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2. Triumph over the fall of Babylon (Revelation 14:8)
REVELATION 14:8
8 Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”
In the vision of the patriarch John a further angel appeared who rejoiced full of joy about the rapid and total end of an anti-Christian great power. Before the Harlot Babylon is described in the book of Revelation (chapter 17), an angel already reports on the end of her. She is fallen and completely destroyed, definitely defeated and demolished! The fall of Babylon and the judgment of the Almighty over this institution which was misleading all those nations are acclaimed six times in the book of Revelation (Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 18:2.10.19.21). The end of the great harlot means a decisive victory for God and his Lamb so as to implement their dominion in the world.
The word “Babylon” is the Greek expression for the Semitic term “Bab-El", which means “gate to God". As God here is called “El", so his name means “strength” or “power” (Matthew 26:64). Thus the term “Babel” originally could be translated as “the gate to the Almighty". Because of the hubris of men since the construction of the tower of Babel the meaning of the name “Babel” has changed fundamentally – nowadays it is deduced from the word “balbala” which means “to confuse". Thus the gate to god has changed into a place of confusion and senselessness.
The book of Revelation speaks three times of “the great Babylon” (16:19; 17:5; 18:2), designated Babylon as “great city” (18:10.21) and mentions four times in general “the great and mighty city” (16:19; 18:10.18.19). Whoever wants to understand the meaning of “Babylon” should read these eight verses in their context.
Religious Adultery in Babylon: The angel clearly spoke of the adultery of the city of Babylon which penetrated all nations of the earth. Six times it is spoken of its unfaithfulness in the book of Revelation. Three times the wine of the wrath of her fornication is mentioned which made drunken all people (chapter 14:8; 17:2; 18:3). Her golden cup is full of abominations and filthiness (17:4). She corrupted the whole earth with her adultery (19:2), and therefore she is called “the mother of harlots and all abominations on the earth” (17:5). Twice she is called “harlot” (17:15.16) and twice she is called “the great harlot” (17:1; 19:2).
Likewise as the prophets in the Old Covenant had denounced the unfaithfulness of Israel towards her Lord as “spiritual adultery” (Jeremiah 3:6-13; 13:27; Hosea 2:4; 3:1 and other verses), in the same manner has Jesus and his apostles spoken of “the adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; 2 Peter 3:14; James 1:27 and other verses). With this adultery at first hand it is not thought of a moral uncleanness or of a concrete adultery, but of an apostasy after there had been a faithful relation (1 John 2:18-20). The relationship between God and Israel is sometimes denoted as a relationship between a man and his woman (Isaiah 54:5; Ezekiel 16:23-43; 23:1-49; Hosea 2:4-22 and other verses). God is watching jealously over all those who have committed themselves to him that they are faithful to him as he is faithful to them.
Syncretism as Spiritual Adultery: The great harlot, called Babylon, has abandoned the fellowship with the Lord of the covenant and courted with other gods, taught syncretism and permissively danced on all weddings. She is teaching that in all religions is a kernel of truth so that we may learn from the worshippers of other gods. There is not only one way to God likewise as there are many ways to Rome. She is claiming that the laws of God are right but they may be interpreted in different ways. Apart from that man is good and is able to justify himself by his own good deeds. Therefore there is no need of a Savior, and man is his own master and Savior.
The wrath of God burns against all lies, particularly when anybody is teaching other gods and philosophies besides his holiness and his revelations. May be that the harlot even whispers to her lovers at the end: there is no God! He had died long ago. You are free and may do what you like. Build your workers' paradise, construct skyscrapers, and send space ships into space - and dream sweetly in your drunkenness...
The Reality of the Wrath of God: The Bible speaks in the books of the Old Covenant more than 210 times of the wrath of God, and the apostles of Christ warn the churches about 30-times about it. We should not forget that the holy wrath of the Almighty is one of the greatest powers in the history of the world. He created the world out of love and called us to serve and to glorify him. However, if his beloved ones betray him, turn their back on him, search for other Saviors and worship other gods who are mortal, then the love of God turns into blazing wrath! His anger is revealed against every unrighteousness, particularly against such people who hold the truth up through their lies (Romans 1:18-32).
