuracy.

50:02.640 --> 50:07.300
It was during Belshazzar's reign that God
gave his prophet Daniel another important

50:07.300 --> 50:07.680
vision.

50:08.400 --> 50:11.020
Once again, he saw a prophetic overview.

50:11.980 --> 50:16.440
Daniel saw a succession of empires that
would control the ancient Near East from

50:16.440 --> 50:17.280
his day forward.

50:19.040 --> 50:23.700
Four great beasts came up from the sea,
each different from the other.

50:24.600 --> 50:27.820
The first was like a lion, and had eagle's
wings.

50:28.500 --> 50:31.980
And suddenly another beast, a second,
like a bear.

50:32.700 --> 50:37.720
It was raised up on one side, and had
three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.

50:38.280 --> 50:42.740
After this, I looked, and there was
another like a leopard, which had on its

50:42.740 --> 50:44.520
back four wings of a bird.

50:44.520 --> 50:47.380
The beast also had four heads.

50:48.020 --> 50:53.720
After this, I saw in the night visions,
and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and

50:53.720 --> 50:55.780
terrible, exceedingly strong.

50:56.560 --> 50:58.880
It had huge iron teeth.

50:59.420 --> 51:04.140
It was different from all the beasts that
were before it, and it had ten horns.

51:05.260 --> 51:09.500
To those of us living at the end of the
20th century, depictions of strange

51:09.500 --> 51:11.760
looking beasts seem curious and bizarre.

51:12.420 --> 51:15.980
But to ancient people, composite
beast-like creatures were far more

51:15.980 --> 51:16.340
familiar.

51:17.280 --> 51:20.100
This raises an important point in
understanding prophecy.

51:21.020 --> 51:24.860
Some Bible interpreters make the mistake
of trying to explain biblical symbolism

51:24.860 --> 51:27.780
without reference to a book's historical
background.

51:28.680 --> 51:30.700
Elaborate speculations soon follow.

51:31.400 --> 51:35.460
To avoid this trap, it is vital to
determine the meaning of a book or a text

51:35.460 --> 51:37.040
in its original setting.

51:37.960 --> 51:41.940
The key question is, what did this mean to
the people who first heard it?

51:42.580 --> 51:44.960
This is a sound principle of good Bible
study.

51:47.750 --> 51:51.450
For the people of Daniel's time,
composite animals had meaning.

51:52.390 --> 51:56.070
Living and working in Babylon,
Daniel saw these depictions every day.

51:57.310 --> 52:00.010
Let's take the famous dragon of Marduk,
for example.

52:01.010 --> 52:06.570
It was a favorite decoration piece in the
city, used by artists to ornament the

52:06.570 --> 52:06.930
gate.

52:08.870 --> 52:11.490
It's a hybrid or composite beast.

52:12.210 --> 52:13.830
It has the front legs of a cat.

52:14.530 --> 52:16.890
The hind legs have claws like a bird of
prey.

52:17.670 --> 52:20.810
Its head has the double horns of the
Arabian horned viper.

52:21.250 --> 52:23.410
And its tail ends in a scorpion sting.

52:25.470 --> 52:29.430
These strange mystical beasts had
important religious significance for the

52:29.430 --> 52:30.530
ancient Babylonians.

52:31.150 --> 52:34.810
So when Daniel recorded the strange
animals of his vision in chapter 7,

52:35.430 --> 52:38.350
he realized the vision was going to be
significant for Babylon.

52:39.610 --> 52:44.210
An angel explained to Daniel that the four
beasts were four empires that would

52:44.210 --> 52:45.750
dominate the ancient Near East.

52:46.390 --> 52:49.190
The winged lion symbolized Babylon itself.

52:50.410 --> 52:54.550
Interestingly, the lion of Babylon is
found to this day on the ancient site of

52:54.550 --> 52:54.890
the city.

52:55.690 --> 53:01.990
In 1176 AD, local villagers in Iraq
discovered this monumental basalt lion.

53:02.930 --> 53:07.610
It confirms the lion was the symbol of the
goddess Ishtar and of Babylon itself.

53:08.490 --> 53:12.110
The lion stands over a fallen enemy
trampled beneath its paws.

53:12.930 --> 53:16.750
The lion's back has markings indicating
that it was meant for Ishtar's saddle.

53:17.630 --> 53:19.330
A woman riding a beast?

53:20.010 --> 53:23.110
This would be a significant image later on
in the book of Revelation.

53:24.610 --> 53:28.770
According to many commentators,
the bear in the vision symbolized the

53:28.770 --> 53:29.730
Medes and the Persians.

53:30.430 --> 53:33.410
And sure enough, the Medo-Persian Empire
replaced Babylon.

53:34.050 --> 53:35.970
The four-headed leopard has four wings.

53:36.590 --> 53:40.650
It represented Alexander the Great and the
four divisions of his empire after his

53:40.650 --> 53:40.990
death.

