Jeremiah 51 - 12-14

Jeremiah 51:12-14
Set up a banner upon the walls of Babylon!
By Brother Mike (3-10-18; 40 minutes)

12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon .
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness .
14 The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee .

INTRODUCTION

In these verses of Jeremiah 51:12-14, we are first told to set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD has both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. What does this all mean for us today?

Then, we are told, O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. Who is it that dwells upon many waters? And, why is she said to be abundant in treasures? And, why is her end come?

Finally, we are told, The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself, [saying], surely I will fill thee [Babylon] with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. Who are these men that the LORD fills Babylon with, as with caterpillars? And, why does He say that He will fill Babylon with men, as with caterpillars? What exactly do these caterpillars represent? And, why are these men who are sent to fill Babylon said to lift up a shout against her? What does this shout represent?

Now, may our Lord, Jesus Christ, bless this study to the hearts, minds, and actions of His people, Amen.

Verse 51:12:

12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon .

In this verse, we first read, Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon. Here, the word translated as standard can be translated as banner so that our verse reads, Set up a banner upon the walls of Babylon.

Now, we had previously learned of this word banner back in Jeremiah 50 verse 2 , which reads,

Jer 50:2 Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard [banner]; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces .

Here, the idea of setting up a banner is to bring the message that Babylon (the world including all the churches) is taken ever since May 21, 2011 as there is, now, no more eternal salvation possible for anyone not already saved (see Jeremiah 50:2 ). And, we are to bring this message of judgment by setting up banners as rallying points in getting out the message, and we can use headings on our banners such as, for instance,

Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011 . . .
NO MORE ETERNAL SALVATION POSSIBLE!
All the billions of people who were not eternally saved in Jesus Christ by
May 21, 2011 and all those conceived and born after that date are now
certain to perish on the soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we
are now in.

Or, we could use this heading:

Babylon (this world including all the churches) is taken!
NO MORE ETERNAL SALVATION POSSIBLE!
Billions of people in the world and all who did not obey Christ to leave ALL
churches are now certain to perish on the soon to come Last Day.

Or, we could use the heading,

Babylon (this world including all the churches) is fallen!
NO MORE ETERNAL SALVATION POSSIBLE !

Then, we can pass out these banners as tracts and direct people to a web site that further explains the headings of the banners, or we can set up a banner in some location and pass out tracts which help explain the banner, or we can advertise our banners in various media and from there direct people to where they can get more information on the meaning of our banners. Indeed, there are many ways in which we can successfully set up a banner, but the main thing is that we are to set up a banner; that is, we are to get out the message that Babylon (the world including all churches) is taken because eternal salvation ended on May 21, 2011, and we are to explain what this means, namely that no one conceived and then born after May 21, 2011 is going to be eternally saved, and all those who were not eternally saved by May 21, 2011 as well as all those who were conceived after May 21, 2011 are certain to perish relatively soon. So, billions of people are relatively soon to be destroyed forever in the fires of annihilation due to the wrath of Yahweh.

Now, in our verse, we are told to set up a banner upon the walls of Babylon. Why are we told to set up a banner - that is, declare judgment against Babylon - upon the walls of Babylon? In the Bible, walls have to do with salvation. For instance, we read in Isaiah 26,

Isa 26:1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks .

And, again, we read in Isaiah 60,

Isa 60:18 Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise .

We can understand why walls can be equated to salvation because walls are what save the people of God from their enemies. Jerusalem, for instance, was surrounded with walls because the walls served to protect or save Yahweh's people from their enemies. So, having walls was very beneficial.

But, having walls in the spiritual sense means that we have Jesus Christ as our Savior, for it is salvation in Jesus Christ that saves us from our enemy, namely Satan and death. We can say, then, that our wall is Jesus Christ. But, if our wall is Jesus Christ, then the wall of Babylon which had once permitted those certain chosen people of Babylon to be protected or saved from Satan and death must also be Jesus Christ, and to set up a banner on the walls of Babylon is to set up a banner on Jesus Christ. And, to set up a banner on Jesus Christ is to declare that he who once could save people from the throes of Satan and death is no longer doing so in Babylon. Therefore, the wall of Babylon that normally protects and saves people of Babylon is no longer doing so; it is as if the wall of Babylon has been cast down, and, so, when we are told to set up a banner on the walls of Babylon, it is one and the same as saying the walls have come down as there is now no more salvation or protection possible by the walls. The walls (Jesus Christ) are no longer protecting or saving anyone out of Babylon; hence, we read the following about the walls of Babylon:

Jer 50:15 Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of the LORD: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her .

