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And if you look at Isaiah 13, look at verse 1, it says the burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amos, did see. So what we see here is, you know, in the previous chapters of Isaiah, I've been showing you how the southern kingdom has been concerned about the Assyrian empire and they did sort of come through the land of Judah, but then with God's help they were turned away and, you know, the kingdom of the southern kingdom was delivered. And what we saw here in chapter 13 is a brand new vision or a brand new prophecy of Isaiah. So we've looked at that topic for the last few weeks, but now we see that it's a completely different topic, the burden of Babylon. So, you know, when we talk about the, if you want to use the words the burden, if we were to use the southern kingdom of Judah as, you know, Isaiah preaching to them a burden, what was the burden of the southern kingdom? Well, initially it was the Assyrian empire and then eventually it would become the Babylonian empire. But what we see here is the introduction of the burden of Babylon. So once Babylon has had their time to shine, once they've conquered the lands, they've conquered many nations, then Babylon themselves will have a burden that would fall upon them and that Babylon was a new empire which was the Medo-Persian empire, if you know a bit of history. And so this is about that. Now, it's not just about that, though, because what you see here, and I explained to this to you many times when we were going through Isaiah, and I shared to you how Isaiah may many times overwhelm a reader because there's just so much depth and there's so many points of history that it's referring to. And so, you know, there are times when Isaiah is speaking of the northern kingdom in Assyria, sometimes he's talking about the southern kingdom of Judah and Assyria, or the southern kingdom with Babylon, and then he might be talking about the end times when we see that he's talking about the millennium. But now we're also talking about another time in history when Babylon would be overrun by the Medo-Persian empire. And not only that, but then in this same chapter, he uses Babylon of that day as a type, as a picture of the Babylon in the book of Revelation in future events to come. And so, in some ways, like, as I go through Isaiah carefully and study and prepare to do a sermon, I look at it and it seems very orderly, it makes a lot of sense, but I can understand, I had this experience when I would read through Isaiah the first few times, I just felt overwhelmed, just too much information, I don't know what's going on, I don't know what it's talking about, but again, tackling a book like Isaiah requires you to understand the New Testament. Like, if you can really grasp the New Testament and grasp the book of Revelation, you're going to have a better time understanding the book of Isaiah. Now, if you read through Isaiah and say, Pastor, I just can't grasp it, don't feel bad, and the example I've given before is, remember when Christ came the first time, like, they didn't have the New Testament writings just yet, okay, because they were written after Christ ascended to heaven, and before Christ ascended to heaven, the question was asked to Christ, you know, are you going to establish a kingdom now? And these were believers, these were people that trusted Christ, that were saved, and they were asking Christ, is your kingdom coming now? And Christ says, of course, it is not for you to know the day or the hour, you know, and so that kind of confusion that some of the early believers had is because they didn't have the writings and a lot of the New Testament to shine light on the scriptures of the Old Testament. So I hope that kind of makes sense, so as we go through this year, we are going to be bouncing around at different points of history, and even future events to come. But let's start there in verse number two, let's continue there in verse number two, I should say. It says, 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. So when it says lift up a banner upon the high mountain, the high mountain represents the Medes and the Persians, the Medo-Persian Empire. So God is preparing them to bring judgment on Babylon, okay, because it continues in verse number three, I have commanded, now this might trick you, this might confuse you, but it says here, I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. So when it says the sanctified ones, your mind probably automatically goes to believers, because believers have been sanctified. We're in the process of sanctification when it comes to our walk of the Lord, you know, we've been made holy by the righteous of Christ. But don't forget that the word sanctified simply means set apart. That's what it means, right? If you remove it just from the theological realm, it just means to be set apart. And so what God is saying here is that I'm setting apart the Medo-Persian Empire for them to become the burden of Babylon, for them to take over that kingdom and set themselves up as a new empire. Let's keep going there, verse number four, The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people, a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations, gathered together, the Medes and the Persians, they've come together to form one great empire. The Lord of hosts must serve the hosts of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land. So God says, look, they're coming from a far country, okay? But they're also, in a sense, coming even from the Lord, even coming from heaven, because they're God's handiwork, they're God's vehicle of anger and destruction and judgment that is going to bring upon the Babylon Empire. Verse number six. Now this is where it starts to become, you know, not so much questionable. I know what's happening here, but God now begins to use, you know, former Babylon as a type of the future Babylon to come, okay, that we read about in the book of Revelation. Because it says this