REVELATION 17

The first mention of Babylon in Revelation was in chapter 14. In verses 6-8 John saw two angels, the first with an eternal gospel to proclaim, telling men to worship and honor God, the Creator of all things, and the second angel announcing that Babylon, the source of unchastity and idolatry, has fallen. Revelation 14:8 says Babylon has forced all nations to drink the wine of her immorality.

Part of the judgment of the seventh bowl in Revelation 16 is directed toward the destruction of Babylon. Verse 19 says God remembered to force Babylon to drink the cup of his fierce anger. Revelation 17:16 says the beast will come to hate Babylon and will strip it naked and burn it with fire. As is generally the case throughout scripture, God's judgment is poetic, punishing the disobedient with the essence of their misdeeds. So Babylon's punishment is described in the same terms as its sins, drinking the cup of God's wrath and being stripped naked.

Until now Babylon has only been mentioned twice in passing in Revelation, but now it takes center stage for the next two chapters. The language describing its misdeeds refers to sex and drunkenness. It reminds me of a segment of Bette Midler's movie, "The Rose", in which Bette Midler, playing a part which is based loosely on the life of Janis Joplin, gets her audience to chant, "sex, drugs, rock n' roll, sex, drugs, rock n' roll." Of course, rock n' roll is not mentioned in Revelation. But consider for a moment the lyrics of the songs, "we built this city on rock n' roll" and "we will, we will rock you", and remember that the seventh bowl in chapter 16 included a massive earthquake, the most severe earthquake in human history, the ultimate rocker. Perhaps God will use this earthquake to tear down the cities which have been built on rock n' roll. I don't want to stray too far from the written text, but this is worth considering.

Babylon is described here symbolically as a woman who is greedy for the most carnal of experiences and the most temporal of pleasures, focused not on eternity, but on how much passion she can experience for the next few minutes, focused on wealth, extravagance and luxury, but never thankful to the Creator of wealth. It is described as a prostitute, and the church is described as the bride of Christ. Marriage is supposed to be a lifelong commitment to someone else, whereas prostitution is a momentary commitment to one's own desires. Babylon comes into conflict with the saints, persecutes them, and ultimately murders so many of them that verse 6 says she is drunk on their blood.

Many commentators refer to Babylon as the apostate church, and it is true that Babylon in the Old Testament was known for its idols and its creation of astrology, which is contrary to scripture. Yet most of the language in chapters 17 and 18 refers to wealth and commerce, not to religion. Particularly during the time of the reformation, the prevailing theory was that Babylon referred to the Roman Catholic church, but I don't think that would adequately explain the mourning of the kings, merchants and sea captains described in chapter 18, most of whom would have very little interest in the papacy.

If we think back to the four horsemen and the first four seals of chapter 6, we will recall that the first rider was on a white horse, which went out to conquer. The second horseman was permitted to take peace from the earth, the third horseman brought famine and the fourth horseman brought death by sword, plagues and wild beasts. While there is some dispute about the identity of the first horseman, it appears to have some religious significance. Chapters 6 through 19 of Revelation deal frequently with religion, war and economic disasters. In chapter 13, the first beast had political authority, the second beast was described as the false prophet, and chapter 18 will tell us that Babylon is a great commercial center, and many will be grieved by its destruction.

So what commercial center is Babylon? There are several theories about that. Some have speculated that it is a literally rebuilt city of Babylon, and it has been said that Saddam Hussein wanted to rebuild Babylon on its original site. The problem with that theory, from a scriptural point of view, is that Isaiah 13 predicts that Babylon will be conquered by Persia, and Isaiah 13:20 says Babylon will never be inhabited again from generation to generation. So Babylon here cannot literally be the Old Testament city of Babylon, in my opinion.

Some claim Babylon is symbolic of present-day Jerusalem. They base that theory on Revelation 11:8 which describes Jerusalem as the great city and calls it Sodom and Egypt, two names which would indicate judgment. They note that Revelation 16:19 refers to the great city and Babylon in the same verse, and Revelation 17:18 says the woman here described as Babylon is the great city which reigns over the kingdoms of the earth.

Though the phrase "the great city" has also been used to describe Jerusalem, Jerusalem was described as the great city where the Lord was crucified, and Babylon is described as the great city whose kings reign over the earth. Since Jerusalem has never been the center of an empire which dominated the earth, the Jerusalem theory seems unlikely to me. The best clue we have is found in Revelation 17:9 which says the woman sits on seven hills. I'm not familiar with the geography of Rome, but Romans spoke of Rome in that way at the time John wrote down this vision.

