2. Mystery Babylon
1. The Babylon of Rev 17 is a figurative picture of the apostate church.
2. Rev 20 is a figurative picture of all the redeemed.
3. Babylon of Rev 18 is a figurative picture of the world’s ungodly systems
and of the lost who glory in and support them.
Revelation 18:13 And after these things I saw (so this is a later vision and a different Babylon
than that of the previous chapter) another angel come down from heaven, having great power;
and the earth was lightened with his glory (this is no ordinary angel, this is Jesus). 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. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich
through the abundance of her delicacies (the materialistic systems of this world).
Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that
ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Like the parallel verse appearing below, both are to believers of the Christian era . . .
2Corinthians 6:16 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
4. Revelation 18:15‐20 continued . . .
“and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And
cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great
city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one
hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets;
for God hath avenged you on her. 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.”
ALL BELIEVERS TAKEN OUT OF THIS PRESENT WORLD
Revelation 18:2124 And 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; And the light
of a candle (Greek: λύχνος , lookh’nos, literally a lamp) . . .
Psalms 119:105106 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. I have sworn,
and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.”
“shall shine no more at all in thee (so God’s Word will no longer be seen in Babylon); and the
voice of the bridegroom (Jesus) and of the bride (believers, both Jew and Gentile) shall be heard
no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries
(Greek: nαkμαiέια, pharmakeia, literally pharmacy or medications, by implication, magic or
science) were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets (physical
Israel), and of saints (the Gentile Church), and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
5. The blood of All God’s people of all time,
both Old Testament and New,
is found in Babylon, so this is a figurative “city.”
It is the multitudes of people
throughout time who have hated God and wilfully
turned away from the Savior of the World!
This Babylon is also the world’s satanic systems
and those within them who love wickedness,
beginning with Cain who slew his brother Abel,
on down through the ages to the murders of the last tortured saint
still standing for Jesus in some foulsmelling hole,
soon to be beheaded for his beloved Lord.