TODAY’S BABYLON
Ch. 1
According to the New Testament, some day soon
God’s judgment is going to fall on a place called “Babylon.” It will be
a judgment of enormous proportions and have a catastrophic effect which
will impact the entire world. Our Lord, Jesus, has issued a very
specific warning to His people about this event. He has instructed us
to “get out” of the place called Babylon. There are two reasons He
gives for commanding this exodus. The first is so that we will not be
enticed by her evil ways. The second is so that when His judgment
comes, we will not suffer along with those He is judging. He says:
“Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you
receive of her plagues” (Rev 18:4).
Therefore, it is essential for all of God’s people to clearly
understand just what and where this “Babylon” is. Equipped with this
understanding, we can then make the necessary choices to conform our
lives to His will and avoid the suffering and loss which we might
otherwise experience. With this serious warning in mind, we will now go
on to make a scriptural investigation concerning the location and
identity of the Babylon of the book of Revelation.
Although the ancient city and empire of Babylon is mentioned in the Old
Testament many times, our study here will concentrate on the words of
the New Testament. It is here in the book of Revelation that we find
the final, prophetic revelation concerning this entity. No doubt the
Old Testament record will have some bearing on our discussion but it
will not form the major part of it. The reason for this is that at the
time the Old Testament prophecies were written, there was a real place
in the Middle East called Babylon and many of these prophecies
concerning it have already been fulfilled or at least partially
fulfilled. It is therefore very difficult to tease out which part of a
passage or verse may refer to the past and which to the future.
Indeed there is even a city, Babylon, today. It is located in the
country that is currently known as Iraq. Although in recent times
Saddam Hussein made an effort to reconstruct the ancient glory of that
city, it was a feeble attempt and the city itself is of no social or
economic consequence.
In our present investigation we will focus our attention on chapters 17
and 18 (along with the first few verses in chapter 19) in the book of
Revelation, which address the subject at hand at some length. We can
have confidence that all of this prophetic vision relates to the
“end-time” Babylon.
Sometimes understanding the prophetic utterances of the Bible can be a
very difficult proposition. Often, the words written are portraying
pictures or figures which have a specific meaning but which can be
difficult to interpret. In order to try to minimize this problem, in
our inquiry together we will not go very far afield attempting to
divine the significance of obscure words or phrases. We will try to
confine our discussion to parts of this vision which are quite simple
and easy to understand.
One thing which could possibly hinder the reader’s comprehension of
this revelation is any preconceived notions. For example, many
believers may come to this subject with interpretations which they
received from previous teachings. A good number of them may not have
looked into these things for themselves, but simply have relied on
other Bible teachers for their understanding. If the reader has such
entrenched preconceptions, it may be very difficult for even the most
clear, simple words of the biblical record to have the proper impact.
Therefore, I would like to urge all readers, as much as they possibly
can, to try and approach this subject with an open mind and a
willingness to receive a fresh understanding.
As previously stated, we will try to concentrate on those parts of the
biblical revelation which are most clear and do not require a lot of
“revelation” or interpretation. However, as is common with much
discussion of end-times prophecy, there will be times when I will
engage in some speculation or extrapolation. But when I do, I will try
to clearly indicate that I am giving an opinion or theory. When I use
words such as: “could be,” “may be” or “possibly,” for example, the
reader should understand that there is a degree of speculation being
expressed.
Before proceeding, please read for yourself these two chapters,
Revelation 17 and 18.