2008-10-2 01:47:00
by E. T. Tennyson
(Published circa 1959)
And equally important is to WARN others to spend their silver and gold to go into the holes of the rocks and the caves of the earth, and to WARN these to WARN others, and so on! For all together local and national governments can be encouraged to "cast their silver and gold to the MOLES" -- build underground tunnels, subways, roadways, and even bomb shelters where the MOLES burrow! This is called Civil Defense today, and it matters not if they use the atomic bomb scare as an excuse; the important thing is to get the underground shelters for millions in time! For it is not likely that many rulers will accept this WARNING from the prophets, and we can almost hear the high and the mighty scoffing as they read these lines! But no matter; for Isaiah has something to say about the proud and the haughty, and he warns the humble to ENTER INTO the underground shelters in that day -- and to enter into them they must first be prepared in advance:
"Enter into the rocks, and hide thee in the dust [underground shelters?], for the fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The LOFTY looks of man shall be humbled, and the HAUGHTINESS of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." (Isaiah 2:10-11)
"Get into the caves of the rocks, hide in the holes of the ground [underground shelters?], away from the terror of the Eternal, from his dread majesty. For the Lord of hosts has a day of doom on all that is PROUD and HAUGHTY, on all that is LOFTY and SOARING." (Isaiah 2:10-12, James Moffat Version.)
Perhaps those who take these warnings of the prophets lightly are those who have never experienced the utter devastation of tornadoes or whirlwinds! But no matter; for while tornadoes of the past have wrought destruction in the earth, sweeping clean every standing thing in their path, it is obvious that all of the tornadoes, twisters, hurricanes and whirlwinds of the past centuries together would be as nothing compared to the coming WHIRLWIND of Armageddon! Words fail in describing its devastation, but Jeremiah says it will strew the dead "from one end of the earth even to the other" (Jeremiah 25:32-33), and Isaiah goes on to say that it will sweep low the cedars, the mighty oaks, the high towers or skyscrapers, fenced walls or towns and cities, our pleasant homes, ships of the sea, and even mountains and hills that are too high or "lifted up."
"For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up. And upon every high tower [skyscrapers], and upon every fenced wall [cities and towns], and upon the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures [our pleasant homes with shaded lawns?]. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols [shrines, cathedrals, churches] shall be utterly abolished. And they [Believers] shall go into the holes of the rocks [concrete, man-made shelters?], and into the caves of the earth [natural shelters?], for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." (Isaiah 2:12-20)
Only such a WHIRLWIND could start whirling "waterspouts" powerful enough to siphon up and put in orbit the mighty waters of the sea, and while Revelation (16:18) describes it as "such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty and so great", it is obvious that even this vivid description does not give us a conception of its terribleness, simply because there has never been anything upon this earth to compare with it! And while the above description is given in the translations as that of an earthquake, it is now obvious that this is a mistranslation! For the word rendered "earthquake" in the English translations is from the Greek prime verb "seio", and Strong"s Greek Dictionary (page 64) defines it as "A COMMOTION, i.e. OF THE AIR, A GALE!"
This same Greek word is rendered "TEMPEST" at Matthew 8:24, the TEMPEST that threatened to sink the ship on which Jesus slept, and no one believes this was an earthquake simply because the evidence is overwhelming that it was a tornado, hurricane or whirlwind, and not an earthquake. For when the disciples called Jesus from his sleep, he did not rebuke an "earthquake", but Matthew says "he arose and rebuked the WINDS and the sea, and there was great CALM" (Verse 26)! Nothing was said about an earthquake, because there was no earthquake! This TEMPEST ("seio") was a tornado, hurricane or whirlwind, and as conclusive proof, note that the men marvelled "that even the WINDS and the sea obey him" (Verse 27).
So, if the TEMPEST (from the Greek "seio") of Matthew's record was a tornado or whirlwind, we may be sure the TEMPEST (from the Greek "seio", mistranslated "earthquake") of Revelation is not an earthquake, but that this description is that of the "SO GREAT A WHIRLWIND" of Armageddon! Not only does the prophet tell us so, but mark carefully that it is "poured out into the AIR", and that it is accompanied by "thunders, lightenings, and a great hail", all of which go with tornados or whirlwinds, never with earthquakes!
