I've been reading with interest your application of Ezekiel 27 and 28 to the city of Tyre being London and the British Empire. You make a very convincing argument and it seems to fit. However I have an issue which I can't resolve. Isaiah 23 says of Tyre: “And it must occur in that day that Tyre must be forgotten seventy years, the same as the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of a prostitute: ‘Take a harp, go around the city, O forgotten prostitute. Do your best at playing on the strings; make your songs many, in order that you may be remembered. And it must occur at the end of seventy years that Jehovah will turn his attention to Tyre, and she must return to her hire and commit prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the surface of the ground. And her profit and her hire must become something holy to Jehovah. It will not be stored up, nor be laid up, because her hire will come to be for those dwelling before Jehovah, for eating to satisfaction and for elegant covering.” My question is how was London forgotten for seventy years and then return to her prostitution? I've looked to see whether this applies to ancient Tyre, but apparently it doesn't. If we assume this has a future application, how does that fit with your assertion that there will only be a short period of tribulation at Christ's arrival?
Apparently, the 70 years was fulfilled in the past. It applied roughly to the period that Jerusalem was desolated. I say “roughly” because Tyre and Jerusalem were not destroyed simultaneously. Nebuchadnezzar razed Jerusalem first. Then he engaged in a laborious 13 year siege of Tyre. So, obviously the 70 years desolation of Tyre is not an exact time period. It seems more symbolic of a period of judgment.
The Insight book makes the point that 70 years being “the same as the days of one king” applied to the Babylonian kingdom, rather than an individual king. After the Babylonian kingdom fell to Cyrus, Tyre once again became a prominent mercantile center. That ended the 70 years of Jerusalem’s desolation as well as the period of Tyre being like a forgotten prostitute. “Her hire [came] to be for those dwelling before Jehovah” in the sense that after Jerusalem and Tyre were rebuilt the Tyrians once again began trading with the Jews. For example, Nehemiah 13:16 reports that the Tyrians violated the Sabbath while doing business in the rebuilt city of Jerusalem.
Still, though, it is apparent that the prophecy of Tyre is intended to apply in a much broader way then to the literal Phoenician city. That is apparent from the related and more extensive prophecy in Ezekiel, which connects the king of Tyre with the covering cherub of Eden – an obvious reference to Satan the Devil.
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Ezekiel’s prophecy reveals that the fall of anti-typical Tyre coincides with Satan’s ouster from heaven at the coming of Christ.
Even though Tyre fell some time before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt the prophecies speak of their fall as occurring simultaneously and resulting in all the nations of the earth being rocked by the stunning development. This indicates that the fall of ancient Tyre and Egypt typifies the death-stroke yet to be administered upon the Anglo-American dual world power, which is destined to occur concurrent with the Devil being evicted from Jehovah’s heavens.
Prophecies in Daniel and Revelation revel that there is an interval of 42 months, or three and a half years, following the earth shaking crash of Satan’s political beast. During that interval Jehovah’s earthly organization is also desolated. Since the typical desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians lasted 70 years and the desolation of Tyre also lasted 70 years, at least in a token way, (Jerusalem fell first) it would appear that the fall of the Tyre on the Thames and the three and one half years of desolation for the holy ones runs concurrently as well.
The prophecy of Isaiah says that after that 70 year period Tyre will return and “commit prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the surface of the ground.” As mentioned above, the fall of Tyre and Egypt seems to parallel the death-stroke administered upon the head of the seven-headed beast in the 13th chapter of Revelation. In view of the fact that death stroke gets healed and the beast is revived and morphs into the eighth king that rules a relatively short time of one hour, Tyre’s return to the hire of an international prostitute with the all the kingdoms of earth would seem to harmonize with this aspect of prophecy. Her prostitution leads to the revival of a system in direct opposition to Jehovah’s kingdom.
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But the revival of the Devil’s system will be short lived. That is why the prophecy goes on to foretell that her spoils will go to God’s people, that’s because from their then-heavenly vantage point, Christ and all his holy ones will plunder the nations and the meek will inherit all the earth – including the symbolic treasures of Tyre.
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See the essays Doom of the Anglo-American Dyad and
Death of a God
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Also, there is a revised and expanded version of the essay in the book Jehovah Himself Has Become King in the chapter re-titled as London and the Devil’s Throne.
