The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Nebuchadnezzar and the Kings in Revelation

INTRODUCTION
Revelation refers to the city of Babylon and Babylonian Kings, which presumably included the prominent Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. For example, Revelation symbolically uses the word Babylon a total of seven times while describing the evil capital city of all nations on earth. Revelation moreover describes a beast with seven heads who represents a succession of seven kings followed by an eighth king who eventually rules the earth from the symbolic city of Babylon.

THE FALL OF BABYLON THE GREAT
Revelation (14:8, 18:2) declares, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” These verses declare the final destruction of the capital city of political and religious forces that oppose God’s people while these verses refer to Old Testament judgments against the city of Babylon.

The Old Testament describes two falls of Babylon. First, in 689 BC, Assyrian King Sennacherib sacked Babylon. Second, in 539 BC, Persians ruled by Cyrus the Great overthrew Babylon. Isaiah 13 presumably describes Sennacherib sacking Babylon while 2 Kings 17:24-28 describes Sennacherib exiling conquered Babylonians to Samaria. Also, Isaiah (14:1-23, 21:1-10, 46:1-2, 47:1-5), Jeremiah 50-51, Habakkuk 2, and Daniel (2, 5, 7) describe Cyrus overthrowing the Babylon coregency of King Nabonidus and King Bellshazer.

Read the rest here <theoperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/05/nebuchadnezzar-kings-revelation.html>.