In this message we shall consider the material Babylon (Rev. 18:1-24). The Bible reveals three aspects of Babylon: the literal, ancient Babylon, the religious Babylon, and the material Babylon. The site of ancient Babylon is in today’s Iraq. I visited that region eighteen years ago and found it to be dusty and hot, like an oven. I could not stand to stay there. Before I visited that place, I had studied the curses pronounced upon Babylon recorded in the Bible. The Old Testament, especially the book of Jeremiah, contains many curses and condemnations pronounced by God upon Babylon. In my visit I saw that in every respect the word of the Bible concerning Babylon had been proved true.
The ancient city of Babylon is also the ancient Babel. Genesis 11 speaks of the tower and city of Babel. Both Babel, the Hebrew word, and Babylon, the Greek word, mean confusion. Babel was founded by Cush, the father of Nimrod. According to history, Nimrod invented the pagan, idolatrous system of worship. Many centuries later, Babel was enlarged by Nebuchadnezzar and became the Babylon known in the Old Testament. Babylon became an evil and devilish place because under Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonians destroyed God’s temple and seized the holy vessels, the vessels for the service of God in the temple (Dan. 1:1-2; 2 Kings 25:8-9, 14-15). Furthermore, Nebuchadnezzar brought these vessels to Babylon and placed them in the temple of his idols (Dan. 1:1-2). That was an insult to God. At the time of the recovery in the Old Testament, Ezra brought these vessels back to Jerusalem and placed them in the rebuilt temple (Ezra 1:7-11; 5:14; 6:5). Therefore, Babylon became evil not only because of her idolatry, but also because she destroyed God’s temple and carried away into captivity God’s people and the holy vessels.
In the Bible we have two important lines — the line of Babel and the line of Jerusalem. The line of Babel is a counterfeit of the line of Jerusalem. Before God began the line of Jerusalem, Satan began his counterfeit. Thus, two cities, Babylon and Jerusalem, are opposed to each other. These two lines continue to the present day. The church is today’s Jerusalem, and the Roman Catholic Church is today’s Babel, Babylon. Furthermore, the daughters of the great prostitute, the denominations and groups which still practice some of the Babylonian traditions, also belong in the category of Babylon. Only the pure, genuine local churches are in the line of Jerusalem today.
Chapters seventeen through twenty-two are the ultimate conclusion of the whole Bible. In these chapters we also see two cities — Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon will be utterly destroyed, and Jerusalem will be completely built up. This is the consummation of the Bible, the ultimate issue of the line of Babel and the line of Jerusalem.
The writings of G. H. Pember and Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons say that, without exception, every pagan religion originated with Babylonianism. The religion invented by Nimrod has spread throughout the world, even to India, China, and Japan. Nimrod, for example, originated the picture of the Madonna and her child. The story behind this picture is an evil story of incest. Nevertheless, that picture has been taken into Catholicism and presented as a picture of Mary and Jesus. As a child, I saw this picture of the woman and her infant in the idol temples in China. Later I was surprised to see the same picture in a Catholic cathedral. Eventually, through study I learned that they were both of the same origin. The first Catholic missionaries to go to China found the image of the Madonna and child already in the Buddhist temples. It was also found in Japan and India. Although the same picture under different titles is found everywhere, its origin can be traced to Nimrod at Babel. This example illustrates that every religion is an outgrowth of Babylonianism. All religion comes from one devilish source — the ancient city of Babylon.
The second aspect of Babylon is religious Babylon. In the eyes of God the Roman Catholic Church, which perpetuates much of Judaism and has assimilated much from paganism, is Babylon.
The third aspect of Babylon is the material Babylon, the city of Rome.
At times it is difficult to distinguish these three aspects of Babylon because the Bible blends them together. For example, the Babylon in Revelation 18 is material Babylon. But when I was young, I was told by some Christian teachers that it is the literal Babylon. This chapter, however, does not refer to the literal Babylon; it refers to the city of Rome, which is Babylon in the eyes of God.
