Can You Hear it Falling?
1. Judgment upon the system
2. Destruction of wealth
3. Cessation of trade
collapse of the system itself
Imagine yourself as a well-known lecturer and one of the great churches of America invited you as the keynote speaker at a New York Conference. As the theme of the Conference is “The World is a Mess”, they want to know in advance how you will tackle this subject. It’s not that you haven’t thought about the world in these terms, but, how do you approach it.
Do you begin by suggesting that this is very possibly the time mentioned by the Apostle John in Revelation 18:21, “… Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down …”, Babylon today consisting of its three arms – Economic, Political and Ecclesiastical? Would you remind those at the conference that it was John, who, in Revelation 18, described the three stages in the collapse of the system, that is, (1) Judgment upon the system (2) Destruction of wealth and cessation of trade and (3) collapse of the system itself. Rioting in America, particularly at the University level, is certainly contributing to a possible collapse of the system, and civil disobedience throughout the nation is on the rise, as the Laws of God and God Himself are freely trampled upon in all the Israel nations. You might point out that evil is getting the upper hand, as the prophet Isaiah forecast in Chapter 5:20-24, that is, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ….. them that are wise in their own eyes …. Which justify the wicked for reward … [but] their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel”. Other events must take place but judgment on the system is at the door.
Still, how about economic Babylon? You know, how many times have notable people of the past half-century predicted an economic collapse that never came about. Despite the growing burden on people, it has almost been like the boy who cried wolf; for the cry today has reached the point that the masses just don’t believe it can happen. But, will it come very soon? It was Howard Rand who related the coming disaster to the days of Noah, who constantly warned of a coming disaster himself, but it took so long in coming, Noah just wasn’t believed. But, remember, the disaster did come and so will the fall of Mystery Babylon! And soon! And regretfully, war will very likely follow!
Maybe it would be a good time to mention a possible analogy. We know from Daniel 5 & particularly Daniel 8:1, that King Balshazzar reigned into the third year of his reign, then he was killed, and Darius the Median took the kingdom, thus Babylon fell. The best comparable to Balzhazzer today would be the most powerful leader on earth, President Donald Trump. It’s interesting that he was recently quoted as saying that if he is impeached, the equity markets would take a massive dive. Well, in January next, he will begin his third year in office, but he has been under unbelievable attack since his election in 2016. Calls for his impeachment ring out every day, as are threat after threat, so, incredible as it may sound, picture something like an impeachment happening in his third year and if you can, consider this, “Will the debt, confusion, anger within and without, be sufficient to topple Mystery Babylon as well?” It’s very possible.
Back in 1969, a journalist coined the term, “a city of fear after dark”. And since then, this has proven so in most of the larger cities in the Israel lands. Take Chicago, for instance, in 1917 alone, over 3,500 people were shot and over 600 of the victims died. Other large cities are suffering similar tragedies, albeit probably not on this scale, but all over the Israel world, violence is becoming a way of life, from both domestic sources and the recent introduction of terrorism on a large scale. Did God warn us of this particular time? Maybe! Because of our abominations, that have grown leaps and bounds in line with our departure from the Christian faith, do the Scriptures warn us, such as in Ezekiel 7 where God makes His intentions clear? Much of this chapter describes what we are experiencing today, like verse 23 that fits right in with “a city of fear after dark, “Make a chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city full of violence”. Or verse 24, “Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses …… and their holy places shall be defiled”. Or 25, “Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none”. You see, God, in writing through Ezekiel, was declaring that the final punishment of Israel would begin as He stated. He declared four times that the “end has come”, or that “evil has come”, the “day has come” and the “time has come”. It’s like the old saying, “True Israel, it’s time to pay the piper”. We are just fortunate that in the final analysis, our wonderful Saviour will return to rescue true Christians.
A member of the church might ask if there is any way to avoid the punishment of Ezekiel 7 and you would probably answer that the Bible addresses this in many passages but it all boils down to the same solution. The prophet Isaiah in 26:20 capsulizes it very well, “Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast”. In other words, if you have not yet done so, take refuge in God, come under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because, as Isaiah says in verse 21, “The Lord will cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity”, the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain”.
These two verses must be read in conjunction with the previous few because as Howard Rand wrote in his “Study in Isaiah”, “The signals are flying that this judgment is at hand. Crimes of cruelty and all forms of oppression will be fully revealed and all responsible will be judged—including those who failed to administer justice and equity. At that time the shades or fearful ones will put in an appearance in ever-increasing numbers—the evil ones.
Evil ones are indeed making their appearance, though at the moment very few are aware of this fact or of their identity. This too is another sign added to many that judgment is drawing near. Even nearer is the resurrection and translation.
It is a glorious time in which to be living, at least for those who know and understand all this and are spiritually ready for the coming revelation of His presence and the glorious fulfillment of our expectations—the coming summons to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb”.
Of course, as it normally does at conferences, a participant at the New York Assembly might ask, “When do you see these things coming? Of course, we don’t know the date, although we do know the signs and seasons, 1 Thessalonians 5:1 tells us this. And in Matthew 24, Jesus Himself lays out the signs.
The often mentioned seven times punishment of Leviticus 26:18, when applied to the submission of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 603BC takes us to 1918 and Daniel’s prophecy in Chapter 7:9, “I beheld until the thrones were cast down” and history demonstrates that the empires and monarchies of the Babylonian succession, primarily Germany, Czarist Russia and Austria Hungary were overthrown.
Now, 2018 is 100 years from 1918 and its significance has been the subject of previous articles in this magazine, But, right smack in the middle is 1968 and two events in that year dramatically changed the direction of America, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Still, what is most interesting, is that God said that Babylon would be desolate in one hour (15 years) & “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down”. (Revelation 18:19&21). It interesting to apply this prophetic hour to Mystery Babylon, beginning at a starting point of 1918. Fifteen years to 1933 brings us to the year that Roosevelt confiscated the gold of all American citizens; was this to get the economy moving again or as some think, to bolster the Federal Reserve Bank. Interesting too, is that the Gold Standard or Man’s economic process, that was introduced by Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC, was partially abandoned by the United States through their confiscation of gold in 1933, exactly seven times or 2,520 years from that date of introduction.
Fifteen more years takes us to 1948, British Ephraim had been driven out of Palestine and the modern State of Israeli was born. Was this in fulfillment of Daniel 12:11, “and the abomination that maketh desolate set up”, because as we wrote some time ago, the 1,290 days or years, is 30 years past the 1,260 days or years of Daniel 12:7 and ends in 1948. And 2018 is 70 years past 1948, will we yet see some sort of perfect spiritual order this year, perhaps a greater unveiling of the true Israel identity?
Prophecy could go on and on through the numerics of the Bible, but space will not permit further comment except one more important observation. Adding a third 15-year period to 1918 brings us to 1963, a most significant year for America, for in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, bringing to a close his intention to issue interest free money. His silver certificates were later recalled. Who did this benefit? As an aside, you might mention at the conference that the British Commonwealth began dismantling around this time as well, as basically signaled in MacMillan’s “Winds of Change” speech.
To close your remarks, you might like to recite the Lord’s Prayer, after which you want to leave your audience with these thoughts from that prayer to comfort them with what is on the horizon, that we should be able to clearly understand, as Rand quoted “It is a glorious time in which to be living, at least for those who know and understand all this and are spiritually ready for the coming revelation of His presence.” So, when we pray those few lines, “Thy Kingdom Come”, we think “Come soon Jesus”, and those lines, “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, we think how wonderful it will be to live in the “pure and perfect kingdom where there will be no sin or sickness”.
It’s like the ending of a fairy tale, where we will live “happily ever after”.