53:41.790 --> 53:46.530
The fourth beast has been identified by
many Bible commentators as corresponding

53:46.530 --> 53:47.790
to the Roman Empire.

53:49.090 --> 53:52.830
The book of Daniel paints a vivid picture
of the transition from Babylon,

53:53.090 --> 53:55.390
the lion kingdom, to the bear kingdom.

53:56.010 --> 53:58.270
It's one of the most famous scenes of the
Bible.

53:59.090 --> 54:01.330
It was October 539 BC.

54:02.110 --> 54:06.210
Apparently during the New Year's festival,
Belshazzar planned a great feast.

54:06.930 --> 54:09.930
The king had invited a thousand of the
leading men of his empire for the

54:09.930 --> 54:10.470
celebrations.

54:11.370 --> 54:13.370
Little did they realize what was going to
happen.

54:14.170 --> 54:18.030
What made this great banquet so unusual
was that it took place while the Persians

54:18.030 --> 54:19.190
were besieging Babylon.

54:20.130 --> 54:23.290
Yet Belshazzar's faith rested in the
mighty walls of the city.

54:24.270 --> 54:27.190
That fatal overconfidence would be his
undoing.

54:29.330 --> 54:34.190
It was during the banquet, in a great show
of arrogance in the face of God,

54:34.530 --> 54:37.010
that Belshazzar ordered wine to be served.

54:37.770 --> 54:39.730
He then toasted the gods of Babylon.

54:40.550 --> 54:45.530
He did this with the very golden cups his
grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had plundered

54:45.530 --> 54:46.790
from the temple in Jerusalem.

54:49.390 --> 54:53.970
Suddenly a strange, terrifying event
occurred, probably right here in the

54:53.970 --> 54:55.270
throne room of Belshazzar.

54:55.750 --> 54:58.570
A mysterious, disembodied hand appeared
out of nowhere.

54:59.170 --> 55:02.090
It began to write great, blazing letters
on the king's wall.

55:04.490 --> 55:09.070
In the same hour, the fingers of a man's
hand appeared and wrote opposite the

55:09.070 --> 55:12.250
lampstand on the plaster of the wall of
the king's palace.

55:12.850 --> 55:15.250
And the king saw the part of the hand that
wrote.

55:16.010 --> 55:20.190
Then the king's countenance changed,
and his thoughts troubled him.

55:21.190 --> 55:25.730
Now all the king's wise men came,
but they could not read the writing or

55:25.730 --> 55:27.830
make known to the king its interpretation.

55:29.050 --> 55:35.370
Then Daniel was brought in before the king
and said, I will read the writing to the

55:35.370 --> 55:38.070
king and make known to him the
interpretation.

55:39.230 --> 55:45.130
And this is the inscription that was
written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parson.

55:45.830 --> 55:48.150
This is the interpretation of each word.

55:48.690 --> 55:52.450
Mene, God has numbered your kingdom and
finished it.

55:53.150 --> 55:56.990
Tekel, you have been weighed in the
balances and found wanting.

55:56.990 --> 56:03.270
Pires, your kingdom has been divided and
given to the Medes and Persians.

56:05.030 --> 56:11.210
Taken literally, the words Mene,
Tekel, and Pires were the names of common

56:11.210 --> 56:12.270
Babylonian weights.

56:14.870 --> 56:19.910
Before coins were invented, business was
conducted using metal ingots as currency.

56:20.590 --> 56:24.470
They had to be weighed in a balance
against accurate measures, like this two

56:24.470 --> 56:26.730
Mena lion weight, to test their worth.

56:27.790 --> 56:31.270
Daniel's interpretation of the writing on
the wall played on the root meaning,

56:32.110 --> 56:38.310
Mene, which means numbered, Tekel,
which means weighed, and Parson,

56:38.810 --> 56:39.250
divided.

56:41.690 --> 56:44.690
Babylon's time had run out.

56:47.650 --> 56:53.970
As the Bible tells the story, on that very
night, while the ominous writing glowed

56:53.970 --> 56:58.130
upon the wall, the armies of Cyrus the
Great were already entering the city.

56:59.270 --> 57:03.270
Babylon's mighty walls and massive
fortifications could not prevent its

57:03.270 --> 57:06.990
downfall, a downfall decreed by God.

57:08.570 --> 57:13.090
The prophet Isaiah gives us some
background to King Cyrus and his part in

57:13.090 --> 57:13.830
the fall of Babylon.

57:15.970 --> 57:21.430
This is what the Lord says to his
anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I

57:21.430 --> 57:26.590
take hold of to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,

57:27.530 --> 57:31.510
to open doors before him so that gates
will not be shut.

57:32.310 --> 57:34.950
I will go before you and will level the
mountains.

57:35.730 --> 57:40.010
I will break down gates of bronze and cut
through bars of iron.

57:40.690 --> 57:45.550
I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,

57:45.990 --> 57:52.010
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who summons you by

57:52.010 --> 57:52.450
name.

57:54.330 --> 57:58.670
This scripture hints at the remarkable way
Cyrus was able to capture Babylon.

57:59.390 --> 58:02.070
With its massive walls, Babylon seemed
impregnable.

58:02.630 --> 58:06.290
But unknown to the Babylonians,
Cyrus had devised an ingenious plan.

58:08.330 --> 58:12.770
The Bible doesn't give the specifics,
but it's described in great detail by the

58:12.770 --> 58:15.410
ancient historians Herodotus and Xenophon.

58:17.250 --> 58:22.590
While Belshazzar feasted, Persian troops
were busy upstream, diverting the course

58:22.590 --> 58:23.550
of the Euphrates River.

58:24.350 --> 58:27.490
The river normally flowed under the
massive gates and through the city.

58:28.110 --> 58:29.550
So the Persians dug a channel.

58:30.050 --> 58:32.870
This redirected the river into an old lake
bed.

58:32.870 --> 58:38.310
The Euphrates began to lower, permitting
the Persians to wade under the gates and

58:38.310 --> 58:40.330
into Babylon under cover of darkness.

58:41.410 --> 58:44.250
Reports tell us that Cyrus placed a spy in
the city.

58:45.030 --> 58:47.430
That very night, he unlocked the gates of
the inner wall.

58:48.450 --> 58:51.070
Through these gates, Cyrus' army poured
into the city.

58:51.770 --> 58:53.930
The Babylonians were completely surprised.

58:54.750 --> 58:58.950
Babylon was so large that when the outer
parts were invaded, those living in the

58:58.950 --> 59:01.130
center of the city were unaware of the
attack.

59:02.310 --> 59:07.010
Belshazzar and his guests continued their
idolatrous defiance of God until it was

59:07.010 --> 59:07.530
too late.

59:07.930 --> 59:13.590
As the book of Daniel tells us,
that very night, Belshazzar, king of the

59:13.590 --> 59:15.370
Babylonians, was slain.

59:17.130 --> 59:19.950
The greatest city of the ancient world had
fallen.

59:20.870 --> 59:24.790
The head of gold, which we saw in Daniel
2, had been replaced by the chest and arms

59:24.790 --> 59:25.270
of silver.

59:26.030 --> 59:27.290
The lion by the bear.

59:28.370 --> 59:31.530
Babylon was the economic colossus of the
ancient world.

59:32.310 --> 59:35.410
But it had become a byword for moral
decadence and corruption.

59:36.210 --> 59:38.490
Its leaders had become drunk with their
own power.

59:39.590 --> 59:43.330
The fall of Babylon teaches a lesson we
are only too prone to forget.

59:44.190 --> 59:45.330
God rules in history.

59:46.090 --> 59:47.490
It's a lesson for us today.

59:48.690 --> 59:50.550
Babylon was finished as a great power.

59:51.650 --> 59:53.870
Yet Babylon had fallen before.

59:54.630 --> 59:55.110
Would it?

59:55.690 --> 59:56.230
Could it?

59:56.230 --> 59:57.590
Rise again.

01:00:12.540 --> 01:00:15.620
We have traced the rise and fall of
Babylon.

01:00:16.040 --> 01:00:17.720
From Nimrod to Belshazzar.

01:00:18.380 --> 01:00:20.340
Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon.

01:00:20.840 --> 01:00:23.660
But the city itself continued under the
Persians.

01:00:25.580 --> 01:00:30.900
Then, a little over 200 years later,
Alexander the Great, on his quest to

01:00:30.900 --> 01:00:34.200
conquer the world, defeated the Persians
and captured Babylon.

01:00:35.420 --> 01:00:38.880
Alexander was bewitched by the idea of
Babylon.

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:43.980
The thought that the whole world could be
unified under one civilization,

01:00:44.480 --> 01:00:46.620
one city, one man.

01:00:47.740 --> 01:00:53.240
But Alexander's dreams of world unity died
with him in Babylon in 323 B.C.

01:00:53.760 --> 01:00:56.060
In the very throne room of Nebuchadnezzar.

01:00:58.000 --> 01:01:01.900
In the years that followed, the city began
its slow deterioration.

01:01:02.680 --> 01:01:05.980
By the time of Jesus, Babylon's palaces
and temples had crumbled.

01:01:06.860 --> 01:01:09.560
Shifting sands had buried the parks and
waterways.

01:01:10.120 --> 01:01:12.200
Even the Euphrates River had shifted
course.

01:01:12.940 --> 01:01:18.440
A Roman emperor visited Babylon some 85
years after the death of Jesus and found

01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:20.660
nothing but mounds and stones and ruins.

01:01:21.640 --> 01:01:25.740
Today, the superpower of the ancient world
lies desolate and forsaken.

01:01:26.480 --> 01:01:32.440
Its palaces, temples, parks and gardens,
its broad streets and boulevards are dust

01:01:32.440 --> 01:01:32.920
and rubble.

