Babylon- the Economics
18:3 the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
v11 the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more
v15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her
v17 every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea
v19 wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness
Dan.11:43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt...
It doesn’t seem reasonable to assume all of the merchants of the earth who have ships in the sea were made rich by selling their merchandise to one city. Especially because it was said “all nations” and “the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication”. But somehow unifying and aligning yourself (fornication/one spirit – 1 Cor.6:17-20) with the whore can bring you great wealth. The unifying element in all monetary transactions would be money- the medium of exchange. It’s not surprising that the love of money is the root of all evil. Somehow there can be no buying and selling without aligning oneself with her lewdly (fornication with her sorceries v23). For every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness (Jer.8:10); and drunken with her wine. In order for this to occur she would regulate the supply of money- a world central bank issuing a world currency. How else can ‘all that had ships in the sea’ be made rich by ‘reason of her costliness’ (v19) and through the ‘abundance of her delicacies’ (v3). Also notice that upon her destruction ‘no man buyeth their merchandise anymore’ (v11). Unless she facilitates buying and selling (Rev.13:17); and by her lending unto all nations she shall “reign over many nations” (Dt.15:6, 28:44). There will be no competing currencies, no free market private banking, just a government privileged monopoly on issuing money and credit and all banks below her having her spirit and under her laws. (like this, here, here, here and again here - they have incentives to you going cashless and here, and negative interest rates here. It suddenly got ramped up! Cashless on the horizon. Watch for the "Great Reset")
And there is clearly a market economy involving buying and selling of goods and services and getting rich. So this is not pure communism (that wicked doctrine). It appears more like international fascism or socialism where the economy is controlled by a central governing body. And not fascism imposed by constraint upon some unwilling as examples in 20th century Western governments; but rather there appears to be a degree of liberty of will as we see the “voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters… craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be”(18:22) as with “the merchants of the earth”(v11). Maybe a form of 'crony capitalism' where large corporations and government officials work together to rule and exploit the ignorant masses (of interest here). They will be rich and fall into her temptations and snares which drown men in destruction and perdition. In her heart are snares and nets and her hands are as bands (Ecc.7:26). In order for her to be able to make these friends of the mammon of unrighteousness she would need to be able to expand money and credit- mingle her silver with dross; making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit (Amos 8:5). She ‘by usury and unjust gain increaseth her substance’ (Prv.28:8)- “thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion” (Ezk.22:12, 18:13).
Isa.1:21-3 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards…
This is no marvel for the mother of abominations to have a false balance (Prv.11:1). What easier way for the rich to rule over the poor or the lender to enslave the borrower (Prv.22:7) than have the power of a supreme ‘lender of last resort’, a global central bank creating money upon demand. And who is more willing to be enslaved than the drunken culture of credit expansion whose heart insatiably loves the world and the things that are in the world (1 Jn.2:15-17) and whose life consists of the abundance of the things they possess (Lk.12:15,21)? They would gladly bore their ear through with an aul; and serve her for ever (Ex.21:6) piercing themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim.6:10). Covetousness is idolatry (Col.3:5, Eph.5:5) and these children of wrath are nurtured from their youth up- “Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree” (Isa.57:5); where coveting is set apart as holy days.
She is clothed with “fine linen, and purple, and scarlet “. Jesus said “Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.”(Lk.7:25) As harlots do she painted her eyes, and decked herself with ornaments (Ezk.23:40); with “gold, and precious stones, and pearls”. She decked herself with majesty and excellency; and arrays herself with glory and beauty to make herself fair with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers.
17:2 the kings of the earth have committed fornication
18:3 the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her
v9 kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her
Her lovers are the kings of the earth over whom she reigns. Their primary focus is power and authority and its exercise. She facilitates this domination of the poor through lending to those enticed by her sorceries; those with her spirit.
Dt.15:6 “thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee” 28:44 “He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.”
Lk. 22:25 “…The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.” Mt. 20:25 “…the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.”
