Disclaimer: The author intends these articles to assist the reader in understanding the End Times prophecies of the Holy Bible. There is no intention to provoke hatred towards any group, tribe, or nation. Even the family of the Antichrist deserves to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The book of Revelation states that there will be members of every tribe, nation, kingdom, and tongue, in Heaven! It is the hope of the author to provoke Christians to witness of the love and forgiveness of God toward all who will listen! It is his hope that we will share in the joy of seeing even family members of the Antichrist himself, in Heaven with Jesus!

Have you ever been reading a familiar passage of Scripture only to have a part of it jump out and strike you a different way, than you had ever considered before?

I find that the more I am in the Scriptures the more this happens to me! I would have to say that this has become almost a daily thing for me now! I wouldn’t say that any message in the scriptures has changed in the least, it’s just that God has opened my eyes, and I see more and more.

Remember this: A true interpretation of Scripture will never be contradicted by any other true interpretation of Scripture!

God, who knows the end from the beginning, cannot contradict Himself, although sometimes translators insert contradictions into their translations! Therefore it is a good idea to use a tried-and-true translation, based on the literal, word for word, translation method. The best example of this is the Authorized Version, also known as the King James Bible. (an updated version of the KJV may be OK, like the UKJV, or the MKJV, but avoid bibles based on the Nestle-Aland, or United Bible Societies text)

Remember also, that the parts of the KJV which correlate to the same books translated by William Tyndale, have been tested with modern software, and have been shown to be about 83% the work of William Tyndale! Some of the spelling was modified to more modern standards, but otherwise his text was pretty much left alone!

William Tyndale was martyred for his efforts, first by strangulation, and then his body was burned at the stake. That was the price he paid for his work for God, conversely none of the modern bible “versions” has this distinction; no one would ever die for the NIV, or the ESV, the CEV, or The Message! They are not worth dying for, and everyone knows it!

All I am saying is that when you use the KJV you are using the bible of the martyrs, the underlying text of which goes all the way back to the Apostles!

But back to the thought I started with; as I was recently reading Micah 4:10 I realized that I had always looked at this passage with incorrect presuppositions.

Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. Micah 4:10

I have known for decades that when you see a reference to a woman in labour pains (or travail) in Scripture, that it is always an End Times passage, yet somehow I had missed it in this verse.

I think it was because I had thought that the reference to Babylon in this passage timed it to the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.

Now, as I read through this passage I realized that there are several statements that move the context from Nebuchadnezzar’s time to the End Times! Apart from the above references to a woman in labour, there is also the statement that they shall go forth out of the city (Jerusalem) and shall dwell in the field! This is the opposite of what He told them when they were taken away by Nebuchadnezzar!

4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;

5 Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;

6 Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. Jeremiah 29:4-7

He was telling them that they were going to be away for a long time, to build houses, and to settle down and live their lives in the land they found themselves in. In Micah, however, they are told that they will live in the field; In an earlier passage (2:12) Micah says that they will be gathered as the sheep of Bozrah. Bozrah is the region of Edom where the ancient city cut out of the rocks, Petra was located. Today this is a famous tourist site. This is the area where Israel will go to as they flee from the Antichrist, and this is a part of his own nation of birth! The God of the bible can save Israel right under the nose of the Antichrist and he is powerless to stop Him!

The Babylon referred to here in Micah 4:10 is not the original Babylon, nor is it Rome, but the third Babylon, the modern nation who’s capital is the city of Amman!

In the old prophecies God was telling Israel that they were going to die in the nations they were being taken to;

For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. Jeremiah 20:4

And to Amos, that they would die in captivity…

15 And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. Amos 7:15-17

And through the pen of Isaiah…

17 Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. Isaiah 22:17-18

So now compare these three passages with Amos 4:10, and you will see some stark differences; In Jeremiah, Amos and Isaiah Israel is going away as captives, for a long time and many of them will die in the lands to which they went. We also see in Zephaniah 2:1-2 that they are still called “the nation not desired” even as they are being gathered for the Tribulation!

1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;

2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Zephaniah 2:1-2

This is because they are still in a state of unbelief, even as He is gathering them together. Since this is occurring during the Church-Age, all Jewish believers in Jesus the Messiah are called out of the nation, and are in fact a part of the Church of Yeshuah ha Maschiach! They are not a part of Israel, just as Gentile Christians are also called out of their nations, into this same Church of Jesus Christ!

Now lets look at the last statement in Micah, “and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.”

This time they are not being taken captive, but are in fact fleeing from the Antichrist as he has set-up his Abomination of Desolation in the Holy Place of the new Temple! They are fleeing to Babylon!  This “Babylon” is not in Iraq, but it is the place where the spirit of Babylon will move to, just across the Jordan river from Israel!

There are many passages that indicate that Israel will be saved in their place of exile; Babylon, Iraq is too far and is a long way through hostile nations. The current Babylon, Rome is even farther, and is across the Mediterranean Sea, which would leave millions of people exposed in boats. No, neither of these places fits the bill; only Israel’s neighbor across the river fits…

2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. Isaiah 16:2-5

Here, in the midst of a very negative End Times prophecy about Moab, one of Edom’s partners, we have this curious statement that some of the women of Moab will be involved in being a shelter to the believers of Israel! These Moabite women are believers in the God of all creation, and will survive the Tribulation with these Israelite believers!

Again, there is a very similar statement regarding Edom, the descendants of Esau, in Jeremiah 49

10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. Jeremiah 49:10-11

In the midst of an End Times curse against Edom (Idumea), we are told that the men of Edom will die, but that their wives and children will trust in the God of Israel! This mixed group of Edomite and Moabite women and children will assist the fleeing Israeli’s and in the end they will be the only survivors of their nation! There will be so much shame associated with that name, and with Edom, Moab, and Ammon, that these women will marry Israelis, their children will be adopted by their new husbands, and all will be absorbed into Israel! They can’t stay in their hme nation because…

5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

8 For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.

9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. Isaiah 34:5-10

Truly, the Babylon of Micah 4:10 is the “Babylon” just across the Jordan river from Israel!  This  is Babylon in the context of the second half of the Tribulation period!

If you are interested in the Bible’s End Times prophecies, then I suggest you get a copy of The Spirit of Prophecy, and you will see how an unbiased study of these prophecies leads to the conclusion that the Antichrist will not come from Rome, but from one of Israel’s closest neighbors, and their closest relatives.