Babylon's Responsibility and Failure--Part 2

Israel's first captivity to the king of Mesopotamia in Judges 3:8 was the beginning of an eight-year captivity as well as a long-term 8 x 414 year type of Babylonian captivity on a deeper level.

In this long-term cycle, Babylon was given authority in the earth, but failed in its corresponding responsibility to bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom. Hence, after 2 x 414 years, it fell to the Medes and Persians in 537 B.C. Babylon's final 70-year ascendancy (607-537 B.C.) was also prophesied by Jeremiah. The two cycles overlay upon each other.

But these covered only the first TWO cycles of 414 years. The next SIX cycles would end in 1948, the year of (1) the Latter Rain Movement, which began Feb. 14, 1948; and (2) the formation of the Israeli state on May 14, 1948.

Time cycles give us prophetic links between dates which explain the meaning and purpose of the entire situation. It also involves the idea of cause and effect.

Babylon's long-term ascendancy should have run its course in 1948, according to this long-term cycle from Israel's first captivity in Judges 3:8. However, it is evident that it did not end in 1948. Nor could it end at that time, because of another cycle of Mystery Babylon that began with the Federal Reserve Act passed in 1913 and signed into law in February, 1914.

By this modern (shorter term) Babylonian captivity cycle, Babylon's 70 years should have been completed by December 1983, but because of still more factors, the Hezekiah Factor kicked in, delaying everything for another 10 years to 1993. That is when we were led to conduct our Jubilee Prayer Campaign to begin the 13-year "Jericho March" to overthrow Jericho-Babylon.

I wish prophecy were simple, but unfortunately, it is complex, because the mind of God is complex. He has many stories going on at the same time, and all must be correlated in order to understand the big picture.

The fact that the Jubilee Prayer Campaign began on Nov. 21, 1993 and phase one ended on Nov. 29, 1993 shows its connection to the Israeli state. It was 46 years earlier (1947) that the Palestinian Resolution was submitted to the United Nations on Nov. 21, 1947, and passed on Nov. 29. That gave the Israeli state 46 years in which to build their "temple" (John 2:20). In other words, by the pattern of Herod's temple that took 46 years to complete, so also the Israeli state was given 46 years to build their spiritual temple and see if it would bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom.

Of course, they failed to do so, because Herod's Temple was a pattern of a building with no Ark of the Covenant in its Most Holy Place. Herod, too, being half-Judahite and half-Edomite, was a prophetic representation of the modern Israeli state, as I showed in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright. This fleshly mixture makes it impossible for the Israeli state to bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom.

But let us focus now on the time from 1947-1948. As I wrote earlier, this completed the full 8 x 414 years of Babylon's ascendancy and responsibility to bring forth the Kingdom--at least from the standpoint of this particular theme. What happened in 1948? Why did Babylon not fall?

Well, in one sense, Babylon DID fall in 1947-1948. It fell to the Israeli state, and the Israelis were given the Birthright, along with the Birthright name, ISRAEL In other words, the responsibility to bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom passed from Babylon itself to the Israeli state.

By what prophecy? By what pattern? Well, here we find a most interesting story in the book of Jasher, chapter 27. It says that Nimrod, king of Babylon, loved to hunt. He was out on a hunting trip with his bodyguards, and ran across Esau, who also loved to hunt. Jasher 27 reads,

(7) And Nimrod and two of his men that were with him came to the place where they were, when Esau started suddenly from his lurking place, and drew his sword, and hastened and ran to Nimrod and cut off his head. . .

(10) And when Esau saw the mighty men of Nimrod coming at a distance, he fled and thereby escaped; and Esau took the valuable garments of Nimrod, which Nimrod's father had bequeathed to Nimrod, and with which Nimrod prevailed over the whole land, and he ran and concealed them in his house.

(11) And Esau took those garments and ran into the city on account of Nimrod's men, and he came unto his father's house wearied and exhausted from fight, and he was ready to die through grief [stress] when he approached his brother Jacob and sat before him.

This is how Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a meal. He believed that the garments of Nimrod, whereby Nimrod had the divine authority to rule the world, was all he really needed. So he despised the true Birthright, the promise of God.

My point is to show that Esau killed Nimrod and usurped his power. This is the prophetic pattern that took place in 1947-1948. The Zionists represent Esau, who "killed Nimrod" and took his garments. In other words, the Zionists took the authority of Babylon in 1948 and continued its oppressive authority unto the present time.

Thus Babylon did indeed fall in one sense back in 1948, but in reality, it merely changed hands. The oppressive character of carnally-minded men continued unabated.

For new readers, let me digress for one moment to explain the connection between the Israeli state and Esau-Edom. This is covered fully in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright. To really understand prophetic history in the past century, it is imperative to read this book.

Back in 126 B.C. Esau's descendants, known as Edom (or by its Greek name Idumea), were conquered by John Hyrcanus of Judah. The Idumean Edomites were forcibly converted to Judaism at that time, and Josephus tells us that "they were hereafter no other than Jews" (Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, ix, 1).

The Jewish Encyclopedia under "Edom" tells us, "From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people." In other words, Edom was incorporated into the Jewish nation. All the end-time prophecies of Edom, then, could only be fulfilled through the Jewish nation. In other words, the Jewish people have two sets of prophecies to fulfill.

Because the Zionists returned to the old land without repenting, they returned without fulfilling the requirements of the law of tribulation found in Lev. 26:40-42. Thus, they could not fulfill their Zionist aspirations under the banner of the tribe of Judah. They could do so only under the banner of Esau-Edom.

Zionism, therefore, is primarily a manifestation of Esau-Edom. On the other hand, its connection with Judah is seen in the NT story of the cursed fig tree (Matt. 21:19) and Jesus subsequent words in Matt. 24:32, where He prophesies of the fruitless fig tree bringing forth MORE LEAVES. Many have correctly related this to the Israeli state, but they have missed the fact that it will never bring forth fruit. Fig leaves have been the problem since Adam, because they are a false covering for sin.

Thus, in 1948, when Babylon's time ended, Esau rose up and killed Nimrod. The Zionist state is the "fig tree" covered with nothing but the fig leaves of self-justification. Without repenting of their rejection of the true Messiah, the nation continued the oppressive and violent tactics of both Nimrod and Esau.

In a nutshell, that is what happened in 1948. To get the full story, of course, you must know the background that I presented in The Struggle for the Birthright. I have only covered the basic points of history and Scripture in this short article.