THE BOOK OF REVELATION
Revelation Chapters 17-18
Exposing Mystic and Literal Babylon
HAVING LOOKED AT THE WOMAN STYLED AS ‘MYSTERY BABYLON’…. AND BRIEFLY AT THE BEAST SHE IS RIDING LAST LESSON, WE CONTINUE TO DISCERN THEIR MEANING IN END TIME PROPHECY.
The Woman, in the time she is presented, is riding the Beast. Then showing a dominance, or a being served by and the using of the Beast, but shortly is destroyed by him to make way for his declaration of supremacy. We have discussed the Babylonian System seen in the Woman, “Mystery Babylon”. Here representing the ecclesiastical or spiritual component of that System that caused the Kings of the entire World to fornicate with Her.
She is also described as representing a City. Clearly that City is Rome. Where, in the End Time, her influence Worldwide will stem from. The City’s destruction is foretold, and with it Her influence is completely done away with.
THE BEAST
We have identified the Beast as the little horn of Daniel’s End Time 4th Kingdom and its 10 Nation Confederation, (Daniel 7) the Anti-Christ, who is also identified further in the Book of Revelation and intimately associated with the Red Serpent by his mirrored description, that of the 7 heads and 10 horns and 10 crowns. [Revelation 12:3 with 13:1] The period of time into which we are projected is where the Woman, Beast and 10 Kings having 10 crowns are already there, in existence/influence with the 10 Kings and are all collaborating and cooperating in the pursuit of World dominance.
Daniel places this time as that which immediately precedes the people of the saints receiving the Kingdom. [Daniel 7:23-28] As Daniel saw in vision, and was told, “The fourth beast, shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth…..and ten horns out of this kingdom are 10 kings that shall arise: (possibly out of the chaos on the earth at this time.… then later) and another shall rise after them:….and he shall speak great words against the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit (the 7 Vials), and they shall take away this dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.………Hitherto is the end of the matter.”
So now John also sees in vision those same End Time events that we are looking at in Revelation chapter 17& 18.
We have then located this time pointed to in Revelation 17:1-6 by comparing to chapter 14:8, as after the First Fruits offering of 14:5, and following the death of the 2 Witnesses. Where then the Anti-Christ is manifest (Revelation 11:7) before the Beast will openly pursue and persecute the saints and godly. [Revelation 14:9] This being prior to the Beast’s exalting by the 10 kings. [Revelation 17:16-18] And that following the burning of Rome, spiritual Babylon, just before the mandatory Mark of the Beast. [Revelation 13:16,17] And before the judgments of the 7 Vials which begin to be described in chapter 16, which then will be poured out one right after another in response to the blood and blasphemies of these characters and in answer to Noah’s Covenant of blood. [Genesis 9:5-6] Then between the 6th and 7th Vial, we will see the “Harvest” of the enduring faithful, and during the 7th Vial…. the Return of Jesus Christ in the “Vintage”.
MYSTIC BABYLON IN CHAPTER 17 AND LITERAL BABYLON THE CITY OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR OF CHAPTER 18…..
Isaiah describes the destruction of Babylon in chapters 13 and in 14 where he makes clear who the king of Babylon really is: satan/Lucifer. These 2 chapters, along with Jeremiah 50 and 51, speak to chapters 17 & 18 of the Book of Revelation. But most directly to chapter 18’s destruction of ancient literal Babylon, with a scripturally certain connection with a supernatural Being and with his embodiment, the then supernatural Emperor of the 8th order. [Revelation 17:11]
There are two Babylons referred to in Revelation chapters 17 & 18. One is the Woman who is Mystery Babylon, and also the City of Rome, whose rifling and burning is before the literal city of Babylon. And probably necessary for the Anti-Christ to ascend into his 3 ½ yrs of World dominance, whose destruction the 10 Kings facilitate, participate in and rejoice in. (the Woman’s demise) Whereas, the modern City of Babylon’s destruction is mourned by those same Kings towards the end of the Anti-Christ’s brief 3 ½ years of reigning. [Revelation 18:9]
Isaiah makes it clear that this City’s destruction is in one day, and is the Day of The Lord. Also, Jeremiah describes the event as forever devastating, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and will never be occupied again, as is the result of the event in Revelation 18:6. The accompanying events are, “I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place.” [Isaiah 13:11,13; Matthew 24:28-30] “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (It appears from Jeremiah that the Medes/Iranians/modern day Kurds will have a part in her End Time demise. Jeremiah 51:27. But God will supernaturally finish off her existence. Jeremiah 51:62; Revelation 18:6; Isaiah 13:20.)
