Now there's another theory out there that says, you know, well, Jerusalem, they'll say
the new Babylon, the new sort of capital city of this system, the new geographic location
would be Jerusalem.
And when you look at scriptures on Babylon in Revelation, they'll say that's Jerusalem.
You look at Revelation 17, they'll identify that as Jerusalem.
When you look at Revelation 18, they'll identify that as Jerusalem.
Well, let's test that with scripture and see if that theory holds up, okay?
First of all, number one, it can't be Jerusalem because if Jerusalem were destroyed, no merchants
would be saying what they said there, "Oh, nobody's going to buy our stuff anymore."
They'd just be like, "All right, flip the boat in reverse and we're heading for the
US."
You know, any shipments that were going into Jerusalem.
It's not like Jerusalem is just this great consumer of all these goods, all this merchandise
where when they go under, it's like, "What do we do with all this stuff?"
Okay, that's number one.
But number two is that we already saw Babylon defined as Rome in Daniel, okay?
Because they'll try to say, "Oh, well, Jerusalem's on seven hills," kind of.
But here's the thing about that though, Rome was clearly described in Daniel.
So we're not moving the goalpost here.
In Daniel, he said it's going to be these kingdoms and that when Christ came, this global
kingdom would be ruling, which is the Roman Empire, the iron empire.
And so clearly if it's, if it's Rome and Daniel, it's going to still be Rome in the book of
revelation from John's perspective, living at that time.
And if the torch is passed from Babylon to the Medes and Persians, that makes sense.
Why?
Both globalist empires, uh, you know, going to the Greeks, the Romans, the Catholics,
and then to the United States, it all makes sense.
They all are congruous one with another, whereas Jerusalem would not fit that bill.
Jerusalem is not the capital city of any world empire.
You say, well, yeah, but the Jews are controlling things and behind the scenes, but wait a minute.
They're not doing it from Jerusalem.
You see the Jews today reside in New York more than in Jerusalem.
If you look at the population of Jews in the world today, there are about 15 million Jews
today, so-called Jews, about seven, seven million of them live in the U S and about seven
million of them live in Israel.
There are just as many or even slightly more living in the U S than there are living in
the nation of Israel today and then just a measly one million scattered throughout the
whole rest of the world combined to like seven million here, seven million in Israel and then
one million everywhere else.
You know, these are approximate numbers.
I'm simplifying it for the sake of the sermon, but honestly, there are just as many Jews
here and you know, whenever you run into Jews, you notice how a lot of them have a New York
accent.
Why?
That's the center of financial power.
The Jews predominantly live in Los Angeles, Hollywood and New York, Wall Street.
That's just a fact.
So that's another reason why Jerusalem does not fit the bill.
But here's a major reason.
Go back to Jeremiah chapter 51, Jeremiah chapter 51 is a prophecy about the physical destruction
of the original Babylon, literal Babylon, the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylon
of Belshazzar, the literal city being destroyed.
Look what the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 51, beginning in verse number 60, "So Jeremiah
wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are
written against Babylon.
And Jeremiah said to Saraiah, 'When thou comest to Babylon and shalt see and shalt read all
these words, then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to cut
it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate
forever. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt
bind a stone to it and cast it in the midst of Euphrates. And thou shalt say, Thus shall
Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall
be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. So get the picture here. Saraiah the scribe
is sent by Jeremiah with the book of Jeremiah to read it in Babylon, to read it to the Babylonians,
to warn them. And Saraiah is told to read the warning, and to tell them of the evil
that God's going to bring upon them. Then as soon as he's done reading, he takes the
book that he's reading, he ties it to a great stone and throws it in the river, and they
say, "Wait, I wanted to read that one more time." Nope. It goes into the river and he
says, "Thus shall Babylon sink." And what did he say? It's never going to be inhabited.
It's never going to be a nation again. It's never coming back. Does everybody get that?
Now go to Revelation 18 with that in mind and we'll see the spiritual Babylon in Revelation
18 and see if you can find the similarity here. Look at Revelation 18 verse 21, "And
a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone," sound familiar, "and cast it into
the sea saying, 'Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and
shall be found no more at all.'" Let me ask you this. Could that really be said of Jerusalem?
That Jerusalem's going to be destroyed and found no more at all? No one's going to inhabit
it ever again? Absolutely not, because Jesus Christ is going to reign from Jerusalem. So
for people to say, "Oh, Babylon in Revelation 18, that's Jerusalem," doesn't fit, because
of the fact that Jerusalem is going to be inhabited and reigned from for a thousand
years. Now, some people say, "Oh, that's the New Jerusalem." But remember, the New Jerusalem
descends down from God after the millennium. That's Revelation 21. That's a thousand years
later, okay? So to sit there and say, "Oh, Jerusalem's going to be wiped out and never
lived in again," you know, that would not be accurate of Jerusalem. But wait a minute,
whoever Babylon is, that's true of them. You know what I mean? So let's say, okay, United
States fits the bill. That's the seat of global power. That's the One World New World Order
headquarters. The United States, the tip of the spear of this thing, and they're the ones
who buy up all the merchandise, then it would be that when God destroys the United States
someday that no one would ever live in it again.
That's what the Bible is saying here, but it would be like Babylon in that regard.
