A. INTRODUCTION
1. Iraq is the second most mentioned nation in the Bible after Israel. (Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria, Nineveh, Chaldees, etc.).
2. The name Iraq is a recent name and Baghdad is a modern city.
B. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq (Genesis 2:8-14).
a. The Euphrates “The River” (2:14) and Tigris (Hiddekel).
b. Land of Havilah (2:11), land of sand.
2. The Sumerians – the oldest known civilization was in Iraq.
a. Mesopotamia, “Land between the rivers.”
b. Hammurabi 1728 – 1686 BC, library, legal system, plumbing, etc.
3. Noah’s heritage returned to Iraq, Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9).
a. Land of Shinar (9:2) is Babylon.
b. Tower of Babel (Ziggurat or pyramid) outside old Babylon.
c. Babel means confusion.
4. Abraham – born in Ur of Iraq (Gen. 11:31).
a. Ur was the capital of the Sumerian city-state.
b. Chaldee was a tribe in Southern Iraq.
c. Father of the Jews, Christians.
d. Wife of Isaac and Jacob from Iraq (Gen. 24:4; 28:1-2).
5. Assyria, Northern Iraq.
a. A vicious people.
b. Nineveh the capital city (Tigris River); Jonah- repentance, Nahum, message of judgment.
c. Captures the ten northern tribes of Israel, 722 BC.
d. Jerusalem fell to Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, 606, 597,587 BC.
6. Babylon, Southern Iraq.
a. The city Babylon is the second most mentioned city in the Bible after Jerusalem.
b. City-state of Babylon on Euphrates River, hanging gardens, blue.
c. Nebuchadnezzar, first ruler of the known world.
d. Captured Jerusalem 606 BC, Daniel 597 BC, Ezekiel 586 BC, destroyed.
e. Three Hebrew children in fiery furnace, brick kiln.
f. Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of Great Image (Daniel 2:31-45).
Head Gold Babylon (Iraq) Nebuchadnezzar
Arms Silver Media-Persia (Iraq) Cyrus
Belly Brass Greece Alexander
Legs Iron Rome Caser
10 Toes Iron & Clay Revived Rome False Christ
C. BABYLON – THE CENTER OF THE APOSTATE CHURCH (REV. 17)
1. Tower of Babel originally a substitute religion.
a. A tower to (unto) Heaven (Gen. 11:4).
b. 153’ high and 400’ base of dried brick.
c. Seven levels to correspond to seven known planets (black-Saturn, orange-Jupiter, etc).
d. Zodiac (astrology) at top.
e. Nimrod (to rebel), motivator of substitute religion (Gen. 10:8-10).
2. Satan always wanted a substitute religion.
a. “I will be like the most high” (Isa. 14:14).
b. “The man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God . . . so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (II Thess. 2:3-4).
c. Substitute Trinity: Satan, antichrist, and false prophets.
3. Future Babylon is the apostate church.
a. Called “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth” (Rev. 17:5).
b. Babylon associated with the Beast (antichrist) and the revised Roman Empire of ten nations (Rev. 17:3, 12).
c. Merger of Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc.
d. The religious glue is supernatural signs and wonders (not Roman Catholic, or doctrine). “The beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev. 17:8). “His deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast” (Rev. 13:3). “So that he even makes fire come down from heaven” (Rev. 13:13), Satanic Pentecost.
e. Antichrist makes a lie in to the truth, and vice versa.
4. Babylon is going to be re-built.
a. The city stands for a movement, as a literal Wall Street stands for economic movement. Watch for Babylon the city and Babylon the world movement.
b. The Euphrates is symbolic separation between Eastern and Western culture. Babylon symbolizes the merger of East and West religions.
c. Babylon is the headquarters of antichrist, as Jerusalem is center for Christ.
d. Antichrist will attempt to unite China (Orient) with the West (Rev. 16:12).
5. Is the hostility with Iraq a sign of Christ’s coming?
a. No one can predict the exact time (Matt. 24:36).
b. The gathering storm – events that are to happen immediately after Christ’s return.
c. The church will be raptured out before antichrist rules the world from Babylon.
6. Babylon (Iraq) in the Tribulation.
a. Antichrist will arrange for the governments of the world to sign a protective agreement with Israel.
b. The Temple will be rebuilt on the original site in Jerusalem.
c. The city of Babylon would be rebuilt on its original site.
d. The influence of Babylon will be world-wide.
e. The apostate church would be the vehicle to join the peoples (as well as their rulers) into a world-wide confederation.
f. Antichrist would be the first person since Nebuchadnezzar to rule the known-civilized world.
7. The destruction of Babylon (Iraq).
a. Internal, “habitation of demons and the cage of unclean spirits” (Rev. 18:2, ELT). “According to her works” (Rev. 18:6). “Her plague came in one day, death and mourning and famines; and she should be utterly burned with fire” (Rev. 18:8).
b. External, destroyed by the beast.
c. The nations and businessmen grieve Babylon’s judgment (Rev. 17:9-15).
d. The mass of people, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues” (Rev. 17:15). The description ends with tongues.
