The Everlasting Covenant

The Divine Purpose

So much of direct address to this wonderful tyrant. Then follows the continuation of the narrative concerning him:— EVCO 473.3

“Prepare slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts bath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand; that I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot; then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.” ¹ EVCO 473.4

And now come the striking words, summing up the whole matter:— EVCO 474.1

“THIS IS THE PURPOSE THAT IS PURPOSED UPON THE WHOLE EARTH; AND THIS IS THE HAND THAT IS STRETCHED OUT UPON ALL THE NATIONS. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” ² EVCO 474.2

The reader cannot have failed to notice that the complete and final deliverance of all Israel is coincident with the utter destruction of the king of Babylon; and further that this King of Babylon is one who rules over all the earth; his destruction gives the whole earth rest. It must also have been noted that this king of Babylon is also addressed as Lucifer, the one who thought to dispute the dominion of the world with God. The fact is, therefore, that whoever was the nominal, visible ruler of Babylon, Satan was its real king. This is evident also from the fact that Babylon was a heathen kingdom, and “the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.” ³ He is “the god of this world.” The spirit of self exaltation is radically opposed to the Spirit of God, whose meekness and gentleness constitute His greatness; it is the spirit of antichrist “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” ¹ This spirit was pre-eminently characteristic of Babylon, except in the brief space when Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses. In his pride he said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” ² Belshazzar used the vessels of the house of God, and drank wine out of them, together with his wives and his concubines, “and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone,” ⁴ thus boasting that the gods which he had made were greater than the God of Israel. Of Babylon it was said, “Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.” EVCO 474.3