Her lending the ‘reprobate silver’ isn’t to merchants alone but to kings who need money to rule. The ‘powers that be’ are ordained by God, not to be the savior of men but to punish evil (Rom.13:1-7). Not to root evil out of men’s hearts by inculcation and propaganda but to revenge and execute wrath speedily (Ecc.8:11) upon the perpetrators of evil and fraud. That is, God instills righteousness in men, governments do not. Governments can punish what evil is brought forth upon other men but cannot prevent it from occurring; neither can the voluntary sacrificing of liberty bring forth security because men are sinners and wicked exceedingly before God. Righteousness is not generated in men’s hearts by laws (Gal.3:21) but by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:2,4)- that is by his death for our sins and his rising again for our justification (Rom.4:25). There is no hope apart from Christ.
The throne is established in righteousness (Prv.16:12) by God placing his moral character in men’s hearts naturally (Rom.2:14-15) and so for the wickedest men to rise to power they must appear as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor.11:15) with good words and fair speeches deceiving the hearts of the simple (Rom.16:18). The bearing of the sword wherewith the state is to execute just wrath, should instill fear and terror (Rom.13:3) and thus the view of the state as an institution of fear. This fear of state power should cause the prudent crafters of statehood to deal with knowledge regarding this power, to understand the way it should be regulated (Prv.24:3). But without the Lord’s church as the salt and light of the world quickening righteousness in hearts by preaching the power of the gospel of Christ the general public will succumb to the presence of sin in them that is their flesh (Rom.7:18). As the church grows lukewarm the power of sin will infect and corrode society as doth a canker and the vilest men will rise to power with a mouth filled with sweet words and a heart full of abominations who ‘enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied’ (Hab.2:5). And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of the public. With no church of God that Wicked shall be revealed.
The public must become dull of hearing the word of God and ‘the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful’ (Mk.4:19). With this sottish and childish heart will the public be carried about by every wind of doctrine and receive the spirit of the world until deceivers walking after their own lusts arise speaking perverse things and turn them about as a great ship withersoever the governor listeth. The rational self interest of the righteous and diligent is now the covetous lust of the idolatrous and slothful who desire more reaping of harvest with less toil of sowing. The serpent entices with fruit of knowledge to become as gods by just eating what is not yours as a shortcut to a greater harvest.
Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep (Prv.19:15) and the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting and shall be under tribute (Prv.12:27). They eat the bread of idleness and abundance of idleness is in her. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, and being haughty they turn their hearts to abominations; to the Mother of Abominations. But her conduits are the kings who go whoring after her. She assists them in dominating the poor and slothful and putting them under tribute to serve. Which tribute they believe a tribute of a freewill offering. The kings know that the public must view them with affection more than fear. A prosperous democratic society with universal suffrage whose mind and conscience toward Jesus Christ is defiled is the supreme matrix for the rise of the vilest of men. For with any ambitious man allowed to enter government and the men most proficient at exciting the public’s lust while competing for high office is an assurance that lewd fellows of the baser sort will advance. The most outwardly beautiful according to that which is highly esteemed among men but the vilest in heart will be exalted. The most efficient way for these deceivers to seduce the public is with the riches of this world, the mammon of unrighteousness. And the greatest tool for this form of dominion is for these kings to monopolize the money and banking system, expanding their power over others while intoxicating the public with ‘that which he took not in hunting’. Thus is the society of the slothful a society of great waste (Prv.18:9) and an ungodly society with a propensity to plunder others prosperity and call it ‘equality’.
17:2 the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication
18:3 all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
v23 for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived
She surely hath bewitched them with sorceries as Simon of old who “used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one” (Ac.8:9). But a whore of devils and a habitation of unclean spirits is a filthy abomination. Her fornication is of such a nature that it mingles religion and economics; buying and selling under a religious pursuit (Rev.13:16-17), intoxicating with idolatry and riches. Witchcrafts and sorceries are taught and justified by appealing to pantheism where the creature is worshipped as the creator. Their secret doctrine is as basic as this- “Every force in the Universe is capable of being transformed into any other kind of force by using suitable means”. How do they inflame themselves with this folly? They justify it pantheistically- all is one. Of course sound reasoning destroys this folly at once for if all is one then truth and error are the same or from the same indistinguishable source. Nonsense and madness is equal to wisdom and sound judgment. But the carnal mind dismisses this and embraces the lust that this error allows and thereby defiling their mind and conscience (Tit.1:15). Now the unrighteous can have what they want economically and spiritually.