And, again, we read in Jeremiah 51,

Jer 51:44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall [which can be translated, has fallen] .

And, we read in Jeremiah 51,

Jer 51:58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be [which can be translated, have been] utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary .

So, in summary, to set up a banner upon the walls of Babylon that declares eternal salvation to have ended on May 21, 2011 is one and the same as saying that the walls of Babylon have fallen because the walls represent Jesus Christ, and He has fallen in the sense that He is no longer saving anyone ever since May 21, 2011.

Now, our verse continues and says, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes. Here, it seems obvious that the way to make the watch strong, we are told, is to set up the watchmen, and to prepare the ambushes. To set up the watchmen means that we are to educate more and more of the elect through the scriptures that they should be involved in getting out the message to the world and the churches that eternal salvation came to an end on May 21, 2011. And, as more and more of the elect get set up to bring this judgment message, we are setting up the watchmen, and we are making the watch strong. But, we are also making the watch strong, we are told, by preparing the ambushes. To prepare the ambushes means that we prepare to strike with the message of judgment at a preplanned place. For instance, let's say that we preplan on passing out flyers to all the churches in our area, and we first pray over all this and then print up the flyers we will need for the task. By doing this, you see, we have set up an ambush. And, as we plan on more and more operations such as this, we are setting up ambushes, and we are making the watch strong. So, the way we make the watch strong is by setting up the watchmen by recruiting the elect to obey our Lord to get out the message of judgment, and by preparing the ambushes by preplanning various operations to get out the message of judgment against the world and all the churches.

Now, we are given the reason as to why we are to make the watch strong by setting up the watchmen and by preparing the ambushes: we read, for Yahweh has both devised and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. In other words, Yahweh has both purposed and done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon, namely He has eliminated any hope of their eternal salvation ever since May 21, 2011, and, so, now it is time for the elect to make the watch strong by setting up the watchmen (the elect) to proclaim what Yahweh has done, and by preparing the ambushes through the planning and preparations of various operations that get out the message of judgment against the world including all the churches.

Verse 51:13:

13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness .

Here, we first read, O thou [Babylon] that dwellest upon many waters. This immediately reminds us of the Great Whore of Revelation 17 who sits upon many waters. We read,

Re 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters . . .

So far, then, we have been told that Babylon dwells upon many waters, and the Great Whore sits upon many waters. Could it be that because both Babylon and the Great Whore are revealed to be upon many waters that Babylon and the Great Whore are one and the same? Indeed, this is so, for we further read of the Great Whore in Revelation 17:5, which states,

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH .

So, the Great Whore is here designated as Babylon the Great, which clearly identifies the Great Whore with Babylon. Now, if we can discover who the Great Whore is, then we will know who Babylon that dwells upon many waters is referring to in our verse of Jeremiah 51:13. And, when we carefully study the Great Whore in Revelation 17, we find that she is the Corporate Church, which includes all the Christian churches worldwide (see Revelation 17 - The Great Whore ). So, if the Great Whore is Babylon as we have learned, and the Great Whore is all the Christian churches as we have learned, then Babylon is all the Christian churches as well. So, when we read in our verse O thou [Babylon] that dwells upon many waters, we might translate this as O thou [the Christian churches worldwide] that dwells upon many waters.

Now, what does it mean that Babylon (the Great Whore or all the churches) dwells upon many waters? We find the answer to this in Revelation 17, where we read,

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues .

So, here, we find that the waters on which Babylon (the Great Whore or all the churches) sits upon symbolize peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues [or languages]. And, that she sits or dwells upon them means that she rules over them. And, notice that there are four categories mentioned, namely peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. These 4 categories emphasize that Babylon's rule is over the peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues worldwide as the number 4 symbolizes worldwide or universality (see Bible meaning of the number 4 ). So, now, when we read our verse, which states, O thou [Babylon] that dwells upon many waters, we are being told that Babylon, which represents the Great Whore who is all the Christian churches worldwide, dwells upon (rules over) peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues all over the world. This rule makes perfect sense when we see Babylon as being all the Christian churches, for we can see her now ruling over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues throughout the world. In fact, there are about 2 billion people in the world that identify with a Christian church, and the kingdom of Satan through the churches rules over them in the sense that this is where they are brainwashed to believe whatever they believe.