The churches in Hellenistic Minor Asia were permanently in danger, like Israel once in Babylon, of re-assuring at several gods and serving several different masters. They did not want to fall from grace with all dictators, astrologers and business kingpins. Is nowadays the “liberal” Israel the harlot who is misleading all nations? Or does this term stand for the Christian church which is teaching and practicing syncretism openly? Adultery is according to the Bible very clearly any religious opportunism, and the wrath of God is great against it.
3. SUPPLEMENT: The mystery of Babylon
The expositors of the book of Revelation of Christ give different interpretations about the issue of Babylon. The book of Revelation itself describes this end time great power in 46 verses, which underlines its importance. In an excursion we want to think in a praying manner about the reports on Babylon in the Old Testament as well as in the mentioned verses of the book of Revelation so as not to be consumed by overhasty opinions, when we try to approach the biblical understanding of this misleading great power.
The Construction of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9): Most of those who read the Bible know the report on the construction of the tower of Babel from their childhood on, and many painters got inspired to paint pictures thereof. How is it that this tower had been constructed? New settlers in the plain area between river Euphrates and Tigris River came across with the invention of in fire burnt adobes and the usage of bitumen as mortar. Thus they planned to build “a great city” as a commercial centre and centre of power, for the sake of self-protection as well as in order to rule over the other inhabitants of Mesopotamia. As a symbol of their power and greatness they wanted to construct the highest tower of the earth, a so-called ziggurat (a multilevel temple), which is higher than all other ziggurats in the wide plain of Mesopotamia. The new settlers wanted to gain fame, to make an honored and feared name for themselves, they wanted to become great by themselves without God and invade into the power sphere of the spirits. They called their city Bab-El, i.e. the gate to God, the gate to the Almighty. Yet their pride and hubris brought about their downfall quickly. They did not understand each other anymore and dispersed in hatred. Karl Barth, a Swiss Reformed theologian, is supposed to comment it as follows: God made the different languages in his wrath! Thus the gate to God became a place of confusion.
Infinite pride is driving people on all continents so as to imitate the construction of the tower of Babel. If you look from the Empire State Building in New York or walk along a main street in Hong Kong, you may realize a thousand fold rebellion of men against God in terms of a sea of skyscrapers. When in Stuttgart after World War II the first television tower on a concrete needle was constructed (with a height of 217 m and a weight of 4,500 t), the kick-off was given for increasingly higher TV towers in Toronto, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, Shanghai and other great cities! All constructors wanted to demonstrate: we are the most intelligent, the richest, the best and the most powerful! The hubris of men celebrates triumphs up to now again and again. Nowadays towers are not sufficient any longer for glorifying of pride, as now rockets are sent to the stratosphere, and space shiPsalm are to realize the dream of mankind of weightless flights and to be like God!
Yet the Lord is confusing men, as they are no good. They do abominable works. There is none who does well. There is none who seeks God (Psalm 14:1-3).
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Exile of the Jews: After the Assyrian empire with its “great city” Nineveh close to Mosul at the Tigris River broke up, in south east of Mesopotamia in Babylon at the river Euphrates the powerful ruler Nebuchadnezzar arose. Nebuchadnezzar reigned for 43 years from 605 to 562 BC. He set up an empire which was to succeed the inheritance of Assyria. When the little kingdom of Judea beyond the Syrian Desert did not want to pay its tribute any longer and rebelled against Babylon, the army of the Chaldees stormed Jerusalem in 598 BC and took the upper class of the people of Judea with them as slaves. When the left people revolted again, Nebuchadnezzar became angry and sent his army which conquered Jerusalem in 587 BC a second time. This time the temple of Solomon was destroyed together with all important buildings of the city and the majority of the people were led to the exile of Babylon on an 800 km way through the desert. During the destruction of the temple the arc of the covenant together with the mercy seat of the Lord disappeared. Since this time of the destruction of Jerusalem Babylon is in sight of the Jews the arch enemy of God, who led them in slavery for 48/59 years (2 Kings 24:8 - 25:30 and other verses).
