In the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah the king of Judah, when Seraiah, the quartermaster, went to Babylon with Zedekiah, Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come on Babylon, all the words that are written concerning Babylon (vv. 59-60). Jeremiah told Seraiah that when he came to Babylon, he was to read all these words and say, "O Jehovah, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that nothing should dwell in it, neither man nor animal, for it will be an eternal desolation" (vv. 61-62). Jeremiah further told him that as soon as he had finished reading this book, he was to bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates and say, "Thus Babylon will sink and will not rise up, because of the evil which I will bring upon it, and they will weary themselves" (vv. 63-64).
According to the Bible, the human government on earth is, in the eyes of God, altogether Babylonian from beginning to end. This is proved by the great human image in Daniel 2. This image is Babylon from the head to the toes.
As we have pointed out, the origin of Babylon was Babel, the first nation constituted by man, which opposed God, exalted man, and worshipped Satan in all the idols. Babel was formed by a mighty man named Nimrod, a type of the Antichrist. Babel has its continuation in Babylon which, in the sight of God, is the consummation of human government. At the end of the Bible, Babylon is mentioned again in its religious and material aspects (Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17—18). In Revelation Babylon does not refer literally to the place of ancient Babel but to the city of Rome. This indicates that, from God's point of view, Rome is the continuation, consummation, and conclusion of Babylon.
The image in Daniel 2 signifies four empires: the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Macedonian-Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire. Today we are still in the Roman Empire, for the culture and customs of today are Roman. In the future there will be a further restoration of the Roman Empire. The coming Antichrist will restore the Roman Empire and will make himself the last Caesar over it. In the last seven years of this age, he will make a covenant of peace with Israel, allowing Israel to worship God with freedom. But after three and a half years, Antichrist will change his mind and begin to persecute all religion, especially persecuting the Jewish people and the believers in Christ. At that time God will consider Rome, the capital of the restored Roman Empire, as Babylon.
Historically, in the past ten or more centuries, the city of Rome has been involved, even wrapped up, religiously with the Roman church. Rome today is the capital of both the nation of Italy and of the Catholic Church. At the beginning of the great tribulation, Antichrist will destroy the Roman church (Rev. 17:16). Three and a half years later, at the end of the great tribulation, the Lord Jesus will destroy the city of Rome (18:8). At this point, the destruction of the human government, consummated in the Roman Empire, will be completed.
This corresponds to Jeremiah's prophecies concerning the punishment and judgment upon the nations which are involved with God's elect, Israel. This punishment and judgment begins with Egypt and ends with Babylon, after which there will be no more human government.
Both Isaiah and Jeremiah tell us clearly that Babylon, including the land and the people, will be cut off. Babylon is the most evil thing on earth opposed to God; and once Babylon has been destroyed, it will not be restored. Babylon began with Nimrod and it will end with the restored Roman Empire under Antichrist, which, in the sight of God, will be the continuation, consummation, and conclusion of Babylon. When God destroys both the religious and the political Babylon, that will be the end of the judgment on Babylon prophesied in Jeremiah 50 and 51.
Jeremiah 52 is a supplement to the history of captivity. As such a supplement, this chapter covers five matters: the fall of Jerusalem (vv. 1-16); the plundering of the temple (vv. 17-23); the exile of the people of Judah (vv. 24-27); the number of those exiled by Nebuchadnezzar from Judah (vv. 28-30); and the lifting up of Jehoiachin king of Judah (vv. 31-34). This chapter is the definite fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecies as a justification to this genuine prophet and a condemnation to the false prophets (ch. 29).