The Great Babylon

 *The Great Babylon by Dr. D. James Kennedy

The king spoke, saying, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I myself have built as a royal residence by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” Daniel 4:30

An example of biblical prophecy fulfilled is the magnificent city of Babylon, perhaps the greatest city in ancient times. The walled city consisted of 196 square miles of the most beautiful architecture, hanging gardens, palaces, temples and towers.

Babylon drew her stores from no foreign country. She invented an alphabet, worked out the problems of arithmetic, invented implements for measuring time, and advanced beyond all previous peoples in science.

Yet, there are more than one hundred specific prophecies concerning Babylon’s fate. God said of Babylon, even when it was the greatest city in the world: “Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 13:19).

The great walls of Babylon, Herodotus the historian tells us, had towers that extended above the 200-foot walls to a height of 300 feet. The city was laid out in a square with walls that were 187 feet thick at the base and 14 miles to a side. The city of Babylon was impregnable. But God said of those towers: “The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken . . . it shall be desolate for ever” (Jeremiah 51:58, 62).

There is nothing vague or ambiguous about this prophecy, and even though it took centuries for it to be completely fulfilled, today, not a remnant of that wall remains.

* Man's walled fortifications will eventually fall but the LORD'S wall of protection around HIS people will stand through life. Its gates will open to eternal Heaven when the believer in CHRIST draws his final breath.