A radical and distinctive element of the Babylonian culture and administration was astrology, magic and dream interpretation in combination with contact to spirits (Daniel 2:2-12; 4:15). Moreover, Nebuchadnezzar had a golden image set up, 60 cubits (20 meters) high and six cubits (1.80 meters) wide (Babylonians used a sexagesimal (base-60) positional numeral system). All his civil servants had to line up before the image and prostrate and worship it when the trumpet was blown (Daniel 3:1-7). The Jewish men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship this idol and therefore were thrown into a blazing furnace. However, the Lord was with them and preserved them (Daniel 3:8-30). Yet Nebuchadnezzar carried on to be arrogant and prided himself when he was walking around on the roof of his royal palace: “This is great Babylon (9 km lateral extension) which I built as royal city by my great power for the sake of my glory!” (Daniel 4:30) Shortly afterwards he went mad and ate grass like animals (Daniel 4:28-30). Later on when Nebuchadnezzar recovered, he let himself be adored again as “King of the whole world” and as “God” (Judith 3:11; 6:2).
The Slow Return of the Exiled: When Cyrus, the Persian emperor, conquered Babylon in 539 BC, he delivered the Jewish slaves, who had taken root there in settlements with farming and skilled manual work. Cyrus allowed them to return to Judea so as to build up a defensive line against Egypt. Yet most of the displaced Jews did not want to return to the deserted Judean highland and to desolate Jerusalem. Only weak waves of returnees set out to Judea. At first in 537 B.C. Sheshbazzar returned, then in 521 BC Zerubbabel and Joshua who started building the second temple which Haggai and Zechariah finally completed in 516 BC. In 458 BC Ezra followed, and in 445 BC Nehemiah built the city wall of Jerusalem. However, the majority of the Jews remained living in Mesopotamia and lost according to Hebraic judgment the right to belong to the elected people! The Jews in Mesopotamia opened themselves to the changing cultures, learnt astrology, magic, Cabbala and magical practices. They rested in the bosom of the Persian Empire which was well disposed to them.
Babylon with its occult practices is considered in the Apocrypha to be the source of evil (Apocryphal Parts of Daniel 1:5). Who stayed in this great city was in danger of getting mired in such bondage. Therefore Isaiah as well as Jeremiah called: “Go forth from Babel, flee from the Chaldeans!” (Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 50:8). Both prophets saw the inescapable judgment of the Lord and the fall of Babel come up (Isaiah 21:9; Jeremiah 50:2.8. 13.23.39-40; 51:25.35.37.47.52.55.58 and other verses).
Rome in the Role of Babylon: Often the Roman Empire with its capital Rome (which means “the Great”) was called Babylon by Jews and Jewish Christians (1 Peter 5:13). The Romans had conquered the 100 years old Jewish state of the Maccabeans in 63 BC, and in 70 AD they captured Jerusalem again after a revolt of the Zealots and burnt the second temple restored by Herod the Great and sold hundreds of thousands of Jews as slaves to the entire Roman Empire. Thus the people of the Old Testament considered Rome as the restored Babylon. Caesar Trajan conquered Mesopotamia in 98 – 117 AD and persecuted the Jews living there. Hadrian (117-138 AD) left Mesopotamia to the Parthian Empire so that strong Jewish colonies formed there, in opposition to the 700 year dominion of the Romans in the Middle East (from 67 BC to 627 AD).
By crushing the revolt of Bar Kokhba (132-135 AD) and renaming of Judea to Palestine and a second deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews into slavery later on Rome bore out to be an exact archetype of Babylon.
In his exile on the isle of Patmos the seer John could not speak openly about the Roman Empire. Presumably, he therefore used Babylon as a cover name for Rome, because Caesar Domitian (81-96 AD) who ruled in the time of John named himself Lord and God of his people and required adoration from everybody. Who refused to worship him or his throne was to be killed.
Thus, does Babylon represent the anti-Christian total state which demands unreserved loyalty and blind obedience from all its citizens? We are reminded of the time of Hitler when the masses chanted the slogan of Göbbels: “Leader command, we will follow!” Millions of people paid with their lives for their belief in Hitler.
The Catholic Church and Anti-Christ: When the German Emperor Frederick II from Sicily in 1228 AD had resolved the sixth crusade diplomatically and recognized the intention of the Catholic Church to establish a world dominion, he called Pope Gregory IX “dragon of the apocalypse and anti-Christ".