01:01:33.960 --> 01:01:38.020
Cracked bricks bearing the name of
Nebuchadnezzar are strewn by the thousands

01:01:38.020 --> 01:01:38.860
across the site.

01:01:40.340 --> 01:01:44.200
Only a small section of the once great
city has been restored as an

01:01:44.200 --> 01:01:45.240
archaeological park.

01:01:45.840 --> 01:01:47.440
And even that only in part.

01:01:48.260 --> 01:01:51.200
Most of the vast metropolis remains a
desolate wasteland.

01:01:51.620 --> 01:01:54.340
No longer the thriving city of its glory
days.

01:01:54.800 --> 01:01:58.060
It lies unoccupied, abandoned and
forsaken.

01:02:02.840 --> 01:02:07.860
Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
the glory of the Babylonians' pride,

01:02:08.160 --> 01:02:11.280
will be overthrown by God like Sodom and
Gomorrah.

01:02:11.280 --> 01:02:15.820
She will never be inhabited or lived in
through all generations.

01:02:19.720 --> 01:02:24.160
The handwriting on the wall had marked the
end of Babylon as a thriving city.

01:02:24.560 --> 01:02:27.220
But it was not the end of Babylon as an
idea.

01:02:27.940 --> 01:02:30.620
Even Alexander the Great was seduced by
its legacy.

01:02:31.720 --> 01:02:35.460
And when we get to the New Testament,
we find that Babylon becomes more than

01:02:35.460 --> 01:02:37.100
merely a geographical location.

01:02:37.100 --> 01:02:43.380
Babylon symbolizes an ideology,
an attitude, the epitome of a civilization

01:02:43.380 --> 01:02:45.440
organized in opposition to God.

01:02:45.440 --> 01:02:57.860
I would describe Babylon as being a city
that symbolizes in Scripture that which is

01:02:57.860 --> 01:02:59.820
the height of human power.

01:03:00.960 --> 01:03:09.800
And how it rules, conquers and so on all
the way down through history.

01:03:10.640 --> 01:03:22.840
But ultimately how its rulers were corrupt
and it kind of gets what it deserves in

01:03:22.840 --> 01:03:30.840
the course of human history because those
who ruled it thought of themselves as

01:03:30.840 --> 01:03:32.020
little gods.

01:03:32.880 --> 01:03:34.140
Here's the point.

01:03:34.580 --> 01:03:38.600
In all ages, the people of God have lived
in the midst of a spiritual Babylon.

01:03:38.600 --> 01:03:40.280
A godless world.

01:03:40.900 --> 01:03:46.160
In such a world, a world in pursuit of the
physical, the material, the profit motive,

01:03:46.740 --> 01:03:50.440
little thought has been given to the
spiritual realm, to the kingdom of God.

01:03:51.260 --> 01:03:53.940
This is, as we've seen, the Babylonian
pattern.

01:03:54.800 --> 01:03:57.440
And in that sense, Babylon is with us now.

01:03:58.440 --> 01:04:02.560
When the New Testament wants to picture
evil and defiance of God reaching ultimate

01:04:02.560 --> 01:04:07.960
fulfillment, it uses a phrase we can now
well relate to, Babylon the Great.

01:04:08.860 --> 01:04:13.800
That phrase is found in the last book of
the Bible, the mysterious Apocalypse or

01:04:13.800 --> 01:04:14.700
Book of Revelation.

01:04:18.360 --> 01:04:24.400
The Book of Revelation is written around a
remarkable vision from God given to a man

01:04:24.400 --> 01:04:25.060
named John.

01:04:25.740 --> 01:04:29.340
His vision is often considered one of the
most difficult parts of the Bible to

01:04:29.340 --> 01:04:29.960
understand.

01:04:29.960 --> 01:04:33.760
It's filled with strange images,
sights and sounds.

01:04:34.220 --> 01:04:37.560
And one of the most well-known are the
mysterious four horsemen.

01:04:41.330 --> 01:04:46.670
We generally call the Book of Revelation
an example of apocalyptic literature.

01:04:47.210 --> 01:04:51.170
And by that we mean there is a kind of
literature in the first century,

01:04:51.950 --> 01:04:55.790
it also exists prior to and after the
first century, but it's common in the

01:04:55.790 --> 01:04:58.550
first century, which has certain features.

01:04:58.770 --> 01:05:01.170
And many of these can be found in the Book
of Revelation.

01:05:01.850 --> 01:05:06.510
Some of them include visions, in other
words, someone will have a vision and

01:05:06.510 --> 01:05:07.930
record what was seen.

01:05:08.510 --> 01:05:13.170
And the vision can either be a vision of
what is going on in heaven, or a vision of

01:05:13.170 --> 01:05:15.310
the future, or sometimes both.

01:05:16.250 --> 01:05:19.870
Sometimes there are journeys to heaven in
this kind of literature.

01:05:20.070 --> 01:05:23.030
Someone is transported to heaven to see
this.

01:05:23.090 --> 01:05:25.990
It's not simply a vision on earth,
but there's actually a journey made.

01:05:25.990 --> 01:05:30.710
A couple of the other features that would
be typical of apocalyptic literature

01:05:30.710 --> 01:05:33.110
include a lot of symbolism.

01:05:33.630 --> 01:05:36.810
And symbolism could be one of several
kinds.

01:05:37.010 --> 01:05:44.090
There are, for example, many animals,
both natural, a ram or some sort of sheep

01:05:44.090 --> 01:05:49.070
or goat, which will figure in this
literature, as well as fantastic animals

01:05:49.070 --> 01:05:55.590
with strange heads and wings and almost
bizarre sorts of creatures.

01:05:56.130 --> 01:05:58.610
Colors are very important in the Book of
Revelation.

01:05:58.870 --> 01:06:02.330
There are white robes, there is red blood,
there is gold.

01:06:03.090 --> 01:06:08.270
So that you get the sense of quite a
visual... there's a very dramatic sense,

01:06:08.370 --> 01:06:09.630
but the colors are symbolic.

01:06:09.890 --> 01:06:12.870
Numbers are also important in apocalyptic
literature.

01:06:13.050 --> 01:06:16.930
So symbolism is an important feature of
apocalyptic literature.

01:06:16.930 --> 01:06:24.830
It's really difficult to understand the
Book of Revelation if you do not have some

01:06:24.830 --> 01:06:30.370
kind of background in the various Old
Testament books, because of the symbolism

01:06:30.370 --> 01:06:33.230
there is drawn right out of the Old
Testament books.

01:06:33.850 --> 01:06:38.390
And the context, of course, in the Book of
Revelation from the time of the writer is

01:06:38.390 --> 01:06:40.470
future, for the most part.

01:06:40.470 --> 01:06:43.430
Some of it is historic, but some of it is
future.

01:06:44.070 --> 01:06:52.230
And he uses the symbolism, very much so,
to talk about the future of time and the

01:06:52.230 --> 01:06:54.730
future of people and what's going to
happen.

01:06:55.470 --> 01:06:59.650
Apocalyptic writers looked forward to the
time when God would decisively intervene

01:06:59.650 --> 01:07:00.250
in history.

01:07:00.990 --> 01:07:03.910
John, in the Book of Revelation,
was living in a time of persecution.

01:07:04.670 --> 01:07:06.750
Christians were being killed by the Roman
state.

01:07:06.750 --> 01:07:12.930
The majority view is that Babylon the
Great is a symbol, a name for the Roman

01:07:12.930 --> 01:07:13.470
Empire.

01:07:13.990 --> 01:07:17.830
And that if you think of this book as
written sometime in the first century,

01:07:18.570 --> 01:07:23.090
almost anywhere Christians were living,
they were living in a reality dominated by

01:07:23.090 --> 01:07:25.550
Rome, ruled by Rome, controlled by Rome.

01:07:25.910 --> 01:07:31.890
And therefore it's very natural that the
world power would be symbolized with a

01:07:31.890 --> 01:07:35.490
symbol that comes from Israel's own past,
namely Babylon the Great.

01:07:36.450 --> 01:07:42.150
In the Old Testament, Babylon is an actual
country that carries off the people of

01:07:42.150 --> 01:07:43.270
Israel into captivity.

01:07:44.090 --> 01:07:48.090
And I think the author of the Book of
Revelation then reapplies that symbol as a

01:07:48.090 --> 01:07:53.730
warning to Christians to say that Rome
today can offer the same kind of threat.

01:07:53.830 --> 01:07:58.050
Maybe not a physical captivity,
but can indeed be a real danger to the

01:07:58.050 --> 01:07:58.870
people of God.

01:07:59.210 --> 01:08:03.350
So there is a sort of recurring or
timeless nature to that symbol.

01:08:03.350 --> 01:08:07.070
The attitude of Babylon the Great is
timeless and pervasive.

01:08:08.050 --> 01:08:11.770
It's an attitude of opposition to God and
to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

01:08:12.570 --> 01:08:16.770
The attitude is insidious because wealth
and prosperity look so good on the

01:08:16.770 --> 01:08:17.130
outside.

01:08:18.230 --> 01:08:22.550
This is why the references to Babylon the
Great in chapters 17 and 18 of the Book of

01:08:22.550 --> 01:08:25.330
Revelation have such meaning for us today.

01:08:27.570 --> 01:08:33.170
I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast
that was covered with blasphemous names

01:08:33.170 --> 01:08:35.970
and had seven heads and ten horns.

01:08:36.590 --> 01:08:41.270
The woman was dressed in purple and
scarlet and was glittering with gold,

01:08:41.450 --> 01:08:42.930
precious stones, and pearls.

01:08:44.090 --> 01:08:50.230
This title was written on her forehead,
Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of

01:08:50.230 --> 01:08:53.170
Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the
Earth.