In Revelation 17 and 18 two aspects of Babylon, the religious aspect and the material aspect, are mixed together. On the one hand, the female in chapter seventeen is a “prostitute” signifying the apostate church; on the other hand, she is a “woman” signifying the city of Rome. Verse 1 speaks of the prostitute, and verse 18 speaks of the woman. Therefore, the female in this chapter has the aspect of the prostitute, the apostate church, and the aspect of the woman, the physical city of Rome.
It is not easy to understand the Bible. We need to pray over and ponder certain portions again and again. I do not know why the Lord in some verses mixes together the various aspects of Babylon. I only know that He has done so. Knowing the various aspects of Babylon is like knowing the prophecies regarding the two comings of Christ. In a number of places in the Old Testament Christ’s two comings are mentioned together. It is like two mountain ranges that appear to be one when they are viewed from a distance. But as you approach them, you realize that there is a great gap between them. In reading the prophecies regarding the coming of Christ, we must know which refer to His first coming and which refer to His second coming. It is the same with the verses regarding Babylon. We must discern which refer to ancient Babylon, which to religious Babylon, and which to material Babylon. If we are clear about this, then we shall be able to understand Revelation 17 and 18. Years ago, I simply could not understand these chapters because I did not know the various aspects of Babylon. If we are clear about these aspects, then we have a solid foundation for understanding these two chapters, and we shall be able to discern which verses concern the religious aspect and which verses concern the material aspect.
Christ will appear at the time of the destruction of material Babylon. Revelation 18:1 says, “After these things I saw another Angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was illumined with His glory.” This Angel is Christ, coming down out of heaven, with whose glory the earth is illumined. In His appearing Christ will come as an angel sent by God. In the Old Testament several times Christ was the angel sent by God. In Gen. 22:11-12, Exo. 3:2-6, Jud. 6:11-24, and Zech. 1:11-12; 2:3, 8-11; 3:1-7, we read of the angel of the Lord. As we study the context of all these references to the angel of the Lord, we see that the angel of the Lord is actually the Lord Himself. In the book of Revelation Christ is revealed at least three or four times as an angel sent by God to fulfill God’s commission (Rev. 7:2; 8:3; 10:1; 18:1). Here Christ appears in this way.
In Rev. 10:1 Christ was still clothed with a cloud, and in Rev. 14:14 He was sitting on the cloud, whereas His glory here in Rev. 18:1 shines over the earth, indicating that His coming back to earth is closer than the coming mentioned in 10:1 and 14:14. He will come down out of heaven firstly in the cloud secretly, then He will come on the cloud openly, and eventually He will shine over the earth to destroy Babylon the Great, the city of Rome, with great authority. At this time He will take full possession of the earth, and the earth will become His kingdom. Therefore, the fall of material Babylon will transpire at the appearing of Christ.
In 18:3 the aspects of religious and material Babylon are both mentioned. This verse says, “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the power of her luxury.” “The nations have drunk of the wine...and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her...” refers to the religious aspect, whereas “the merchants of the earth have become rich by the power of her luxury” refers to the material aspect. It is the Roman religion, not the Roman Empire, that has made all nations drunk with her religious, devilish wine. Likewise, it is the city of Rome, not the Roman Church, that has enriched the merchants of the earth by the power of her luxury. Therefore, in one verse the religious aspect and the material aspect are covered.
Verse 4 says, “And I heard another voice out of 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.” Since Babylon the Great is twofold, to come out of her means to come out of both religious Babylon and material Babylon. This is proved by the pronoun “her” in this verse. The antecedent of this pronoun is the Babylon of two aspects revealed in verses 2 and 3.
Verses 6 through 8 speak of Babylon’s pride and destruction. She prides herself on being a queen, not a widow. As such a one, she thinks she will never see sorrow. But when the time of judgment comes, the Lord will destroy her and give her much torment and sorrow. In one day her plagues will come, and she will be utterly burned with fire.
