Brother Mike Ministries

The many days of Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011!  
***
ETERNAL LIFE: No Longer Possible!! ***

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Jeremiah 51:56-58
The Spoiler is come upon Babylon!
By Brother Mike (9-18-18; 43 minutes)
   

56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite .
57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise [men], her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of hosts .
58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary .


INTRODUCTION
  

In these three verses of Jeremiah 51:56-58, we are first told that Because the spoiler is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken. Who is the spoiler that is come upon Babylon? And, who are Babylon's mighty men who are taken as a result? And, what does it mean that everyone of their bows is broken as a result

Then, we are told that Yahweh will make drunk her [Babylon's] princes, and her wise [men], her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name [is] the LORD of hosts. Does this mean that Yahweh will make her princes, wise men, captains, rulers, and mighty men literally drunk with alcohol? Or, what does this mean? And, why are there listed five categories of people that Yahweh will make drunk? And, what does it mean that they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake? 

Finally, we read, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary. What does it mean that The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire? And, why do the people of Babylon labor in vain? And, why does our verse say that the folk are in the fire? And, finally, why are we told that the peoples of Babylon will be weary?   

In this study, we will answer these questions and more. May our Lord and King, Jesus Christ, grant to us all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm to understand both the height and depth of the verses laid before us, amen.  


Verse 51:56
:     

56 Because the spoiler is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite

In this verse, we first read, Because the spoiler is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon. The word translated as spoiler can also be translated as devastator or destroyer. So, our verse reads, Because the spoiler [devastator or destroyer] is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon. Historically, the spoiler (devastator or destroyer) that came upon Babylon was king Cyrus of Persia who in 539 BC conquered Babylon. But, spiritually, king Cyrus was a type or picture of Jesus Christ who spiritually conquered this world and all churches (Babylon) on May 21, 2011. We can see that king Cyrus was a type or picture of Christ in the following verses:    

Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid .  

Isa 45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut . . .   

Notice that in the first verse, Isaiah 44:28, Cyrus is called Yahweh's shepherd, and in the second verse, Isaiah 45:1, Cyrus is called Yahweh's anointed. This is the same terminology God uses to describe Christ. For instance, the same word shepherd is used to describe Christ as we read in John 10:14:    

Joh 10:14 I [Christ] am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine .  

Or, again, we read,   

Heb 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant . . . 

And, in 1Peter 5:4 we read,   

1Pe 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd [Christ] shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away .  

But, not only is Christ described as a shepherd like king Cyrus was, He is also described as the Lord's anointed like king Cyrus was as we had read in Isaiah 45:1. For instance, we read in Acts 4:27,  

Ac 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together . . .  

And, in Acts 10:38, we read, 

Ac 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him

And, again, in speaking about Christ, God says, 

Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows .  

Thus, we can see how king Cyrus of old was a type or picture of Christ Himself: King Cyrus was God's shepherd even as Christ is God's shepherd; king Cyrus was God's anointed even as Christ is God's anointed.  

Now, getting back to our verse, the spoiler who comes upon Babylon is Jesus Christ. So, our verse reads, Because the spoiler [Christ] is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon. Babylon, of course, refers to this world including all churches. And, Babylon refers to all churches because they were all given over to Satan, the king of Babylon, beginning on May 21, 1988 as God's wrath against them. So, ever since then, they became a part of Babylon so that both the world and all churches are now called Babylon together. Thus, when we read, Because the spoiler [Christ] is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon, it is saying, because the spoiler [Jesus Christ] is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon [upon this world including all churches].  

Next, our verse continues, and her [Babylon's] mighty men are taken. Babylon's mighty men would be the spiritually strong, brave, or powerful ones in the world and churches worldwide. So, what we are being told is that because the spoiler [the destroyer, Jesus Christ] is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon [upon this world including all churches], and her mighty men [her strong, brave, or powerful ones] are taken, we read, every one of their bows is broken. Literally, it simply says, their bows are broken. Our entire verse, then, should read, because the spoiler [the destroyer, Jesus Christ] is come upon her, [even] upon Babylon [upon this world including all churches], and her [Babylon's] mighty men [her spiritually strong, brave, or powerful ones] are taken, their bows are broken.   

Now, how were Babylon's spiritually strong, brave or powerful ones taken? Well, they were taken in that none of them can any longer be eternally saved as of May 21, 2011. This not only ensures that they will remain spiritually dead in Adam, but it makes certain that they will soon perish as well on the Last Day of Judgment Day in which we now find ourselves. Furthermore, we are told that their bows are broken. What does this mean? Obviously, it can't mean that their literal bows are broken because we don't see the peoples of this world and the churches (the spiritual Babylonians) walking around with literal bows in their hands. No, what we must do is look up the word translated as bows everywhere in the Bible and see how Yahweh defines it. And, when we do that, we find that the bow is symbolic of the tongue, and the arrows they shoot are symbolic of words. For instance, we read in Jeremiah 9,  

Jer 9:3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD .   

And, in Psalm 64, we read,  

Ps 64:3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words . . .  

Furthermore, we read in Proverbs 25, 

Pr 25:18 A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow .  

And, we read in Jeremiah 9,  

Jer 9:8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait .   

So, we can conclude from all these verses that the bow represents the tongue from which the words come, and the arrows that the bow shoots are the actual words themselves. And, now, we can begin to understand what it means that their [Babylon's peoples'] bows are broken. It means that their tongues are broken in that the words they speak from their tongues against the truth (against Christ) are now, ever since May 21, 2011, revealed to be lies in the spiritual realm as spiritual judgment has come upon them to remove any possibility of eternal life from them, and to make certain that they will all perish on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. Indeed, because spiritual judgment has come upon this world and all churches (upon Babylon), they are all shown to be liars - their bows [their tongues] are broken.   

Finally, we are given the reason why the bows (the tongues) of Babylon's peoples are broken; that is, why their tongues have been revealed to have been speaking out lies against Christ ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011: it is because the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite. More literally, in context, it could be translated, for Yahweh of recompences does surely repay. So, the reason as to why the bows [the tongues] of the peoples of Babylon are broken, or we could say revealed to by lies, is because Yahweh of recompences does surely repay. And, we know that Yahweh began to repay Babylon on May 21, 2011 for all the spiritual destruction that they had done to all the churches during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011. Yes, on May 21, 2011, eternal salvation was removed from Babylon's midst so that none of them can any longer be eternally saved. And, this judgment which has come upon the world and all churches (upon Babylon) has made it clear in the spiritual realm that the peoples of Babylon have not been speaking the truth; otherwise, judgment would have never come upon them. Yes, in this sense, their bows [their tongues] are broken because the words spoken from their tongues in opposition to Christ have been revealed to be lies in the spiritual realm with the coming of spiritual judgment upon them on May 21, 2011. 


Verse 51:57
:  

57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts .   

Here, we first read, And I [Yahweh] will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men. Notice that this is a list of 5 categories of people in Babylon whom the Lord will make drunk. Since the number 5 is symbolic of judgment (see Bible Number 5 ), judgment upon all these various categories of people is being emphasized. And, so, in that Yahweh will make these various categories of people in Babylon drunk is because His judgment has come upon them. And, it is not that He will make them physically drunk, but He will make them spiritually drunk so that they will follow false gospels and teachings and not even recognize that Yahweh's wrath has come upon them. And, so it is with all the world's and all the churches' (Babylon's) princes, wise men, captains, rulers, and mighty men - their leading, powerful and influential men - they have all been made drunk on false gospels and teachings ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011. We see this in the churches in that the leaders of the churches are leading their people with false gospels and teachings without even realizing it, for they are spiritually drunk on falsehood, and, thus, incapable of walking in the truth. Like a drunk, they walk in darkness and not in the light. So, why would anyone go to a church to find truth in these days; that is like going to a drunk in a bar to be taught how to not become an alcoholic. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch (Mt. 15:14). And, the churches have, indeed, fallen into a pit.  

Now, we are told that Babylon's princes, wise men, captains, rulers, and mighty men (this world's and churches' leading or powerful men) shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake. That is, not only does Yahweh make this world's and churches' leading or powerful men spiritually drunk in their false teachings or false gospels during Judgment Day that we are now in, but we are told they do sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake during this time. In other words, in Yahweh having made this world's and churches' leading or powerful men spiritually drunk, we are told that they will sleep a perpetual or continuous sleep, and not wake up in that they will never be able to see that they are walking in false doctrines or false gospels; they will never come to the truth that God's wrath is open them, and that they are not eternally saved even though they may think they are. Also, they will probably never come to believe that the Church Age is over, and that all God's elect have left all churches in obedience to the Lord's command to come out of her (see Why leave all churches? ). In short, they will continue in their dream world of false gospels or teachings right on up to the end. Indeed, they will sleep in falsehood forever, and not wake up until when on the Last Day of Judgment Day in which we now find ourselves, they will be destroyed in the fires of God's wrath to be annihilated forever. Yes, there is no eternal hope for those who have remained in the churches, and there is no eternal hope for all those who are of this world - Babylon has fallen, indeed (see Revelation 18 )!  

Well, the final part of our verse says, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts. This drives home the point that it is not just anyone who says that the leaders and powerful ones of this world and all the churches (Babylon) will be made drunk, and will sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake during Judgment Day that we are now in, but it is Yahweh Himself. He is the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, which can be translated, Yahweh of armies. That is, it is the King who has authority and power over all leaders and powerful people, so He is quite able to make the leaders and powerful people of this world and all the churches spiritually drunk so that they sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake. Furthermore, the King is Yahweh of hosts (Yahweh of armies) both in heaven and on earth, so He is quite able to enforce what He says, which is to make the leaders and the powerful and influential people in this world and in all the churches spiritually drunk on their false teachings and gospels so that they sleep a perpetual sleep, and wake not to realizing that they are under the wrath of Yahweh with no hope of eternal salvation.  


Verse 51:58
:  

58 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary .  

In this verse, we first read, Thus says the LORD of hosts. Literally, it reads, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, and the word translated as hosts can be translated as armies. So, our verse reads, Thus says Yahweh of armies. The armies refer to both the armies in heaven, which are the angels in heaven both the elect and celestial angels in heaven, and the armies on earth, which refers to the elect and all other armies on earth and in the universe. So, Yahweh is not just Yahweh of the heavenly hosts (armies), but He is Yahweh of all armies everywhere both in heaven and on earth, and everywhere else that armies may be found in the entire universe. Yes, He is sovereign over all things, and all things work out according to His purposes, and for the good of the elect (Ro 8:28).

But, let's now ask the question, why does Yahweh even bring up that He is Yahweh of hosts [armies] in this verse? Well, if we begin reading our verse further, it states, The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. So, the reason Yahweh says that He is Yahweh of hosts (armies) must be to make it clear that He has the armies to make good on what He declares, and, in this case, it is to utterly break the broad walls of Babylon, and to burn her high gates with fire.  

Now, let's look more closely at the sentence, The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken. Of course, now that we are in Judgment Day, we can translate our verse like this: The broad walls of Babylon are [not shall be] utterly broken [laid bare] as the verb tense depends upon the given context in the Hebrew, and the context is Judgment Day which we are now in. But, what does this mean for us today that Babylon's walls are broken (laid bare)? Well, since a city's walls were for protecting or saving the city from its enemies, the walls must do with salvation from enemies. To have walls means that Babylon has salvation possible from her enemies, but for Babylon to not have walls because they have been utterly broken or laid bare means that salvation is no longer possible as the enemy now has free course to enter the city to destroy it. So, spiritually, when we read that the broad walls of Babylon are utterly broken, it means that eternal salvation is no longer possible for Babylon as her enemy, sin and death, can now enter to destroy the city, and that is exactly what has happened in our day ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011: the peoples of the world and all the churches (Babylon) can no longer be eternally saved because, spiritually speaking, the walls of Babylon have been broken down or laid bare, which has allowed the enemy, sin and death, to completely take over so that all of Babylon's people are now certain to remain spiritually dead in their sins, and they are certain to be put to death on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day in which we now find ourselves.  

But, not only do we read that the broad walls of Babylon are utterly broken, but we read, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. We can translate it like this: and her high gates are [not shall be] burned in the fire because of Judgment Day that we are now in, and because the verb tense in the Hebrew is not here explicitly stated but left up to interpretation. Now, the gates, like the walls, were meant to keep enemies out, and, thus, bring salvation to the city. But now that the gates are burned down with fire, they have become wide open for the enemy to come in and destroy the city. So, in that there are no longer gates to keep the enemy out, salvation is no longer possible for Babylon. Spiritually speaking, then, in that the gates are burned down, like the broad walls are broken down, is telling us once again that eternal salvation is no longer possible for the city of Babylon. The enemy, sin and death, is now free to come in and destroy Babylon. And, since Babylon is here a type or picture of the world including all churches in our day, we are being told that there is no longer any eternal salvation possible for the peoples of the world; nor for the peoples in all the churches. But, they are all guaranteed to remain spiritually dead in their sins, and they will all soon be put to death on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. Yes, the enemy, sin and death, has now conquered this world including all the churches (Babylon) because its broad walls are utterly broken, and its high gates are burned with fire.    

Now, our verse continues, and the people shall labor in vain. Literally, it reads, and the peoples [plural] labor in vain. And, since the context is referring to the peoples of Babylon (the peoples of this world including all the churches), we are being told that it is they who labor in vain. And, why do they labor in vain? Well, because everything that they have been working for whether it be money, possessions of some kind, or some false religion will not benefit them, or their children, for long because they and everything they have gained in this life will all relatively soon perish on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. Indeed, none of what the peoples of this world and all the churches have been laboring for will last. Therefore, the peoples labor in vain.    

But, not only do the peoples labor in vain, but, we read, the folk in the fire. The word her translated as folk is better translated as nations or peoples. Therefore, our verse now reads, and the nations [peoples] in the fire. That is, not only do the peoples labor in vain, but they are in the fire. And, since fire is commonly symbolic of judgment in the Bible. We can say that the nations or peoples are in or under judgment. They not only labor in vain because none of what they work for will go on after this life, but they are under the wrath of God, which means they are now all certain to remain spiritually dead in their sins and trespasses, and to perish on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day in which we now find ourselves.    

And, finally, in our verse we are told that they are weary. This reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 where He states,   

Mt. 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labor [with weariness] and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest

The idea is that Christ would give those who are weary in their labor rest in eternal salvation from such vain labors. But, in that we are told in our verse that the peoples of Babylon are weary during Judgment Day means that they have no rest in eternal salvation from their labors. This is because Christ is not giving rest in eternal salvation to anyone during Judgment Day. Afterall, it is Judgment Day! So, we can understand why the peoples of Babylon are weary. It is because there is no possibility of rest in Christ (eternal salvation) during the days that we are now in ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011. So, there is no rest from their labors of working for money, possessions, and false religions in their attempt to earn eternal life. They will go on laboring in vain because none of what they work for has any eternal value; it will not benefit them in eternity. But, just as they will be annihilated on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in, so also will everything that they have worked for when this earth goes up in flame. 


CONCLUSION 

We first learned that because the Spoiler, Devastator, or Destroyer (Christ) is come upon Babylon (upon this world including all the churches) ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011, and Babylon's mighty men (her strong, brave, or powerful men) are taken in this judgment, we found that their bows are broken. Their bows, we learned, are symbolic of their tongues from which words are shot out like arrows, and, in that the bows of the peoples of this world including all churches (Babylon) are broken, we found to mean that their tongues (symbolized by their bows) are broken in that the words which shoot out from their tongues in opposition to Christ's true teachings have been shown to be lies with the coming of judgment upon them. Yes, with the coming of judgment upon this world including all churches (upon Babylon), Babylon's tongues (their bows) have been revealed to be false (they have been broken). All the false teachings and gospels that the world's and churches' tongues (their bows) have ever brought forth against Christ are now, in the spiritual realm, revealed to be lies so that we can say that their bows (their tongues) are broken by the coming of Judgment Day on May 21, 2011. And, all this is because Yahweh God of recompences does surely repay. Yes, because Babylon spiritually destroyed all the churches during the Great Tribulation from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011, Yahweh now repays Babylon (this world including all churches) by bringing spiritual judgment upon them beginning on May 21, 2011 with the removal of any possibility of any of their eternal salvations.  

Now, with the coming of the Spoiler, devastator, or destroyer (Christ) against this world including all churches (Babylon), not only are her mighty men (her strong, brave, or powerful men) taken, and their bows (their tongues) broken, but her princes, wise men, captains, rulers, and mighty men (Babylon's leaders or powerful men) are made drunk: and they sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake. This, we learned, does not mean that they are made drunk with alcohol, but it means that they are made spiritually drunk on their false teachings or gospels, and they sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake in that they will never come to realize that their teachings and gospels are false; nor will they come to realize that they are under the wrath of God. But, they will continue asleep right up until they are finally destroyed forever on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. So, there is no longer any hope for their repentance unto salvation, but only a guarantee of complete destruction of the peoples of this world and all the churches (complete destruction of Babylon). 

Then, we learned that because the Spoiler, devastator, or destroyer (Christ) is come against Babylon (against this world including all the churches), The broad walls of Babylon are utterly broken, and her high gates are burned with fire. With the broad walls and the high gates of Babylon broken or laid bare and burned down with fire, respectively, Babylon no longer has any way to keep out the enemy so that there is no longer any possibility of salvation for Babylon from her enemy. Spiritually, this means that there is no longer any possibility of spiritual salvation for the peoples of this world and all the churches (Babylon), but they have all now been given over to their enemy, which is sin and death. Yes, they are all now certain to remain spiritually dead in their sins, and they are all now guaranteed to perish by death on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day in which we now find ourselves.    

Finally, we learned that the peoples of Babylon (the peoples of this world including all the churches) labor in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they are weary. They labor in vain because everything that they are working for in this life is temporal and will not carry over to the next life whether they believe that or not. Furthermore, the folk [the peoples] [are] in the fire. That is, not only do the peoples of this world and all the churches labor in vain, but they are in the spiritual fire of being under the wrath of God. So, their labors are all in vain in this respect because they will all soon be destroyed. And, in addition, we are told that they are weary. This we learned is telling us that none of them are becoming eternally saved, for, if they were, they would not all be weary in their labors, but some would be finding rest from their labors in Jesus Christ.   


Now, until next time, may Yahweh through our Lord and God, 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 .

51:1-4  
51:5-8
51:9-11
51:12-14  
51:15-19  
51:20-23 
51:24-27  
51:28-32  
51:33-36  
51:37-40  
51:41-45  
51:46-50 
51:51-55 
51:56-58
51:59-64           

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