in verse number six, Notice that it refers to the day of the Lord. Now, you may recall when we went through the book of Jeremiah, this was a couple of years ago now, with this church, the day of the Lord was mentioned a few times there, and many times, when you talk about the context of the current day of Judah, the day of the Lord for them was the destruction of Jerusalem. When the Babylonians would be able to come, not just besiege the city, but come through, destroy it, burn it with fire, that was a day of the Lord, a day of God's wrath upon that wicked seven kingdom of Judah. But we know that there is still a day of the Lord to come, because even, you know, the New Testament writers write about the day of the Lord, okay? And that day of the Lord is a day of God's wrath, and of course the full fulfillment or the full expression of His wrath will come in that future time after the rapture when God begins to pour out His wrath on the earth, okay? So this is what I want you to understand as you go through chapter 13. Yes, it's about current day Babylon for Isaiah and the people of Judah, but it's also a type, a picture of the Babylon of the future, okay? Now, let me show you this. Keep your finger there. Come with me to Revelation 14. Come with me to Revelation 14, please. Revelation 14 and verse number 6. Revelation 14, verse number 6. So again, as you turn there, back to Isaiah 13. How are you for the day of the Lord is at hand? Again, the day of the Lord was for Judah. It wasn't so much for Babylon, but we know that in the book of Revelation, Babylon, the future Babylon is destroyed during God's wrath which is the day of the Lord, okay? So in Revelation 14, verse number 6, Revelation 14, verse number 6, remember this is about future times now, okay? We're talking about future times that we've not yet experienced. We're still waiting for this to happen. Verse number 6 says, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And look at verse number 8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And so you can see here that Babylon is fallen, and this is a result of the wrath of her fornication. Babylon here represents a power base, and I believe Babylon here is a reference to a global power in the end times. Like Babylon has been throughout history, a global power, the might of the nations, whatever that might be, whether it was Babylon itself, or whether it was the Medo-Persian Empire, or whether it was the Grecian Empire, and the Alexander the Great, and even the Roman Empire, you know, whatever great empire is upon the earth at the specific time is a type, a picture, or a fulfillment of what Babylon is in the Book of Isaiah. And there are some that teach that Babylon, the future Babylon to come is Jerusalem, and I'm going to show you that as we go through this chapter, it cannot be Jerusalem. It makes no sense for mystery Babylon to be Jerusalem, and I'll show you in a moment why that is, okay? But if we come, what I wanted to show you there in the Book of Revelation is that God's wrath is going to fall upon Babylon. It's going to be destroyed, this final Babylon in future times. And what we saw in Isaiah 13 is that the Lord describes this whole process, this whole time of his wrath as a day of the Lord. And, you know, I can't unpackage this entire, you know, end times. I know as we keep going through this, some of this stuff is going to go over your head, but the end times is such a deep topic. It's so thorough. There's just so much detail that I just can't cover this. I'm hoping that you've got a decent grasp of the end times, so as I talk about certain times and certain events, you're like, oh, yeah, that happens during this time. It's difficult to be able to just go through it all right now, otherwise that's going to require an entire sermon to be able to better understand Isaiah 13. But what I mainly want you to notice is that God begins to use current-day Babylon for Isaiah as a type or a picture of future Babylon to come. So you might want to keep a finger in Revelation if you want. I mean, it's the last book of the Bible. It's not hard to get to. But we are going to come back there. Come now back with Isaiah 13. Come back with me to Isaiah 13. I want to show you something else here. Isaiah 13 in verse number 8. Isaiah 13 in verse number 8. Now, again, this is about Babylon, okay? It says in verse number 8. And they shall be afraid. So that's Babylon. The people that dwell in Babylon, they will 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. This is quite interesting. It's talking about the destruction of Babylon here will be as a woman going through pain like childbearing pain, going through labor pains. It's so excruciating, so painful for a woman to give birth. It's, you know, the destruction of Babylon is going to be of some level of, you know, of that pain that comes upon a woman. Now, when you think of that, pangs and sorrows, a woman travaileth, that should jog some of your memory, again, back to Jeremiah. And I want to show you just how God uses this language multiple times to describe his judgment, okay? So come with me to Isaiah chapter 30. Sorry, Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30, please. Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30, please, and verse number 6. Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse number 6. So again, a reminder, it's Babylon that's going to suffer like a woman that travaileth, okay? A woman that is in pain, all right? Now, in Jeremiah 30, verse number 6, this is not about, now, Babylon, this is about Judah. When they're prophesied, you know, God is prophesied of their destruction by Babylon, God says in Jeremiah chapter 30, verse number 6, Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child, wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it, it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. And so what we see, this was when the southern kingdom of Judah was overrun by Babylon, okay? And that was a time for them, as a woman in travail suffering, going through hardships, and God says that day is great, and that's the time of Jacob's trouble, when they were taken into captivity by the Babylonian empire. Now, that is a term, if you go through the book of Jeremiah, God uses that phrase, a woman in travail, again and again, or with pangs, the pangs, the pains, over and over again to describe Babylonians, Babylon's judgment on Judah, okay? But not only does God use that language for Judah, He uses it for other nations as well. You're there in Jeremiah, I want to show you Jeremiah 22, coming into Jeremiah 22, we've got a few references in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 22 verse number 23, Jeremiah 22 and verse number 23, Jeremiah 22 and verse number 23, the Bible reads, O inhabitants of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as a woman in travail. So you can see now, Lebanon is having the same labor pains, a woman in travail, because they too will be overrun by Babylon, okay? Come with me to Jeremiah 48, Jeremiah 48 verse number 41, Jeremiah 48 and verse number 41, Jeremiah 48 and verse number 41, Jeremiah 48, 41, the Bible reads, carry off is taken, and the strongholds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in, where? In Moab, at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. So Moab, or the Moabites, they too are going to suffer the conquest of Babylon. Okay, they're going to suffer that, and God again uses that description as a woman in her pangs or a woman in travail. Come with me to Jeremiah 49, Jeremiah 49 verse number 22, Jeremiah 49 and verse number 22, Jeremiah 49 and 22, the Bible reads, behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah, and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Eden be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. So now we're talking about the Edomites, they too are going to suffer under Babylon. And I'm showing you these things because now we need to turn to Jeremiah 50. Come with me to Jeremiah chapter 50 please and verse number 43, Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse number 43. And so throughout the book of Jeremiah we see, you know, not just Judah but all these other nations, Lebanon, you know, the Edomites, the Moabites, they're all going to be like a woman travail, a woman with her pangs, that suffering, that pain, that labour when Babylon comes and overruns these places. But then he says this in Jeremiah 50 verse 43, the king of Babylon have heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble. Anguish took hold of him, and pangs as a woman in travail. Now Babylon is going to suffer this pain. They're going to suffer these labour pains. And the king of Babylon, he himself is afraid because of eventually what would be King Cyrus and the Medo-Persian Empire coming through and taking over Babylon and Babylon eventually became part of that new kingdom of the Medo-Persian Empire. And so the reason I'm showing you all that is just to show you how God uses that language again and again and again for different nations when God is bringing their judgement upon them. But even Babylon, God uses Babylon to bring judgement on Judah but then God will decide now it's time for Babylon to face judgement and he chooses the Medo-Persian Empire to bring judgement upon them. Now again, there's a Babylon to come in the future. And God's going to bring judgement upon that Babylon too. We're going to have a look at that shortly. But come back with me to Isaiah 13. Isaiah 13. Isaiah 13. And look at the end of verse number 8. It says, Now again, we're going to look at this in a moment but when you read the book of Revelation that end times Babylon is destroyed by fire. The Bible says in one hour. This might very well be like a nuclear strike on the city of Babylon. Something where people just literally just start bursting into flames. And so God has given us this description all the way from Isaiah again using current day Babylon as a type, a picture of what's going to happen in the future. But if we continue then, verse number 9. Again, the day of the Lord being a reference there of the end times to come. Again, in conjunction with God's wrath and fierce anger. Now one of the hard things to preach through when you're preaching through the prophets of old, especially prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah is that we see the anger of the Lord on display again and again. God's wrath. And it's important that we study these books. Because there are people that think that God has no anger. Or they think anger is a sin. And you shouldn't get angry about things. But look, we see very clearly that God's got cruel wrath and fierce anger. Against wicked nations, against wicked people. People that have turned their backs against God. God has such an anger that sometimes in His righteous wisdom He decides it's time to destroy a nation. Or it's time to destroy a kingdom. And look, that's one thing. We look at God's anger sometimes from a high perspective of nations and kingdoms. But don't forget that God is angry the wicked every day the Bible says in the book of Psalms. We've all done wrong in the sight of God. And if you're just constantly told God loves you, God loves you, God loves you and you don't understand God's anger you're going to have no desire to ever get saved. Because when you understand that God is angry at the wicked every day that He's got a place of eternal torment torture and torment in hellfire for all eternity for those that have rejected Christ until you understand that and you understand, well, I might not be right with the Lord I haven't trusted on Jesus Christ I'm trusting on anything else I'm trusting on my good works I'm trusting on my church attendance I'm trusting on whatever it is that you think you're trusting on. You need to understand that God is angry at the wicked you can't be saved out of your own righteousness you need to put your trust on Jesus Christ. We saw last week that God is our salvation. It's His righteousness. It's