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Babylon the Great Harlot
Identifying Babylon by its Biblical Attributes
BEFORE the Great Tribulation
"And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of
the earth." - Revelation 17:18
Revelation 17-18 describes a great nation that will arise as an unrivaled
power in the world like ancient Babylon, Egypt, and other historical empires. Like many similar mysterious prophecies, it is unnamed, but described in
great detail that includes symbolically likening it to ancient Babylon. The people
of this land are illustrated as a great harlot who, like a queen, rules over its
government, which is illustrated as a seven-headed red beast bearing the image
of its spiritual king, Satan.
In the days leading up to the great worldwide tribulation slated to mark the
end of this age, this "New Babylon" will be the wealthiest and most
powerful nation in the world. It will be a giant
fountain of evil in the world that will "reign over the kings of the earth,"
dominate the world economy, and assert strong cultural influence around the
world.
There will be nothing subtle about this harlot people and her beastly
government when they come to the forefront of the world stage. It won't be
hiding behind veils of conspiracies and secret alliances, but, rather, will
openly flaunt is wealth and assert its imperial power as necessary to accomplish
its own purposes. Moreover, the Bible offers sufficient details about its
culture, politics, and commerce to insure that the identity of this harlot
nation will be openly manifested well before it becomes the center
figure in the great tribulation described below and elsewhere in biblical
prophecy:
"...the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they
are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon them suddenly
like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But you,
brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief;
for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of
darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2-6
Babylon is to be the target of a sudden, fiery attack that will mark the
beginning of the great worldwide tribulation predicted to end this age, and it
will be the target of even greater wrath when the last drops of God's wrath are
poured out on this world some time later. In between, it will be as much
the pinnacle of distress and suffering in the world as it was power and glory
before begin snared by "birth pangs." The antichrist will rise from it and
the two witnesses will be there, too.
Because of all these things that will happen, it is all the
more important for Christians of all ages to be alert to the rise of such a
nation in the world, lest "that day should overtake [them] like a thief."
Thus, the focus here is on how it will appear in advance of
becoming a central figure in the great
tribulation towards the end of identifying it when it is manifested in
the world. Much of this is revealed in the things that will be done by and
to Babylon and her beastly government, but its future destiny is still secondary
to the point.
"For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the
merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality." -
Revelation 18:3
The biblical description of Babylon falls into three categories of features --
cultural, political and economic -- and these three combine to give a broad view
of a nation with a definable population dwelling within definable boundaries
under a single government. Following is a survey of these features by
category. (Those who believe it represents something else like, for
instance, the Roman Catholic Church or the Vatican, should read
Babylon, a Literal Nation
before proceeding.)
(Note: For these purposes, unless ancient Babylon is somehow
indicated, the term 'Babylon' refers to the "new" Babylon predicted to rise at
the end of this age in Revelation and elsewhere in scripture.)
Cultural Babylon
-
Babylon the harlot will be a "melting pot" of many
culturally diverse people.
"...The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are
peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." - Revelation 17:15
The new Babylon will be like ancient Babylon, which had no indigenous race,
language, religion, or culture of its own, but became a unique blend of the
cultures it assimilated. It will also resemble the even more ancient
spirit of Babel:
"...the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all
have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which
they purpose to do will be impossible for them." - Genesis 11:6
When God divided up the people of ancient Babel so they wouldn't
be able to fulfill every evil they could imagine, He only delayed the inevitable
harvest of the dark side of humanity represented by end time Babylon.
Unlike Babel, the diversity of cultures and languages within Babylon will not
prevent it from manifesting the power of the unified human spirit without and
even in opposition to God.
-
True saints will dwell within Babylon the harlot.
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people,
that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her
plagues;" - Revelation 18:4
"Come forth from her midst, My people, and each of
you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the LORD." - Jeremiah 51:45
"...put a mark on the foreheads of the men who
sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its
midst. ...Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and
women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark;" - Ezekiel 9:4-6 (w/
Revelation 11:8)
"Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees,
until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads."
Revelation 7:3
Although hedonism prevails in the land of Babylon,
there will also be some righteous people amongst them. Like previous
historical similitudes, as the day of judgment approaches, they will
distinguish themselves from the cultural mindset around them like Noah, Lot,
and many others have in the past.
"...[the two witnesses'] dead bodies will lie in
the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where
also their Lord was crucified." - Revelation 11:8
The two witnesses will be in Babylon the "great
city," and so will their archenemy and his sidekick, the antichrist and false
prophet, making Babylon the center of the spiritual war of all wars in the
world.
-
The harlot people of Babylon will flaunt their
wealth as a cloak for their licentiousness.
"...the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet,
and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a
gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality," -
Revelation 17:4
These people are portrayed as a queen dressed in
royal attire, which is accurate with regard to her posture in the world, but
covers the fact that she is an adulteress and whore. Likewise, her evil is
served up to the world like fine wine in a golden cup, though it is actually a
poisonous potion that entices the world to sin.
"...she glorified herself and lived sensuously...she
says in her heart, 'I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see
mourning.'" - Revelation 18:7
"...you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you
were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will
spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy,
and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched and
miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined
by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe
yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye
salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see." - Revelation 3:15-18
The people of Babylon share a delusion of
grandiosity in falsely believe that their unrivaled wealth and power not only
gives them the power, but, also, the right to do as they please. They are the
epitome of lawlessness and relative morality: As long as there is no one
in the world who can rival them, they believe that whatever they do is right.
They are like unruly brats without adult supervision, virtual barbarians arrayed
in opulence.
Yet, while forsaking everything the Lord stands for,
they still pompously consider themselves the be the people of God, but only in a
sense of entitlement, not obligation. They believe their prosperity proves their
favor with God and are completely blind to His mounting anger and the impending
wrath coming their way.
-
The people of Babylon will indulge in and justify every
imaginable evil.
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! and she has become a
dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of
every unclean and hateful bird.
"...I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, my people, that
you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues;
for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her
iniquities.'" - Revelation 18:2-5
Having been a fountain of evil for some time, Babylon's
immorality will rapidly increase in the final days preceding her sudden demise.
-
Babylon will have violence in its heart and
innocent blood on its hands.
"And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly". - Revelation 17:6
"And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw
underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word
of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried
out with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou
refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?'
And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they
should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow
servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been,
should be completed also." - Revelation 6:9-11
This immense slaughter of innocents is the last
straw for Babylon in God's eyes, though it will continue for some time and
evolve into open persecution and slaughter of the saints who refuse to submit to
the antichrist's demands. Ultimately this bloodthirsty spirit will be
manifested in the celebrations that will feature the two witnesses' corpses as
the centerpiece:
"...[the two witnesses'] dead bodies will lie in
the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where
also their Lord was crucified." - Revelation 11:8
"And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues
and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will
not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the
earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one
another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." -
Revelation 11:9-10
One of the things common to ancient Babylon, Sodom,
Egypt, and apostate Jerusalem was their violence towards the children of God,
and all of those combined won't have the bloodguilt these people do. This is why
her ultimate demise is to ultimately avenge all the blood of martyrs throughout
time:
"Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because
God has pronounced judgment for you against her....in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have
been slain on the earth." - Revelation 18:20, 24
"…[God] has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her." - Revelation 19:2
-
Babylon will assert great immoral influence upon the world.
"…and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, 'BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF...THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.'" - Revelation 17:5
The cultural influence of these people is so great that God
holds them accountable for spreading abominations - a very strong word - around
the world. The real offense is that these people who flaunt themselves as
the people of God use the high place they've been given to spread abominable
immorality instead of the gospel.
"...she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the
passion of her immorality.'" - Revelation 14:8
"…and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her
immorality...all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her
immorality," - Revelation 17:2, 18:3
"Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD,
intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine;
therefore the nations are going mad." - Jeremiah 51:7
"...the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her
immorality," - Revelation 19:2
Like the symbolic harlot clothed in royal attire used to
illustrate these people suggests, they will wrap great immorality in appealing
packaging and entice an envious world to emulate them. They will be like
modern pop sex icons like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and many others who not
only flaunt their great fame and fortune, but also their hedonistic lifestyles. The strong appeal of their lifestyle nullifies whatever moral constraints
people
might otherwise have, gradually causing them to compromise their sense of moral
judgment and discipline.
"...for your merchants were the great men of the earth,
because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery." - Revelation 18:23
God regards the intoxicating affect her hugely
successful marketing of materialism at the expense of decency around the world to be sorcery.
Political Babylon
-
Babylon's "beast" government will be ruled by its "harlot" people.
"...the great harlot who sits on many waters ...I saw a woman sitting
on a scarlet beast...having...ten horns..." - Revelation 17:1, 3
The people represented by the "great
harlot" rule like a queen over the beast she rides, which symbolizes the
government or political movement that will give rise to the antichrist.
The leaders of that government hate their subjection to this "queen" and intend
to overthrow her power, the power of self-governance. In effect, this is very
much like ancient Israel in the days of the judges, of which it is written, "In
those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own
eyes." (Judges 17:6, 21:25)
-
The "beast" government employed by the "harlot" people
will have ten
key business oriented leaders at its helm.
"... the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a
kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.
These have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast.
…And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot
and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her
up with fire." - Revelation 17:12-16
"...your merchants were the great men of the earth because all the nations
were deceived by your sorcery." - Revelation 18:23
Prior to the beginning of its judgment and the great tribulation, Babylon
will have ten notable leaders ("horns") who will be conspiring to disabuse
themselves of accountability to the people of Babylon. Even if not
outwardly evident, these high level administrators will be the true executors
of the power of the "red beast" government they represent on behalf of their
master, the antichrist, not the people they supposedly serve. As a
group, they will likely have strong business credentials in addition to their
political clout.
-
Babylon will be an imperial power in the world.
"...a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and
ten horns. ...The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and
they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come;" - Revelation 17:3, 9-10
"And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings
of the earth." -
Revelation 17:18
The government employed by the people of New Babylon is to be the seventh
in a historical line of imperial kingdoms and nations that have attained to a
stature of unrivaled wealth and power in the world at various times. At
the time this was written, the sixth of these, the Roman Empire, was in such a
place, and it was preceded by Greece, Persia, ancient Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt.
All of these, like Babylon, rose above all other world powers like
mountains, as also suggested by the imagery.
-
Like ancient Babylon, the great harlot will be a mighty military power
that will dispense God's wrath against others.
"How the hammer of the whole earth Has been cut off and broken! How Babylon
has become An object of horror among the nations!" - Jeremiah 50:23
"[Yahweh] says, 'You are My war-club, My weapon of war; And with you I shatter
nations, And with you I destroy kingdoms. And with you I shatter the horse and
his rider, and with you I shatter the chariot and its rider, And with you I
shatter man and woman, and with you I shatter old man and youth, and with you
I shatter young man and virgin, and with you I shatter the shepherd and his
flock, and with you I shatter the farmer and his team, and with you I shatter
governors and prefects.
"'But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their
evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes, declares the LORD. Behold,
I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth,'
declares the LORD, 'and I will stretch out My hand against you, and roll you
down from the crags and I will make you a burnt out mountain.'" - Jeremiah
51:20-25
Babylon will have unrivaled military power that will have been employed
on numerous occasions to fulfill God's will in subduing other forces of evil
in the world. However, when they begin arrogantly launching military
exploits for their own purposes as though the same thing, they will draw God's
wrath. Because of their arrogant "I sit a queen" attitude, they will be shown
that being the most powerful nation in the world does not exempt them from
God's wrath.
-
Babylon will spawn many other self-governing cultures like
itself.
"…and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE
MOTHER OF HARLOTS..." - Revelation 17:5
As the “mother of harlots,” Babylon is not the only
self-governing licentious culture in the world, but it is the pre-eminent
forerunner of them all.
-
Babylon the Great will have bought and paid for many political allies.
"…with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality," - Revelation 17:2
"…the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, " -
Revelation 18:3
"...And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived
sensuously with her," -
Revelation 18:9
The government of the harlot people will have a pattern of forging
international alliances through the enticements of wealth rather than
ideological similarities. In so doing, these international leaders will
become partakers of what God will consider the immoral policies of the great
harlot people of New Babylon, but they will not come to its aid when it suffers
a devastating attack.
-
Babylon will be isolated in the world.
"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet beast," - Revelation 17:3
"...when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her
desolation is at hand." - Luke 21:20 (w/ Revelation 11:8)
"...And the kings of the earth...will weep and lament over her when they see
the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her
torment, saying,' Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one
hour your judgment has come.'" -
Revelation 18:9-10
As they say, life at the top can be pretty lonely. In relation to other
nations, Babylon will be poor in terms of genuine allies...that is, allies
who will come to their rescue instead of "standing at a distance" bemoaning
their own losses in their hour of need.
Economic Babylon
-
The great harlot will be an icon of wealth and luxurious living.
"And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup…" - Revelation 17:4
"…the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and
adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; …such great wealth…" -
Revelation 18:16-17
"...you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy,
and have need of nothing,'" - Revelation 3:17
"[How Babylon is] the praise of the whole
earth..." - Jeremiah 51:41
"...she glorified herself and lived sensuously;" - Revelation 18:7
"...the fruit you long for...all things that were
luxurious and splendid...cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and
pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of
citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly
wood and bronze and iron and marble, and cinnamon and spice and incense and
perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and
cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human
lives." -
Revelation 18:12-13
First and foremost, the world will see the people
of New Babylon according to their ostentatious displays of symbols of their
wealth and insatiable appetite for luxurious things. They are envied by
the world, which means that they will be both despise and emulate what they represent.
-
The great harlot will fuel the global economy
through massive imports.
"…the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality."
- Revelation 18:3
"The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a
distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning ...because
no one buys their cargoes any more; ...for in one hour such great wealth has
been laid waste!
"And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make
their living by the sea, stood at a distance...and they threw dust on their
heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great
city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one
hour she has been laid waste!'" - Revelation 18:11-19
Their insatiable appetite for "all things that were
luxurious and splendid" plus their ability to buy and transport whatever they
want from anywhere in the world enable her to spread wealth all around the
world. This also spawns and spreads economic dependence on their excessive
materialism, and that increases their power and influence around the world.
So great will be Babylon's place in the global economy, its demise will hit
global markets like a mega-tsunami.
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