"Behold, I come as a thief [suddenly]. Blessed is he that WATCHETH and KEEPETH his garments [coverings -- shelters?], lest he walk naked [unprotected?], and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying IT IS DONE. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightenings; and there was a great WHIRLWIND [mistranslated 'earthquake'], such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty a WHIRLWIND, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell [in the mighty WHIRLWIND]: and great Babylon [symbol of 'this world'] came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." (Revelation 16:15-19)
But while there is no way of avoiding the coming WHIRLWIND -- as it must "rebuke the sea and maketh it dry" -- the Lord will still have his way in the WHIRLWIND, and he will use it to rebuke the nations and bring universal peace to the world! And it will be such a rebuke to the nations, the prophets warn, that war, strife and "affliction shall not rise up the second time."
"The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit: the Lord hath his way in the WHIRLWIND, and in the Storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers [waters] . . . The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire [lightning?], and the rocks are thrown down before him. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble: and he knoweth them that trust in him . . . What do ye imagine against the Lord? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time." (Nahum 1:1-10)
If after four thousand years sensible and brave men still shudder at the destruction of the Storm of Noah's day, certainly the utter devastation of the coming WHIRLWIND of Armageddon will never be forgotten, and war and affliction shall never rise up again among the untold millions when they are resurrected from the dead! For the prophets strongly indicate that every vestige of this civilization will have to be swept from the face of the earth, with only a few men left! But of course even a "few" of earth's billions could be a Great Multitude, and mark carefully that these left "shall be gathered together as prisoners in the pit" -- dungeon, it says in the margin -- or underground shelters, and "after many days shall they be visited."
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and perverteth the face thereof [see margin], and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest: as with the servant, so with the master; as with the maid, so with the mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken the word... The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are burned, AND FEW MEN LEFT . . . And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit [dungeon -- see margin -- underground shelters?], and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." (Isaiah 24:1-23)
These words are not the mere ravings of demented religious fanatics, but they are words of God's chosen prophets! And while their real significance has not been understood, it now seems certain that they WARN of the coming Armageddon WHIRLWIND which will wipe out this whole civilization of buying, selling, lending, usury, slave traffic, politics and religion as we know it, and that even the few people who are left are those who go underground in that day of utter devastation. Think of such a catastrophe facing the world with untold millions eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, and wholly and completely unaware of it!
While a few today speak and write of a coming "great tribulation," they usually talk of it in a matter-of-fact way as if it is a day to be desired. Of course they have been led to believe that Armageddon is a mere time of trouble in a battle between men, and they are usually those who believe that they are "saved" and that somehow they will receive divine protection. Some have been led to believe that because they are of a church they will be "caught up in the air," and because of their own feeling of security they talk of this dark and terrible day of the Lord as a day to be desired. But the prophets of Israel warn that there is little assurance of complete safety in such a Storm, and a WHIRLWIND that will strew the dead from one end of the earth to the other, with FEW MEN LEFT, is not a day to be desired, even for those who survive it:
"Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it?" (Amos 5:18-20)
While it is absolutely necessary that the great WHIRLWIND remove the waters of the sea and make room for the millions who soon afterward will be resurrected from the dead, it is still to be used to rebuke the nations of earth, the prophets tell us, and we doubt if men will be permitted to leave this earth and rocket to other planets until after this dark day of retribution! But even so, this would afford little safety; for it is poured out "into the air," the Revelator tells us, and perhaps the most dangerous places would be outer space or caught up in the air! For as the Revelator continues his prophecy of the Armageddon WHIRLWIND, it is obvious that only underground concrete-rock shelters will be safe in that day:
"And every island fled away [perhaps because when the sea is removed they will no longer be islands], and the mountains were not found [perhaps only the low and solid-rock ones will survive such a WHIRLWIND]. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent [58 pounds]: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." (Revelation 16:20-21)
It is self evident that the destructive lightnings, thunders, waters and great hail stones of the Storm of Noah's day were natural results of the down-blast of the waterspouts de-orbiting the great watery canopy which today forms our seas. It is also obvious that there was ONLY one way of DELIVERANCE from those destructive elements, and that way was to prepare suitable EARTH-shelters -- in this case boats or arks made from trees of the earth. And the very fact that the Almighty himself WARNED men in advance to do so, and that he WARNED them far enough ahead to give ample time to prepare and stock the shelters, is sufficient proof that this was the one and ONLY way of deliverance!
