Restoration Reverberations

by Chris Josephson

“I will restore your judges… and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The City of Righteousness, The Faithful City” (Isaiah 1:26).

The Great European Renaissance marked the transition from the Medieval Age into our Modern Age (1) culturally in literature, art, etc., and (2) the Great Industrial Revolution. But the spiritual renaissance limps and lags far behind. However, restoration of truths lost during the Dark Ages has been transpiring and is now beginning to spiral. This restoration process will supersede all others, as the Father in heaven answers the petition His Son taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.”

The restoration is vital because the God of Israel has given Ten Easy Lessons for Living Life on this planet and mankind has flunked everyone. How did it happen? Where did it begin? What is the root cause and source of this “drop out”?

Front page news today involves Iraq and Iran – the area where the kingdom of Babylon originated. How does this figure with Biblical prophecy?

Actually, the first murderer Cain, went to that region (Gen. 4:16). It is the birthplace of idolatry and the nesting area of evil and falsehood in this world. Some think it is the location of the Garden of Eden, but it has become the symbol of mankind’s heart rebellion and transgression against God’s Love Laws for Living.

Even before Sinai, God’s Laws were known and rejected. At Sinai, they were codified, written down systematically. This revelation came to a people newly delivered from bondage, who also failed and turned again toward Babylon in idolatrous worship. However, Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, after the Babylonian captivity, was cured of idolatrous worship. As a result they have maintained the ­Torah, the Prophets and the poetic books of the Bible for all following generations – reaching in greatest measure to us today and made possible by the printing press and modern technology. Thank you, ­Judah!

Replacement Theology – Plus

Babylon is the offspring of the Tower of Babel. “Babel” (babble) still describes superfluous words, so wearisome to our ears. It means “confusion” caused by egotistic mankind seeking to pull God down to our level and replace Him. Babel represents the effort, in every age, to build a “tower” and bring the Eternal down to our size, and take over His throne.

What an exercise in futility!

In light of the above, can we figure out why and where in the world reverberations of restoration vibrate today? What, in the providence of God, is He saying to us by placing that area – Iraq and Iran – on center stage in the news?

Babylon is the mother of a system that has contaminated the whole world. This evil must be purged for God’s Love Laws to reign throughout the world. Evil forces don’t want to give up and they fight with the culture of death – which is the earmark of evil. But look now for the fulfillment of Isaiah 47:5, “Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.” (Is it significant that Saddam Hussein was found in the darkness of a hole in the ground?)

Then and Now

Space forbids quoting all related Scripture passages in answer to the question, “Weren’t these fulfilled when the Babylon that existed at that time, fell?” Not entirely, because they reach far beyond that time. In many passages in Bible prophecy, we read, “in that day and at that time….” – then follows predictions that have not yet occurred.

The same week I am writing these lines, I heard an interview on CBS with a doctor who had served with our troops in Iraq. He had joined a battalion of our troops and traveled with his medical equipment strapped to his body. He spoke of the evil influence around them, personified in the kidnappings and beheadings of the kidnapped victims. This caused the soldiers, in whose unit he was traveling, to make a pact with each other that if they found themselves in a situation that was likely to result in being taken, they would reserve their last bullets for each other!

He also mentioned “ghosts” in prison compounds where unmerciful torturing had taken place at the hands of Saddam Hussein’s regime. This gives insight into the evil spirits residing there as expressed in The Revelation 18:2, “…the hold of every foul spirit….” This describes an evil spirit stronghold that has not yet come down. It has had influence on our own forces in charge of POW’s. Not being trained for spiritual warfare, without personal knowledge of God’s power, and living a self-serving life style, they are ‘taken captive at his [Satan’s] will’ (II Timothy 2:26, read the context). They fall victim to these hellish spirits ­fueled by hatred that torment helpless victims. We need reminding, however, that this does not apply to the majority of our troops. In the media, negative stories sell the best!

Babylon’s Fall

“Babylon the great has fallen”, declared the angel to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. The Revelation in chapters 17 and 18 parallels with Jeremiah 50 & 51; Isaiah 47 and others.

