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 Revelation
18:2
2 And he cried
out with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean
spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.”
 hen
President George H.W. Bush mobilized American forces to liberate Kuwait
from Sadam Hussein’s Iraqi army in 1990 I wrote the President (a
thing I rarely do) to thank him for returning the respect to American
Armed Forces they deserve. Coming from a military family I was ecstatic
to see the burden of mistrust placed on the Viet Nam era military finally
removed.
The week
it became clear the President wouldn’t finish the job by toppling
Hussein, I fired up my computer to voice my concern. But the Holy Spirit
stopped me. “Mark, don’t waste the time,” He said. “I’m
in control of that.” I was then reminded of Daniel’s words
to Belshazzar when the hand of God wrote out the king’s doom on
his palace wall: “…the Most High God is ruler over the realm
of mankind, and He sets over it whomever He wishes” (Dan. 5:21).
Iraq
and Iran share the ancient land space of Persia, which according to Ezekiel
38 will accompany Gog’s Israeli invasion. So some of God’s
hand writing seemed to appear in Ezekiel during my search.
Anyone
who reads my website understands I am not at all unconvinced that Gog
and the antichrist aren’t one and the same. If Gog of the land of
Magog is representative of the European Caucasian races that have evolved
over the past 2500 years, Hussein could have been spared to lead his armies
to the plain of Megiddo. The same time compression is necessary in interpreting
Gog’s antiquated weapons. And every name breathed in Ezekiel’s
prophecy can be found in Japheth’s Genesis 19 genealogy.
This
is a compelling subject for another editorial, especially since coalition
interests for Hussein’s political survival run as high today in
the midst of America’s current war on terror as they did twelve
years ago. Where you place the Battle of Gog is very compelling stuff.
Food
for thought I offer in this commentary has to do with another eschatological
perspective considered while contemplating Hussein’s Gulf War survival.
Could his efforts in rebuilding Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon play a
prophetic role in fulfilling Revelation’s Mystery Babylon prophecy
in Revelation 17 and 18?
Many believe
the "great city" the Babylonian harlot is said to represent at the end
of chapter 17 will be a singular geographical location. Some believe the
specific naming of the city of Babylon equates to an original rebuilt
city. So I looked into this and came to the conclusion that both views
are wrong. Here’s why.
Demystifying the Babylonian Harlot
Identified in her
prophetic snapshot as the mother of all whores, Babylon the
Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth
appears dressed in the wealth of the world and holds a golden cup "full
of abominations (“bdelugma”: idolatry) and the unclean things
of her immorality."
Revelation 17:3-6,10
3 And he carried me away
in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet
beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was clothed
in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean
things of her immorality,
5 and upon her forehead a name was
written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
6 And I saw the woman drunk
with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
And when I saw her, I wondered greatly.
10 and they are seven kings; five
have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he
must remain a little while.
Staying true
to her visual parable, the corrupting figure seen in John's prophetic
movie is an ancient demonic presence. She is seen riding above
and guiding the affairs of the world.
The beast
she rides is a prophetic picture of the world's governments her presence
has corrupted from antiquity. (Egypt's Old Kingdom; Nebuchadnezzer's Babylon;
Sennacherib's Assyira; Cyrus and Darius' Persia; Alexander's Greece; Nero's
Rome, and an eschatological European empire that will resemble the dominion
of Rome). But she has never been confined to those kingdoms. She
was corrupting the earth before the first Pharaoh was born, and will remain
until God destroys her stronghold at the end of the age.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Revelation 17:5
5 and upon her forehead a name
was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
Her name comes
from the infamous 2300 BC city of Babylon disrupted by God for the demonically
inspired witchcraft of its infamous tower.
Genesis 11:9
9 Therefore its name was called
Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth;
and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole
earth.
Both history
and archaeology have proven Nimrod’s infamous tower built on the
plain of Shinar (11:2) to be more than a prideful edifice on which rebellious
men shook their fists at God. It was a high place of satanic worship.
Archaeology has unearthed many similar towers, called ziggurats
on the Sumerian plain. The harlot’s pagan cycles of worship that
originated there have always included fertility sex rites to appease the
“gods of harvest.” The ministry of Elijah was raised up to
deal with her presence in Baal and the fertility goddess Asherah (Astarte)
that corrupted the nation of Israel. The first thing successive good kings
did when they rejected the immoral gods of the surrounding nations was
tear down the high places of Baal (Num. 22:41; 2 Kings 18:1-4).