MUCH MORE COULD BE SAID (and should be said maybe shortly) ABOUT HOW THESE TWO CITIES OF REVELATION CHAPTERS 17 AND 18 ARE DIFFERENT CITIES. BOTH WITH THE SAME MORAL NATURE, BUT WITH DIFFERENT DESTINIES OF JUDGMENT. But let us stop and look deeper at the spiritual importance of what God is saying to us, His People, through the whole prophetic words from 2300 yrs or so before Christ till His soon RETURN.
Revelation 18:4 “…Come out of her my people…” Isaiah 48:20 and Jeremiah 50:8; 51:6,45 call out the END TIME Jewish contingent from its midst. But in another sense the call, come out, has been ever since the cruel and wicked inception of Babylon of Babylonia by Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-10; 11:1-9) for all God’s people, Old and New Covenant. [1Peter 2:9]
TYPES for the future end time realities
It was from Idolatrous Babylonia (Chaldea) that Abraham was called, who having hesitated, at last heard, if he was to inherit the land of promise, (that is to say the kingdom) he would wholly and forever have to give up and abandon it and its idolatry.
It was the “…goodly Babylonian-ish garment” that was coveted, along with silver and gold that caused Achan and the people of Israel their first defeat and kept them from entering into the promised land.
It was the Godless people of Babylon that populated the land the 10 Tribes lost, who mixed idolatry with Yahweh worship and corrupted the land. [2 Kings 17:24]
And “God left him (Hezekiah), to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” The trial was, having been informed by God about the subtleness of Babylon, yet because of latent hidden pride of possession he caused Israel to lose their goodly treasures to Babylon.
Today for Jews, as it was in Christ’s day also, the call to come out of Babylon, would mean they would come out of Judaism, which has in spirit become Babylonian. And for Gentile converts (all would have been converts from the World’s universal religion – Babylonianism) unto modern Christianity, the call to come out of her my people would be: Come out of corrupted denominationalism (and all false forms of Christianity joined to the nature of the World), which has become wholly leavened with Babylonianism/Worldliness.
How shall we describe this corrupting condition served up by that Mystery Babylon who has caused the whole World to drink? She is dressed to show her luxuriousness ….in this World’s glory. Her opulence is the contrast of our dispensation of denying ourselves. She flaunts herself in the face of want and poverty, she reflects the love of the World, an unbelief in the future, a total disregard for the commands of God.
Her dress is in accordance to a whore, that is to have irreverent appeal, “And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and crafty of heart” (Proverbs 7:10). Her apparel is to allure away those who would join the true Bride, Contrast her apparel to that of the Bride who has made herself ready and is dressed in the white linen of righteousness. [Revelation 19:7,8] Her golden cup is full of intoxicating things. “With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she seduced him.” (Proverbs 7:21). What she offers to trade is her gifts, supplied by the goodman for the enhancement of their relationship. She is trafficking… it is not legitimate. There is no glory eternal attached to it, only a temporal carnal/beastly satisfaction can be transacted. It is relationship based upon commerce.
It is this in type; for that ancient, illegitimate subversion, in the heavens, the invention of trade/trafficking of pride-filled Lucifer in his God-given possessions among the angels. “Thou (Lucifer) wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of the merchandise/trading they have filled the midst of thee with violence….Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty….Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of trading;…” [Ezekiel 28; Isaiah 14] This trafficking / trading, being alien to the heavens and stemming from satan’s heart that led to violence and the casting out of The Heaven, to the heavens associated with the Earth, myriads of angels having participated.