Dr Martin Luther from 1518 AD on called the whole Papacy in general the anti-Christ because the pope claimed the primacy of the spiritual power over the secular rulers, to be infallible in the exposition of the Holy Scripture and to convoke solely and legitimately a council. Afterwards Luther broke the Babylonian captivity of the church with his exposition of the Bible and proclaimed the liberty of the Christian from justification by works, from church traditions and from any veneration of saints.
Johann Albrecht Bengel repeated in his interpretation of the book of Revelation that the Papacy is the anti-Christ and the city of Rome the harlot Babylon.
What has led to this estimation? Pope Gregory VII had, against the spirit of the Bible, extended the competence of the popes and now claimed that only the pope can appoint and depose bishops, that he solely has the authority to enact new and abolish old laws and that the pope is even entitled to depose emperors, that he is infallible when expounding the Scriptures and that he has the right to decide that only a Catholic Christian can be a true Christian.
During the greatest display of power of the Catholic Church under Pope Innocent III (1198-1216 AD) numerous Catholic Christians had a critical view towards their church and joined so as to become secret churches (Cathars and Waldensians). In order to search these heretics out and to judge them, Pope Gregory IX commissioned the fraternity of the Dominicans in 1232 AD to carry out the inquisition, in which the persecuted were barbarously tortured and burnt at the stake during hundreds of years. The law of inquisition has not been abolished so far by the Catholic Church and is waiting for its revival under the anti-Christ and his great harlot!
Rome began to become Babylon when it tried to dominate the whole world and to abuse its spiritual authority for political purposes. Since that time Rome has not only been a church but has also became a state which even as a little church state exerts a worldwide influence. Rome thinks of itself as the “holy and eternal city” and shows with this title its ambition to take the place of Jerusalem. The worldwide journeys and celebrations of masses of Pope John Paul II had not only had pastoral character, but were at the same time publicity campaigns. His celebration of the church festivals in Rome embraced millions of pilgrims. Many of them song against the original text as follows: He's got the whole world in his hands!
Was Muhammad the False Prophet of Revelation 13? To the end time scenario Muhammad belongs too, who by means of his Qur’an, his traditions, and the Islamic religious law Sharia has immunized a fifth of the world's population against the gospel. In fact, Muhammad at first was interested in the Son of Mary, accepted his birth from a virgin, testified on his wonders, confirmed his legislation and believed in his ascension. However, in the decisive issues of Jesus as Son of God and of the cross he refused the Christian faith resolutely. He denied both the divinity of Christ and the historicity of his crucifixion, and so he became an anti-Christ according to 1 John 2:20-24 and 4:1-5.
Muhammad laid the basis for an own law, the Sharia, whereby the Babylonian Talmud was the inspiration for its final version. The topics of the Sharia are the worship of Allah, the faith in Muhammad and the obedience to the law. Who does not worship Allah like a Muslim, will be considered as an unbeliever and declared open season on him as an animist. Here, a basic principle of anti-Christ becomes evident: worship or death!
The Islamic law requires a public executive authority, as without an executive the criminal law does not work. Therefore Islam has become a religious state – so did it also the Vatican 1,000 years ago.
Muhammad had tied a fifth of mankind in his anti-Christian state. He is a false prophet but not the anti-Christ of the last days, because he is not a Jew. Only a Jewish person will the Israel people and the world Jewry receive as their Messiah. Muhammad is, however, one of those who pave the way for the anti-Christ. May be that the false prophet of the anti-Christ arises from Islam and in an eloquent manner like Khomeini brings together Jews and Muslims to a close anti-Christian front and mobilizes the billions of dollars made by the Wall Street and the oil-producing countries against the true Christ and his followers. Who still dreams that the so-called monotheistic religions believe in the same God, will once awake and be shocked when it is already too late. Even if Muslims and Jews should continue fighting against each other still for a long time, nevertheless just a genial false prophet would bring together these two cousins against their common enemy which are the true Christians (and the U.S.). The attack of both jet airliners against the twin towers of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 was just the beginning of the anti-Christian birth-pangs!