Now, we read that Babylon (all the churches) who dwells upon many waters; that is, who rules over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues worldwide, is abundant in treasures. She is not necessarily abundant in treasures in the sense of being materially rich although in some churches this is the case, but she is spiritually abundant in treasures as all the churches are filled with the Bible. Even though the churches misinterpret and disobey the Bible in many areas; nevertheless, they possess the Bible in which all the spiritual riches can be found. And, they not only have one Bible, but they have many Bibles; free for the taking. Yes, Bibles are everywhere! And, for this reason, all the churches are abundant in spiritual treasures even though they have taken these spiritual treasures and made them impure by bending the truths of the Holy Scriptures to their own destruction.

Finally, we are told that thine [Babylon's] end is come, [and] the measure of thy covetousness. Literally, it reads, thine [Babylon's] end is come, the measure of thy unjust gain. In other words, we are being told that Babylon's (this world's including all churches') end is come, and this is the result of her unjust or dishonest gain. The world and the churches (Babylon) did not gain by telling the truth, but they gained by deception. In so far as the churches are concerned, they twisted the truths of the Bible to be more tasteful to the hearers, and the result was that they attracted many more people to come into the church with their tithes and riches. Many of them taught that Christ died for everyone, and it was now up to the individual to make a decision for Christ. This attracted the multitudes because it put salvation in the hands of the people. All they had to do was make a decision for Christ, and then they were saved. This lie was much better than preaching the truth, which says salvation is entirely of God, and that no one can choose Christ, but Christ must choose them. And, furthermore, He only chooses a remnant who were predestined from before the foundation of the world. Yes, this truth turned many people off to the gospel, but the lie brought in multitudes of people, and, so, the lie prevailed in many of the churches as they profited greatly by this dishonest gain.

There are other examples where the churches twisted the Word of God to make the church more attractive to the multitudes. For instance, although the scriptures are against divorce and remarriage as long as the spouse is still living (Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18; 1Cor. 7:39), the churches twisted the scriptures to make them say that there are certain reasons such as adultery whereby divorce and remarriage is allowed. And, although the scriptures are against a woman teaching or usurping authority over a man (1Timothy 2:12), and also the qualification for being and elder or pastor is that one be a man of one wife (1Timothy 3:2), the churches twisted the scriptures to make them say that a woman can teach men in a Sunday School Class or Bible study, and, in some cases, that a woman can even be a pastor or elder. All of this was to make the churches more tasteful to the world so that more and more people would come into the churches and make the churches wealthy. And, so, through this process of twisting the scriptures in this doctrine and that doctrine to make them more tasteful to the world, the churches were made more attractive to the world, and this resulted in many more people coming into the churches. But, this was due to unjust or dishonest gain, which has resulted in Yahweh bringing His judgment against all the churches (against Babylon) ever since May 21, 1988, and, again, beginning on May 21, 2011.

But, what does Yahweh mean that Babylon's end is come? Well, with the end of eternal salvation having come on May 21, 2011, Babylon's end is come because, now, none of them can be eternally saved, which means they are all now certain to perish on the relatively soon to come Last Day. This is true for all the unsaved in the world as well as true for all those who have remained in the churches; who did not obey our Lord to depart out.

Verse 51:14:

14 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 .

In this verse, we first read, The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself. Here, the word LORD is the word Yahweh, and the phrase by himself is literally translated in His soul. So, our verse is better translated, Yahweh of hosts has sworn in His soul. And, when Yahweh swears to something, you know that it will come to pass.

Now, what Yahweh swore to, [saying], we read, is that Surely I [Yahweh] will fill thee [Babylon] with men, as with caterpillars . . . Here, the word saying is not in the Hebrew, but the word that is. So, our verse is better translated, Yahweh of hosts has sworn in His soul, that, Surely, I [Yahweh] will fill thee [Babylon] with men, as with caterpillars. Caterpillars are the larval stage of the locust reproduction cycle, and in that Yahweh will fill Babylon with men as with caterpillars let us know that this filling of Babylon with men has to do with bringing judgment against Babylon since caterpillars and locusts have to do with judgment. For instance, we read the following when Yahweh brought judgment against His own people:

Joe 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel .
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers ?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation .
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten .

And, again, we read,

Na 3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm [caterpillar]: make thyself many as the cankerworm [caterpillar], make thyself many as the locusts .

And, we could read several other verses of similar nature, but, leave it to say that the presence of the caterpillar in the Bible represents judgment in the same way that locusts represent judgment. And, so, when our verse says that Yahweh will fill Babylon with men as with caterpillars, it means that Yahweh will fill Babylon with men to bring judgment against her. And, even as the caterpillar destroys the produce, or the food supply, so also will the men who are sent to fill Babylon destroy the spiritual food supply that brings eternal salvation as they proclaim the end to eternal salvation ever since May 21, 2011. These men who are now sent to fill Babylon (this world including all churches) with the message of judgment, we know to be us, the elect. And, since we have a long ways to go to fill this world and all the churches with the message of judgment - namely that eternal salvation is no longer possible so that all who were not saved by May 21, 2011 and all those conceived and born after May 21, 2021 will soon perish on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in - we must now focus our abilities and resources to giving our last bit of strength to the calling at hand. This is the last thing that we are called to do in this life before we are translated into glory, and we want to hear these words when the end comes, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Mt. 25:23).

Now, we are told that these men (the elect) that Yahweh sends to fill Babylon as with caterpillars shall lift up a shout against thee [against Babylon]. Literally, it reads, they [the elect] respond as a witness against you [against Babylon], shouting. This shouting, of course, is the elect shouting by voice or by the written word that Babylon is taken! Or, Babylon is fallen! There is no longer any possibility of anyone becoming eternally saved ever since May 21, 2011. Therefore, all the people of Babylon (the people of this world and all the people still in the churches) are now certain to perish with no possibility of eternal life on the soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. Yes, Babylon is taken! Babylon is fallen!

CONCLUSION

We were first told to set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, and we learned that this means to set up a banner upon Christ, who is the Word, which declares that He is no longer eternally saving anyone ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011. There are many ways by which a banner as such can be set up throughout the world such as on flyers, tracts, newspapers, billboards, cars, advertisements in all the various media including the internet, and only our imagination can limit the extent to which we set up a banner. But, the most important thing is that we do set up a banner in obedience to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now, we were told to make the watch strong by setting up watchmen and preparing the ambushes. We set up the watchmen by recruiting more and more of the elect to watch what the Word is now teaching us, which is to make a stand to begin helping in some way to get out the message of no more eternal salvation. And, we prepare the ambushes by preplanning operations for getting out the message of no more eternal salvation both to the world including all the churches.

Next, we were told, O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness, and we learned that the one who dwells upon many waters is Babylon, which is the Great Harlot, which are all the Christian churches worldwide. And, we found that all the Christian churches are abundant in treasures because they possess all the spiritual treasure found in the Word of God, the Bible even though they have taken these treasures and abused them to get more people into the churches by twisting the truth into a lie. Further, we learned that Babylon's (the world's and all the churches') end is come because with the end to eternal salvation, it is now guaranteed that all the unsaved in the world and all those who have remained in the churches will perish on the soon to come Last Day of the Day of Judgment that we are now in.

Finally, we were told, Yahweh of hosts has sworn by himself, [saying], surely, I will fill thee [Babylon] with men, as with caterpillars; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. Here, we learned that the men that Yahweh fills Babylon with are the elect, and they come as with caterpillars because they come in judgment, which is what the caterpillars symbolize in the Bible. And, when we are told that these men (the elect) lift up a shout against Babylon, it means that they shout out such words as, Babylon (the world including all churches) is taken, and Babylon is fallen! There is now no possibility for anyone else who was not eternally saved by May 21, 2011 to become eternally saved. Therefore, all the billions of people not saved by May 21, 2011 and all the multitudes of children who were conceived and born after May 21, 2011 are guaranteed to perish forever on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in.

Now, until next time, may Yahweh through our Lord Jesus Christ, bless thee, and keep thee: Yahweh make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace .