ISAIAH 13

1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.

2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.

Sanctified ones typifying the Latter Day sanctified ones who besiege and destroy the Shinar House causing Babylon the Great to fall

Cyrus, and the "sanctified ones," his Medes and Persians, were typical of Christ and his Kings in "the way prepared," through the drying up of "the Great River Euphrates" by the sixth vial. Cyrus was named by Deity, and mentioned by name, about one hundred and sixty years before the capture of Babylon. His name and office are both representative as well as his mission. The name given was Coresh, which some interpret by the word sun; on the ground that the Greek writers affirm that the name in Persian signified the sun. Gesenius says, they were correct. But, should we go to pagan Greeks and Persians to learn the meaning of a Hebrew name conferred upon a man whom the God of Israel intended to raise up to accomplish a work upon Babylon, which was to find its antitype over 2400 years after?

My answer is, no. Coresh in Hebrew does not signify the sun, which is there represented by shemesh. Coresh is a proper name compounded of caph, like, and yoraish, the participle of yarash, which signifies, to seize, to take possession of, to occupy, mostly by force. Hence, Yoraish comes to signify one who takes possession of his inheritance by conquest.

This definition of Cyrus' Hebrew name accords with the facts of his history. The Deity had predetermined, that he should inherit the Babylonish Empire, which included the Holy Land; and that he should take possession of it by conquest. He therefore made Yoraish a part of his name; and, as he intended his career to be typical of His own Son's, Whom he hath constituted "the Heir of all things" terrestrial; and who is also to acquire possession of his inheritance by conquest; he added the letter caph, and condensing the three syllables into two, named him Coresh, or Koraish, signifying Like the Heir.

Now, let the reader note What occurred before Cyrus and Darius, with their "sanctified ones" (Isa. 13:3), the kings of the north, could take possession of Babylon. It was necessary, that "the Great River Euphrates," which flowed into and through the city, "should be dried up; that the way of Yahweh's Anointed Shepherd and his flock, might be prepared" (Isa. 44:25; 45:1).

"A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up;" "I will dry up her great river eth-yammah; and make her springs dry" (Jer. 50:38; 51:36). This was literally accomplished by Cyrus, who turned the Euphrates from its course; left the channel of the river dry; marched his troops along the dried way in the night into the very heart of Babylon; and, coming upon the king and nobles "as a thief," put them without discrimination, or mercy, to the sword.

Such was the practical representation of the entrance into the Apocalyptic Babylon by Yahweh's Anointed Shepherd, the all-conquering Heir of the World, and the Kings, whom he will have raised to consubstantiality with himself (1 John 3:2), and constituted his co-operators, and companions in arms. He has been, so to speak, besieging Babylon, and inflicting upon her all the miseries of a besieged city, by the forces engaged in the execution of the plagues of the first five vials; but, as in the typical operations of Cyrus, "the sanctified ones" of the Eternal Spirit have not come into the possession of the Apocalyptic Babylon by direct assaults.

The Divine purpose required that the European Babylon should be entered by a coup de main, or unexpected attack. Cyrus entered thus. Since the commencement of the sixth vial, Christ Jesus has been, by his agents, drying up the Great River of Babylon, the Ottoman power; which, undried, would have been an inconvenience, and an embarrassment, in the development of those judicial household-arrangements, which must precede the manifestation of "the kings of the Sun's risings", to the world. Before the outpour of this vial, the Ottoman was a power, overshadowing Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and Syria, in great force. It could have concentrated its armies upon any of these provinces in great numbers; and with powerful and embarrassing effect, upon any un-warlike crowd that might be convened for the purposes of judgment, organization, and legislation, the necessary preparation for all great enterprises in a world like this.

It is true, that the Deity could destroy them all, however numerous and powerful, as He did the army of Sennacherib, in the reign of Hezekiah: there is here no question about what He could do; He can do what He pleases: but it is not according to His revealed plan of operations in the work of manifesting His sons, to have that judicial and preparatory work interrupted by battle, and the burial of a host of corpses. To prevent this embarrassing inconvenience, He deemed it necessary to dry up from those countries the overflowing power of "the Desolator" - to diminish it, and hold it in check by other jealous powers whose mutual distrust should reduce "the Sick Man" to a nullity.

Eureka 16.11.1.1.

8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

Sorrow and conception greatly multiplied at the foundation of the Adamic age

As the woman had so wilfully sought the gratification of her flesh, when the Lord God passed sentence upon her He made it the ground of her punishment.

"I will," said He, "greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire shall be subject to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

This being her portion as the consequence of sin, the reverse would have been her condition, so long as her animal nature should have continued unchanged, if she had remained obedient. She would have brought forth children without pain and would have had fewer of them; nor would she have been deprived of that equality she enjoyed in the garden, and consequently she would have escaped that degradation she has experienced in all the countries of the world.

