Mystery, Babylon the Great

2021-12-19

There is an entity in Revelation that is a rival to the Antichrist. It is called the Great Whore, and it is depicted as a woman labeled “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Revelation 17:5). Let us look at this thing one piece at a time.

  1. She sits on many waters. Revelation 17:1. The waters are multitudes of peoples and nations. Revelation 17:15.
  2. She commits fornication with the kings of the earth, making them drunk. Revelation 17:2; 19:2. The fornication is described as involving wrath. Revelation 18:3.
  3. She is situated in the wilderness. Revelation 17:3.
  4. She sits on the Antichrist beast and his empire. Revelation 17:3.
  5. She murders Christians. Revelation 17:6.
  6. She sits on seven mountains. Revelation 17:9. The mountains are kings/kingdoms, some of which have passed, one is current, and one is to come.
  7. She is hated by the ten allies of the Antichrist, and they will burn her with fire. Revelation 17:16. This is the will of God. Revelation 17:17.
  8. She is a city that reigns over the entire world. Revelation 17:18.
  9. She will fall and be an unclean place. Revelation 18:2.
  10. She made the world’s merchants rich. Revelation 18:3.
  11. She has Christians in her midst who are warned to flee the coming wrath on her. Revelation 18:4, 24.
  12. She has sins that have reached heaven. Revelation 18:5-6.
  13. She is self-indulgent. Revelation 18:7.
  14. She is a place that does not see any hardships. Revelation 18:7.
  15. Her destruction will come in one day, suddenly. Revelation 18:8.
  16. The kings of the earth will lament her destruction because they thrived off her abundance. Revelation 18:9-10.
  17. Businessmen of the world will lament lost revenue because of her destruction. Revelation 18:11-19.
  18. She imports all manner of luxuries. Revelation 18:12-14, 16.
  19. She is involved with slavery and human trafficking. Revelation 18:13.
  20. The shipmasters that were awaiting docking to unload more imports will mourn when the destruction comes. Revelation 18:17-19.
  21. Heaven rejoices at the fall of Babylon. Revelation 18:20; 19:1-3.
  22. She has a lot of entertainment. Revelation 18:22.
  23. She has a lot of manufacturing. Revelation 18:22.
  24. She is filled with light. Revelation 18:23.
  25. Her businessmen were powerful, wealthy men. Revelation 18:23.
  26. She deceived the world with sorcery. Revelation 18:23.
  27. She has murdered multitudes of people. Revelation 18:24.

There is a lot to think about here. Let us make some general conclusions.

Mystery Babylon rules over the entire world. Politically, she is hated by the Antichrist and his ten allies. However, other kings and all the merchants of the world love her because of her money. This city must be distinct from the Antichrist and his empire. She is not the waters and mountains; she sits on these things. She dominates these things.

Babylon has a profound control over the world, with her influence is described as “fornication,” “drunkenness,” and “sorcery.” Perhaps it is the city’s cultural influence.

Babylon is a self-indulgent place. She imports a multitude of luxuries, which are enumerated over a few verses. She has a lot of manufacturing and entertainment. The inhabitants live carefree, so they can say that they “shall see no sorrow.” They did not anticipate their wealthy city to suddenly be destroyed.

The Antichrist and his cronies cannot fully rule with this city in the way. They conspire to destroy this city because it intervenes with its plans. This ultimately comes from the Lord. There is rejoicing in heaven at her fall.

We call Babylon a city, and rightfully so, because the passage refers to “this great city.” Nonetheless, remember that the original Babylon was a city, but also an empire. The city could be a synecdoche, representing something greater.

If the events of the last seven years were to begin soon, there is only one place in the world that fits most of this description. There may be no perfect match. But what other place has so many riches and imports huge amounts of stuff? What place exports its culture to the world, and bewitches the entire globe? What place lives in such luxury while most of the world lives in poverty? What place does the world have a love-hate relationship with, balancing hatred for its hegemonic power but loving its money?

You know there is only one place. It is not the Roman Catholic church or Jerusalem. And it is not a perfect fit, but who knows what will change in the future? The real case is whether we want to admit it or not.

The most tragic of all, if this place is what I think it possibly could be, is the response from heaven.

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. (Revelation 19:1-3)