"She" is the Great City
Mystery Babylon's
Revelation 17:18 reference to the great city is therefore not to a single
city (polis: the city in which one lives; an abode) that will
one day appear. She isn't Rome or Brussels as many have claimed over the
years. Neither is she New York, Amsterdam, Paris, a rebuilt Babylon, or
any other known contemporary city.
Revelation 18:16 puts her prophetic picture in perspective with
the caption: “Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed
in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious
stones and pearls…”.
She
lives today in New York, Amsterdam, Paris and everywhere the great population
centers of the world are located, because she is the
great city.
She
is the a picture of every "dwelling place of demons and a prison of every
unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird" on earth
(18:2).
Revelation 18:3
3 "For all the nations
have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the
kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of
her sensuality."
She
is the immoral spirit of the world (kosmos) in all its carnal
trappings that sets itself up and over against the biblical truths of
God John warns of in his first epistle.
1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world,
nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride
of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
And
if you are a Christian, the prophet's warning to come out of
her midst rings as true today as it did in John's first-century church.
Revelation 18:4
4 And I heard another voice
from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate
in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues…
Drunk with the Blood of the Saints
Revelation 17:6
6 And I saw
the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the
witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly.
The blood
of the saints she drinks in her snapshot speaks of more than physical
martyrdom. Babylon the Great murders marriages and destroys churches
through her elusive, seductive ways.
The churches
in Pergamum and Thyatira both succumbed to her deceptive temptations.
Revelation 2:14
14 'But I have a few things against
you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who
kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality.
Revelation 2:20
20 'But I have this against you,
that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and
she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts
of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Her influence was
so formidable along Paul's church-planting paths that he had to address
the harlot's power in both Corinthian letters (1 Cor. 6:15-20; 2 Cor.
6:14-7:1).
"She" Is Hollywood Humanism
It was she
who guided America's '60s wave of "free love" and Eastern mysticism. And
if you don't believe her impact has been lasting, take a look around the
church. As I write, one in two Christian marriages are failing commensurate
with the statistics of the world—because she is
the master covenant breaker. Ministerial adultery and fornication ruin
churches regularly. Following their lead and prescribing to the Great
City's prevailing philosophy, the laity follows suit. God forgives of
course. But the spirit of Mystery Babylon has infected
the church today with a relaxed tolerance that embraces moral failure as a
"modern fact of life."
Today the Babylonian
harlot lures the world and church from her great city of the media. You'll
find her shouting her message of unbridled sex in film, on television,
and over the Internet as she guides their sensual work. It's not hard
to imagine a regional prophetic snapshot of her riding a multi-headed
MGM lion with the names of the major studios written on its heads.
The deepest of
Mystery Babylon's mysteries is her secret manipulation. Today
her gratuitous sex scenes on premium channels no longer offend the desynthesized
believer. Pastors and laity sturggle with clandestine Internet pornography.
John’s revelation was given to inform and warn. So
receive the Spirit's revelation of her symbolic snapshot and rethink your
eschatology if you place her prophetic presence in the future or the past.
"BABYLON
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"is
not coming; her city is here today.
Understand
her ways.
Give
her no place on your Internet.
Turn
the channel.
Read.
Think.
Pray.
Revelation 18:3-24
3 "For all the nations have drunk
of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth
have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth
have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality."
4 And I heard another voice from
heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate
in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues;
5 for her sins have piled up as
high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 "Pay her back even as she has
paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which
she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.
7 "To the degree that she glorified
herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and
mourning; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as a queen and I am not a
widow, and will never see mourning.'
8 "For this reason in one day her
plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be
burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.
9 "And the kings of the earth, who
committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep
and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,
10 standing at a distance because
of the fear of her torment, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon,
the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.'
11 "And the merchants of the earth
weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more;
12 cargoes of gold and silver and
precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet,
and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article
made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble,
13 and cinnamon and spice and incense
and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and
wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves
and human lives.
14 "And the fruit you long for has
gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed
away from you and men will no longer find them.
15 "The merchants of these things,
who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear
of her torment, weeping and mourning,
16 saying, 'Woe, woe, the great
city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned
with gold and precious stones and pearls;
17 for in one hour such great wealth
has been laid waste!' And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor,
and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance,
18 and were crying out as they saw
the smoke of her burning, saying,' What city is like the great city? '
19 "And they threw dust on their
heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, 'Woe, woe, the
great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth,
for in one hour she has been laid waste!'
20 "Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment
for you against her."
21 And a strong angel took up a
stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus
will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not
be found any longer.
22 "And the sound of harpists and
musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any
longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer;
and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer;
23 and the light of a lamp will
not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride
will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great
men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 "And in her was found the blood
of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth."
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