new beginnings… Sealing of the
Egypt is the first power. This is the condition of all mankind. We were all born in sin. We were all born in Egypt and we all have to come out of Egypt. The Egyptian ways include the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the lust of the eyes. I John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.” It includes all the fun in this world. It is the natural man. There is good and evil in Egypt. The many gods to worship are the many ways to sin.
When God calls us out of Egypt we walk through the wilderness. We are baptized like Christ. Here we fast and pray and are tempted by the devil. It is a place of trials and tribulations. This wilderness is not easy. Some people look back. They miss Egypt. They want to go back into Egypt to live a common life, a sinful life. Egypt gives people comfort. It is the comfort of the world. The good things and pleasures of the world. When the children of Israel were in their land, whenever there was war or a threat, they wanted to run back to Egypt. When Nebuchadnezzar took them to Babylon, many of those who were left in the land ran to Egypt to protect them. When life is tough, some people want to go to the things in the world to solve their problems. They don’t go to God. The world can’t save you. Egypt can’t save you. In ancient days Egypt was called a broken reed that if a person leaned on it it would break. Isaiah 31:1, Isaiah 36:6 Don’t look to this world, to jobs, schools, the government, the physicians, your family, your friends to save you. Only God can save you. The people who live in Egypt and do not know God, those who are blind and deaf and living common lives, are in captivity to the king of Egypt.
The nation of Babylon is frequently used as a code name for this world and the kingdom of Satan. Situated on the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia, Babylon was one of the most powerful and terrifying empires of the ancient world. Today, Babylon is located within modernday Iraq, roughly 50 miles south of Baghdad. The city achieved superpower status twice: first under the Amorite King Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE, and later as the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Babylon reached unparalleled power under King Nebuchadnezzar II.
status through architecture, making it one of the first of urban societies. Nebuchadnezzar strengthened and fortified Babylon with massive walls and built famous structures like the blue-tiled Ishtar Gate and the Hanging Gardens (one of the Seven wonders of the Ancient World). Babylon was widely considered the jewel of Mesopotamia and the cradle of civilization due to its prime geographic location between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They used these waterways as a means of international trade, securing their position as an economic powerhouse.
II. He was said to be a brilliant and ruthless leader. The wicked King forced King Zedekiah of Judah to watch his sons and nobles be executed. Afterward, the king's eyes were gouged out, and he was bound in bronze chains and dragged to Babylon. They didn’t stop there. They decimated Jerusalem. They burned the royal palace, knocked down the city walls and destroyed the temple of God by looting and removing their precious artifacts. There was also a mass deportation of the people of Judah, leaving only a fraction of the population behind. In Babylon, they did everything in their power to erase Judah’s identity, even making the people change their names to honor Babylonian deities. They were also known to make a spectacle of killing people, often resorting to impalement and throwing people in a fiery furnace or even a lion’s den.
religion. This is one of the ways they ensured maximum control. They were said to deport the intellectual elite and skilled workers, then actively re-educate them to be fully a part of Babylonian civic and religious life. Refusal to comply resulted in gruesome executions. We have examples in the Bible of the lives of God’s people being threatened for not adhering to the laws of the Babylonian empire.
the 3 Hebrew men that famously refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol. The king was enraged at their defiance and commanded the fiery furnace to be 7 times hotter. The heat was so scorching hot that it killed the guards who threw the 3 men in. But much to the amazement of the Babylonians, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego remained unharmed. When King Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace, he was astonished to see not three, but four men walking freely in the fire. He observed that the fourth figure looked "like the Son of God.”
chapter 6. This was during the rule of King Darius, who was tricked by officials to make it law that anyone who prayed to any god or man other than the king for 30 days would be thrown in the lion’s den. Daniel of course disobeyed this commandment and openly prayed to God. Though the King was reluctant, he was bound by the law and threw Daniel into the lion’s den. We know the story. God sent an angel into the lion’s den and shut the mouths of the lions. Daniel remained
11, “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” In Jeremiah 29: 10, "For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” The Jewish people were freed when the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, conquered Babylon and issued a decree allowing the exiles to return home and rebuild their temple.
God chose. I have learned that 70 means complete and a time of fulfillment. The Lord deemed 70 years as the time required for Judah to be punished and to repent for their transgressions before they could return into the land. The land of Israel also had to rest from the people’s wickedness while they were in captivity. Israel had to enjoy her sabbaths.
Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.” This serves as a refrain for the end of days. Like Israel, the earth must also enjoy her Sabbaths and the land must have a rest from the wicked. This will be during the 7th millennium.
kings of Babylon of course represent Satan. Judah’s captivity serves as a refrain for us even today. Those saints in spiritual bondage to Babylon are those indoctrinated with the religions of this world, Mystery Babylon. Mystery Babylon mixed up the things of God with the things of the devil and created abomination. This is not only the Catholic Church and her daughters. This is all religions and whatever people hold up to worship as a god. A lot of the people in Egypt are not necessarily in captivity in Babylon, but many of them are. Look at all of the religious systems of the world. Because of the teachings of Christianity, many of the pagan religions, like Islam, have a veneer of goodness.
In Revelation 17: 1-6, “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”
However, the pseudo Christian churches are not free from idolatry. They simply use Christ’s name to conceal their paganism. In Isaiah 4: 1, “And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.”
worshipped, violence, murder, fornication and all of the sins of the seventh commandment. There were human sacrifices, and the very worse of the sins were the things that they did in their temples to worship and to be one with their gods. Their gods were devils. So even the nonChristian religions of today have been affected by the first coming of Christ who shined a light on the worse of their atrocities and they somewhat cleaned up their acts.
Many people of God are in captivity in Mystery Babylon. We know them. Some of them are really good people and they are doing the best they can, not knowing that they are eating unclean things, and that they are blind and deaf. You may try to tell them the truth but they don’t understand. They are bound to their traditions that are considered righteousness and that every one else is doing. Their traditions make them feel good and justifies them to themselves. They believe if everyone is doing it it must be right. They believe the lie that God loves everybody and does not punish the sinner but always receives him with open arms. Whether you obey God or not, believe him or not, God loves everybody. There is no judgment or punishment for sin. We can’t help sinning, so we just keep doing it. This is their mythology of a “loving God.” I never belonged to a church of Mystery Babylon, but many of you have. Just as all of us came out of Egypt, many of us also came out of Babylon. Mystery Babylon sits on the fourth beast. To this day, whether they admit to it or not, she has effected all of the governments of this world. Babylon is also considered the world of sin, just like Egypt. When God calls us out of Babylon he says “Come out of her, touch not the unclean thing.” The unclean thing is sin in any form, whether in the religious system or not. Babylon is the world itself also. When we are all finally delivered from the world we will be delivered from Babylon and she will be exposed for what she truly is.
ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” With the outpouring of the Spirit, individuals in spiritual Babylon will seek the truth and the churches of God throughout the world will be places of safety and refuge for them.
are devout in faith and are persecuted for righteousness sake by Satan and the sons of man. This is us. Unlike those people blind to the truth, we are not in spiritual bondage to Babylon, per se, because we obey God. Yet, we still live in Babylon or this world. Therefore, we are impacted by it. We are constantly burdened by trials and tribulations. We suffer greatly and have to bear the cross like Christ. Just as our Savior, we have to remain blameless and steadfast in the truth. This persecution will be magnified on a greater level for the saints that live under the Man of Sin, who will refuse to bow to him or
The Assyrian empire was a world global power for 300 years beginning from BCE. It originated as a city-state along the Tigris river and expanded into one of the most powerful empires that the world has ever seen, with influence stretching from the Middle East, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and parts of today’s Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Their strength was largely attributed to their military, which was superior and advanced because they used iron weaponry as opposed to bronze.
mass deportations of captives to eliminate any form of resistance and to further integrate their powerful empire. Their architecture was brilliant. They were known for constructing enormous palaces in capitals like Nimrod and Nineveh. Not only was Assyria renowned for their military strength, they also had several advancements in astrology, engineering, administrative systems (i.e. postal relay and road networks) and an extensive library of mathematics, literature, medicine and historical records.
Kingdom in 2 phases. In Isaiah 10: 5-6, “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.” In this scripture, we can see that God raised the
In 732 BCE King Tiglath-Pileser III invaded the northern and eastern territories, banishing most of the Israelites from their land. See 2 Kings 15: 29 “In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria.” Tiglath-Pileser III was a very cunning and manipulative leader. He destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel through military devastation, financial extortion and deportation.