our trust on Jesus Christ death, burial and resurrection that saves us. But it's important that we understand that God is an angry God because most churches aren't going to tell you that. And I'm not, I don't like oh man, I can't wait to come to Sydney on Thursday to tell my church about an angry God that's not really my desire I'd much rather preach a sermon that's going to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy at the end of the day My job as a pastor is to just show you this is what God's word says this is a Bible preaching church and we need to understand that God is a God of wrath and anger and His wrath burns for eternity in hell for those that reject Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Because look how it says at the end of verse number 9 and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Now aren't we all sinners? Aren't you glad that we got saved? We don't have to face God's wrath. Praise Jesus Christ because He faced God's wrath for us. He took our sins, He took God's punishment God's wrath upon Himself as our substitute and we go to heaven because of what Christ has done for us not what we've done. But it's important that you understand this word desolate, it's something that I've also brought to attention because I'm going through the book of Revelation and we can see that when God decides to destroy Babylon in verse number 9 it says to lay the land desolate. The word desolate means complete destruction complete emptiness there's nothing left. Now when we think of Babylon today does anyone know where Babylon is today? Like historical Babylon it's in Iraq. Does anyone live in Babylon brother? Used to. But Babylon today if you went to Babylon today if you travelled to Babylon it's empty. It's a wasteland. There's nothing there. No one lives there. It's empty. It's been completely wiped out. It's completely desolate. There have been attempts to rebuild certain things during Saddam Hussein's time he tried to rebuild Babylon but his projects failed for whatever reason but it's just complete ruins. And whatever might look nice they tried to rebuild it to some extent but it's still desolate and there's literally nobody there. But again this is a type, this is a picture of the Babylon of the end time. So come with me to Revelation 18 come back with me to Revelation 18, I want to show you this. Revelation 18 So again Babylon today as we know it is desolate. And now we're looking at the Babylon of the end times here in Revelation 18 Revelation 18 verse 17 Revelation 18 verse 17 tells us or gives us a description of how this end times Babylon is destroyed. In Revelation 18 verse 17 it says, for in one hour so great riches is come to naught and every ship master and all the company in ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning saying what city is like unto this great city. So you can see that Babylon was destroyed in how long? Within one hour. Completely wiped out. Look at verse 19 and they cast dust on their heads and cried weeping and wailing saying alas alas that great city wherein we're made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness. For in one hour is she made desolate. What does desolate mean again? Completely destroyed. Completely empty. Okay. Now this is why Babylon is not Jerusalem in the end times. Because shortly after this Christ comes back and rules where? In Jerusalem. Okay. So it's like as we keep going through Isaiah 13 you'll understand because as we get toward the end of Isaiah 13 God makes it very clear that nobody will ever live on Babylon again. Like it's a complete wasteland. It's never going to be inhabited ever again by a human being. And so if end times Babylon is Jerusalem well that makes no sense because days later Christ is ruling there at least within a month Christ is ruling there we already saw in previous chapters that there's going to be 12 tribes of Israel on that land that's where his kingdom's going to be so it makes no sense to say that this is Israel a place of desolation where nobody's ever going to reside on that ever again. So come back with me to Isaiah 13 verse number 10. Isaiah 13 verse number 10. And again verse number 10 just solidifies that we're talking of end times and present time and then end times and then present time and it's all kind of like this type this typology of what's to come because in verse number 10 it says for the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give her light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Now look could this be verse number 10 could this be a reference of current day Babylon of that time and could it be as a type where maybe Babylon's been burnt down maybe there's smoke in the air and it's clouded the vision of the stars and the sun you know yeah I guess that's possible okay but what we see in verse number 10 is very clear that these constellations these heavenly hosts are not giving their light like God has done a miracle and shut off the light in heaven the sun's not giving the light the moon's not giving its light the stars are not giving its light it's complete darkness and of course for those of you that know this is a topic that's referred to in the book of Revelation we're going to have a look at that in a moment let's continue in verse number 11 it says and this is again why I believe this is about the end times because it says and I will punish the world for their evil you see when God brought judgment on Babylon historically it was on that kingdom like it was on that place of the earth okay and the rest of the world you know if you want to live in that area you probably have no idea what's going on it's still a very localized kingdom even though it's the most powerful kingdom on the earth at the time but if you don't know about that like it's you're not affected but this Babylon when God punishes this Babylon the entire world's going to be punished for the evil of Babylon it says and the wicked for their iniquity and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible keep your finger there come back with me to Revelation and Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 12 Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 12 and I know you guys know these passages here but we spoke about how the stars of heaven will not give their light we spoke about how the sun will be darkened the moon will not cause her light to shine and we see this play out here in Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 12 and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became as blood and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth even as a fig tree cast off her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places remember before I keep reading remember it said in Isaiah 13 I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible look how the people respond in verse number 15 and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand man they've been brought low these what chief kings of the earth chief captains mighty men they can't stand before God's judgment before God's wrath they try to hide inside the earth protect us from God's wrath so their pride, they've been humbled in their arrogance they've been humbled in their pride and we can see that this takes place in the book of Revelation at the opening of the sixth seal where God literally turns off the sun the moon, the stars and back to Isaiah 13 verse number 12 Isaiah 13 verse number 12 As we keep going I hope you can see the challenge of studying the book of Isaiah Again, I don't think it's because I've been safe for a long time, I've read the Bible cover to cover so many times I don't even know I've lost count and I feel I know the end times pretty well I can look at Isaiah and I'm able to separate what is of that time what is still to come but if you're newer to the faith, you haven't read the Bible cover to cover, you're not really familiar with the historical aspects you're not really familiar with future events I can understand how Isaiah is a really tough book to go through it is tough because it just goes from one issue to another issue suddenly and that's what's beautiful about the Bible you might read it through once and you're like okay, I read through the Bible but next time you go through Isaiah and you've read Revelation you're going to better understand what God is speaking about in that book never get tired of reading the Bible cover to cover once you've read it cover to cover great, well done then decide okay, I've got to go through it a second time and then go through it a third time and then go through it a fourth time and I promise you, you'll always find something new it never ends it just doesn't end and there are things when I prepare to do a sermon, I'm like man, I didn't see that last time I didn't see that before and it's just God's word is just so deep it's so layered but what's amazing about God's word it's always consistent like there are no contradictions it's not like I read something about the end times in Isaiah and I can't find that in the book of Revelation it's all connected but again, the advantage of the book of Revelation it gives us the chronology it's the book of Revelation, God reveals the end times and so we can better understand the scriptures of old when they speak of these events look at verse number 12 the Bible says I will make man more precious than fine gold even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir now obviously gold is speaking of wealth and money and gold is rare it's very rare obviously when we think of the population today of the earth there's more people than there is gold if you want to put it that way if you got everybody together and you put I don't know if this is correct but I remember hearing somewhere that if you got all the gold on the earth and melted it down you'd be able to fill maybe like one Olympic swimming pool with all the gold on the earth once it's all been melted down gold is rare but what it's saying here is now that man is more precious than fine gold it's because if you understand the end times man has been wiped out like in the billions and the billions and billions and look you might work hard and labour hard for a paycheck today but when God is pouring out his wrath and your life is on the line you're not going to care about money like what's more precious than money at that point in time your life like your survival at this point man forget about money forget about saving up and having a big bank account and a good superannuation and all your investments it doesn't matter when God begins to pour out his wrath your life is more precious than anything you've accumulated on the earth verse 13 therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger and just a reminder we're not going to be here for that if we're that last generation of believers we've been raptured at the sixth seal when the sun and moon are darkened we also know that the Bible says lift up your heads for your redemption and so we know the coming of Christ will be there we are not appointed to God's wrath we're not going to be on the earth when God begins to pour out his wrath so this is not an issue for us but this is something for those that remain on the land that they're going to be so fearful of God's anger and they're going to try to do whatever they have to do in order to survive that time period now if you can the Bible just referenced there it said the earth shall remove out of her place therefore will I shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place and come with me now to Revelation 16 I believe this is what it's referring to here in the book of Revelation Revelation 16 verse 17 Revelation 16 verse 17 Revelation 16 17 we come toward the end of God pouring out his wrath on the earth and we have the seventh angel pouring out the seventh vial of God's wrath and it says in Revelation 16 17 Revelation 16 17 and the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done and there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great look