01:08:54.090 --> 01:09:00.050
Then the angel said to me, The woman you
saw is the great city that rules over the

01:09:00.050 --> 01:09:01.110
kings of the earth.

01:09:03.930 --> 01:09:07.130
Here we have all the vivid imagery of
apocalyptic writing.

01:09:07.810 --> 01:09:08.890
It's a future time.

01:09:09.530 --> 01:09:13.430
There's the woman, the beast, the vibrant
colors and the symbolism.

01:09:14.170 --> 01:09:15.790
The symbolism of a harlot.

01:09:16.610 --> 01:09:18.950
The Bible has a lot to say about harlotry.

01:09:18.950 --> 01:09:24.490
God uses it to show how individuals and
nations can be seduced from allegiance to

01:09:24.490 --> 01:09:24.810
him.

01:09:25.170 --> 01:09:28.710
In the Old Testament, harlotry is usually
an imagery for idolatry.

01:09:28.850 --> 01:09:30.790
That is to say that people commit
harlotry.

01:09:30.890 --> 01:09:35.230
God's people commits harlotry when it is
unfaithful to God, when it pursues idol

01:09:35.230 --> 01:09:35.570
worship.

01:09:36.270 --> 01:09:40.590
And now the church is faced with the same
kind of threat, to abandon its true

01:09:40.590 --> 01:09:42.830
worship of God for other sorts of idols.

01:09:42.830 --> 01:09:46.570
Well, a harlot is an image of a
seductress.

01:09:46.710 --> 01:09:52.110
Someone who, as I said, is enticing them,
alluring them to follow this way and to

01:09:52.110 --> 01:09:55.130
give up their loyalties to what they know
to be the true God.

01:09:55.490 --> 01:09:59.270
The Bible uses the symbol of harlotry in a
couple of different ways.

01:10:00.070 --> 01:10:02.150
Harlotry is worshipping false gods.

01:10:03.010 --> 01:10:08.030
But as New Testament scholar George Eldon
Ladd explains, harlotry also means the

01:10:08.030 --> 01:10:10.750
prostitution of everything for commercial
gain.

01:10:13.290 --> 01:10:17.850
The metaphor of harlotry is also used by
the prophets of the heathen nations.

01:10:18.790 --> 01:10:22.690
Tyre is a city who will play the harlot
with all the kingdoms of the world upon

01:10:22.690 --> 01:10:23.550
the face of the earth.

01:10:24.170 --> 01:10:28.690
The idea here is not one of spiritual
faithlessness, but of the prostitution of

01:10:28.690 --> 01:10:30.310
everything to commercial gain.

01:10:31.330 --> 01:10:34.610
Nineveh is also described as a harlot
because of the way she enticed weaker

01:10:34.610 --> 01:10:39.350
nations by her display of power and
splendor, only to scorn and enslave them.

01:10:40.110 --> 01:10:46.050
Ladd says of Revelation chapter 17,
here the harlot is Babylon, the symbol of

01:10:46.050 --> 01:10:51.170
human civilization with all its pomp and
circumstance organized in opposition to

01:10:51.170 --> 01:10:51.510
God.

01:10:51.810 --> 01:10:54.750
The city which has dominion over the kings
of the earth.

01:10:56.170 --> 01:10:59.750
We've traced Babylon's appeal through the
scriptures and through history.

01:11:00.470 --> 01:11:03.050
From the tower of Babel to Nebuchadnezzar
City.

01:11:03.590 --> 01:11:06.910
And now to the book of Revelation,
where Babylon the Great has reached

01:11:06.910 --> 01:11:07.950
immense power.

01:11:08.710 --> 01:11:15.130
I think John is trying to paint Babylon as
alluring and enticing.

01:11:15.990 --> 01:11:20.530
And one of the ways you would do that is
to show how wealthy and prosperous and

01:11:20.530 --> 01:11:23.150
satisfying this reality is.

01:11:23.570 --> 01:11:27.570
And it lulls, it can lull Christians into
a false sense of security.

01:11:27.930 --> 01:11:34.170
So he's warning them by showing the
seductiveness of this particular vision of

01:11:34.170 --> 01:11:34.610
the world.

01:11:35.420 --> 01:11:39.650
In the book of Revelation then,
Babylon the Great becomes the code word

01:11:39.650 --> 01:11:42.230
for a monstrous anti-Christian world
system.

01:11:42.510 --> 01:11:47.430
An economic colossus dedicated to
accumulating power and wealth through

01:11:47.430 --> 01:11:48.230
world trade.

01:11:48.890 --> 01:11:53.530
This is Babylon's fatal attraction,
commercial gain at any cost.

01:11:55.910 --> 01:12:00.510
For all the nations have drunk the
maddening wine of her adulteries.

01:12:00.830 --> 01:12:03.490
The kings of the earth committed adultery
with her.

01:12:03.490 --> 01:12:08.290
And the merchants of the earth grew rich
from her excessive luxuries.