In verse 2 we see the fall of material Babylon. This verse says, “And He cried with a strong voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” In 14:8 an angel said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great,” and in this verse Christ cries out with the same words. This indicates that Babylon will have two falls, the fall of religious Babylon and the fall of material Babylon. The fall of religious Babylon will transpire at the beginning of the great tribulation, and the fall of material Babylon will transpire at the end of the great tribulation. Chapter eighteen relates the fall of material Babylon, not of religious Babylon.
Verse 2 says that Babylon has become “a dwelling place of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” This verse contains references to the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah and quotations from them. In condemning literal Babylon Jeremiah used expressions like this. Eventually, the city of Rome will be condemned and cursed just as ancient Babylon was. For this reason, the city of Rome will no longer be a fit dwelling place for human beings. Rome is a most interesting city, and tourists enjoy visiting there. However, the day is coming when no one will go there because it will be filled with demons, unclean spirits, and unclean and hateful birds. This is a sign that it will be ugly and abominable in the eyes of God. Material Babylon, the city of Rome, will become hateful in the eyes of God because it has been the source of both devilish politics and devilish religion. In the Roman Empire we see the devilish politics, and in the Roman Catholic Church, the devilish religion. These devilish things have been in power for at least two thousand years and have damaged and poisoned mankind throughout the earth. Therefore, God will intervene to judge the city of Rome and render it unfit to be a place for people to live in. As a result of the condemnation and curse pronounced upon ancient Babylon, it became unfit for human habitation. The same will be true of material Babylon.
In verses 9 through 19 we have the weeping over Babylon. Verse 9 says, “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her, shall weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning,” and verse 11 says, “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo anymore.” The international merchants who have made great profit from this wealthy city will weep when they see it under God’s judgment.
Verses 12 and 13 list the cargo sold by the merchants of the earth. Since the cargo in these verses consists of various material things, Babylon the Great in this chapter is proved to be the material one. The cargo is of seven categories: from gold to pearls, ornament; from fine linen to scarlet, clothing; from thyine wood to marble, furniture and decoration; from cinnamon to frankincense, spice; from wine to sheep, food; horses and carriages, transportation; and bodies and souls of men, employment. Of the cargo carried by Babylon, the first item is gold, and the last is the souls of men. Souls of men are men themselves sold for employment. This not only depicts the coming Babylon, but also today’s world. People sell their whole being to their employers. Many are selling their soul, their life, themselves, to their occupation, neglecting God and their eternal destiny.
This list of the cargo proves that the city of Rome will be a city of capitalism, not of communism. Capitalism will prevail in Rome until material Babylon is destroyed.
Verse 20 says, “Rejoice over her, O heaven and saints and apostles and prophets, because God has judged your judgment upon her.” While many will weep over the destruction of Babylon, others will rejoice over it. Those on earth will weep, but those in heaven will rejoice. We shall certainly be among the rejoicing ones in heaven. Furthermore, I believe that we shall witness the destruction of Babylon. As her smoke goes up, we shall rejoice.
In verses 21 through 24 we find the declaration of Babylon’s absolute destruction. Verse 21 says, “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 shall be found no more at all.” Perhaps the destruction of Babylon will be accomplished by a great earthquake that will cause the entire city to sink into the sea. Because this is the destiny of Babylon, you must advise your friends not to live there.
In 19:1-4 we have the praise in heaven over the judgment upon the great prostitute. In verses 1 through 3 we have a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, praising God and saying, “Hallelujah!” Although chapter eighteen concerns the judgment upon material Babylon, the praise in these verses in chapter nineteen is not mainly related to material Babylon, but to religious Babylon. The reason for this is that throughout the centuries both aspects have been mingled together. Until A.D. 476 Rome was the center of politics. In the centuries following that time it has been the center of religion. The Roman Catholic Church came into power in the sixth century, and by the end of the sixth century the papal system was completely established. Of the past nineteen centuries, in the first five we see the predominance of the Roman Empire and in the last fourteen, of the Roman Catholic Church. When the time comes for the fall of Babylon, the religious aspect will be destroyed first and the material aspect later. The praise in heaven is not mainly related to the destruction of material Babylon, but to the destruction of religious Babylon, because in God’s eyes the religious aspect is more hateful than the material aspect. Today we care little for material Rome, but we are very troubled by religious Rome. How happy we shall be to see the fall of religious Babylon!