at this and the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath so right at the end of God's wrath there's going to be such a powerful earthquake and the book of Isaiah says that the heavens are going to shake the idea that I get from this is that earth might even just be slightly altered in its orbit it's so powerful that it doesn't just affect the earth obviously the waves but even the heaven above it it's so great this earthquake where it mentions the cities of the nations fell can you imagine just looking at Sydney city and all of a sudden it just all collapses you know I remember 9-11 my dad woke me up one day when 9-11 happened, was that 2001? the twin towers in New York City and I'm just looking at it going what happened my dad said a plane crashed into one of the buildings and I was looking at that and I was like man that's amazing I kind of lost interest a little bit but I remember going back to the TV and I was just watching it collapse and I was thinking that's crazy and then shortly after the next building starts to collapse I'm like woah that was all over the news that gave me a bit of fear as a child but what about if all of Sydney a whole city just falls like 9-11 just out of a great earthquake just collapses and this is not just one city this is all the cities that are still left standing on the earth they're just falling apart that's how great the earthquake of the Lord will be and it also says there we saw that the great Babylon came in remembrance of God God says now I'm going to wipe out that city I'm going to wipe out that end times Babylon okay come back with me to Isaiah 13-14 Isaiah 13 verse number 14 now as I look at these verses I believe you can apply them to current Babylon in Isaiah's day as well as end times Babylon but verse number 14 says and it shall be as a chaste row so a row is a deer Babylon is like there's a predator after Babylon and that predator of course is the Medo-Persian empire but end times Babylon also has a predator after it which I'll show you in a moment it says and as a sheep that no man taketh up they shall every man turn to his own people and flee everyone into his own land you know what that last part reminds me of? and flee everyone into his own land so as the news of the new empire coming through and Babylon's being overrun it's saying that the people of the foreign nations they're going to try to flee and go back to their homeland this reminds me a lot of the COVID plandemic whatever you want to call it like when borders started to shut down and there were restrictions and people were fearful of catching the virus didn't pretty much everyone leave? like we had no migrants no immigration for a long time like if you were visiting a nation you were very quickly trying to get on a flight back to your homeland like my parents they were in Chile when things started to close down in Australia and my parents thankfully with God's will they were able to get the last flight out of Chile back to Australia but you know there was this mass migration back to everyone's homeland where they felt comfortable and safe during a time of uncertainty and distress and so I think that's what's taking place as well as they're saying man Babylon's being overrun they're beginning to flee out of the city now I don't know how much time this end times Babylon people are going to have to flee because it gets destroyed in one hour like you know I don't know how much time people truly have to get out of there and so this might be just a reference to current day but I can also see some similarities with the end times Babylon as well and the people that are fleeing it says in verse 15 everyone that is found shall be thrust through and everyone that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword when it says everyone that is joined unto them everyone that is joined unto the king of Babylon or the Babylon empire so as the Medes and the Persians come through essentially people are beginning to surrender but if people try to stand up and fight and go no we're going to fight for Babylon they're going to be wiped out and again what we see as well in the end times there is a predator seeking to destroy Babylon and like God used the Medo-Persian empire to destroy Babylon God will use a power base in the end times to destroy Babylon as well which I'll show you in a moment it says in verse 16 their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes their houses shall be spoiled and their wives ravished okay so I mean I'm not going to expand that any further than what it says but obviously it's going to be a disaster for the people on that land as they're being overrun overrun by the Medo-Persian empire now let me show you Revelation 17 keep your finger there, come with me to Revelation 17 verse number 12 what I'm going to show you here I'm pretty sure I've taught it before here at Blessed Up Atlas Church but in the conversations that I have with my brother sisters and the Lord about the end times I feel like this is one bit of information that people somehow miss in the book of Revelation so Revelation 17 verse number 12 Revelation 17 verse number 12 now it says here in verse number 12 and the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings one hour with the beast that beast is the antichrist often referred to as the antichrist so you see that these ten kings they're working together with the antichrist they're given power they're one power base working together it says in verse number 13 these have one mind so they're working together and shall give their power and strength unto the beast so these ten kings whatever power they've got over the nations they say okay to the antichrist we're giving them all over to you you command us, you instruct us we're of one mind we're happy to be used by you drop down to verse number 16 it says and the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore if you know the book of Revelation chapter 17 the whore is Babylon and it shall make her desolate and naked this is