Flee to the Mountains

Fleeing to the Mountains: Salvation or Judgment on the Church?

609BC: LAST GOOD KING JOSIAH IS KILLED IN BATTLE: TRIBULATION BEGINS – LAST 3 WICKED KINGS IN JUDAH RULE (Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah)

City is already under the leadership of the king of Babylon:

2Ch 34:33 And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they departed not from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.

2Ch 36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

2Ch 36:6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

2Ch 36:7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

2Ch 36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.

2Ch 36:10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

2Ch 36:11 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

2Ch 36:12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.

2Ch 36:14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

NOT ALL WHO LEFT JUDAH WENT INTO BABYLON:

2Ki 25:12 But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.

587BC (23 YEARS INCLUSIVE): JUDAH IS TOTALLY DESTROYED

When the people were physically in Babylon, they were simply prisoners. But the bulk of the devastation seems to relate to the fact that their homeland was destroyed.

2Ch 36:19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

2Ch 36:20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

539BC (70 YEARS): BABYLON IS CONQUERED BY THE MEDES AND PERSIANS – AFTER A SABBATH OF DESOLATION

Cyrus = a type of Christ - king of Persia, conqueror of Babylon; first ruler of Persia to decree that the Israelite exiles to return to Jerusalem

Mr 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

2Ch 36:21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she (Judah) lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

Ezr 1:7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

Ezr 1:8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

Ezr 5:13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

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.

TRIBULATION WAS CUT SHORT

Mt 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Mt 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Mt 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Mt 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Da 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

Da 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. (This time period becomes the 2300 days

1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

LOT’S WIFE – THE FLIGHT FROM S&G: JUDGMENT OR SALVATION?

Ge 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Ge 19:25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Ge 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Lu 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom (Babylon) it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

(Revelation of Christ appears to be a flight out of Babylon, not into it)

Lu 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife. (So Lot’s wife would not be leaving a city of whoredom to go into babylon?)

RESURRECTION FROM SODOM = SALVATION?

BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY: PRE-DEPART OUT?

and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

Mic 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth <03318> (used 1069 times – can also be used in context of coming into tribulation – pre depart out) 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.

Ga 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

Mt 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

Da 8:14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

Mr 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: (when the city becomes an unclean harlot, babylon, it’s time to flee - depart out)

JUDAH, JUDEA: HAS SHE BECOME BABYLON?

La 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!

Re 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she (babylon) saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

Mt 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Jer 6:1 O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.

Jer 51:6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

Ne 2:17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

Isa 52:9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

Eze 26:2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Isa 3:8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

Re 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Jer 5:20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,

Jer 5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

Jer 5:27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

Re 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

La 1:3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

La 1:4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.

Jer 50:28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

Mr 11:17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Mic 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth <03318> 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. (In the historical account, they physically left one location to go to another. But spiritual this seems to point to Judah going into captivity as she becomes babylon)

Jer 38:23 So they shall bring out <03318> all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.

La 1:6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed <03318>: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer.

Zec 14:2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth <03318> into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Zec 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.

Isa 48:20 Go ye forth <03318> of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.

Isa 52:11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out <03318> from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out <03318> of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

FLEEING TO THE MOUNTAINS: JUDGMENT OR SALVATION?

Ps 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Ps 125:2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.

Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

So 4:6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

Zec 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

Mr 3:13 And he goeth up into a mountain <3735>, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.

Eze 7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

Heb 12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount <3735> that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Re 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount <3735> Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

ADDITIONAL VERSES ON FLEEING?

Ps 143:9 Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

Isa 10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

Isa 13:13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Isa 13:14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.

Jer 25:35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

Jer 49:30 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

Am 2:14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

Jer 31:6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God. (New Zion?)

Joh 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee <5343> from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

1Co 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

1Co 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee <5343> from idolatry.

Re 12:6 And the woman fled <5343> into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

SUMMARY CONCLUSION:

Looking at the overall picture, it appears that fleeing to the mountains (Mr 13:14) is the language of salvation. Elect coming into the great tribulation is the beginning of sorrows where Judah, Judea, Jerusalem have become the abomination of desolation that is Babylon. God it seems can use the mountains to relate to judgment depending on the context. But this I believe is another picture that develops where those that are saved (corporately) come to the mountains where God continues to purge the body and destroy the unsaved (Jude 1:5). That would be a whole other study.