What is Babylon the Great?

the mysterious prositute named Babylon

One of the most enigmatic images of Revelation is the mysterious prositute named Babylon.

The woman is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.

 

  • With whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.
  • In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.
  • For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

There are many versions of who this prostitute represents.Without taking any of the opposing sides, we will reveal this mystery to you with the help of the Bible.

1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.” 5 And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17)

Prostitute

Israel as Harlot

Israel, as the adulterous wife, broke that covenant with her owner husband God

Did you know that the Bible already describes a prostitute very similar to the one we read in Revelation? Who was guilty of murdering saints, fell into wickedness, and was destroyed. This is the nation of Israel.

For example, Ezekiel 23:4 names the city of Jerusalem [Oholibah] and her sister Samaria [Oholah] as prostitutes.

23 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3 They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there. 4 Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 “Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, 6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whoever she lusted after. 8 She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples; and they poured out their prostitution on her.

36 Yahweh said moreover to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. 38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, they have done this in the middle of my house. (Ezekiel 23)

The prophet wrote about Jerusalem:

46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. (Ezekiel 16)

45 Righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. (Ezekiel 23:45)

When Christ came to earth, the King of Christ to earth, the priests [an evil and adulterous generation] declared to Pilate, We have no king but Caesar. And, all the people said, His blood be on us and on our children (John 19:15. Matt. 27:25).

We have no king but Caesar

Do you know why God called Israel a prostitute and an adulteress? Because in symbolic language, the covenant or agreement between God and Israel was like a marriage covenant between a husband and wife. And Israel, as the adulterous wife, broke that covenant with her owner husband God.

And prophetically God foretold that the adulterous wife would be cast out and he would make a new covenant.

31 “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh. (Jeremiah 31:31,32)

Apostate Christians are spiritual adulterers

that friendship with the world is hostility toward God

Making a new covenant with God did not guarantee that the new people would not be involved in spiritual adultery.

The apostle Paul warned:

29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Act 20:29,30)

And as long as Christ's apostles were alive, those figurative twelve streams of the Holy Spirit (Ex.15:27. Acts 8:14-18.), true Christianity grew and bore good fruit.

After the apostles died, the streams of the holy spirit dried up. In the sense that no one could pass on the gifts of the holy spirit through ordination.

Subsequently, the Christian nation, composed mainly of people unborn of the Spirit, was no better than the Jews who lived in the days of the Old Testament prophets.

Political intrigue and association with earthly rulers. The forcible baptism of people under threat of death, the Inquisition, and the Crusades.

All of this shows that the Christians involved are adulteresses with blood on their hands, just as the Jews killed Christ (Matt. 23:29-31. Ezek. 23:45.).

Zechariah's Prophecy of Christian Wickedness

The prophet Zechariah predicted that Christianity would fall into apostasy long before Christ was even born. Let's carefully examine Zechariah 5:5-11:

5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes, and see what this is that is appearing.”

6 I said, “What is it?”

He said, “This is the ephahbasket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land 7 (and behold, a talent of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah basket.” 8 He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the middle of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth.

9 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the ephah basket?”

11 He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”

  • Ephah is an image of the wicked of Israel.
  • The two women who carry her into the land of Sennahar are the two harlots Agola and Oholibah (Samaria and Jerusalem).
  • Sennaar is the area in which the city of Babylon was built.

What does this vision mean?

This biblical passage tells us that the adulterous and blood-soaked Jerusalem that was destroyed in the first century will be symbolically reborn as Christianity, which will follow in its footsteps of apostasy. Christianity will also break its covenant with God and kill God's faithful witnesses. The prostitute Babylon the Great from Revelation is the mystery of the apostasy of Christianity.

But why is it called Babylon?

The apostle James wrote: . 4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4).

Babylon

Babylon is a place where languages are mixed

Babylon is an ancient city that was built by Nimrod, the great beastmaster who opposed the Lord (Genesis 10:9-10). The people at that time had one language, and they wanted to worship themselves by making a name for themselves. But God ruined their plans by mixing or dividing their tongues. Therefore Babylon means mixture.

Nimrod, the great beastmaster who opposed the Lord

This story is a prophetic image. The book of Daniel compares states to beasts. And Nimrod, the great beastmaster, is an image of the devil trapping men and kings of the earth in his net. (Luke 4:5,6; Revelation 13:1,2).

the devil trapping men and kings of the earth in his net

In the parable of the tares, Christ predicted that among the wheat or true sons, tares, that is, the sons of the evil one, would be sown. And so it happened. Here are Paul's words:

29 For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Act 20:29,30)

Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them

False teachers like ravenous wolves have divided the united flock into denominations and sects, breaking the unity of the faith. And this state of Christianity is like a divided Babylon, where everyone speaks his own language.