But of course what they want will be a product of their conformity to the world (Rom.12:2). And that conformity is orchestrated by the Prince of this World, that is the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience (Eph.2:2). This power is the basis of the sorcery of the Whore and not pantheistic forces. And the manifesting of this power is what deceives all nations. Magicians operating in sorcery use enchantments to manifest supernatural powers and lying wonders (Ex.7:11, 22, Rev.13:14, 2 Thess.2:9). These signs from these false prophets will deceive if possible the very elect (Mt.24:24, Dt.13:1-3).
As the populace moves more deeply into witchcraft and magick there will be also a unifying of all religions- since ‘all is one’. And since the spirit of antichrist is working the denying of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and his Sonship will be necessary (1 Jn.2:22, 4:2-3). They will begin to be filled with their own ways and be lovers of themselves for they are told that they are divine, they are a star and must find their own course; manifest their own will ‘follow their heart’. Magick they are instructed is when “I cause Changes to take place in conformity with my Will” and so find your course and ‘do what thou wilt’ while abiding in it. No doubt she will assist them teaching and seducing them into fornication; oneness with her purpose, supplying their needs. Their natural gifts and talents and abilities are not from the Living God, she will teach, but rather ‘from the universe’. And therein will she corrupt them and cause them to use what God gave them, for her own gratification. Her instructions will be to indulge in abominations to release ones true will as if to unsheathe the seed from its coat; to destroy any remnants of conscience or resemblance of the Creator and be twofold more the children of hell; bastards that she will nurture as her children into the lust of the eyes the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life.
their merchandise:
- gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, brass, iron, marble- fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet- thyine wood, all manner vessels of ivory, all manner vessels of most precious wood- cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense- wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat- beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots- slaves, and souls of men
Theirs is the merchandise of royalty, great wealth and lavishness, without care or concern. We can see these same commodities in other contexts indicating supreme power and riches from international trade:
Dan.5:4 They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
5:23… thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
Rev.9:20 repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Lk.16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Ezk.27:7 Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee… v15-17 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.
Est.1:5-7 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace; Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble. And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king.
8:15 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple:
Babylon brings extreme wealth to her closest consorts- “given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me” (Isa.47:8). Mercilessly reigning over the poor selling men at will. This is the economic schematic expected with this monetary system. Those closest to the whore receive the benefits of her lending, enriching them before prices rise. Those saving money or poor lose purchasing power due to the infusion of new money and eventually become dependent upon the state which will compel them to ally with the whore to be enabled to buy and sell. The net has been spread and the snare has been laid.
James 5:1-6 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Babylon- the Mystery
Rev.17:7…I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
16-17 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Matt.12:26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?
These passages bring in a perplexity into the text. For we must ask that if the beast carries her and the 10 kings align themselves with the beast and receive power as kings one hour with the beast, and these have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast (v12-13)- why are they destroying what he carries? It would seem that the 10 kings are divided against him. And to what end would they destroy her? She is filling the earth with the wine of her fornication. The kings of the earth, the inhabitants; she sitteth upon peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues defiling them all. This is a necessary function for the beast for she is unifying religious and economic commitment with the state; she is the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth. The only reason for her destruction would be that she functions in a position independent of the beast; that is filling a role that only he will ultimately fill when he finally magnifies himself above all that is worshipped (2 The.2:4). She unifies the world to a point where he seizes full authority demanding worship as God. She is the Mother of Abominations and responsible for the “overspreading of abominations” (Dan.9:27) but with him there can be only worship of one image, one abomination (Dan.3:1-7, 6:12). The abomination that maketh desolate (Dan.11:31). The world does not go a whoring after the abominations that she mothers any longer; rather “all the world wondered after the beast” (Rv.13:3).