Here's another reason.
Go to Luke chapter 21.
The other reason why Babylon cannot be the city of Jerusalem is that the city of Jerusalem
is judged actually at the midpoint of the seven years.
At the midpoint, at the abomination of desolation, God brings judgment upon Jerusalem.
So it wouldn't really make sense for God to bring judgment on Jerusalem at the midpoint.
And then at the very end of the week for him to say, oh, then, then Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give under the cup of the wine of the fiercest of his wrath.
If the cup of the fiercest of the wrath had already been given halfway through the week,
see what I'm saying?
Well, if you don't see, look down at the Bible and see Luke chapter 21 lays it out here beginning
in verse 20.
This is the famous passage that we know is the Olivet Discourse.
Usually we read it from Matthew 24, just because we've all read Matthew a million times because
we, you know, I'm going to read the New Testament.
We started Matthew and then, you know, a lot of people, that's as far as they get.
So Matthew is the book that's the most familiar to the most people.
But the same thing is found in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 with just subtle differences
where we can compare the three and get a full picture.
But those of you who know Matthew 24 well, this will make perfect sense to you.
Look down at your Bible in verse 20, "When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies,
then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst
thereof depart out of it.
And let not them that are in the countries enter therein too."
Now if you know Matthew 24 real well, the words that you're thinking in your mind are,
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world
this time, known or ever shall be," right?
Because these words are found in Matthew 24 at that point in the story, aren't they?
"Hey, then let them which be in Judea flee in the mountains."
He says next here, and this is a key verse, verse 22, "For these be the days of vengeance
when all things which are written may be fulfilled."
Now that wouldn't really make a lot of sense if the major judgment on Jerusalem's not coming
for another three and a half years.
Wouldn't really make sense to say, "Well, these are the days of vengeance when all things
are being fulfilled."
Now, let's keep reading.
It says, "But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those
days for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people."
He's talking about upon the Jewish people because he says upon this people there's going
to be God's wrath on them.
And by the way, the Jewish people are not under the blessing of the Lord.
Why?
Because the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter two that we also have suffered like
things of our own countrymen even as they have of the Jews who both killed the Lord
Jesus.
Get this, the Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and persecuted
us and they please not God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the
Gentiles that they might be saved for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
The wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
And here it says there shall be great wrath on this people, meaning the Jewish people.
Wrath upon them.
It's talking about the physical Jews according to the flesh, Israel after the flesh, not
spiritual Israel, those who are in Christ.
But the Bible says here, wrath upon this people, verse 24, and they shall fall by the edge
of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down to the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
We have that in Revelation 11.
And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth
distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing
them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the
powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a
cloud with power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look
up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.
So let me ask you this, is Jerusalem getting what's coming to it at the midpoint before
the rapture or way after the rapture at the very end?
It's clearly at the midpoint and guess when Babylon gets what's coming to it at the very
end?
We're talking around the time of the seventh vial being poured out, totally different time.
So it wouldn't really make any sense for God to make a big deal about Jerusalem being punished.
These are the days of vengeance.
This is when everything's being fulfilled at the midpoint if that was not the main event.
That is the main event for the judgment of Jerusalem.
Okay, Babylon's destruction comes later.
He says it as an afterthought at the very end of God pouring out his wrath.
This is the very beginning of God pouring out his wrath.
So let's go back, if you would, with that in mind, to Revelation chapter number one.
Revelation chapter number one.
So again, just a quick review.
We've got the New World Order.
We started out by defining it.
What is the New World Order?
Well, it's one world system, okay?
It's Babel.
That's where it started.
It's Babylon.
It's all these world empires that led up to what we have today, a world empire where the
United States and the United Nations are attempting to bring the whole world under that subjection.
And the whole world will one day be fully united under the Antichrist when those ten
leaders, that G10 summit, you know, of ten kings, put him in power.
But who is Babylon today in 2015?
Well, it's not Rome, Italy.
It certainly isn't Babylon, a city that has ceased to exist.
It's not Jerusalem.
I don't see Jerusalem ruling the world.
I see the United States with military bases and 153 nations, you know.
And so we see the seat of globalist power.
And some people get really hung up on, well, but it's a city.
No, no, symbolically, it's the city of Babylon, not literally the city of Babylon, symbolic.
So don't get too hung up on, well, it's got to be a city.
Look, if you want to pick a city, pick New York City, but it's the United States in general
that is Babylon today.
And we could go through Jeremiah 50 and 51 and Revelation 18 and see other similarities
and other evidence to point to the United States, but it can't be Jerusalem.
That doesn't fit the narrative in Daniel.
It can't be Jerusalem because they're judged at the midpoint.
It can't be Jerusalem because they don't buy all the merchandise.
It can't be Jerusalem because Babylon is going to cease to exist.
Well, Jerusalem can't cease to exist because that's where Jesus is going to reign from.
That's where the 12 disciples are going to be reigning from and judging the 12 tribes
of Israel during the millennial reign of Christ, a thousand years before the new Jerusalem
comes down.
Yeah, but Jews run everything.
Yeah, but they're not running it from Jerusalem.
They're running it from the United States, they're running it from New York.
run it. They've infiltrated the financial institutions, the government, et cetera, et cetera.