TEACHING

Prophecy and Babylon

Ladies and gentlemen, we just took over Babylon. The United States is now in the role of liberating a country known as Iraq. It used to be known as Mesopotamia, the area of the Tigris and Euphrates, then it was changed to Iraq, and now we're there. But it's the old Babylon.

Now there was a king of Babylon who probably was their greatest king -- about the year 586, 590 B.C. His name was Nebuchadnezzar, and he had a dream where he saw a statue. What he saw of that statue was a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and then he saw feet of iron mingled with miry clay. And when it was all over, a huge stone cut without hands came and smashed down the statue.

Nebuchadnezzar didn't exactly remember what the dream was, and he told his fortune tellers to give him the explanation -- "Tell me what the dream means," and nobody could do it. And finally, Daniel, the prophet of the Lord, prayed and said, "God, what is this all about?" So God showed him this statue and what it meant.

He said, first of all, the head of gold meant Nebuchadnezzar. The head of gold meant that this was absolute power. The second was diminished power. Silver wasn't as powerful as gold. And the Meads and the Persians were silver because those people were bound by law. Nebuchadnezzar could do anything he wanted to, and that's exactly what Saddam says: "What's law? It's what I wrote on a scrap of paper." But the Meads and the Persians, if they made a decree, they were bound by it.

Following that was the empire of Alexander The Great. And, you know, he had strictures as well. Not to mention the fact he had an army that rebelled against him when he went too far. Following them were the Romans who were iron. They were very strong, but, again, it was more tending toward democracy. And finally, the feet with clay. This would be a mingling of the power of Rome and the miry clay.

Now let's look on the map. Here is the current map of the Middle East as we now see it. . Here is Iran. Here is Iraq. Syria here. And that's what we know. Now, let's go back to Nebuchadnezzar and see what he saw on the map. This is the Babylonian Empire. You see that small amount right here -- this is the Babylonian Empire. It didn't go up into Persia. It didn't take in Turkey, but it did take in Syria. And over here, these were the lands that they conquered. And they went into Egypt and fought, but they weren't very successful.

Next, the Meads and the Persians came in, and they had a much larger empire. They extended all the way up to what we would now call Greece. They took in Turkey, and they took in Syria. They took in a much larger scope, but, again, a different empire.

The next that the king saw was the empire of Greece. Alexander went all the way to the Indus River, which is now in Pakistan. They stopped at the Indus, and that's where they got the name India, but they came back over the Kojak Pass, back into Iran. And there we understand that Alexander got in a drinking match, and he died at about the age of 33. But, his empire went all the way up into what is now Greece. It was right on up into Europe, and took in a much, much larger scope of territory, including Egypt. So that was the empire of the Grecians.

Beyond that is Rome, and the Roman Empire did not take in Iran, but it took in the entire Mediterranean, all the way through Spain up into England and over the entire Mediterranean world.

These were the great Gentile powers. And the Bible says that there are going to be 10 kings after that, and that they will be mingled with miry clay. So there's going to be the iron fist of Rome, but a democracy. This is the situation that we have facing us.

I want to show you a Scripture that Jesus Christ gave us in the book of Luke. Here's what He had to say:

"They will fall by the sword and be taken as prisoners to all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24)

The year 586 B.C. was the time that Nebuchadnezzar took over Jerusalem, and that condition lasted, ladies and gentlemen, until the Six Day War that took place not too long ago. When did it happen? 1967. So it's almost 2,500 years we're looking at. This is A.D. The Jews took over Jerusalem for the first time since Nebuchadnezzar took it.

Now what is the significance of all this? How does America fit into all of this? At this point of time, a clock began to tick. A generation is 40 years, and a clock began to tick that said there's 40 years from 1967. He said this is the generation of the end of the Gentiles. Now the Gentile powers went from Nebuchadnezzar through Persia, through Greece, through Rome.

How does the America fit in? Well, we are the heirs, in my opinion, of Rome. We have a lot of the Roman culture. Britain was taken over by Rome. Our people have come from Rome. So what has now happened? But look at this. I think it's very interesting. Babylon is the head. This is the first major empire, and it's gone all the way full-circle back to Babylon again. And who brings it back to Babylon? None other than the continuation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. We now control Babylon.

What are we going to do about it? Well, we were discussing the matter of the so-called road map. Now what's going to happen now that this circle has been closed? We're back in Babylon. And this is the fulfillment, in my opinion, of that extraordinary dream that he had of these empires. But who finally crushed all of the empires? It was the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was a rock cut without hands.

Now, next, what do we have? And I think this is very telling, in my opinion. There is something called a quartet -- a quartet. Who is the quartet? It is the UN. It is the EU, the European Union. The next is the former USSR, Russia, and it is the USA.

We're with pretty strange bedfellows here. The UN hates Israel. Most of the leadership is Arab. The EU has been opposed to Israel all along. Russia has been doing deals with Iran and Syria and shipping them weapons. And the US has been the only protector of Israel.

Let's look at the Scripture from the Book of the prophet Zechariah, which I think is extremely significant:

"For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. The city shall be taken, the houses rifled and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city." (Zechariah 14:2)

See that? "I will gather all nations -- all nations" -- what does it say? - "against Jerusalem." Now the thing about this road map that is so significant, it is vague about the status of Jerusalem, but it makes it clear that the Palestinians want half of it.

That's going to be the final battle. There is no battle of Armageddon, ladies and gentlemen. There is none. The Bible does not tell us there's a battle of Armageddon. The final battle is going to be Jerusalem. And all of the nations -- the UN, the EU ( the European Union), Russia and the USA -- the so-called quartet -- are going to be moving in power against the Jews to force them into an untenable peace.

Isn't it amazing that Jesus said Jerusalem will fall under the foot of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And we have just closed the circle on Nebuchadnezzar's dream? It's amazing, in my opinion, what's happened. And now, perhaps, voluntarily or reluctantly, we've just joined this bunch of thieves to go against the nation of Israel to frustrate the promise and the prophecy of Jesus Christ.

So what does Zechariah say is going to happen? What Zechariah says when this happens, "And all nations," he says, "the Lord will come and all of His angels, Holy Ones with Him, and they will fight for Jerusalem."

We're looking at some serious prophetic significance. Watch the year 2007, because that's 40 years after the Jews took over Jerusalem, but it's also 400 years after the first permanent English settlers started the United States of America.

I pray, I pray that we won't get crosswise with the prophecy of God. But it looks like we're heading down the so-called road map as hard as we can go, driven by the Arabs, driven by the Russians, driven by the Europeans, driven by the United Nations, all saying, "Let's put the squeeze on tiny, little Israel." And God, Himself, is going to fight for Israel.