*Lost*
Isaiah foretells the end of non-Yahweh worship in chapter 2. The time setting is:
(Isaiah 2:1, 2) . . .The thing that Isaiah the son of A′moz visioned concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2 And it must occur in the final part of the days . . .
And after describing the establishing and elevating of Yahweh's worship, the prophecy foretells:
(Isaiah 2:18-21) . . .And the valueless gods themselves will pass away completely. 19 And people will enter into the caves of the rocks and into the holes of the dust because of the dreadfulness of Jehovah and from his splendid superiority, when he rises up for the earth to suffer shocks. 20 In that day the earthling man will throw his worthless gods of silver and his valueless gods of gold that they had made for him to bow before to the shrewmice and to the bats, 21 in order to enter into the holes in the rocks and into the clefts of the crags, because of the dreadfulness of Jehovah and from his splendid superiority, when he rises up for the earth to suffer shocks.
This prophecy describes and end to non-Yahweh worship when Yahweh 'rises up for the earth to suffer shocks.' The "worthless gods" disappear first.
A number of scriptures also describe Yahweh's intention of judging his own wayward people first:
Jer 25:29; Ezekiel 9:6; Amos 3:1, 2; Romans 2:8, 9; 1 Pet 4:7
The combined weight of these coincides with the idea that "the great city" of Revelation 16:19a pictures professed Christianity, and 'Babylon the Great' of 16:19c the rest of religion. These are the first two entities judged when the "great earthquake" of Revelation 16:18 takes place.
The final 'King of the North's' movements also coincide with this order of events. In Daniel 11:44 he 'hears disturbing reports (note plural) out of the East and out of the North and goes forth in a rage to devote [the objects of his rage] to destruction.' With Syria as the point of view for this king, East, in the context, points to "Edom, Moab, and Ammon, neighbors of the promised land. And North points to Babylon. In effect, Daniel 11:44 foretells the same thing as Revelation 16:19. His last movement after this is into the promised land where he meets his end.
Interesting that it doesn't seem to be the King of the North's original intention to cause the destruction that he does. Rather, he reacts negatively to the "reports" that he hears. For Babylon in Revelation 16:19c, this makes sense if 'the falling of the cities of the nations' in 19b is traceable to "Babylon the Great." And thus, the "great rage" of the King of the North compares well with Rev 17:16 - "these will hate the harlot."
There is also an interesting historical comparison with 1st century Jerusalem. Josephus reports that Nero went into a rage after he heard how the Jews handed Cestius Gallus a defeat in 66 AD. This caused Nero to enlist Vespasian for the purpose of destroying the Jews and making an example out of them. So, in effect, Nero 'heard a report out of the East and went forth "in a great rage in order to annihilate and to devote many to destruction." See Josephus quote here [especially the first paragraph]. Note also that it wasn't Nero's original intention, with Cestius Gallus, to destroy the Jews. He was simply trying to quell the uprising. But unexpected events suddenly turned the situation into a serious judgment for the Jews.
Take Care *Lost*
