Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
On This Week in Prophecy… Iraq is breaking down. Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has announced he is stepping down from politics. The result is a violent power grab. The Green Zone is Baghdad is a war zone. The violence is spreading throughout the country. A nationwide curfew has been imposed. The United States appears to be air lifting personnel from their embassy facility within the Green Zone.
Iran and Russia continue to strengthen their economic ties. Both countries have agreed to complete financial transactions with rials and rubles. India, China, and Saudi Arabia have signaled they are willing to complete economic transactions apart from the US Dollar. Other currencies include the yuan and the rupee.
China’s Yangtze River is running dry. Drought and a heat wave is gripping China this summer. Crops do not have water to grow. Pressures continue to mount on food security around the globe. Hydroelectric plants are no longer producing energy.
Shocking pictures from China: World’s third-largest river dries up in drought 👇pic.twitter.com/1rXKa01quq
Floods are devastating Pakistan. Over 1,000 are dead. 33,000,000 people have been affected. Basic provisions of food, water, and shelter have been significantly disrupted.
A regional energy emergency has been declared. Gas prices in the upper Midwest of the United States are going up. A major fire at a refinery has severely affected gas distribution in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The refinery accounts for 20-25% of gas to the four states.
Genesis 11:31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
March 7, 2021: Pope Francis has made a historic trip to the land of the ancient Chaldeans and Sumerians, modern day Iraq. The pontiff has traveled to the Shia Muslim holy city of Najaf, the Christian community of Qaraqosh, Abraham’s birthplace of Ur, Erbil, and the ancient city of Nineveh or modern day Mosul. This is the first time a pope has visited Iraq.
In Najaf, the Pope met with Iraq’s Shia Cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. The visit is reported to have lasted about 50 minutes. Focus of the talks were on religious tolerance.
The following quote is from the Grand Ayatollah Sistani. “…affirmed his concern that Christian citizens should live like all Iraqis in peace and security, and with their full constitutional rights.”
Pope Francis traveled to modern day Nasiriyah or ancient Ur. This is the birthplace of Abraham, the father of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. The Great Ziggurat of Ur was the location of the interfaith service.
“This is true religiosity: to worship God and to love our neighbor. From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters. Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: They are betrayals of religion.”
“It all started from here. This blessed place brings us back to our origins. We seem to have returned home.” -Pope Francis.
By the way, those of the Hebrew faith were not invited by the Iraqi government. Many spoke out against the decision by the Iraqi government including representatives of the Pope. There was no Jewish representation at the interfaith service.
Iraq has begun a “major” military operation to gain control of oil fields and military bases in the Kurdistan region near Kirkuk.
Jeremiah 51 and Isaiah 13 are dedicated to the future judgment of Babylon (modern day Iraq). The prophets state Babylonian judgment will take place at the hands of the Medes (modern day Kurds). These passages speak to the complete destruction of Babylon and it is never again to be inhabited by people.
Are we witnessing the beginning of the fulfillment of these prophecies? Here are references related to the actors.
Jeremiah 51:1-2 Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai, and I will send to Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land, when they come against her from every side on the day of trouble.
Jeremiah 51:11 “Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields!
The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for His temple.
Jeremiah 51:28-29 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
Isaiah 13:17-22 Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there wild goats will dance. Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.
Scripture is pretty clear. We know how it will end. These events are likely to have many twists and turns. Is this the beginning of the end for Babylon??? We don’t know. Time will tell. At the least, these events in Iraq are likely to have an impact on our world.
Genesis 11:1-2, Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
Genesis 11:9a Therefore its name was called Babel…
This area in Genesis 11 was established around 2,100 BC. Shinar is another name for Babylon.
Click on video link below for additional geography and analysis.
Ancient Babylon is the home and setting to the writings of the prophet Daniel. Babylon under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem. Jewish captives were taken and exported to Babylon in 606 BC.
Daniel 1:2b …And he (Nebuchadnezzar) brought them to the land of Shinar…
Daniel was a member of the party of people taken from Jerusalem.
Daniel 1:6 Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah.
The prophet Daniel served the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar as a young man. Later in his life as an older man, Daniel would serve the Medo-Persian Empire under King Darius the Mede and King Cyrus the Persian.
Daniel 6:28So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Media or the Medes were located north of ancient Babylon. Ancient Media is consistent with the modern day group of people called the Kurds.
This is modern day, 21st century Iraq. It appears the ancient rivalry of the Babylonians (Iraq) and the Medes (Kurdistan) is on the verge of being reignited. The Kurds recently voted to become an independent nation, Kurdistan. None of their Middle East neighbors approve of the will of the Kurdish people. Turkey, Iran, and Iraq consider the Kurds terrorists.
seekingalpha.com
The issue is oil. The Kurds gained control of the oil fields as a result of ISIS invading the area. Kurdish reserves are estimated to be at 45 billion barrels of oil. The Kurds can move approximately 700,000 barrels per day. The oil and gas pipelines run through primarily Kurdish territory on their way to the open market.Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan has threatened to close off the flow of Kurdish oil. “Who are they going to sell the oil to? If we close the valve, their income is gone too.”
Turkey and Iraq have been completing joint military exercises since the Kurds voted for their independence. President Erdogan is also quoted as saying, “We may arrive one night, suddenly.”
October 13, 2014: Iraqi troops are on the move towards Kirkuk. The Iraqi government wants to retake control of the oil fields currently managed by the Kurds. Iraq has deployed troops about 10 km (6 miles) south of Kirkuk. The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Squad is on location. And the 9th Armored Division of the Iraqi Army is nearby in Tazza.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi does not want to engage the Kurds, but “federal authority has to be imposed in Kirkuk and the disputed areas.”
For their part, the Kurds are sending thousands of troops for reinforcement to Kirkuk.
“We call on all components of the Kurdish people…to prepare fully to respond to those who want war and battle, and to support the Peshmerga forces by all means in order to save the cities of Kurdistan. We want to avoid our cities becoming like Mosul, Anbar and other Iraqi cities which have been afflicted by mass murder, devastation, and destruction.” -Nejervan Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
Here is a thought. Jeremiah 51 promises the future destruction of Babylon. Are we entering this time and event?
Jeremiah 51:28-29 Prepare the nations for war against her, the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under their dominion. The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.