9 Therefore its name was called Babylon; for there the Lord mixed the language of the whole earth, and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:9)

As of the beginning of the 21st century, there are many denominations of Christianity. Every denomination, sect, or pure in their eyes Christian, separated from the filthy congregation - all find acceptable passages of Scripture, claiming we are right, and only we are right!

Christianity is divided into numerous sects and denominations

In spite of Paul's warnings, the Babylonian mixing (division of Christians into sects) nevertheless occurred, and the pure, true church fell into disrepair. The apostates, like wolves, scattered the united flock. And today we, like the inhabitants of ancient Babylon, are divided and cannot understand one another.

Scripture says:

17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, (Galatians 5:17-20);

And the apostle Paul exhorted:

17 Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent. (Romans 16:17,18).

The builders of the tower of Babel were driven by the same carnal motives. Because of the vanity of the false teachers who figuratively wanted to make a name for themselves, there was a separation of the pure language of truth in Christianity, and the unity of the faith was broken (1 Corinthians 1:10. Acts 20:29,30)

In the next chapter we will answer the following questions:

  • Will there be a way out of this situation?
  • Will the pure unity of truth return?
  • When and how will this happen?

The Two Witnesses Bring the Light of Truth from God to People

In the first century, the Jewish people lived in hope of the coming of the Messiah. First came John the Baptist, who, in the spirit of Elijah the prophet, prepared the hearts of the people for the coming of the Lord. Then came Jesus, who, in the spirit of Moses, led his people out of the slavery of sin and death.

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 11:13-15)

37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. Listen to him. (Acts 7:37)

Biblical history seems to spiral as events repeat themselves, only on a larger scale. Christ said:

12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. (John 14:12).

This means that the ministry of the two witnesses in first century Israel will be repeated in the last days, only on a global scale.

About sixty-five years after the Lord's death, the apostle John recorded about the symbolic Elijah and Moses, the two witnesses of the last days:

3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. 6 These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. 7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:3,6-8)

Let us examine this prophecy in detail.

Two witnesses

Two witnesses - Elijah and Moses

The preaching of the two witnesses was foretold by Daniel:

33 Those who are wise among the people will instruct many; yet they will fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder, many days. (Дан.11:33)

The two witnesses are the apostles and prophets of true Christianity who will restore the truth in the last days (See Ephesians 2:19,20).

They will do the same work that Elijah, aka John the Baptist, did, preparing people's hearts for the day when the Son of Man is coming in glory. They will also, like Moses and then Christ, turn others to the truth.

They will be a stumbling block to ungodly believers. And therefore, hated by most of the Christian clergy. For this reason they will be led to execution before kings and governors for the Name of Christ (Luk.21:12-17).

As priests of their Lord, by their blameless conduct, without fear of death, they will turn to the truth all who are sincere in heart. Only after these two witnesses have suffered for the truth. Only then will mankind be able to come out of figurative Babylon united in the true understanding of the Bible.

Christianity will be saved through suffering

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; (Ephesians 4:13,14)

8 “Therefore wait for me”, says Yahweh, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 9 For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder. (Zephaniah 3:8,9)

A full understanding of the truth is given only by the Holy Spirit (John 16:7,13). But when were people able to receive it? Only after Jesus Christ showed His love for people by giving His life for them. That is why it is first important to show love for God and neighbor with purity of inner peace, not knowledge. Scripture says, Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. (Psalm 118:165). It is by love, not by knowledge of dogmatic doctrines, that everyone living on earth will be judged.

It says of the two witnesses, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will ... kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

What does this mean? What kind of city or locality is this?

Isaiah compared apostate Israel to Sodom. He directly calls its unfaithful rulers the princes of Sodom.

10 Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 21 How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers. (Isaiah 1:10,21)

13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; 14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:13)

In turn, in the book of Revelation, corrupt apostate Christianity is also named after Sodom.

The city of Sodom is a reference to an ancient prophetic image from the book of Genesis. This image serves as a warning to us all.

1 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 5 They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.” 10 But the men (Angels) reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11 They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. (Genesis 19:1,4,5,10,11)

The depraved people of Sodom were blinded. They could not recognize God's angels in the two wanderers.

Apostate Israel had also been spiritually blinded by God for their wickedness and could not recognize the two witnesses, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

All apostate Christians will also be spiritually blinded in the last days and will not understand that the two witnesses are God's apostles and prophets. They will be attracted to the false christs and false prophets who will rise up at the end of an ungodly world. All who do not have a clear conscience before the Most High will be spiritually blinded. One who has understanding, let him understand what is foretold in these verses. Amen

10 and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; 12 that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thes 2:10-12)

14 Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (Revelation 22:14-15)

Яндекс.Метрика Рейтинг@Mail.ru