Now we’re ready for Revelation 18 and the destruction of Babylon. As previously noted, part of the 7th bowl judgment in Revelation 16:17-21 is the destruction of this city. It is the subject of the message of the second angel that flies around the earth in Revelation 14:8. So, you may be asking yourself just about now, how can this be? Where is Babylon? Does it exist today? Is “Babylon” symbolic, a city by another name that already exists? I’m not going to take the time to detail this, but there are some passages in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13, 14; Jeremiah 50, 51 and Zechariah 5) that talk about the future rebuilding of Babylon, its prominence as an evil, religious and commercial center and it’s sudden and complete destruction. I suggest you take the time to read these passages and see if you can recognize the similarities to Revelation 18, and note the references to things like the Day of the Lord (His second Coming), Israel entering its rest (the Millennium), and others that show they are talking about events yet future.
And, even though John (through the revelation of the Holy Spirit) makes a distinction between the city and the religion, we must keep in mind that the city is the center of activity for the religion. He simply makes the distinction to point out the fact that there is both a literal city and an evil religion.
Babylon is not a codename for Rome, as some suppose. It is the religious and commercial center of Antichrist’s kingdom. A literal city, rebuilt on the site of the original Babylon of Genesis 10:8-10 and 11:1-9, the site of man’s first organized rebellion against God and the site of his last. The exact location can be found on any current map of Iraq, thanks to Saddam Hussein, who began rebuilding the city before he was deposed as dictator. It is now identified as the city of Saddam, about 200 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River.
I’ll not go through this chapter verse by verse. Instead, we’ll just look at the more significant points. First of all, the angel describes Babylon as an evil place in verse 2. For a fairly complete explanation of his statement look at my article on the website titled “The Parables of Jesus, Part 6, The Mustard Seed”. To emphasize the spiritual evil resident in this place, John repeats himself three times, saying Babylon is the dwelling place of demons, the place where loathsome spirits are held and a cage full of filthy birds (devils). As I explained in the last lesson, Babylon the city is the center of mystery Babylon the demonic religion. During the first half of the tribulation it works to destroy all other religions in the Revised Roman Empire. Then, during the second half of the tribulation, mystery Babylon is, itself, destroyed to make way for the beast (Antichrist) worship described in Revelation 13.
Then in verses 3-4 we see the religious and commercial influence of the city. Let’s deal with the religious influence first. It is understandable that Babylon would gain widespread attention. During the first half of the tribulation it will become the center of Antichrist’s activities in his struggle to form his kingdom. This will be a time of great religious upheaval in the midst of both political and military struggles. In order to achieve his predetermined end, the goal of the Antichrist will be to destroy all existing religions and form one demonic, supernatural system (the great whore of 17:1)) that will allow him to gain the influence and support needed to form his kingdom. This he will accomplish by the middle of the tribulation. Then, as the second half of the tribulation begins, the demonic activity will increase, the great whore is destroyed and beast worship will be required.
Notice the language of verse 3. As previously discussed, being drunk on the wine of her fornication is symbolic of religious deception based on idolatry. The verse specifically says that this includes “all nations”. When you consider what is involved here (the demonic activity and the supernatural abilities of the Antichrist and the tendency of the people to either ignore or be ignorant of the Scriptural warnings to follow blindly after such things), then you can easily see how this could affect the other nations. Again, the “all nations” is a reference to those in the same area previously described, the Antichrist’s kingdom. And remember too, that while this strong delusion is coming on these nations, the rest of the world is experiencing an historic revival.
And verse 4 gives us some indication of how effective this supernatural deception will be. Remember Jesus’ warning from Matthew 24:24 in the last lesson. The last part of that verse says the false Christ’s and false prophets will be so convincing that even the elect will be deceived. The “elect” here is not believers in general or the church; it is a reference to the Jews. When you look at the context of Matthew 24, Jesus is answering a question put to Him by Jews and His answer is consistently referencing the Jews and Israel. This is consistent with the statement found in verse 4, “Come of out her, My people, so that you may not share in her sins, or have to share in her plagues.” This is also in keeping with what we have already discussed regarding the purpose of the tribulation – to deal with the enemies of Israel and to prepare the Jews to be the spiritual leaders of the earth.
Verse 9 gives us indisputable proof that there are two different Babylons. The ten kings in Antichrist’s kingdom willingly destroy Mystery Babylon, the religious system, in 17:16. But here they weep and mourn the destruction of the city, the center of their power and riches. Regarding the commercial influence of this city, it is described in verses 11-16. Under the control of the Antichrist, all commerce in this part of the world will be concentrated here. And when you combine the economies of the European Union in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East (especially the oil-producing countries) and Northern Africa, it becomes a sizeable portion of the world’s economy (even in the midst of the religious and political turmoil and God’s judgments.
But the size of this economy also brings emphasis to the next point. Verse 17 tells us Babylon is destroyed in one hour. Verse 8 says the plagues of death, mourning, famine and fire all come on the same day. And again, we have to keep in mind the description of the 7th bowl judgment in 16:17-21 that included the destruction of Babylon. Remember the great earthquake (bigger than anything that had ever happened in the history of mankind), the mountains were leveled and the islands moved out of their places and the 100 pound hailstones?
Then if you read the passages from Isaiah and Jeremiah that I listed above, they both describe it as sudden and liken the destruction to what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah; which then brings us to the next point. This is the last part of verse 21, “So with this kind of violence the great city shall be brought down to destruction and will never again be found”. Not only is the judgment sudden, it is complete and final (see verses 22-23). There will never be another Babylon. There will never be another center of religion of any kind; because from this point, religion in any form will be against the law of Christ. There will never be a city that will dominate the economy of any region of the world, because Christ will soon control the economy of the whole earth.
This brings us to the final point in verse 24. “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all those who have been slain on the earth.” So here we have the connection between the city and the religious system again. Babylon represents the culmination of religion, as it existed down through the ages. Therefore, Babylon is judged as though it had been directly responsible for all martyrdoms in time. As the world will soon learn, religion will no longer be allowed in any form. The death and destruction it has caused is coming to an end.