Jeremiah 51:53, commentary and pictures

Though Babylon should climb to the sky and make her strongholds unassailable, no height or fortification can shield her, for plunderers sent by the Lord Himself will come upon her in judgment. It was spoken as God's message to ancient Babylon when her guilt was full, warning of utter desolation graciously given long before her fall yet slighted and unheeded. So it proved, for despite walls of immense thickness and height, vast stores, and proud defiance, Cyrus, long before named and appointed by the Lord of hosts, pressed the siege until the city was taken. The overthrow did not end there, for what befell the city and empire of the Chaldees was a type of the final and complete overthrow of antitypical, mystical Babylon, the apostate power exalting itself above God, to be read with Revelation 18. No human might, scheme, wealth, or power can save a city, church, or nation that sows error and confusion within herself, and the warnings and appeals sealed against ancient Babylon stand for proud cities and fallen churches today.

Ancient Judgment Declared

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven and fortify the height of her strength, her height and defenses cannot protect her, for spoilers and destroyers shall come upon her from the Lord as His judgment. Even if she rises to great heights and strengthens her highest stronghold and reaches for the highest security, her strength cannot prevent the destruction God decrees. The judgment is an attack by nations bringing destruction and desolation, with plundering and overthrow sent by the Lord. It is a warning that her doom came despite her power after warnings went unheeded.

The verse belongs to the divine message sent through Jeremiah to ancient Babylon when it had filled the cup of its iniquity. It is part of the prophecies against foreign nations from Jeremiah 46 onward, and of chapters 50 and 51 foretelling utter desolation and heaps without inhabitant. It was spoken as a great burden of prophecy against Babylon many years and more than fifty years before the fall, predicting the downfall of Babylon as the head of gold before the silver empire takes its place in succession. It carried gracious warning and proffered mercy, but the message was slighted and went unheeded. Its fulfillment is proved by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy and had no design to show its fulfillment, and its symbols, signs, figures of speech, warnings, and appeals are applicable to the present day.

In its setting the judgment includes punishment of her graven images, with the wounded groaning throughout her land under this divine execution of judgment. This is because Babylon was the seat of nature worship that confounded creature with Creator, fabricated a host of idols, served them, and taught their service to the nations. The roll of this prophecy was brought to the banks of the Euphrates by Seraiah, who read it there and then tied a stone to it and cast it into the river as a sign that Babylon would sink and not rise from the evil brought upon her.

The image of Babylon mounting up to heaven refers to the Babylonian system's ambition to rise above God and take His place. Its instigator Satan had once been in heaven and sought to overthrow God's government and claim God's place and authority. Babylon's attempted ascent echoes his desire to exalt his throne above the stars and make himself like the Most High.

Fulfilled in Babylon's Fall

Though Babylon should mount up to heaven and fortify the height of her strength, her height and strength could not protect her, for spoilers were to come upon her from the Lord. That height and strength were her walls eighty-seven feet thick and three hundred and fifty feet high around a city sixty miles in circumference, with very great troops for defense and provision for at least twenty years, so that from her lofty walls she scoffed at Cyrus and derided his efforts. The Medo-Persian kingdom came against her as the spoiler called to that work. Cyrus was called by name and appointed to his work by the Lord of hosts over two hundred and sixty years before, and continued with uninterrupted success until Babylon alone held out in all the East. After a siege of nearly two years, in the sixteenth year of Belshazzar, he took the city.

The ancient empire fell suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure. The Persian capture fulfilled the warning while the people of the city were unaware of the danger and its king could not stop the attackers. The prophecy was not limited to overthrow by the Persians but also described the city's eventual ruin. It foretold the downfall of Babylon as the head of gold before the silver empire took its place in succession. Babylon declined after Alexander died there and over many centuries became heaps without inhabitant and desolate, fulfilling the prophecy literally.

The buried cities by the Euphrates, now mounds of more than twenty centuries yielding stones, bricks, sculptured slabs, and inscriptions carried to London and Philadelphia, stand as the fulfillment and witness of that desolation. The ruins beside the Euphrates bear witness to the truth of the doom foretold, as evidence that even the city's great power could not prevent its destruction. That fulfillment is proved by the dispassionate testimony of heathen historians who did not know the prophecy and had no design to show its fulfillment.

Type and Warning Today

The prophecy embraces both the fall of Babylon's city and the fall of its empire, and it reaches beyond ancient Babylon to antitypical, mystical Babylon. The Babylon of Jeremiah's day is a type of the great mystical Babylon of the last days. That latter Babylon is the apostate system that rules the nations. The doom pronounced here stands among the judgments on the kingdoms surrounding Israel from Jeremiah 46 onward, and its destruction displays the fate of Babylon the Great foretold in Revelation. The ancient empire itself fell suddenly while Belshazzar and his lords felt secure.

The details could not possibly be exhausted in the destruction of Babylon of the Chaldees alone. By sudden transition from type to antitype the word describes the final and complete overthrow of all that God calls Babylon in the earth. That is the downfall of the whole world and the ruin of the nations. In particular it is the overthrow of Babylon the Great, the power that opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God. That modern Babylon is identified with the confused religious world of the last days. Its punishment, with that of all sinners in the day of the Lord, is foretold here and is to be read together with Revelation 18. Though Babylon mounts up to heaven and fortifies the height of her strength, spoilers and destroyers from the Lord still come upon her, and her great height and strength cannot protect her, for her fall is His judgment.

However high Babylon rises and however strongly she fortifies her power, God sends destroyers against her and she cannot stand. The word means that God's truth abides while Babylon's perverted principles of right end in confusion and destruction. It was fulfilled when Belshazzar's kingdom was numbered and finished, weighed in the balances and found wanting, divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then messengers sped to declare that Babylon is taken on every quarter, and the cry went forth that Babylon is fallen, is fallen. No might or scheme or power or wealth of man can save a city or nation that sows within herself the seeds of error, confusion, destruction and death.

The judgment upon Babylon includes attack by nations, destruction, and desolation. Even if Babylon rises to great heights and strengthens its defenses, these cannot protect it, for the Lord will send those who plunder and overthrow it. Her doom was declared after warnings went unheeded, and her fall followed her refusal to be healed. The symbols, warnings, and appeals of this portion of Jeremiah's prophecies against foreign nations, especially Babylon, are applicable to the present day. That warning applies to churches identified as Babylon which rejected the Advent message and were left in a fallen condition. It stands as a lesson for cities such as New York and Chicago and for proud cities and people who forget and defy God, that the fate invited by open, defiant wickedness can overtake them.