Babylon who is ruled over by Satan, represents the Churches and Congragations which fornicate from the true Gospel in the time of the end(our day).
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This analysis of this verse is very parallel to a few verses in Jeremiah 25. Remember, earlier in our study we learned that Jeremiah 25 is focused on the judgment at the end of the world. This is seen in verses 26 and 27, which warn:
And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
In this verse, the king of Sheshach is the king of Babylon. Spiritually, the king of Babylon is Satan who rules the nations of the world. In Jeremiah 25, God lists a great many nations of the world which are representative of all the nations of the world which will experience the judgment of the last day. Significantly, the first peoples named are Jerusalem and Judah. We read in verses 17 and 18:
Then took I the cup at the LORDS hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
As we have learned throughout this study, the only entity that can identify with Jerusalem and Judah are the churches and congregations.
Then in Jeremiah 25. verses 28 and 29, God makes this declaration:
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
In these verses we find parallel language to that of I Peter 4:17. On the one hand is the city called by Gods name, where the evil of Gods judgment begins. That is the house of God of I Peter 4:17 where the time of judgment has begun.
In 2Thess 2 the man of sin taking his seat in the temple represents or is a picture of Satan ruling in the church. Satan will come with signs and wonders of falsehood. God will make the followers of Satan believe a lie, so they will be prepared for judgment.
Revelation 13:16 and Revelation 14:9, 10 warn:
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
In Jeremiah 7:12-16, we read: But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first. and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all there works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
What happened at Shiloh? It was the place the ark, which was to be kept in the holy of holies of the tabernacle, was brought after Israel came into the land of Canaan. For over than 300 years, it was there, Remember, the ark represented the presence of God with Israel. But then in the year 1068 B.C., in the days of Samuel, the Philistines threatened Israel, The Israelites wickedly took the ark out of the holy of holies and brought it to the front line of battle. We read of the sad consequence of this action in I Samuel 4:10, 11:
And the philistines fought, and the Israel was smitten, and every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
This terrible event means that Shiloh had been utterly forsaken by God. Never again did the ark come to Shiloh. In Jeremiah 7:15 God declares that Judah (the churches of our day) will be cast out, and Jeremiah 7:14 tells us,
"this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust," will be cast out. Then comes the even more ominous declaration in verse 16:
Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
How awful! Here, God is commanding Jeremiah not to pray for the nation of Israel, the church of his day. In our day, we are now in the place of Jeremiah, so the application is that God is commanding us not to even pray for the churches. There is no hope of any kind for the local churches. We are not even to pray for them. They are in a most dangerous place.