One of the big controversial subjects between Jews and Muslims is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on whose rock, which was formerly the place of the altar of burnt offering, the octagon Dome of the Rock and to the south thereof the Al-Aqsa Mosque was constructed by the Caliph Abd al-Malik. Orthodox Jews are waiting eagerly for a great earthquake which may demolish both mosques, so that they may be able to construct their third temple on the place of Holy of Holiest of the former two temples. Presumably, in this third temple the anti-Christ will go and sit down so as to rule the world from Jerusalem.
Where is the “Great City” Babylon Situated? Some expositors of the book of the prophet Daniel think of the European Union with its capital Brussels being one of the main pillars of the great image which Daniel saw in his dream and the other main pillar being Moscow. Brussels is considered by these expositors as centre of a catholically dominated socialism, while Moscow represents the collapsed communism infiltrated by the Orthodox Church. These speculations trace back to the formerly ten members of the EU, which reminded some expositors of the ten horns of the son of the dragon. Yet in the meantime the European Union is a union of twenty seven member states.
Even though in Western Europe socialism and Catholicism are in deep opposition, they cannot achieve much, unless they come to terms which each other. This would be in accordance with the vision of John about the harlot riding on the beast (Revelation 17:3.7). Some futurologists expect therefore that the next pope will be a catholic Jewish Christian representing Europe, Israel and the world in one person.
Several other expositors critically observe the organization of the United Nations in New York, where like the EU in Brussels a new world order is being prepared. Intolerance is to become punishable. Missionary activities will be understood to be attacks on the rights of existence and identity of other religions. The slogan “no peace among the nations without peace between the religions” prepares a multicultural community having a new world ethos without room for Christ, the only Son of God, and his atoning death on the cross. Jews and Muslims could not agree to such a world religion. However, the syncretism of the harlot Babylon will be the poison which all nations will have to drink if they want to live in one world community.
In the golden cup of this harlot all kinds of abominations of the new liberty will be offered to men. Homosexual and lesbian relationships are already nowadays legalized in many (western!) countries. The genetic manipulation experiments with animals and man represent an irresponsible intervention in God's creation. The worldwide telecommunication infrastructure in combination with internet facilitates a worldwide control of mankind in its “global village". In U.S. there is already an ongoing discussion so as to insert into each newborn baby a code number so as to prevent any mix-up. Many other developments such as the overpopulation, the limited reserves of raw materials, the environmental pollution, the climate change, or a pandemic spread of virus diseases call for a global control and a strict world government. The time is ripe for the anti-Christ, his agitator and his religion mixer called Babylon.
If we now make up an interim balance out of the details listed so far about the anti-Christ, his agitator and the harlot Babylon, so the following fundamentals become apparent:
- The beast, its prophet and the harlot are tightly connected with each other and cannot always be discriminated. They complement each other and act as a unit!
- “Babylon” means in the Old as well as in the New Testament at first the unlimited pride of man who like Satan wants to control the whole world and ultimately demands complete submission and worship from all mankind.
- The harlot Babylon encourages the beast to persecute and kill the true people of God in the Old and New Testament, because the saints refuse to worship the beast and his image.
- The harlot Babylon tries as a former member of the people of God to adapt herself to the global power. Therefore she propagates the principal of a multicultural community and aims at a syncretistic world religion as the basis of world trade, peace of the world, and the world power.
- “Babylon” is not only a certain metropolis, like Babel, Rome, Mecca, London, Paris, Moscow, Brussels, New York, or Jerusalem, but it wanders in the course of history from one place to the next. Always and everywhere its distinctive elements are a network of economic connections and lodges. If really money makes the world go round, then anti-Christ uses the tolerant harlot for his power struggle and will destroy her when he has achieved his aim.
In the exposition of the 46 verses in the book of the Revelation which deal with the “great city” and the “institution Babylon” (Revelation 17:1 – 19:10), we will get know further details about the influential harlot of the last days. We should, however, take care not to give rash answers.
PRAYER: Holy Father, we worship You because of Your patience with the haughty humanity, and we rejoice with the angels over the falling of the religious institutions, which support antichrist and keep the faithful believers away from Your redeeming Christ, the only Savior. Help us not to obey such earthly institutions, but to stand firm in Jesus Christ the only truth. Amen.
QUESTIONS:
- What about the research on the great city “Babylon” and its falling touched you?
- Why do some countries construct towers higher than those in other countries?