the word desolate again and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire look at this verse number 17 have put in their hearts to fulfil his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled and the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth notice how God used the Persian empire to destroy Babylon what's going to happen in the end times? God's going to use the antichrist and his ten kings and his power to destroy Babylon they're going to burn Babylon with fire the antichrist nukes Babylon whatever weapon he uses completely wipes Babylon as the power base why would he do that? I just personally believe he wants full power he wants to be the single power on the earth he's used Babylon Babylon is described as a great whore he's used Babylon for his purposes but he's done with Babylon now he wants no one to take any credit for his advancement and power but look, at the end of the day, the antichrist never gets what he wants he never really achieves what he wants because God begins to just wipe out God's wrath is fallen on the earth and then Christ comes and sets up his millennial kingdom and the armies of the antichrist are going to be completely wiped out like on the white horse even though God utilizes the antichrist to fill his judgment of Babylon the antichrist never gets really he never gets what he wants which is good news but I wanted to show you that because some people conflate Babylon with the antichrist but they're different power bases it's a whore that he uses but then he chooses to destroy her because he wants to be the power on the earth in that time but back to historic Babylon come with me back to Isaiah 13 verse 17 Isaiah 13 verse 17 back to historic Babylon it says, behold I will stir up the mead against them which shall not regard silver and as for gold they shall not delight in it so it tells me here that it seems like the Babylonians try to appease the meads and the Persians with gold and silver let us go free don't overrun us, we'll give you our gold we'll give you our riches but it's not what they want, they want power verse 18 their bows shall also dash the young men to pieces and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb their eyes shall not spare children so as the meads come through destroying all things they don't care if a woman's pregnant they don't care if they see the little kids they're just wiping out the people of the land which is really, really sad verse 19 and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms the beauty of the Chaldees, Excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah so think of Sodom and Gomorrah God destroyed it with fire and brimstone from heaven now some people believe they found Sodom today, and it's just completely wiped out and you find sofa balls on the land that can still be burnt today taken and burnt it may very well be Sodom again, what do we notice? it's completely wiped out, completely desolate nobody's ever going to live there ever again and same thing with historical modern day Babylon no one's living there there's no city there's no community there today that it happens to land but of course when Babylon is destroyed in the end times, once again it's going to be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah never to be utilized ever again so again this is why future Babylon cannot be Israel cannot be Jerusalem because we know that Christ is going to rule from Jerusalem for that thousand years if we continue there in verse 19 and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms I read that, sorry verse 120 it shall never be inhabited it shall never be inhabited neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there neither shall the shepherds make their fold there it's not even going to be used for sheep it's just completely destroyed again, if this is a type of end times Babylon you can see that it can't be Jerusalem because it says generation after generation will not dwell in that city but if you know the scriptures it makes no sense because Christ is ruling from Jerusalem so it cannot be Jerusalem verse number 21 but wild beasts of the desert shall lie there and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures and owls shall dwell there and satires shall dance there I believe that's just wild goats and so it's just a place of wild animals can come through verse number 22 the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses and dragons that's just reptiles in their pleasant palaces and her time is near to come and her days shall not be prolonged now can you see very clearly from the end of the last verses of chapter 13 it says it will never be inhabited ever again like I hope you can see that it's uninhabited for a period but then it will get re-inhabited like once again can we read quickly to Isaiah 12 Isaiah 12 and you may recall in Isaiah 12 this was about the millennial reign of Christ and it says in Isaiah 12 verse number 4 and in that day shall you say praise the Lord call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted sing unto the Lord for he has done excellent things this is known in all the earth the fact that again, this is something that the whole earth is going to be doing cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee I showed you how that's a reference to the millennial reign of Christ that Christ is going to be ruling from Zion or from Jerusalem that he is going to be in the midst Christ is going to be in the midst of that city that's where he's going to be ruling for that thousand years so again, can Babylon be Jerusalem? I just can't see it just by those scriptures God used the word desolate it makes it so clear that generation after generation after generation will not abide in those places again that would make no sense if like a month later Christ is ruling from there and people are praising God because he's in Zion and again, this isn't a reference to heaven it's not a reference to the new heavens and the new earth it was clearly a reference to the millennial reign of Jesus Christ you may recall that alright, before we end Isaiah 13 what's the 13th book of the New Testament? 