The transfer of authority from the woman over “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (v15) to the beast (Rv.13:7) is for 42 months (13:5). When he rises with the confederation of the 10 kings it is “until a time and times and the dividing of time” (Dan.7:25)- three and a half years. This places it in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel (Dan.9:27) exactly when the abomination is set up replacing the abominations of the Harlot (Dan.11:31, 2 The.2:4). But she is destroyed in the middle of the tribulation with the seizing of power by the beast and 10 kings. Even if you understand 17:18 to be referencing her in the time of the end reigning over the kings of the earth then this reign ends when they fulfill their time and times and dividing of time (Dan.7:25, Rev.13:4-7). But Babylon is destroyed by God in an earthquake in the end of the tribulation when the 7th angel pours out his vial (Rev.16:17-19). So who is she?
MYSTERY, BABYLON
John wondered at her with great admiration and astonishment, and marvel (17:6-7). The angel tells us the mystery of the woman. She is a great city (v18) and is upon 7 mountains (v9). Most students of scripture down through the centuries easily identify her as Rome. For in John’s day Rome “is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth”. IS that great city; not shall reign but reigneth. When the angel informs John that the 6th head of the beast IS (v10) it was Rome from where Caesar ruled (Lk.2:1, 4:5-6, Ac.25:10-12,23:11, in Italy Ac.18:2). She sitteth upon many waters (v1, 15) that is “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” She has been a city of idolatry from the time of Christ until this present hour even until “the words of God shall be fulfilled” (v17). The mystery of Iniquity will grow in her until it “becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof”; or as "a woman took" leaven and “hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened”. (Matt.13:31-33) An enemy hath done this. (Mt.13:28) If it isn’t Rome the city on seven mountains that reigned over the kings of the earth sitting upon peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues with the 6th head of the dragon in John’s day then who does the angel tell us it is? The angel is opening our understanding in chapter 17- “I will tell thee the mystery of the woman” (v7). Chapter 18 starts “after these things I saw another angel” (v1). So then the angel in chapter 17 must tell us in his exposition who the woman is. Those proposing another identity than Rome to the Mystery city must depart from the angel’s words. This mystery of iniquity upon her forehead (Rv.17:5) was already at work in John’s day; but will not be fully ripe until he who now letteth (1 Jn.4:1-5, 1 Thes.5:5, Mt.5:13-14, 1 Tim.2:1-2) be taken out of the way (2 Thes.2:7) when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in (Rom.11:25).
Some unreasoned brethren contend with the translation “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come” (17:9). They claim that the 7 mountains are the 7 kings. But what confusion is then wrought from this? For we then have the great city on all seven heads of the beast- carried in the same manner on all 7. If we count backwards from Rome (one is) we have Greece (Dan.10:20) Media/Persia (10:13, 5:28, 2:39-40), Babylon (2:38) Assyria (Jer.50:17-18, 2 Ki.17:6, 23, 18:11) and Egypt (Hos.11:1, Ex.15:4); then the 7th head – the kingdom of the beast carrying her. (These heads all appear to have world dominance and the subjugation of Israel in common.) How does this city come to ride upon all these kings through history from Egypt until the end? Some err thinking this great city to be Jerusalem; but Jerusalem had nothing to do with Egypt or Assyria and was not carried by them (2 Ki.19:34-7, 20:6). And Jerusalem will continue where Babylon “shall be found no more at all” (18:21). Others suppose this to be Babel of Nimrod’s building (Gen.10:10) revived in the end. But from where in the angels revelation is this derived? It did not reign in John’s day over the kings of the earth. But again Babel had nothing in Egypt the land of Ham, and was not the chief city with the other kings as this whore carried on the 6th and 7th heads. The angel declared this harlot a city not a system.
Nay my brethren “here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains… And there are seven kings”. She is associated with seventh head but then he is the eighth even though he is of the seven (v11). As the eighth arises she no longer has a seat and therefore the ten kings “eat her flesh, and burn her with fire”. The great whore of John’s day appears to be the Mother of Harlots in the time of the end associated with the 6th and 7th kings.
