Buzzard Bait

It may well be that the Lord is working at getting a message across to us as well. The sad part is, not many people are listening to God. They are too busy chatting about this or that.

·         They are working.

·         They are playing.

·         They may even be praying.

However I submit to you this morning that God is speaking to those who care to listen.  

·         God speaks to us though His Word.

·         God speaks to us through His Holy Spirit directly to our heart.

·         God speaks to us through other people. God has often-times spoken to me through my wife, for instance.

·         God also speaks through world events. Let me give you an example of what I mean here. Luke 21 details a number of things that will take place during the end times. Verse 28 states, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."  What are some of the things that He is alluding to here? Listen to verses 9-11: “When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.” Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.” Verse 31 then repeats these words of warning: “Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

 While it is too early to tell, the current conflict between America and the terrorists and certain terroristic states may well signal that God is speaking to His people once again through world events. This message is meant to direct your attention God’s way. It is also meant to help you interpret these amazing times.

This morning’s comments will primarily focus on Iraq – ancient Babylon – as well as Saddam Hussein.  

Before I get to the Biblical and prophetic applications, though, I want to give you a brief history lesson. 

You might be surprised to learn that Iraq is possibly the oldest continually inhabited piece of real estate on the face of the earth. It therefore occupies a tremendous amount of space in Scripture. 

 It is believed by many that this area was the birthplace of civilization; that the Garden of Eden was quite possibly there. History seems to point to an advanced civilization in the region some 4,000 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ. This makes the region much older in history than Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

 Some of the early people that lived in this region would include:

·         Adam and Eve and their children, 

·         Noah was probably from somewhere in this general area, 

·         Abraham originated from Ur which was in this region too.

·         Jacob, who later became Israel, spent at least two decades of his life there.

·         Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego lived there as did the Prophet Daniel and many other notables in Scripture. 

As you might guess from the notables that inhabited the area, many great human achievements flowed out from there:

·         These people gave us our first glimpse of an alphabet, of writing, and of literature. 

·         They invented the wheel, as well as an advanced form of math that is still used today.

·         Banking originated in this part of the world as did calendars.

·         The first farmers and methods of farming can be traced to this region.

·         They were among the first to invent longitude and latitude in geographical navigation.

·         They also developed a sophisticated form of medical science.

·         The legendary Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was built in Babylon – which is a part of what is now modern Iraq.

The earliest people -- for instance, Nimrod -- were known to be warriors, so the first wars were fought there, and the land has been full of wars ever since. You might also recall that it was there that Cain killed his brother in what was history’s first murder.

I imagine that you would also recognize the names of such kings as Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus. Each one ruled there for a while.    

Down through the centuries this part of the world has been known as:

·         Mesopotamia,

·         Babylonia, and

·         Assyria. The evil city of Nineveh – remember Jonah was dispatched there -- was once the capital of Assyria. 

These are an ancient and proud people that go WAAAAAAAY back!

Speaking of way back, it is important to note that the tower of Babel -- where God confused the languages -- was there too. In time, Babel became known as Babylon and the region about the city became known as Babylonia. 

Let’s look now at ancient BABYLON

It was the most remarkable community of its day -- a San Francisco, New York, or London of the ancient world. One of the earliest historians once visited the great metropolis. He said that “in magnificence there is no other city that approaches to it”

The city straddled the Euphrates River about fifty miles south of what is now modern Baghdad in Iraq. It is said that the town was laid out in an exact square, approximately fifteen miles on each side. Records indicate that two million people lived there, the largest city in the world.

Babylon was an architectural marvel. A wide ceremonial boulevard ran down the center of the city. A double-wall system encircled the main city. Its inner wall was 21 feet thick and reinforced with defense towers at 60-foot intervals. The outer wall was 38 feet high, 11 feet wide and also had watchtowers. Later, King Nebuchadnezzar added another defensive double-wall system. It was wide enough at the top for chariots to pass. It is also thought that the city was surrounded by a moat. It is said that it took 200,000 men a full year to construct these fortifications. 

The Old Testament prophets designated Babylon as:

·         “great” (Daniel 4:30),

·         the “golden city” (Isaiah 14:4),

·         the “lady of the kingdoms” (Isaiah 47:5),

·         who was “abundant in treasures” (Jeremiah 51:13), and

·         the “praise of the whole earth” (Jeremiah 51:41).  

The Bible plainly identifies this Babylonian empire as the greatest Gentile empire ever. Please listen as I read a portion of Daniel 2:31-40: “You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ‘This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.  ‘After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron....”

This is the story of Daniel's interpretation of Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king had seen a great statue. A huge man made up of different kinds of metal. Since King Nebuchadnezzar couldn't understand this thing, he asked Daniel the prophet for its interpretation.

Daniel declared that the Colossus was a picture of present and future Gentile world kingdoms: 

·         The first and greatest Gentile kingdom would be the Babylonian Kingdom. It was typified by the head of gold. Nebuchadnezzar ruled over this kingdom.

·         After Babylon we find the Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. (The chest and arms of silver.)

·         Next, the belly and thighs of bronze represented Greece under Alexander the Great. 

·         Then the "legs of iron" and "feet partly of iron and baked clay" told of the Roman Empire with its Eastern and Western Divisions. The ten toes represent ten kings that will come to power in the last days.

Again, let me ask you, which of these Gentile kingdoms was the greatest? Daniel stated clearly that Babylon was the head of gold; that Babylon was the greatest gentile kingdom. He also noted that Nebuchadnezzar was its greatest king. I remind you that modern day Iraq encompasses ancient Babylon.

I want to now leave ancient babylon for a few moments and move to modern times.

In 1937, a baby was born into an illiterate peasant family from a little village in northern Iraq. This child experienced abandonment and abuse as a child. From this tragic experience the lad learned well how to nurse a grudge.

At the age of 22 he took part in a failed attempt on the life of the nation’s military strongman.

·         He was sentenced to death and thus fled the country and lived in Syria and Egypt from 1959 to 1963. 

·         In 1964 he was arrested once again for plotting to overthrow president Abdul Salem Aref. 

·         A few years later this same man played a leading role in the 1968 Revolution,

·         He was named vice-president in 1969,

·         Attained the rank of General in 1976,

·         And became President of the Republic of Iraq in 1979.

·         He is married and is known to have at least one mistress. He has five children -- three daughters and two sons.

As you have guessed by now, the man that I am talking about is Saddam Hussein. His name can be translated, "he who confronts." Others call him "The Butcher of Baghdad." His life has been marked by extreme violence.

He seems to have followed the pattern of behavior spoken of in Genesis 16:12. The passage describes the character and methods of one of Saddam’s great ancestors, Ishmael. The Bible says of him, “And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him.”

A moment ago I mentioned the fact of Saddam’s violenT nature. More needs to be said on this subject:

·         He was the one who established Iraq's secret police force and has used it effectively to eliminate political opposition to his dictatorial rule. In national elections, he can be expected to win better than 99% of the vote. 

·         Why wouldn’t he win big? On one occasion, since assuming power, he ordered 500 members of his own political party shot by a firing squad made up of other members of his party. What a guy!

·         Soon after acceding to the Presidency, he invaded Iran and began a bloody war that killed better than a million people on both sides of the border over a span of eight years. The conflict finally ended in a draw. 

·         He then turned his military against his own people, the Kurds. These ancient descendants of the Medes live in the north part of Iraq. Hussein has carried out a campaign of genocide that has extended over a number of years. His actions are characterized by mass executions and the mass disappearance of many tens of thousands of civilians including large numbers of women and children. It is widely known that he has used chemical weapons, prison camps, and firing squads in this evil purge.

By the way, a number of these Kurds are Christians. Hundreds of villages where Christians live have been put to fire and the sword. We also know that 150 churches and religious houses have been destroyed, and the number of Christians is decreasing further every day.

In order to help protect these ancient people, the United States now enforces the so-called Northern No-Fly Zone. If an Iraqi jet ventures into this airspace, it will be shot down.

The February 5, 1998 issue of USA TODAY quoted Jeffery Archer, member of Britain’s House of Lords, as saying, “Saddam Hussein is killing a thousand people a day.” Again we understand these to be his own people!

In August of 1990, he once again flexed his military muscle by invading Kuwait and systematically destroying that country. His actions resulted in the Gulf War and one of the most lopsided military actions in human history. Some 389 Americans were killed while the best estimates put the Iraqi death toll as high as 100,000. Many, many more were wounded or deserted. During the war, one hundred and forty thousand tons of firearms showered down on the country, the equivalent of 7 Hiroshima bombs. Allied air raids destroyed roads, bridges, factories, and oil industry facilities and disrupted electric, telephone, and water service. Diseases spread through contaminated drinking water because water purification and sewage treatment facilities could not operate without electricity. 

Now, once again this “wild man” appears to be putting his country in harm’s way.

EARLIER in the message I spoke of Nebuchadnezzar, the ancient king of Babylon.  I also noted that he was the head of gold in his dream. 

Saddam Hussein believes himself to be the reincarnation of this ancient king. He fancies himself to be “the head of gold” of today. He also believes that it is his calling in life to establish a new Babylonian Empire with himself in the role of Nebuchadnezzar. He has, therefore, worked for years at having the ruins of ancient Babylon reconstructed. I understand that a part of the city wall and the famous Ishtar Gate are already standing on the banks of the Euphrates.

·         In 1987 an international festival took place in Iraq under the motto, "From Nebuchadnezzar to Saddam Hussein -- Babylon glories in it's past." Beside the president was a profile of Nebuchad-nezzar with his famous braided beard.

·         Hussein likewise had his image put on a commemorative coin. The picture of his ancient hero was on the back.

·         Saddam is not known for his modesty.  He has his name inscribed on the bricks and tiles and marbles that he uses to adorn his palaces. In fact, every forth brick which is used today in modern Iraq bears the inscription, “Built at the time of Saddam."  Nebuchadnezzar was satisfied with every hundredth brick bearing his stamp!

The news has spent quite some time talking about the various presidential palaces in Iraq. Saddam Hussein has spent more than $2 billion since 1990 building new palaces and renovating old ones. News accounts now put the number of palace complexes at somewhere around 80. One of these residences is larger than Versailles, France!

It is no wonder that Saddam has undertaken a massive building program unsurpassed since the time of the great King. This is not a man building magnificent homes, this is a man obsessed with emulating his ancestor.

Staying with this Saddam/Nebuchadnezzar connection, SADDAM BELIEVES IT TO BE HIS DESTINY TO ENGAGE ISRAEL IN WAR.

May I remind you that Nebuchadnezzar defeated Syria as well as Israel and destroyed Jerusalem? After-wards, he led the Jews into Babylonian captivity. No doubt, Hussein has similar plans in mind.

How real is the threat? 

This past October, Saddam issued a call that he hopes will result in Jerusalem being taken from Israeli control. The dictator has cast himself as the defender of the holy city and has issued a call for volunteers for a so-called “Jerusalem Army”. The official Iraqi News Agency says that more than 7 million men and women -- nearly a third of the 22 million population -- volunteered for the force.

As these new soldiers rallied, they chanted, “with our blood and souls... we sacrifice for Saddam.”

Any threat has to be taken with a certain degree of caution for Iraq is believed to have more than 10 billion deadly doses of anthrax and other bacteria, viruses, toxins and fungi hidden throughout the country.

I read one estimate that states that an Iraqi Scud missile warhead filled with anthrax would kill between 30,000 and 100,000 Israelis in one long night of horror. In 1991, during the Gulf War, Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles against Israel, none of which is thought to have been armed with chemical or biological weapons. 

Saddam's obvious agenda, if he is not completely stopped, is to build the world's largest stockpile of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and the missiles to deliver them against Israel and his other enemies.

What will the end be of all of this? 

No one knows how the present crisis will end; whether Saddam Hussein will be overthrown, murdered or if the war will affect him at all. Time will tell.

Nonetheless, let me declare to you that two things are certain:

Israel is going to remain in israel.  Numbers 24:18 still applies, “Israel will do valiantly.” Martin Luther translated this, “Israel will be victorious.” It will.

Genesis 15:18 states, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates....’” In an irony of ironies, Israel will eventually stretch from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq!  Israel will someday own a piece of Saddam Hussein's kingdom!

While here, I want you to also listen to Psalm 33:10-11, “The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generation.” God has not forgotten one word of His promises to Abraham. The Covenant is still going to come to past. You can take that to the bank!

Isaiah 40:22-25 adds, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grass-hoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. ‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One.”

Saddam is Saddam, but God is God! There is a world of difference in the two. Someday God is going to blow on this wicked man and he will wither and be swept away into the musty pages of human history. God will still be God and His reign will continue on forever!

JUDGMENT is to be poured forth on Iraq. God Almighty has a score to settle with these ancient people.

Notice the words of Genesis 11:4: “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for our-selves....” This passage reveals to us the spirit of those who sought to build the Tower of Babel; those who established Babylon.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the tower was related to astrology and idolatry. Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse wrote in his commentary, "The tower was an open definite turning to Satan and the beginning of devil worship."

 The word "tower" here in verse four means literally "watch tower." The people wanted a fortification against God. It had only been maybe 100 years since the Great Flood. 

·         Therefore these people thought by their building the tower, they could outsmart God. 

·         Then too, they wanted to have a high place to run to in case He sent judgment once again. 

·         They also did not believe God's promise to never send another flood.

·         Finally, they thought that they could devise their own way to get into heaven.

These people had:

·         An evil spirit;

·         A prideful sprit;

·         A covetous spirit;

·         A rebellious spirit toward God and the things of God. (Someone has pointed out that while Jerusalem seems to stand for the city of God, Babylon seems to stand for the city of man.)

This prideful, anti-God spirit is still evident in the leader of Babylon today.  Saddam has exalted himself against the one true God, has made himself a symbol of worship, and has dared to come against the nation of God's chosen people. He will eventually pay for his insolence!

Listen now to these powerful verses of Scripture:

·         In the early 8th century before the birth of Christ, Isaiah declared: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground” (21:9). The double use of “fallen” is for emphasis. The action thus is expressed confidently -- as though it had been accomplished already.

·         Or consider the announcements of Jeremiah: “Declare you among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken...” (Jeremiah 50:2).

·         “Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed; wail for her; take balm for her pain...” (Jeremiah 51:8).

·         Jeremiah 51:24-26 then adds, “Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,’ declares the LORD. ‘I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned‑out mountain. No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,’ declares the LORD.”

·         Isaiah 13:19-22, “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God, like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.”

In all of these predictions of destruction, suddenness is clearly a factor. Babylon is to be destroyed in a devastating and unexpected blow. Historical facts clearly demonstrate that this has never completely happened. Babylon has been hit and hit hard in the past – but it has always come back. The time is coming though, when there will not be a rebound. Babylon will be utterly destroyed as was ancient Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isn't it interesting that as Hussein has threatened to "burn" Israel, God has promised to burn his land for it’s evil against the people of the Lord? Not only will Iraq burn, it will also become a waste place, deserted and forgotten. It almost sounds like a nuclear winter, doesn’t it?

Speaking of a nuclear winter, Iraq ranks number two in weapons of mass destruction and long-range missile systems in the Middle East. Who do you think ranks number one? If you said Israel, you are right. Sadly, both of these ancient adversaries have their weapons pointed directly at each other!

 Can anyone tell me:

·         Where the Hittites,

·         Amorites,

·         Perizzites,

·         Hivites, and

·         Jebusites are today?

They are no more! They fell under the judgment of God and they no longer exist. God can and will bring Babylon to it’s knees, Saddam or no Saddam!

Friends, these are frightening days.  Nevertheless, I take great comfort knowing that the Lord is still in control. Everything is going according to His plans. His people are on a path that will someday end in heaven; His enemies are on a path that will eventually end in judgment. 

I want to conclude this message with a passage from Revelation 19:11-18, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, ‘Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.’”

I don’t mean to be funny here, but the truth of the matter is, Saddam and others like him could and will become nothing more than buzzard bait! Saddam and every other despot that has rejected God has a date with judgment and God Almighty. Believe me when I say, judgment is sure! It is also just as sure that Jesus is g