Verse 13-16 “O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.”
We see the same description of Babylon that we found in Revelation 17:1 where it tells us “I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” The original Babylon really did not sit on what could be called “many waters.” She had the Mediterranean on the left, and the Persian Gulf on the right, with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers running through the middle. This is where the idea that the Vatican is Babylon does not hold water (excuse the pun). There is no water around Vatican City. America on the other hand sits on a number of waters. There are the two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, The Gulf of Alaska, the Bering Sea, the Mississippi River, The Rio Grande River, and a number of other lesser rivers and lakes. If taken spiritually the many waters could stand for different peoples, which again would indicate America.
She is a land abundant in treasures. That is certainly America. Now she is going to meet her end. The Lord swears by Himself (there is none greater by whom He can swear) that He will fill her with men to destroy her. He lets her know exactly who He is, the Creator of the world, the One who stretched out the heavens. He created the waters out of which He created the earth. He is in charge of the weather and cycles of the earth. She is nothing compared to Him and her power is nothing compared to His.
Verse 17-19 “Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.”
Now God tells us exactly where man stands in relation to Himself. Every man is bestial in his own knowledge. Men are confused as to the truth. They worship false images, images in which there is no life unlike the Lord God. All of their man-made religions, ceremonies, gods, etc. are pure vanity on man's part. On the other hand, Israel is not like them, for Israel is the inheritance of the Lord. Israel will live forever and worship the Lord God in truth.
Verse 20-24 “Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.”
Now God is speaking to the weapons of His destruction, the beast (the ax) and his company, (the Medes for one). He will use the beast to break the nations to pieces. It tells us in Daniel 7 that he will devour and break into pieces the other nations. Satan thinks that the beast is his “son” and is doing his will, but in reality, the beast will be doing God's will in exacting vengeance and punishment on all the nations that have turned against God. The ax will break all the military, he will break families, he will break all people regardless of gender, age, race, creed, etc. He will break the rulers down to the lowest worker. He will give back to Babylon and all her inhabitants all the evil that has been perpetrated against His holy land.
Verse 25- 26 “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.”
Here we see another verse that refers to nation as being a mountain. When we studied Revelation, we saw that the seven mountains were seven kingdoms. The word “mountain” was also used that way in Daniel, and here again we see that it is being used that way. God is against the destroying nation of Babylon which has destroyed the whole earth with her sorceries and filth. God is going to make her a burned mountain. He is going to burn her entirely to the ground. I believe that after the country is plundered and raped by the Medes, who will slaughter her people, He will finish her off via the beast and his ten cronies by a nuclear holocaust. This is speculation of course, but considering the nuclear proliferation of the countries of the world and the threats against America, it makes sense. It will be so complete a destruction that it will be desolate forever. Not even a stone will be taken for a foundation from her. Considering radiation fallout, that seems logical.
Verse 27 “Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.”
God tells them to run a flag up the flagpole and blow a trumpet among the nations to call everyone to battle. Now we see the list of nations that are coming against her. Ararat and Minni would be the area of Armenia today, and as for Ashkenaz which is only mentioned three times in the Bible, I found this historical explanation of who it is. “As for Ashkenaz, it is almost certainly the Hebrew name of the land of the people known to the Assyrians as the Ishkuza and to the Greeks as the Skythoi or Scythians. The Scythians were a powerful confederation of Indo-European tribes who spoke a language of the Iranian family; their original home was the steppe-lands north of the Black Sea, in what today would be southern Ukraine.” [http://www.forward.com/articles/13681/] From the study in Daniel and Revelation the conclusion had been reached that these were areas that could be included in the ten league confederacy of the beast, so this would be consistent with that deduction. Now the “ax” of the previous verses is called the king of the Medes. The beast is accumulating quite a few names along the way. All the rulers of the other nations under his dominion come against Babylon.
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