There appears then to be a gap between the 6th and 7th heads of the dragon which we understand to be the ‘church age’. We see this gap in a number of places; for example Rev.12 where the dragon with 7 heads seeks to devour Christ the man child as soon as he is born, but after his resurrection and ascension the beast pursues the woman in the middle of the tribulation- a 2000 year gap. This is seen again in Daniel 2 where the legs of iron corresponding to the Roman Empire (in Christ’s day) seamlessly transitions into the 10 kings who are destroyed at Christ’s return (2:37-44). Daniel sees no church age for this is a New Testament mystery (Eph.3:1-6, Rom.11:25, 1 Tim.3:16). In Daniel 9 also we see the same thing with the gap between the 69th and 70th week. The Messiah is cut off for us and the abomination of desolation set up in the midst of the week at the time of the end. “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end” (Dan.12:9-11). Interestingly then the Roman Empire would be connected with both comings of Christ.
For further study of this church age gap between Christ’s first and second coming review these- Isa.61:1-2, 42:1-4, 11:1-10, 9:6-7, Mic.5:2-7, Zech.9:9-10, Psa.2:7-12, Matt.3:10-12.
2 Babylons
The beast needs a wellfavoured harlot to corrupt the earth. If he destroys her then there must be another. There must be a financial center to govern the economy, that controls buying and selling, where the buying and selling of merchandise is facilitated through all the earth (Zech.5:6). He needs a mistress of witchcrafts to sell nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. To assist him in causing all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to buy and sell under the worship of him alone. But if the Mother of Harlots in chapter 17 is destroyed and her abominations, in the middle of the tribulation what Babylon is destroyed in the 7th vial? If she is Rome and not literal Babylon does Babylon have to do with anything?
“Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” Zech.5:10-11
Zechariah’s prophecy points us to a very interesting direction. His prophecy was after Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians (Zech.1:1, Dan.5:25-31) and so there are prophecies related to Babylon that still await their fulfillment. Zechariah sees an ephah of wickedness (Am.8:5), a corrupted measure with a woman in the midst thereof (v6-8); the resemblance is through all the earth (Zech.5:6). The two woman with wings of an unclean bird (the stork which knoweth her appointed time- Jer.8:7) bear the wicked ephah to Shinar to build it a house of honor. The problem with this prophecy is the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah to the end that Babylon in the land of Shinar would never be inhabited by man or beast nor even passed through again forever.
The land of Shinar was a reference to Babylon. Beginning with Nimrod who built his kingdom, Babel after the flood in “the land of Shinar” (Gen.10:10). Shinar was a plain (Gen.11:2) and so there were not 7 mountains (Rv.17:9). Micah prophesied the "land of Nimrod" would be laid waste again after the coming of the Christ (Mic.5:1-6). After the siege of Jerusalem prophesied by Jeremiah (25:8-12, 29:10, Dan.9:1-2- Notice that Daniel interprets Jeremiah literally) Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon plundered Jerusalem and the temple carrying the riches into the land of Shinar to the house of his god (Dan.1:1-2). But Babylon was to be utterly destroyed forever and yet she comes up for judgment again in the time of the end and this time it is permanent:
Isa.13:9-11 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. V19-21 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Jeremiah prophesies the same in a twofold prophecy against Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon (Ch.50-51) and the one at the time of the end:
Jer.50:35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. V39-40 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. 51:26 And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord. V29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. V37 And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant. V43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby. V62 Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever.
Taken literally these prophecies have not happened. You can watch on the internet that this is not fulfilled ( http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/04/world/meast/iraq-babylon-tourism/ ; https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48888893 ; https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iraq-holds-babylon-international-festival-after-18-years/2406170 ). Even in scripture Babylon was inhabited after the Medes seized it. Cyrus is even called the king of Babylon (Ezra 5:13). Notice Ezra 6:1 “Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon”. And again Nehemiah 13:6 “But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:” We even see Babylon inhabited in the New Testament, notice 1 Peter 5:13 “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.”
And in Revelation 18 we see a fulfillment of these prophets’ visions. Notice John’s vision:
Rev.18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. V5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. V8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. V 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. V17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought… v19 in one hour is she made desolate. V21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. V22 nd the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; v23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee… Rev.19:3 …And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. Taking these prophets at their word and not changing them into poetic embellishments with the tongue of pride and denying their literal, historical fulfillment, we must conclude historic Babylon will be built again (which it partly has even now) and receive her final judgment. She will not be inhabited except by devils as the mouth of hell; the dead are there; and her guests are in the depths of hell.
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