1 Chronicles so let me show you some interesting similarities or opposites between 1 Chronicles and Isaiah 13 so come with me keep your finger there in Isaiah 13 come with me to 1 Chronicles 23 1 Chronicles 29 1 Chronicles 29 is King David telling the nation he's gathered gold and silver and resources to build the temple of God to build the house of God but it would not be him that builds it it would be Solomon that builds it and this is said here in 1 Chronicles 29 verse 3 Moreover because I have set my affection to the house of my God I have of mine own proper good of gold and silver which I have given to the house of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house so it says look I've got more than we need to build the house of God like David's saying look this money's coming out of my own pocket even I want us to build this great temple and look what it says in verse number 4 even three thousand talents of gold of the gold of Ophir does that sound familiar? the seven thousand talents of refined silver to overlay the walls of the houses withal look when we read this what's really interesting when we have a nation praising God gold has value right? he said look this is going to be used to serve in the house of the Lord and so look this gold of Ophir is going for a godly purpose it's got value but what do we see? when people have turned against the Lord what do we read in verse number 13 of Isaiah 13 it says therefore I shake the heavens which I will remove out of your place and the wrath of the Lord I'm reading the wrong passage sorry verse number 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir and so what we saw there the gold of Ophir is just worthless like in the sight of man when God is pouring out his wrath when there's a wicked nation when there's a wicked world that's being judged by God that gold has no value but when we see that a people or a nation love the Lord and want to serve him in the house of the Lord that God is able to make that same gold of value the same gold to be productive for his purposes and so what we're seeing with 1 Chronicles and Isaiah 13 is like the opposite it's like either we serve God and God will enrich what we've been given our possessions and our wealth or if we turn our backs against God our wealth and possessions just mean nothing like there's no point you know of having such things come with me to 1 Chronicles 16 now 1 Chronicles 16 what did we see about the day of the Lord I'll quickly read to you back from Isaiah 13 God says therefore I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of a place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger God says that the earth shall remove out of a place he will shake the heavens again speaking about a people who have turned away from the Lord God prononates wrath there's no stability there's only destruction but look at 1 Chronicles 16 29 give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come before him worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth the world also shall be stable and be not moved what else did we learn man when you're praising the Lord you're serving him right he says look I'm going to give you stability I'm going to give in fact the whole earth stability it will not be moved now apply that for your own personal life look there are we go through all kinds of tribulations and difficulties and stresses in life but what's going to keep you unmovable is if you're praising the Lord at all times what do we learn that if you turn from the Lord if you walk in ways of darkness if you don't walk in his ways if you live a filthy disgusting life that does not please the Lord your world is going to be turned upside down God can shake the very foundations of your world as it were and you won't have the stability you're not going to have the joy of the Lord in your life so what we see when we compare Isaiah 13 and 1 Chronicles like the same topics but in opposite ways like you know either we praise the Lord and he can use your wealth and he can bless your income and he can keep you stable in life even when you're facing difficulties or he can just walk against the Lord and like if you've been saved a long time you know you've experienced this well you've not been walking in God's ways and things have turned upside down in your life and like you know you just don't have enough to pay the bills you don't have enough to make ends meet like it just seems like there's nothing that I'm doing that's succeeding it's because you're not walking in the ways of the Lord look you want stability in life you need to just do what God says look you're not going to face the wrath of Babylon or the end times so we're going to be raptured before all that but we see the nature of God through this we can see God's blessings that comes by blessing the Lord serving him you know prioritizing his house like King David wanted to prioritize the house of the Lord, build us a temple hey we need to prioritize, bless it up Baptist Church you know what, you prioritize God's house you prioritize his word you prioritize his ways and his fellowship God's going to give you stability he's going to bless you, your possessions not for selfish reasons but he's going to bless your possessions so you can be a blessing to others you can be a blessing to God's house I hope that's something I can just show you we can see how God was so angry at Babylon but we don't want God's anger to fall upon us we're saved, praise God but we know full well that if we turn against him that he will be angry toward us we know he is long suffering but his chastisement does fall upon us and boy I don't want that anymore in my life I've had his chastisement in my life I don't want that over and over and over again let me just stay walking with you Lord at all times so I just would not be moved that I would be productive for your service and use okay let's pray