Chapter 50, part 2: Rebelling against Mystery Babylon
Mystery Babylon and the Stone Kingdom, part 148—A hard truth to hear!
We left off last time with this verse on the table:
Micah 4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
Without getting into extensive detail this time, I simply tell you that this was never fulfilled before Christ came. In my view, however, it was clearly fulfilled, especially in the British Empire, and subsequently by America as the sole superpower in the world for the past many decades.
Sole superpower is “the first dominion.” America is the Stone Kingdom. Yet we are presently in deep trouble. There is no question about it.
While one of the mottos of the American Revolution was “No King but King Jesus,” it is also clear that since at least the 1960s, America has been de-Christianized by the forces of antichrists.
Increasingly, we are crying out as our bondage and captivity become more and more obvious to more and more people. But we, officially as a nation, by Supreme Court edicts and other governmental decrees, have had our King, Jesus Christ, removed from us. And thus Micah was given to prophesy to us with the question:
9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
We recognize there the reference to King Jesus. We should likewise recognize the reference to our counsellor as Jesus also, because thanks to George Frederic Handel’s magnificent oratorio called The Messiah, many of us can sing along with this Messianic prophecy in the oratorio.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Jesus was the child born to us, the Son given to us. He is the king! And the government will be upon the Shoulder Company of His Mystical Body.
He is called the “Wonderful Counsellor.” I personally do not think there should be a comma between the two words. Remember, the punctuation was added by translators.
Punctuation is not necessarily the inspired, inerrant Word of God. But sometimes it can make a tremendous difference in interpretation. Not in this case, however. He (Jesus, the Son) is the mighty God manifest in the flesh. If you have seen Him, you have seen the Father, and He is the prince of peace. Now verse 10 of Micah 4.
Micah 4: 10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD [Yahweh] shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
This all had a literal application in the days of Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, but it also has a long-range application where it is not all literal. The old city was Jerusalem.
They literally were deported to the literal, old city of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. They were eventually delivered or freed because of the fall of Babylon to the Medes and the Persians.
Today the city is New Jerusalem in its imperfect condition, just as the Stone Kingdom is in its imperfect condition. As a nation, America has left its King, and we have dwelt in the field—figuratively speaking.
For the field represents the world, according to Jesus Himself in Matthew 13:38, and thus America has become like “the world” in our sinfulness and worship of other gods. We have become like the world system.
Furthermore, we have figuratively “gone to Babylon” as captives—not to the literal old city of Babylon—but we now dwell as captives under the control of Mystery Babylon via the money system which is controlled by the descendants of Esau through the Federal Reserve System.
And there, meaning here, under Mystery Babylon in America, the LORD [Yahweh] shall redeem us from the hand of our enemies. Does that make sense?
Do you understand how the prophecy had a totally literal fulfillment back in the days of Jeremiah, but today it is figuratively fulfilled? And do you further understand how the figurative fulfillment today does not negate the physical, material, real-world component?
Because while we did not get carried away physically to the old city of Babylon, we are still very much materially in captivity and bondage by our economic system. It is very real, isn’t it?
Just look at the dwindling value of the dollars in your wallet, or the digits on your electronic device which represents how much “money” is in your bank account. It may be digital, but it is very real when you go to buy gas and groceries, isn’t it?
Okay, now back to Jeremiah 29, where the very first advice that Jeremiah gives, or let me say it this way: the very first command from God to the captive Israelites of the Judah kingdom regarding how they are to behave while in captivity is this. Jeremiah cuts to the heart of the matter immediately, so listen up.
Jeremiah 29:5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;
6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
I want to let you ponder that for just a minute. Please reread it. Before I expound upon it, I think it would behoove us to read this entire letter, this entire chapter first, to capture the full flavor of it, and then we can break it down and get as far as we can in the time remaining today.
So without comment (until the end), here is the rest of God’s instructions to the captives.
7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD [Yahweh] for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
8 For thus saith the LORD [Yahweh] of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD [Yahweh].
10 For thus saith the LORD [Yahweh], That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD [Yahweh], thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD [Yahweh]: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD [Yahweh]; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
15 Because ye have said, The LORD [Yahweh] hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
16 Know that thus saith the LORD [Yahweh] of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
17 Thus saith the LORD [Yahweh] of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD [Yahweh], which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD [Yahweh].
20 Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD [Yahweh], all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:
21 Thus saith the LORD [Yahweh] of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
22 And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD [Yahweh] make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;
23 Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD [Yahweh].
24 Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25 Thus speaketh the LORD [Yahweh] of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 The LORD [Yahweh] hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD [Yahweh], for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.
27 Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?
28 For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then came the word of the LORD [Yahweh] unto Jeremiah, saying,
31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD [Yahweh] concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
32 Therefore thus saith the LORD [Yahweh]; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good [prosperity] that I will do for my people, saith the LORD [Yahweh]; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD [Yahweh].
For readers of previous blogs in this series, doesn’t that last clause sound familiar? Turn back a page or two to Jeremiah 29.
Jeremiah 29:16 Therefore thus saith the LORD [Yahweh]; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD [Yahweh].
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
To emphasize the point, it is a fearful thing to be a false prophet! Precisely what constitutes a false prophet can encompass many specific actions, but in its essence, it is claiming to declare the words of God when God has not declared such things.
In my view, one does not need to be graduate of a Bible college or a seminary, or to be a minister in a pulpit somewhere to qualify as a false prophet.
Even before the advent of the internet—but especially since then—anyone can write and publish on the web, and claim to be speaking the words of God.
But in the context of the book of Jeremiah, concerning the Babylonian Captivity, the essence of being a false prophet is teaching rebellion against the LORD [Yahweh].
And now comes what might be a shocking revelation to some listeners/readers: rebellion against Babylon is rebellion against God! I know that comes as a hard and bitter pill to swallow among those of you listeners/readers who have come into some level of biblical understanding of our present predicament by way of the patriot movement.
It is instinctive within us to want to fight against this ungodly system and to throw off the chains of our captivity. I understand because I was there. I experienced that.
NOTE: Readers should keep in mind that this lesson is drawn from a lecture I gave back in 2014. Things have progressed considerably since then.
(To be continued.)