This previous fallen selfish nature, as a result of trafficking, now forms the basis for the counterfeit whorish system formally introduced to mankind, First in the controlling violence of Nimrod, (Genesis 10:8-10) and then combining that control in the commerce of his Babylon. (Genesis 11) It is both religious (controlling violently by the shedding of blood if need be) and commerce (buying and selling) the means by which one might provide for oneself with the promise of excelling above others. Additionally, the beginning of Babylon in Shinar (today’s Iraq) “and they dwelt there….And they said, let us build us a city and an tower, whose top may reach unto heaven: and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth…” This is contrary to God’s Word to Noah and his word of “…go forth…” (Genesis 9:16,17) It is a rebellious substitution and circumvention of the Word of God, true worship and His glory. Additionally contrast that city’s commerce as it relates to the curse of man… “And unto Adam he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of they wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow (toil) shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” [Genesis 3:17-19]
Contrast with the Cup of suffering given by the Father….[Matthew 26:42 22:21,22; Romans 8:17,18]
Mystery Babylon is manifest a great amount today in nominal (existing in name only) Christianity.
“Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” [2 Chronicles 32:31] Let us understand that as God, by the cleverness of Babylon, tried the heart of King Hezekiah, who was the heart/spirit of Israel, that needed exposed, so that they might know their own hearts. So to that end, “God left him.” So God also tried the morally weak heart of Christianity by the King of “Babylon”, Constantine the Great, who offered her acceptance for mixture, which she readily accepted in the 4th Century AD. And so in due course she has become completely leavened into that Babylonian / worldly system, character and nature. [Matthew 13:33] So also then, has her/our heart been exposed. As Achan, Christianity has also hidden the goodly Babylonian garment under its tent. [Joshua 7:21]
Speaking in terms of us as individual Christians, who now are ignorant or ignoring the call to come out of her, then we may, if we are not already experiencing, anticipate the shaking/plundering. Which is the result of “God left him.” For it will not be far behind (see Hebrews 12, the entire chapter) …and what will be exposed is the pride of life, the love and lust of this World’s things, which is simply the spirit and system of Babylon.
How shall this chastening of God on His people be done? By taking that which in pride we have. Oh what great grief we feel as God chastens us. (Do we recognize our mixture? Face our sin in humble repentance and reject all ungodly alliances? Or do we allow ourselves to be justified by satan in
“hath God really said?” while on the other hand he condemns us for our sins before God.) No matter how cautious and careful we are to guard what we have, darkness comes on us and we are deceived, because He has left us. And suddenly, like Job, we suffer inordinately. We lose materially, we lose emotionally, we lose health, we are criticized and lose socially. Our religious pride is assailed, and with loss of things, unlike Job we begin to doubt God, or ever being born again, regrets, remorse without understanding. Our emotions are unhinged, we have no peace.
Why will this chastening of God persist? IT IS BECAUSE OF THE SOBERING AND SERIOUS WARNING THREAT OF CONSEQUENCE: “….That ye have no fellowship with her sins, and THAT YE RECEIVE NOT OF HER PLAGUES.” [Revelation 18:4] In the light of the many warnings, how serious those who break the CALL OUT OF THIS WOMAN… of God to His People, with their false teaching of assurance that all His People will all be removed before the terrible plagues set in. This teaching then stands in opposition to God’s warnings, as it implies God’s slackness in discouraging Babylonianism in His People. By offering them, as merely born again, and in no other way disqualified, a miraculous deliverance just before the tempest.
By the End Time Shaking God might effect a humble sorrow. Not for our worldly loss, but sorrow for our duplicity of heart…for our double-mindedness….for our spiritual idolatry. That we might yet repent and turn our hearts, see again the prize of our heavenly calling and forsake Babylon and its interests we are so tied to. And come out of her and pursue Him with a pure heart and clean hands, in the power and spirit of love with a sound mind. This then to be like-spirited to Ezra and Nehemiah; delivered from the darkness of left by Him…in Babylon….but brought back to that place that Babylon destroyed. Back into the light of His returning presence, and then with trial and sword we work to rebuild this temple with fear and trembling toward God and with guarded sword against satan.
‘Partakers of her sins’, and ‘that ye receive not of her plagues’ reaches beyond the pangs of this World’s momentary judgments. Unto the more severe consequences to be suffered in the life and place after death, as Christ again warns His servants in Matthew 24:42-5, John15:1-6, and Hebrews 10:30,31.
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