Beware Babylon the Great
When the prophet Daniel inquired of God regarding His promise to Israel through Jeremiah for an end to Babylonian captivity after 70 years had passed, the angel Gabriel came with an answer. That answer is found in Daniel 9:24-27 in what is now known as the “seventy weeks prophecy”. Basically, this prophecy expanded on the 70 literal years of Jeremiah by not only guaranteeing that the Israelite captives in Babylon of old would soon be allowed to go back to their homeland but also revealed that a final time of everlasting righteousness and freedom would not come until after a time period of “70 sevens”, or 70 weeks of years. In brief it refers to a time far into the future of Israel and the world from Daniel’s day. To understand this prophecy more fully, this author refers you to Anthony Buzzard’s article, Daniel 9 and the 70 Weeks. Suffice it to say for the purposes of this article, there is a gap between the 69th week of the prophecy (Christ’s crucifixion), and the 70th week. The 70th week is the final 7 years of this evil age and the governments of men.
This author contends that during that final week, there will be a revival of conditions and power structures in the world which were originally found back in the times of ancient Israel. Those revivals include another Babylon (the Great, see Revelation 14, 17, and 18), a final permutation and compilation of the ancient Eastern empires (the Beast, or, man of sin, antichrist…see Revelation 13), and of course the nation of Israel. In this author’s opinion, many people who are aware of these things are nonetheless misidentifying these entities and their roles in current events.
It is first crucial to understand that Babylon the Great is NOT the Beast/antichrist. The two are opposed to each other on the world scene. The latter hates the former. Before Christ’s return, the antichrist figure and his allies (ten kings) destroy Babylon the Great which is depicted as a woman riding on the back of this end-time beast with ten horns and a “little horn”. The little horn (Beast/antichrist/man of lawlessness) leads the ten horns (kings) in an alliance to destroy this woman who has been controlling it and the rest of the world. It’s like the ultimate statement of “get off my back”.
We know quite a bit about the Beast/antichrist/little horn by connecting the dots between the books of Isaiah, Daniel and Revelation. For example, we know it is a Mid-East power (called the Assyrian in Isaiah 10 and 11) and that it persecutes the saints as well as terrorizes Israel and the world in the final years of this age. We know the returning Christ destroys it along with the false prophet (about him I can’t speak at this time). But for some reason we have not spent the same kind of time and effort thinking about the identity and role of Babylon the Great. She has been somewhat of a “mystery” to us (she is in fact called “mystery” in Revelation 17). That’s probably becauase the line of continuity from Babylon of ancient times to present day and future is not as clear cut in scripture. The Old Testament dots about Babylon back then don’t quite as easily connect with the dots of Babylon the Great in the New Testament.
How is it that ancient Babylon can be part of the Eastern compilation-Beast (one of the 7 heads of Rev. 13), and yet at the same time be Babylon the Great who is hated by that same Beast (Rev. 17:16)? Although the historical details are not especially clear, this author does have a viewpoint looking in retrospect to what has occurred and where it has now led.
I think we need to recognize that the Spirit of Babylon which wants to centralize power and authority over men in place of God, is a larger phenomenon than we give it credit for. It is a worldwide ideology that never sleeps…it’s always moving, even if sometimes unperceptively. This author surmises that at the same time the fourth empire in Daniel’s statue-vision was rising up (same as 7th head of Rev. 13) the Spirit of Babylon was also moving from Constantinople, to Rome (into the false church), to Europe (via that church), and then eventually into the United States of America. In other words, it is this author’s opinion that the spirit of Babylon moved from the East to the West, where it currently is gaining its end-time power. The battle between the end-time Beast and Babylon the Great will be the ultimate East vs. West conflict on a massive scale. First the power of the West is decimated by the power of the East, and then the returning Jesus destroys the East. The whole system has to come crumbling down so that Jesus can set up an entirely new system of governance on earth over the nations.
I urge you to read the words of Jeremiah in chapters 25 and 51, because they are repeated in Revelation 14, 17, and 18 for a more complete picture of what Babylon the Great will be up to in the future. Here are just a few of them; God is bringing judgment on Israel::
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 10 Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.(Jeremiah 25:8-10)
I have underlined “my servant” above just to remind us that God can raise up kings and nations for His own purposes…in this case to punish His people in the nation of Israel. It is instructive to note in Daniel chapter 4, that King Nebuchadnezzar had apparently become a bit arrogant about his empire when he thought to himself about “the might of my power and the glory of my majesty” (vs. 30). He needed to “recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes” (vs. 25). This is a lesson for today and on into the future, as well. Continuing now with more from chapter 25:
For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16 They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” 17 Then I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people; 20 and all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab and the sons of Ammon; 22 and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea; 23 and Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert; 25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach [Babylon] shall drink after them.”(Jeremiah 25:15-26)
So God will begin His judgement on Israel, but will include the nations round about and all kingdoms of the earth. Afterward He will bring punishment on Babylon itself, the greatest nation state the world has ever known. In terms of the future, that judgement will come at the hand of the Beast/antichrist with the 10 kings of the East. Yes, God will finally destroy the powerful Babylon for her arrogance over the nations. Here’s what He says to His people at that time, both in the past AND in the future (Rev. 14, 17, 18). The nations will mourn greatly over her fall:
Flee from the midst of Babylon, and each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the Lord’s time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense to her. 7 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. 8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; perhaps she may be healed (Jeremiah 51:6-8).
But the people of God will rejoice over her fall
“Come forth from her midst, My people, and each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord. 46 “Now so that your heart does not grow faint, and you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land— for the report will come one year, and after that another report in another year, and violence will be in the land with ruler against ruler— 47 therefore behold, days are coming when I will punish the idols of Babylon; and her whole land will be put to shame and all her slain will fall in her midst. 48 “Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers will come to her from the north,” declares the Lord. 49 Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, as also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen. 50 You who have escaped the sword, depart! Do not stay! Remember the Lord from afar, and let Jerusalem come to your mind (Jeremiah 51:45-50).
God holds Babylon the Great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, responsible for the persecution and death of all the prophets and saints throughout history. The spirit of Babylon has been great and comes to a head just prior to Christ’s return. The evil antichrist of the Middle East alliance with the ten kings will destroy her after terrorizing the entire earth in his authoritarian rule (the Great Tribulation of 3 ½ years duration). But Christ will return and destroy both the Beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19:20). That will end the reign of man over man, and be replaced with King Jesus in the Kingdom of God here on earth. All nations will eventually come into line with him and his Father, the Creator of all. Amen!
Here’s the bottom line of this article. It is a warning. God can use a leader to do good and decent things such as revealing a nation’s corruption, greed, and abuse of its citizens, so that the nation can change for the better, if it will. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t another greater and ultimate purpose God has in raising up a leader of this caliber. We should appreciate and pray for the work of such a leader and thank God for him or her. But at the same time, we must recognize that this age is evil and does not understand the system and approach that God is looking for in human governance. Along that same vein it does not understand what true worship of the One true God is about. The coming Elijah will introduce us to these concepts, but it will be the retuning Jesus who will teach us all the intricacies of them. Only then will we be working toward true, lasting peace. Sorry to have to tell you this, but we should never put our ultimate hope and trust in any man on earth today. Put it in the Messiah Jesus who alone really understands what it means to be a son of the Most High.
Note: For more explanation see my article, “Babylon the Great”.