Revelation 19:4 says, “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who sits upon the throne, saying, Amen, Hallelujah!” After the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven says, “Hallelujah,” the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures say, “Amen, Hallelujah!” The “Amen” comes first because some hallelujahs have been spoken already. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures say “Amen” to these hallelujahs and then add more hallelujahs of their own. In 1967 the Lord showed us how to call upon His name. At the same time we began to see that we should praise Him continually. Our meetings in 1967 and 1968 were filled with amens and hallelujahs. Religious people condemned us for this, and a small part of religious Babylon rose up against us. I simply do not know why. They oppose our praising the Lord with amens and hallelujahs. But the book of Revelation indicates that praising the Lord in this way will be the practice in the future. What will be practiced in heaven in the future may also be practiced by us today on earth.
If we believe the Bible, then we must accept the book of Revelation. If we do not have this book, then the Bible has no conclusion. The Nicene Creed, formulated in A.D. 325 at a council convened under the authority of the Emperor Constantine, is widely accepted throughout Catholicism and Protestantism. At the time of this council seven books of the New Testament — Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation — had not yet been fully recognized. They were officially recognized in A.D. 393 at the Council of Carthage. Hence, the Nicene Creed was probably formulated without the book of Revelation.
To many Christians, the book of Revelation is foreign. As far as many Christians are concerned, it is almost as if this book were not in the Bible. Even if they do read it, they cannot understand it. This is due to the subtlety of the enemy. No other book in the Bible has suffered as much from Christian opinion as the book of Revelation. For this reason, in 22:18 and 19 the Lord Jesus said, “I testify to every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.” We must be careful not to add anything to or take anything from the words of the prophecy of this book. Nevertheless, throughout the centuries most Christians have taken away from this book. Although the book of Revelation is printed in the Bible, in the experience of many, this book has actually been taken away from them. This is the reason so many Christians are missing God’s blessing. From the time the Lord first opened this book to us, what blessing there has been! I believe that all these messages will cause a great turn and a further step in all the churches. Great blessing will be bestowed upon the churches.
There are a number of expositions on the book of Revelation. Because most of these writings do not follow a sound principle in expounding this book, most of what they say is not accurate. In order to rightly interpret the book of Revelation we need to be familiar with the entire Bible. As we have pointed out, nearly every symbol in this book is a reference to a symbol in the Old Testament. Thus, we must know the origination of the symbol in the Old Testament and then trace the development of it in the New Testament. Take the example of the lampstand in Revelation 1. It is first mentioned in Exodus 25 and then in Zechariah 4. If we would know the significance of the lampstand in Revelation, then we must consult Exodus 25 and Zechariah 4. Furthermore, we also need to understand the development of this matter of the lampstand in the book of Revelation. This is the way to understand this book.
Another illustration of the proper way to understand Revelation is the matter of the beast in chapter thirteen. If we would know what this beast is, we must go to Daniel 7, for the beast in Revelation 13 is both a reference to the beast revealed in Daniel 7 and a development of that beast.
If we study the first mention of any symbol and then trace its development, we shall have the right interpretation of it. We must follow this basic principle in studying the book of Revelation. However, many expositions of this book violate this principle. Praise the Lord that He has shown us the basic principles. All the interpretations the Lord has given us are according to these principles and are fully supported by history. Therefore, for example, we have been made very clear about the Roman Empire, the Roman Church, and Antichrist. We have seen that Antichrist will be a double character; he will be both the seventh Caesar and the eighth Caesar. As the eighth Caesar he will have the body of the seventh and the spirit of the fifth. Thus, he will be an extraordinary figure. If we understand this clearly, then we shall know where we are and what will happen in the near future.