While it is written that Noah was a just man (Genesis 6:9), and no doubt it was because of his justness that he had the faith to accept the WARNING, it is still an obvious fact that Noah and his house would have surely drowned in the Flood if they had not prepared the ark-shelter. At best, Noah's justness was only part of the means to an end, not the end itself ! For the end was to have FAITH enough in the warning of the coming Storm to move others to help him build the ark-shelter, and that moving force, Paul tells us, was FEAR! For "by FAITH Noah, being WARNED of God, moved with FEAR, prepared an ark to the saving of his house (family)" (Hebrews 11:7)!
By the same token, the prophets warn that destructive "flashes of lightning, loud blasts and peals of thunder" (Weymouth"s Version), will follow the Armageddon Storm. as a natural result of the up-blast of waterspouts re-orbiting the mighty waters of the sea, as well as great stones of ice (hail) -- perhaps from the breaking up of the massive polar icecaps -- weighing as much as a talent or some 58 pounds! Yet the few today who have heard anything at all about Armageddon believe that it is either an earthquake -- from the mistranslated word in Revelation -- or that it is only a mere battle between men, and little preparation has been made up to now for such a world-wide disaster as this literal WHIRLWIND.
But Armageddon is a REAL Storm that will devastate the surface of this earth, the prophets tell us, and the only possible way of DELIVERANCE for a Great Multitude is to "move a Great Multitude with FEAR" to preparing for it! Certainly nothing is to be gained by selfishly moving to a safer place now, as we might leave thousands in our own community who need to be WARNED, and if even a few of these can be "moved with FEAR" now there is much to be gained, even "to the saving of their house"! The important thing NOW is to give the WARNING, and there is no time to lose! For the Almighty himself (in his loving-kindness, because there is no way of avoiding the coming WHIRLWIND) WARNS men, through his prophets, to WARN others, so that a Great Mutitude will be ready in that day to "come out of Babylon" and go into the rocks of the mountains and HIDE for a little while until his indignation be overpast!
The prophets tell us that great BABYLON will come in for her cup in the Armageddon wrath in the end of this age, and since ancient Babylon on the Euphrates river went into PERPETUAL DESOLATIONS many centuries ago, it is obvious that the prophets used the name BABYLON as a symbol. And since Armageddon is a literal WHIRLWIND that will lay low cities, towns, and every standing thing of our civilization, we believe the time has come to try to unravel the mystery of this symbol, and if we go back a bit perhaps we can learn just what the prophets meant when they wrote of BABYLON THE GREAT!
For while the primary reason for the coming Armageddon WHIRLWIND is to re-orbit the mighty waters of the sea and make room for the untold billions who soon afterward will be brought back to this earth from the dead (Psalms 42:8 & Revelation 21:1), it will also rebuke the nations, the prophets tell us, and bring universal peace to the earth! For because of certain "unclean spirits" or doctrine of devils, there has been little peace upon this earth, and therefore our whole WORLD-SYSTEM must be brought to an end in the WHIRLWIND, the prophet warns, and make way for a brand new WORLD-SYSTEM in "the world to come"! And it is in this prophecy, we believe, that the key is found to the real identity of BABYLON THE GREAT:
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates [BABYLON -- the old site of ancient Babylon] . . . And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits [doctrines] of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the WHOLE WORLD, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty . . . Armageddon . . . and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great WHIRLWIND [mistranslated 'earthquake'], such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty a WHIRLWIND, and so great. And the great city [BABYLON -- this Gentile WORLD-SYSTEM or civilization -- that] was divided into three parts [religion, commerce, politics] and the cities of the nations [of BABYLON] fell: and great BABYLON came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath." (Revelation 16:12-20)
While there are perhaps as many definitions of the symbol BABYLON as religious creeds, the evidence is now overwhelming that the prophets used ancient Babylon to picture our whole Gentile civilization or WORLD-SYSTEM of things which is also called "this present evil world"! Ancient Babylon was built on both sides of the river Euphrates in a vast square of some 56 miles in circuit, and it was the capital of a Gentile civilization or SYSTEM of Chaldean tribes and nations of the Plain of Shinar. Although the tribes and nations were organized under the SYSTEM of Babylon, they were in constant quarrels and hot and cold battles, and as a perfect counterpart of "this present world" SYSTEM, ancient Babylon was a confusing, organized-disorganized, strife-torn, mixed-up, Gentile WORLD-SYSTEM!