The punishment, however, was not inflicted simply as an individual sorrow. The pain was personal, and the subjection likewise; but the multiplication of woman's conception became necessary from the altered circumstances of things, which were then being constituted for the ensuing seven thousand years.

In the war divinely instituted between the seeds of the serpent and the woman, there would be a great loss of life. The population of the world would be greatly thinned; besides which great havoc would be made by pestilence, famine, and the ordinary diseases of the flesh. To compensate this waste, and still to maintain an increase, so that the earth might be filled, necessitated that part of woman's punishment involved in the multiplication of the conception, which is a great domestic calamity under the serpent-dominion of sin.

We hear much in some parts of the world of the political rights and equality of women with men, and of their preaching and teaching in public assemblies. We need wonder at nothing which emanates from the unenlightened thinking of sinful flesh. There is no absurdity too monstrous to be sanctified by unspiritualised animal intellect. Men do not think according to God's thinking, and therefore it is they run into the most unscriptural conceits; among which may be enumerated the political and social equality of women.

Elpis Israel 1.4.

13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of Yahweh of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Prophetic Symbols

Sun, Moon, and Stars-Symbolic of kings, princes, and nobles.

The Heavens-Symbolic of the Political Constitution of a nation or kingdom. As the constitution of a nation is the basis of law and government, so the heavens are said to rule.

The Earth-Symbolic of the People upon whom these heavenly constellations shed their glory.

The Sea-The People in a state of agitation.

Earthquake-A Revolution-a change of Government-a turning of things upside down.

Hail-Invasion.

Wild Beast-A roving, warlike power of a character and disposition akin to the representative beast.

Wings-Speed. When attached to a beast, irresisible and rapid conquest. Sometimes they denote shelter and protection.

Horns-Power-Strength.

Darkening of Sun and Moon, and Falling of Stars-The overthrow of thrones and princedoms, and the extinction of nobility, by reducing them to the level of the people.

The Rolling up the Heavens as a scroll-The rolling up and laying aside of a parchment, upon which the constitution of a nation is engrossed, when no longer in use.

The passing away of the Heavens and the Earth with a great noise-Great debate, clamor, and uproar among the people, consequent upon the extinction of their constitution and the loss of their nationality.

New Heavens and New Earth-A new Constitution and arrangement of things, which will effect a complete change in the character of the people. -Millennial Advocate.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, July 1856

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ancient Babylon likened to Sodom in its judgment

Modern Babylon...

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified - Rev 11: 8

The historical accuracy of the Bible right back to the beginning-4000 years before Christ-has been repeatedly confirmed by archeological discovery, while man's records for that period are a pitiful jumble of legends and myths. Until the advent of archeology, man's knowledge of the past, outside of the Bible, went just a few centuries before Christ, and was very limited and erroneous even that far.

Up to a little over 100 years ago, the most pitiful rubbish was gravely peddled by the learned of the world as ancient history. One has only to glance through the long-famous "Rollin's Ancient History" to show that. It is not so long since "educated" men solemnly denied that there ever had been such a city as Babylon.

But amid all man's abysmal ignorance and darkness, the Bible's clear light went back 4000 years before Christ in lucid, specific, accurate detail. As archeology has gradually dug up and pieced together the past, more and more it has confirmed the detailed accuracy of the Bible and exposed the errors and presumptions of man, especially in many cases where the wise of the world denied Bible truth.

Many now well-known figures of ancient history-as Belshazzar, Sargon, Pul, the specific Egyptian Pharaohs, etc.-were completely unknown outside the Bible, and their existence denied, until the spade of the archeologist confirmed the Bible and silenced the critics: silenced them, that is, on those specific points, for the flesh never learns wisdom but merely shifts its attack. The great Hittite Empire, once the rival of Egypt and Babylon, was not long ago so completely unknown that men scoffed at Bible references to them as a strong and feared people.

According to the chronology indicated in the Biblical records, the creation of man works out very close to 4000 BC. This is just about the time that man's own now archeologically proven history starts, as contrasted to blind guesses and speculations of millions of years. No written records or inscriptions have ever been found that can be dated before 3500 BC; and these oldest records come, of course, from the Mesopotamian valley, where the Bible says man began.

It is a very strange fact, if man has existed as claimed for hundreds of thousands of years, that he suddenly learned to write and make records just after the time the Bible says he was created, and that he shows up just where the Bible says he was. One is fact: the other pure speculation.

Ancient Babylon of 2000 BC had a higher degree of civilization and standard of living than that of Europe up to just a couple of 100 years ago, and higher than most parts of the world today. Babylon and Nineveh were two of the greatest cities of antiquity-perhaps the greatest. In their day, they were capitals of world empires, centers of world power. At their zenith of prosperity and pride, the Bible predicted they would be completely desolate.

They so completely disappeared that for centuries, up until a little over 100 years ago their very sites were unknown, and it was denied that they ever existed. Now their locations have been identified and unearthed, and their one-time splendor and magnificence confirmed.

Bro Growcott - Thy Word is Truth