01:12:10.370 --> 01:12:15.390
Across the centuries, many have attempted
to identify Babylon with specific nations,

01:12:16.150 --> 01:12:17.910
empires, or even churches.

01:12:18.590 --> 01:12:22.450
Every year, it seems, new candidates are
nominated for the role of the symbolic

01:12:22.450 --> 01:12:23.910
figures in the book of Revelation.

01:12:24.590 --> 01:12:27.050
Babylon, the beast, the false prophet.

01:12:27.550 --> 01:12:30.190
But all interpretations have one thing in
common.

01:12:31.090 --> 01:12:31.970
They've all been wrong.

01:12:31.970 --> 01:12:36.110
The history of interpreting the book of
Revelation is quite interesting.

01:12:36.610 --> 01:12:43.910
Because almost every generation of
Christians that reads it feels we are the

01:12:43.910 --> 01:12:46.190
direct addressees of that book.

01:12:46.470 --> 01:12:50.110
Babylon is this entity, or this church,
or this empire.

01:12:50.790 --> 01:12:55.890
Time and time again, people have predicted
the end of events.

01:12:56.390 --> 01:13:00.370
And then they've had to change their
minds, revise, redo.

01:13:00.370 --> 01:13:02.150
Maybe we read that wrong.

01:13:02.270 --> 01:13:03.510
Maybe we read that wrong.

01:13:03.630 --> 01:13:07.270
And this refrain is repeated over and
over, not just in the 20th century.

01:13:07.850 --> 01:13:13.130
But the whole history of reading and
interpreting this book shows we've been

01:13:13.130 --> 01:13:15.510
wrong time and time again.

01:13:16.330 --> 01:13:23.350
Now that ought to tell us that it's very
dangerous to jump to conclusions about,

01:13:23.570 --> 01:13:25.710
and to be dogmatic about, who is Babylon?

01:13:25.950 --> 01:13:27.190
When do these events happen?

01:13:27.190 --> 01:13:32.290
The when question is probably not the most
important question in the book of

01:13:32.290 --> 01:13:33.330
Revelation anyway.

01:13:33.850 --> 01:13:35.210
That God will triumph.

01:13:35.670 --> 01:13:38.630
That God will triumph through Jesus
Christ.

01:13:39.110 --> 01:13:42.010
These are the central affirmations of that
book.

01:13:42.410 --> 01:13:48.570
But when it happens, and who fits what
picture, strike me as almost leading us

01:13:48.570 --> 01:13:51.350
away from the central message of that
book.

01:13:52.090 --> 01:13:56.710
So the book of Revelation describes the
final culmination of the spirit of ancient

01:13:56.710 --> 01:13:57.150
Babylon.

01:13:57.850 --> 01:14:01.950
An anti-God attitude that is present
today, present through history,

01:14:02.310 --> 01:14:04.790
and will reach its climax at the end of
the age.

01:14:05.550 --> 01:14:10.230
But no matter what happens, God's final
triumph over all things is assured.

01:14:11.190 --> 01:14:16.370
Chapter 18 of the book of Revelation
celebrates in advance God's final victory

01:14:16.370 --> 01:14:17.590
over Babylon the Great.

01:14:19.210 --> 01:14:24.350
When the kings of the earth who committed
adultery with her, and shared her luxury,

01:14:24.530 --> 01:14:29.030
see the smoke of her burning, they will
weep and mourn over her.

01:14:29.730 --> 01:14:36.290
Terrified at her torment, they will stand
far off and cry, Woe, woe, O great city!

01:14:36.530 --> 01:14:38.430
O Babylon, city of power!

01:14:38.850 --> 01:14:41.450
In one hour your doom has come.

01:14:42.370 --> 01:14:47.390
The merchants of the earth will weep and
mourn over her because no one buys their

01:14:47.390 --> 01:14:48.590
cargoes anymore.

01:14:49.570 --> 01:14:54.130
The merchants who sold these things and
gained their wealth from her will stand

01:14:54.130 --> 01:14:55.090
far off.

01:14:55.470 --> 01:14:59.990
Terrified at her torment, they will weep
and mourn and cry out.

01:15:01.250 --> 01:15:06.370
Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder
the size of a large millstone and threw it

01:15:06.370 --> 01:15:11.870
into the sea and said, With such violence
the great city of Babylon will be thrown

01:15:11.870 --> 01:15:14.470
down, never to be found again.

01:15:16.950 --> 01:15:19.930
Yes, the story of Babylon is a sobering
one.

01:15:20.510 --> 01:15:24.770
That old city buried beneath the
Mesopotamian plain has become the symbol

01:15:24.770 --> 01:15:26.810
of a society given over to greed.

01:15:27.270 --> 01:15:31.170
A society moving farther and farther away
from the knowledge of God.

01:15:32.090 --> 01:15:33.590
Does this sound familiar?

01:15:34.290 --> 01:15:37.650
John is describing a world very much like
ours today.