While little thought has been given to the matter, history shows that our world has been ruled for almost sixty centuries by seven Gentile world-governments, in an almost continuous succession, and these are pictured by the prophets as "seven heads" of the Gentile "beast" (Revelation 13:1; 17:3)! And while little understood, the seventh "head" or Gentile world-government is with us today as the United Nations Organization. For while the seven "heads" were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome and the League of Nations, the United Nations is a continuation of the old League of Nations, and it is pictured as the head "that was (as the League of Nations), and is not (when it ceased to function), and yet is (when it became the United Nations), even the eighth, and is OF the SEVENTH (the old League of Nations)" (Revelation 17:8-11)!
Of course all of these "heads" or Gentile world-governments have been influenced, controlled and ruled by our Gentile civilization or WORLD-SYSTEM of things, even as the seventh, the United Nations of today, is controlled by the civilization or SYSTEM of "this present Gentile world." The very word "world" is from the Greek "kosmos" and it means WORLD-SYSTEM of things upon the earth -- not the earth -- and of course the word civilization or WORLD-SYSTEM means "an ordered community or organized society." And since it is this that has controlled or ruled the seven Gentile world-governments or "heads of the beast," the prophets picture our whole Gentile WORLD-SYSTEM as BABYLON THE GREAT or the "woman (organization) riding upon the beast" (Revelation 17:3).
This whole symbol has been such a mystery that many have concluded that there is more than one BABYLON, and in the comments of his Version of the Bible, Dr. C. I. Scofield speaks of "an ecclesiastical Babylon, a commercial Babylon and a political Babylon" (pages 1346 and 1347). But the Revelator says "the great city (BABYLON) was divided into THREE PARTS" (Revelation 16:19), and we must conclude that he referred to the three parts of religion, commerce, and politics which make up our Gentile civilization or WORLD-SYSTEM of things. And because our three-part civilization or Gentile WORLD-SYSTEM of religion, commerce and politics has ruled or rode upon the back of the seven Gentile "heads," it is symbolized as "BABYLON THE GREAT, that great city (organization) which reigneth over the (Gentile) kings of the earth" (Revelation 17:18).
The prophets could hardly have chosen a better symbol for our Gentile WORLD-SYSTEM than BABYLON, for surely all must agree that while we have a wonderful earth, we live in a confusing, strife-torn, hate-filled, mixed-up civilization or WORLD-SYSTEM of things. Moreover, it was the Gentile WORLD-SYSTEM of ancient Babylon that put an end to all non-Gentile nations when she carried away the non-Gentile Jewish Nation, thus making the very name BABYLON synonymous with GENTILE, and so BABYLON"S WORLD-SYSTEM would have exactly the same meaning as our GENTILE WORLD-SYSTEM! And if one is the symbol of the other, then every prophecy of ancient Babylon's civilization becomes a prophecy upon our Gentile civilization, and surely the following far-reaching prophecy of doom upon ancient Babylon should be of grave concern to all Gentile nations today, and should cause us all to alter our thoughts and re-appraise this whole subject of the symbol BABYLON THE GREAT:
"And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it PERPETUAL DESOLATIONS." (Jeremiah 25:12)
-- End Of Part Two --
Go To:
Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part Three
Deliverance In The Whirlwind -- Part One
Copyright © 2008 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved