From Splendor to Shadow

Prophecy Fulfilled

The Hebrew prophets had spoken clearly concerning the manner in which Babylon should fall: SS 276.2

“Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken.” “The Lord is a God of recompense, He will surely requite. I will make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors, her commanders, and her warriors; they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake, says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.” Jeremiah 51:8, 56, 57, RSV. SS 276.3

Thus did “Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,” become as Sodom and Gomorrah—a place forever accursed. “It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate towers, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.” Isaiah 13:19-22. SS 276.4

Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne ... .
You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”
So that you did not lay these things to heart
Or remember their end.
Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
Who sit securely,
Who say in your heart,
“I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow
Or know the loss of children”:
These two things shall come to you
In a moment, in one day;
The loss of children and widowhood
Shall come upon you in full measure ... .
You felt secure in your wickedness,
You said, “No one sees me.”
Isaiah 47:1, 7-10, RSV

Prophecy has traced the rise and progress of the world's great empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each, as with nations of less power, history has repeated itself. Each has had its period of test; each has failed, its glory faded, its power departed. Nations have rejected God's principles and have wrought their own ruin, yet a divine, overruling purpose has been at work throughout the ages. SS 277.1