01:15:39.990 --> 01:15:44.150
Merchants in the ancient Near East grew
rich by the exploitation of pleasure.

01:15:45.030 --> 01:15:47.730
Many business people today are doing the
same thing.

01:15:48.550 --> 01:15:53.130
Business deals and buyouts are often based
on greed, money and power.

01:15:53.990 --> 01:15:59.230
Many individuals take advantage of the
system to enrich themselves, while

01:15:59.230 --> 01:16:04.890
exploiting the young, the old,
the uneducated and the unfortunate.

01:16:06.870 --> 01:16:10.590
Christians are not immune to the
seductions of this Babylonian system.

01:16:11.370 --> 01:16:15.230
We are warned against the deceitfulness of
money, riches, power and pleasure.

01:16:16.110 --> 01:16:18.970
We are to live instead according to the
teachings of Jesus.

01:16:19.770 --> 01:16:23.050
And those teachings include service,
giving and sharing.

01:16:23.050 --> 01:16:25.510
That's why John warns us,

01:16:31.250 --> 01:16:36.110
The New Testament is full of warnings
against the dangers and the lure of

01:16:36.110 --> 01:16:41.250
materialism, that riches can lull us into
a false sense of security.

01:16:41.430 --> 01:16:45.630
Jesus said you cannot serve two masters,
no one can serve God and mammon.

01:16:45.630 --> 01:16:52.150
And then in the book of Revelation,
of course, Babylon is portrayed as

01:16:52.150 --> 01:16:53.450
extremely wealthy.

01:16:53.570 --> 01:16:55.090
And there it is, God or mammon.

01:16:55.170 --> 01:16:57.410
So it's all part of the picture,
part of the trappings.

01:16:57.550 --> 01:17:01.330
And probably the materialistic note is
part of that as well.

01:17:02.470 --> 01:17:06.670
In the time sequence of the book of
Revelation, Babylon is destroyed.

01:17:07.390 --> 01:17:10.550
But the good news is, this is not the end
of the world.

01:17:11.190 --> 01:17:11.990
Not at all.

01:17:11.990 --> 01:17:16.910
In John's vision, it's the beginning of
the rule of the saints under Jesus Christ.

01:17:17.590 --> 01:17:19.910
So the apocalypse offers hope.

01:17:20.590 --> 01:17:21.850
It's a vision of victory.

01:17:22.630 --> 01:17:26.530
The victory of Jesus over all who oppose
the kingdom of God.

01:17:27.350 --> 01:17:31.750
To say that the book of Revelation is a
vision of the victory of Jesus Christ is

01:17:31.750 --> 01:17:33.810
actually a pretty good summary.

01:17:34.890 --> 01:17:40.270
If you think of the standpoint of both the
first century Christians and of us today,

01:17:40.610 --> 01:17:42.810
it's a true statement in two ways.

01:17:42.930 --> 01:17:46.530
One, you look back to the victory of Jesus
on the cross.

01:17:46.570 --> 01:17:50.790
What we talk about, Jesus' victory over
the powers of sin and death.

01:17:51.370 --> 01:17:55.830
And it's precisely that victory which
guarantees the future victory and gives

01:17:55.830 --> 01:17:56.910
hope for the future.

01:17:57.730 --> 01:18:02.790
So, yes, a final victory of Christ is a
good way to summarize that book.

01:18:02.790 --> 01:18:06.490
But you have to always remember that's
already guaranteed and begun in what God

01:18:06.490 --> 01:18:08.010
has done in Christ on the cross.

01:18:09.110 --> 01:18:13.430
Our story has taken us from Nimrod to
Nebuchadnezzar to now.

01:18:13.750 --> 01:18:15.190
And on into the future.

01:18:15.970 --> 01:18:17.850
We have seen the legacy of Babylon.

01:18:18.450 --> 01:18:21.730
It's been a familiar pattern we've seen
woven across history.

01:18:22.730 --> 01:18:25.090
And the attitude of Babylon is with us
today.

01:18:25.810 --> 01:18:27.330
So we are challenged.

01:18:27.910 --> 01:18:29.390
What kingdom will we serve?

01:18:29.730 --> 01:18:31.570
The kingdom of God or Babylon?

01:18:32.310 --> 01:18:33.910
God or Mammon?

01:18:35.330 --> 01:18:39.490
Babylon the Great represents the epitome
of human power apart from God.

01:18:39.930 --> 01:18:42.750
But the kingdom of God is far more
powerful.

01:18:43.530 --> 01:18:47.750
Our calling is to serve that kingdom and
its king, Jesus Christ.

01:18:48.610 --> 01:18:51.630
Ultimately, His is the only kingdom that
will endure.

01:18:52.590 --> 01:18:54.790
The power and the glory are Christ's
alone.

01:18:55.610 --> 01:18:59.630
That is the lesson that even Babylon the
Great will be forced to learn.

01:19:35.360 --> 01:19:36.760
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