Now, has God used our nation to begin this judgment? The Book of Daniel tells us that the Almighty puts up heads of nations and He puts them down (Dan. 4:17 – sometimes even “the basest of men”). George W. Bush was not put in by a landslide, but in the light of this Scripture, he was divinely “put up”. He was at the helm of the nation when the towers fell, and continues now after the 2004 elections.

The majority of our citizens felt we were justified in going into Iraq to bring down the evil dictator. Many of us well remember World War II, and the millions who died because our nation delayed to get involved. There is no need to remind the readers of these pages that six million of God’s chosen people perished at the hands of the Nazi regime. And now the self-acclaimed Nebuchadnezzar was on the doorstep of the newly formed nation of Israel. He had already lobbed missiles on her cities during Desert Storm and was positioning himself to strike again. Israel is always number one on the hate list. Here’s one of The Great Shepherd of Israel’s promises: “I will make a cure for you, and I will heal you from your wounds ¾ the word of HaShem; for they called you, ‘Discarded!’ [saying] ‘She is Zion ¾ no one cares about her!’ ” (Jeremiah 30:17, Stone’s Edition).

Although it seems the Lord has used our nation to begin judgment on Babylon, it is far too big a job for our nation or any combination of nations. The final and actual victory will have to be, “Not by [military] might, nor by [political] power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 4:6).

Jeremiah says of Babylon, “O thou that dwells upon many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, and the measure of your covetousness” (Jer. 51:13).

Why? Verse 5, “For Israel [the translator supplied “has” and “been” in italics because it isn’t in the original, but in Hebrew the present tense verb is understood, therefore it should read “is”] not forsaken, nor Judah of his God [promise to both houses] of the LORD [that powerful Name] of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.”

The Book of The Revelation is full of symbolic pictures of what the prophets had already said. Its types and shadows are not to be taken literally – but judgment of evil, personified in Babylon, is graphic!

“Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.” This is Jeremiah 50:39-40 and has not been completely fulfilled. People are dwelling there and it is not yet as Sodom [which means “burning”] and Gomorrah [meaning “submersion”] !!

So What’s Ahead?

In this day and age of Sodomy’s revival, the above quote takes on new meaning. To see how evil will be destroyed, read the account of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. Their own sin was the cause, for it was contaminating the whole, then, world.

How was Abraham involved? He interceded for his nephew to be spared. How now is the seed of Abraham involved? Let us pray for our relatives of the two houses of Israel who are in that region.

Our president was right in desiring to bring down the evil dictator, but he did not realize the evil stronghold of the area. It seems to me that Jeremiah describes our U.S. efforts and tells what we should do about it:

“We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her [Will we have to pull out?] and let us go every one into his own country: [Why?] for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies” (Jer. 50:9). And in verse 6 of the same chapter: “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: [Again the question “Why?” is answered – So you will] not be cut off in her iniquity….” – not safe to be there when these prophecies come to pass.

Again the companion account in The Revelation: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues….” Going on to say that the cup which she has given to others will reverberate to her double (chapter 18:4, etc.).

Beyond Babylon

Recall that the term “Babylon” represents evil throughout the world. At the beginning of this discussion we mentioned Ten Easy Lessons for Life. The 10th and final lesson is the Capstone. “Thou shalt not covet.” And what did Jeremiah say regarding Babylon? “…thine end is come and the measure of thy covetousness.”

This lesson reaches far beyond the geographical area of Babylon. Babylonian doctrine is interlaced in both Christianity and Judaism – in both houses! The call of Abraham out of the culture of death is the call upon us today. Are we Abraham’s children? If so, then let us do as he did. 

The root of the word “Hebrew” in Hebrew means to cross over. That’s what Abraham did at age 75. He came out of Babylon and crossed over the Euphrates River to “the Land I [HaShem] will show you.” Do you call yourself a child of Abraham? Then, come out of Babylonian traditions and idolatry and cross over to “The Promised Land” of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual freedom. Jeremiah tells us that at this time we are to “let Jerusalem come into our mind” (51:50) and “declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God” (51:10).

Will you come with us and other believers who are seeking out “old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16)? Learn how you can be a “repairer of the breach [and a] restorer of paths to dwell in” (Isaiah 58:12). -