Though Rome makes the most sense to me as an interpretation, I should mention two other theories. One is that Babylon is not a particular literal place, but only a symbolic reference to the world in general and to its ungodliness. Another theory I have heard is that although Rome was both a military and financial center in John's day, its modern equivalent would be the United States. During my lifetime, New York, not Rome, has been the world's financial center. We are familiar with the destruction of the World Trade Center, and New York is considered the prime target for terrorists. As an American, it is easy for me to dismiss this casually and to say that America is not the great Satan, but this is at least an interesting thought, given the nature of our entertainment industry and the fact that the dollar has been the major currency in the world during our lifetime.

However, the United States lacks the city on seven hills, and so far it also lacks the brutality of the Roman persecution of the church. We have all heard about Christians being fed to lions in the Roman colosseum, and I have read that there were ten distinct periods of persecution of the church in Rome. So if Babylon is a literal place, it probably refers to Rome as the capital of a reunited Europe.

If the reference to Babylon is allegorical, not literal, as I believe it is, we should be able to draw some inferences about the nature of anything referred to as Babylon from the rest of scripture. Fortunately for us, there are nearly 350 references to Babylon in the Old Testament, and taken together, they tell us the following three things.

The first references to Babylon go all the way back to Genesis chapters 10 and 11, where the Bible indicates men attempted to build a tower to heaven, the tower of Babel, and one city with a common language which would dominate the earth. From a human perspective, Babylon always represents the creation of an empire where men attempt to determine their destiny, apart from and contrary to the will of God.

The second thing we learn about Babylon is its pagan nature. There are many references to Babylonian idols and to astrology. Ezekiel 8:14 comes to mind here as an example.

The final reason Babylon of the Old Testament is related to the Babylon in Revelation is because of its sudden destruction by God. Daniel 5 tells us that King Belshazzar was feasting with his officials, drinking wine from vessels which had been taken from the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, when a hand wrote on the wall saying his kingdom would be brought to an end. Note that Belshazzar was profaning the Lord's name and praising his own gods until the writing appeared on the wall. Babylon is still probably unique historically, with regard to the suddenness of its downfall. The same sudden destruction is predicted in Revelation 17 and 18. Perhaps the best Old Testament passage to read for addition insight into Babylon is Isaiah 47, which predicts many of the same things found in Revelation.

When John saw Babylon, he wondered or marveled at what he saw. Perhaps he saw modern times and modern technology, which would be a marvel to anyone from the first century, or perhaps he simply marveled at Babylon's wealth and luxury. There is a brief moment where John himself seems to be enticed by Babylon, until the angel reminds him of the city's spiritual nature.

The seven heads and the ten horns referred to in verses 7-13 appear to be the same seven heads and ten horns referred to in Revelation 13:1. The passage here indicates that the seven kings are successive kings of the same nation over time, five have fallen, one reigns, and one will reign for a short time. The ten horns are ten nations and ten kings of those nations, who all reign simultaneously for a period of time described in chapter 17 as an hour, which may also be the 42 months referred to in Revelation 13:5. Though many think of this as a reconstituted Roman empire, European in nature, it is possible that the United States or other non-European powers could be included.

Note also the comparison between Revelation 13:5-6 and Revelation 17:3. Revelation 13:5-6 says the beast was given a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and those who dwell in heaven. Revelation 17:3 says the beast the woman is riding on is full of blasphemous names. Since we don't use the word blasphemy frequently in conversation, it might be helpful to define it here. The American Heritage dictionary defines blasphemy as "a contemptuous or profane act, utterance or writing concerning God or a sacred entity", or "the act of claiming for oneself the attributes and rights of God". Both definitions are probably appropriate here, but the second one is particularly interesting, because Revelation 13 tells us that the purpose of the second beast is to cause men to worship the first beast and to make an image of it.

One of the questions I cannot answer about this chapter is why the beast comes to hate the woman, or why it decides of its own accord to destroy Babylon. It is interesting though that Babylon faces not only God's fierce anger, as we are told in Revelation 16:19, but also the wrath of the beast itself. Verse 17 says God has put it into the heart of the beast to execute his purpose. Also, this is the first indication that the forces of evil are not always monolithic, and they are even willing to destroy each other. It is also worth noting that the fourth beast described in Daniel 7 has ten horns, and Daniel 7:8 speaks of a little horn which pulls up three of the ten horns by their roots. I suspect the little horn in Daniel 7:8 is also referred to here in Revelation 17:11, and that he may depose (and probably kill) three of the kings represented by the ten horns. My point is that even apart from God's judgment, the beast and its followers are inherently self-destructive, not content with each other or themselves.

After all of this bad news, I want to close with some reflection about verse 14, which says that although the beasts will make war on the Lamb, the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who serve him are called and chosen and faithful. It is interesting to me that faithful is the last of the three adjectives here. It is not that God found faithful people and he decided to call and choose them. Instead, all of the initiative is on his part, he calls, he chooses, and he alone makes men faithful. Verse 8 says their names have been written in the book of life since before the foundation of the world, so their call, their chosenness and their faithfulness originated with God long before any of us made any decisions about our lives.