Crosstalk: September 18, 2019

Have you ever wondered what the world would look like in the last days?  What will be the major power? One significant insight the Bible provides is giving us a look at New Babylon.  Did you know that more than one-tenth of the book of Revelation is devoted to prophecies about this city? As a matter of fact, Babylon plays a critically important role in the Bible.

Joining Jim to discuss this critical piece of Bible prophecy was Ron Rhodes. Ron is the president of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries.  He’s a keynote speaker at conferences across the United States and the author of approximately 70 books with over 1 million sold, many on the topics of apologetics as well as Bible prophecy.  This visit to Crosstalk focused on his newest book, ‘New Babylon Rising.’

Before one enters any discussion on Bible prophecy, it’s important to understand where the commentator stands in terms of their method of interpretation.  Ron bases his books on the following standard: When the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense, lest you end up in nonsense.  

So for Ron, if you really want to understand how God will fulfill prophecy in the future, take a look at how God has fulfilled prophecy in the past.  This is due to the consistency of God in His word. In other words, when you take a look at the prophecies for the first coming of Christ, they came literally to pass.  For example, Christ was to come from the line of Abraham, from the line of David, born of a virgin, was born in Bethlehem, He was pierced for our sins, and over 90 others.  All of these came to pass literally. Ron believes we can expect that same kind of consistency from God when it comes to dealing with the prophecies concerning the second coming, as well as the events related to it.  

Looking at this from a terminology standpoint, while Ron believes that Jerusalem means Jerusalem and Israel means Israel, he also believes that Babylon means Babylon and that it shouldn’t be metaphorically interpreted as New York City or some other interpretation.  In fact, out of the 400 verses in Revelation, 40 of them deal with New Babylon, so it’s one of those topics Ron feels we can’t ignore.

Throughout history, Babylon has been a city that has stood against God.  Nimrod, for example, is seen by Ron as a foreshadowing of the anti-Christ during New Babylon.  Ron explained this in greater detail, telling listeners that if you don’t understand this, a lot of Revelation just doesn’t make good sense.

As this broadcast moved along, Ron also commented on the following:

–What are the contrasts between Jerusalem and Babylon?

–Does technology like we see in the ‘Sequoia’ super-computer have a role to play in the emergence of the ‘end times?’

–When does New Babylon emerge?  What about its destruction?

–How does Armageddon fit into all of this?

–Who or what is ‘Mystery Babylon?’

–What is the relationship between New Babylon, the mark of the beast and the cashless society?