The Vision of Iron, Fire, and the Silent Sands
And I, a servant, was borne up by the Spirit to a high place, and beheld a vast and mighty City. It was the City of Commerce, the Daughter of Ambition, and the Throne of all the Earth’s Merchandise. She sat upon the waves of the great sea, and her foundations were laid in gold, and her towers pierced the very clouds, reaching toward the heavens in a boast of iron, glass, and polished stone.
This City was dressed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, for she traded the souls of men and the desires of the nations. Her wealth knew no measure, and her banks held the treasure of kings, and her merchants were the great men of the earth. And she said in her heart, “I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
The Sudden Hour of Judgment
But as she spoke of her endless strength, behold, an Angel of the Lord descended, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying:
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! For her sins have reached unto heaven, and the Most High hath remembered her iniquity. For she seduced the nations with the wine of her commerce, and deceived them with the glitter of her inventions.”
And a voice came from the Throne, commanding: “Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.”
Then, even as the Angel spoke, the judgment fell upon her, swift as the closing of a tomb.
In a single, terrifying hour, when the sun was but newly risen and the merchants were preparing their gains, fire mixed with blood was cast upon the Earth. The foundations of her two most boastful towers—the very pillars of the world’s marketplace—were struck not by the weapons of kings, but by chariots of the air.
And the iron groaned, the glass shattered, and the polished stone melted into dust. The City of Iron and Glass became a pillar of smoke that ascended, and the smoke was so vast that it darkened the noon day, and the fragrance of burning men and paper ascended with it, a stench to the heavens.
The Kings of the Earth, who had committed fornication and lived sumptuously with her, looked upon the smoke of her burning from afar, and they cried out in fear of her torment, saying:
“Alas, alas, that great City! That mighty City! For in one hour is your judgment come, and your commerce is utterly laid waste!”
And the Merchants of the Earth wept and wailed over her, for no man bought their merchandise any more: the gold, and the silver, and the precious stones, and the pearls, and the fine linen, and the purple, and the silk, and the wood of all kinds, and the vessels of ivory, and the musical instruments, and the souls of men.
The War in the Ancient Sands
And when the fire in the City of Iron and Glass was quenched, the spirit of vengeance moved the nations. The Voice commanded that they should rise up and find the shadow that cast the ruin.
And the Kings turned their gaze eastward, toward the place of Ancient Babylon, a land of silent ruins and sand, where the very stones remembered the first arrogance of mankind. And they gathered their armies and their weapons of steel and fire, and descended upon the desert.
And the Angel proclaimed: “The power that dwelt in the new City of Commerce shall now confront the desolation of the old. The Dragon’s shadow lingers over the ancient cradle of iniquity, and the measure of that first Babylon must be filled.”
And the war raged in the plains of Mesopotamia, where the first kings built their thrones. Though the conflict was named by men for oil and boundaries, the Spirit knew it to be the final turning of the wheel, fulfilling the old prophecy of the desert’s utter desolation, that the ancient stronghold of man’s defiance should be forever overthrown.
The Silence and the Song
And after the armies had departed and the thunder of battle faded, a great silence fell over the place of the New City’s fall.
And the Voice of the Lord was heard once more, saying:
“The sound of the harpists and musicians and of those who played the flute and the trumpet shall be heard no more at all in you; and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you.”
For in the City of Iron and Glass was found the blood of the saints and of all who were slain upon the earth. The pride of the ages was broken in a moment, and the shadow of its collapse stretched from the City by the sea to the silent, desert sands of the East, a terrible and magnificent witness to the truth that only the kingdom of God shall endure.
And those who were saved stood upon the shore and sang the Song of Moses, the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the Nations!”
