What Is Babylon Rev 18:1-3 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Babylon is the name of a real city – but today that city is merely a tourist attraction – Saddam Hussein started to rebuild the city and made reference to himself in the context of Nebuchadnezzar when he did – on many of the bricks he inscribed “This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq” – but our attack on Iraq thwarted his efforts to rebuild the city and left some of what he had built and some of what was originally there in rubbles
Yet Babylon is mentioned here as a thriving world power – so to what is it a reference – well look at Dan 2 – and study the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had – Daniel 2:31-45 – the head of gold is Babylon [it is the head in the same sense that Jesus is the head of the church] – notice all these kingdoms get destroyed at the 2nd coming of Jesus Daniel 2:44 [Isaiah 13:1-6] – so Babylon appears to stand for this system of kingdoms on earth Revelation 17:10-11 as well as one of the kingdoms in that system
So, when you look at a Babylon as a system that has been around since Nimrod [Genesis 10:8-11; 11:1-9], then you basically see a pattern throughout history of a Satanic kingdom and influence which is corporately referred to as Babylon
Notice that Babylon is:
Political – control of all the nations under his dominion – totalitarian – Revelation 18:3, 17:2, 18; Daniel 2:37 Nebuchadnezzar was called a king of kings, Isaiah 47:1, 5
Commercial – Revelation 18:3, 11-13 merchandising slaves [human trafficking] and souls of men [merchandising eternity, selling candles and indulgences to folks who believe these will affect the eternity of their loved ones and mega churches selling sensuality as a way of feeling saved], Revelation 18:16-19, 23 transportation and distribution of goods, Isaiah 47:15, Jeremiah 51:13, Ezekiel 27:1-7, 12-25 [even to v36] – you can see the modern economic system of commodities and equity markets in this system
Religious – notice the images – the one Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about and the one he made are in Daniel 2 & 3, see Revelation 18:7(b) with Isaiah 47:1, 5 & 7-8 [Nimrod had Isis, Babylon had Ishtar, now the Catholics and others following them have Mary – so it is not much of a step for the two largest religions of the world to get together on two fronts – the worship of a female deity and the destruction of Israel], Jeremiah 50:2, 38; 51:17-18
Militaristic – Babylon wants to fight – Revelation 17:14, Revelation 13:4, Jeremiah 51:20-25, 30, 51:56, Ezekiel 27:10-11
Universal – one world – Revelation 17:15, Genesis 11:6 Arab nations need a unifying leader and when they get him in the form of the antichrist they will dominate the world and attempt to eliminate Israel once and for all
Humanistic – Revelation 18:7 (a) – the attempt is to get to heaven without God Genesis 11:1-8 – promotion of man – Daniel 4:30 – Isaiah 47:10, 12-13, Jeremiah 51:53, Genesis 11:1-8
Satanic – Revelation 17:3, 10-13, 17:6 [opposed to God and to God’s people] – Revelation 18:24 [see Genesis 4:8, 3, and therefore Matthew 23:34-37, Isaiah 47:9]
In the end Babylon gets destroyed Isaiah 47:11, 50:39-40, Jeremiah 51:37 and degraded to a cage of devils Revelation 18:2, Isaiah 13:19-22
Her cup is passed around until all nations have drunk of it to their destruction Revelation 17:4 w/ Jeremiah 51:7 – Jeremiah 25:12, 15-33
The fall of Babylon is real but also signifies the end of the devil’s world system – notice that Babylon is here at the 2nd coming, Is 13:1-6 [Daniel 2:44]
Therefore the warning is to, “Come out of her” – because when you are in this system you are cooperating with it or financing it or profiting by it – we are in the world but we are not of the world