In the beginning of his reign he invaded Israel and forced King Menahem to pay a tribute of 1,000 talents of silver, which led Menahem to substantially raise taxes on the people of Israel, particularly its wealthy citizens (2 Kings 15: 19-20). Later, the Israelite kings rebelled against Assyria. This attempt did not work. Subsequently, the Assyrian king used brutal force, capturing and destroying major northern cities and annexing the entire region of Galilee and the territory of Naphtali into the Assyrian system. Tiglath-Pileser III prevented future rebellions by forcing thousands of Israelites out of their lands and scattered them in distant regions of the Assyrian
In 722-721 BCE King Shalmaneser V and later Sargon II captured the capital city of Samaria. He ended the Northern Kingdom and scattered what is known as the “Ten Lost Tribes” throughout the Assyrian Empire. 2 Kings 17: 3-6. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”
As the scriptures reveal, the siege of Samaria consisted of a devastating 3-year period. The people of Samaria were exposed to extreme starvation, disease and mass executions. But the King did not completely destroy the Israelite population. Instead, he deported most them and dispersed them across the Assyrian empire, as Tiglath-Pileser III did in the first phase. However, the 2nd phase was on a grander scale and the “Ten
Later, in 701 BCE, the Assyrian Empire also invaded the Southern Kingdom of Judah under King Sennacherib who laid siege to Jerusalem. We can find this in 2 Kings 18:13, “Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them.” More so than his predecessors, King Sennacherib, used extreme and graphic violence to intimidate enemies, punish rebellions and ensure mass compliance within his realm. Captive enemies could be impaled on poles, burnt alive, skinned alive, limbs amputated and eyes or tongues gouged out. This King was known for his pride and bragged about his military victories. During the reign of Hezekiah, King Sennacherib threatened Judah and blasphemed God. However, after the Assyrian king besieged Jerusalem, his massive army was suddenly destroyed overnight by the Angel of the Lord, forcing Sennacherib to abandon
As with Egypt, Assyria represents this world in which the Kingdom of Satan prevails and the kings represent the devil himself. As one of the cruelest nations in the world, Assyria often had the upper hand in their battles, using advance military tactics and weapons of iron. Spiritually speaking, no Kingdom is more cruel than Satan’s, who has caused tyranny not only amongst the saints but his own children. And as the Assyrians used iron weapons, Satan has put an iron yoke upon God’s children through not only Assyria but each of these wicked superpowers as a punishment from God. In Deuteronomy 28: 48,
“Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.”
We can see the Assyrian Kings were cruel, arrogant and lifted up with pride. Similarly, it was Lucifer’s pride and refusal to submit to Christ that led to his downfall and transformation into Satan. Just as Sennacherib did, Satan blasphemes God’s name, defying all of his laws and yielding his power over the wicked to do the same. As previously noted, the Assyrian kings used financial extortion as a tactic. How does Satan do this? It is through sin that carries a heavy price, that of your life.
What makes Assyria unique is that Israel's formal captivity did not end with a mass return to their land, as with Judah after 70 years in Babylon and Israel after 400 years in Egypt. Instead, these captives could not come back to the land and this is an important fact to mention. Because the Israelite captives of Assyria point to a specific spiritual condition that some of the saints are in to this very day. Assyria is the worst spiritual condition to be in. These are the saints that are completely blind to the truth, who don’t know their left hand from their right and are consumed with sin. They don’t serve God in any form or fashion.
Some people are in physical, mental and spiritual bondages, like people who were possessed with evil spirits in the time of Christ. A person with a mental illness or a severe developmental disability through no fault of their own are in a bondage and can’t serve God. Also there are people who do things before they come to know God, when they may be young and stupid. And they do things to bring themselves into bondage that they can’t come out of, like drug addiction, and other things that control them, control their minds. These are bondages. Assyria wasted many nations and countries and burned their idol gods. They were the destroyers of nations. They worshipped the God of forces, for their greatest power was military might. The worst bondage of the Assyrian is death itself. You cannot deliver yourself from that. God must deliver you.
In the book of Nahum Chapter 3 it prophesies of the ruin of Ninevah, which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. This is a refrain for the judgement that God will render on this world and Satan, for their wickedness and the evil they have inflicted upon his children. Nahum 3: 1-6, “Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?”
We can also look at apocrypha in the book of Tobit, named after an Israelite captive of the tribe of Naphtali that was exiled to Nineveh under the Assyrian King, Shalmaneser. Tobit prophesies of the fall of Assyria and Babylon for their wickedness, and the rise again of Jerusalem. He was not just speaking of the fall of these literal nations but the fall of this world and Satan’s kingdom that still stands today. Nor is he only referring to the physical land of Jerusalem but God’s people as a whole. Tobit 14: 4-7
