Hello John and Doves,
Over the years, numerous names have been suggested for
the Great Harlot of The Revelation: Rome, New York
City, Jerusalem, old Babylon, to name a few.
There are several interesting verses that help narrow
down who or what is Mystery Babylon.
1) Revelation tells us that Babylon the
Great/the harlot/that rides the Beast was totally destroyed
by fire - in Revelation 16 and 18 - never to be seen
again. She is destroyed by fire - not destroyed by an
earthquake. The ten kings do this. So why would
God send a powerful earthquake to divide her into three
parts later?
Many Bible scholars/eschatologists
believe that Revelation 16 is about Jerusalem and not
about Babylon the Great/the harlot/that rides the Beast.
In Revelation 16:17 - 19: "And the seventh angel
poured out his bowl into the air, and there came a great
voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying,
It is done. And there were voices and thunders, and
lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was
not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake,
and so great. And the great city was divided into
three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to
give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His
wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains
were not found."
The 'great city' that was divided into three parts,
imo, is Jerusalem.
Babylon the Great, the harlot, 'the mother of
prostitutes' was previously destroyed by fire by the ten
kings.
Looking at the phrase: and great Babylon came in
remembrance before God - this means God
recalled what He did to Babylon' The Greek word is
"remembered" - "emnesthe." It means "to
remember, call to mind, recall, mention."
To me this says, while God was bringing down His wrath
on Jerusalem and 'the cities of the nations' - He recalled
or remembered what He did to Babylon the Great - the harlot.
Revelation 18:21 - 24: clearly tells us Babylon
was violently cast down - "never to be seen again"...
and "for in a single hour she has been destroyed,"
"consumed by fire", "her smoke rises forever and ever".
Why would God hit Babylon the Great with a huge
earthquake? She was already totally destroyed.
Her total annihilation allowed the ten kings to give
their kingdoms to the Antichrist so that he could take
control of the Beast.
2) In Revelation 18:4, the Lord says, "Come
out of her, My people, so that you will not share
in her sins or contract any of her plagues. For her
sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her
iniquities....Her plagues will come in one day...and
she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the
lord God who judges her."
Who are 'My people'? I would think that these
are not Muslims, or Buddhists, or atheists....I lean toward
this being a reference to the Rapture - its would be the
Believers, the Church of Christ. These people are
'taken out' 'removed' before the wrath of God hits.
(This does not happen with the Jewish people.)
The Greek word is "exelthate". It means "come
out", "to come forth from physically, arise from, to go
forth, escape from, used also of a thing's vanishing"
One other time this word is used in scripture:
2 Corinthians 6:17: "Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord and touch not the
unclean, and I will receive you."
This would lean towards Mystery Babylon being a 'great
city' with a Christian population of some size. I'm
leaning towards a Western 'great city'.
My personal thought, at this time, is Mystery Babylon
is NYC or our eastern seaboard (a great city or megalopolis
that includes NYC, DC and great cities in that area on the
East Coast) as written about by Gary Stearman of Prophecy
Watchers. I don't think a hit on NYC would end there
for the U.S. - I think damage would be extensive across the
country.
3) The Beast that carries the woman has
seven heads and ten horns. The seven hills -
Revelation 17:9: "And here is the mind which hath
wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains, on which
the woman sitteth." These seven heads of the Beast
represent the seven mountains. And there are seven
kings. Revelation 17:10
The Greek word for "sits" is "kathetai" - "to be
enthroned"
The Greek word for "head" is "kephale" - "a chief, or
prominent person, master, lord". "Kephalai" is plural.
The Greek word for "kings" is "basileis" - a "leader
of the people, prince, commander, king',
It says the woman sits on the seven heads/seven
mountains - this is not Rome or a 'city sitting on seven
hills'; this is a conglomerate of leaders over peoples (like
Casear and the Roman Empire). I see Mystery Babylon as a 'great city' - a megalopolis -
that is over this conglomerate - she brings them their
wealth via trade - buying/selling. That's how I see
her - controlling trade, finance, money globally.
Right now, I see the US/NYC in that position.
And I'll continue: She rides a beast/demonic
system that's been around for a very long time. It has
seven kings. Revelation 17:10 says who they
were/are/will be: five are dead/fallen, the sixth one is now
(at John's time = Caesar?), another is yet to come (only for
a short time = Hitler?). The eighth king is one of the
seven. For us today, these kings are all dead.
But the eighth king is coming back - out of the abyss - he
is one of the seven. Who will it be? I'm leaning
towards Hitler. Everyone knows who he is. He
almost succeeded in taking over Europe, and he killed
several million Jews - he almost accomplished satan's plan -
maybe he gets a second chance? Just a thought on
this....
Anyway, just my thoughts for now....
Maranatha!
Chance
PS I do no believe that The Revelation timeline is
linear through the chapters.
I do not see Jerusalem or Rome or ?? as a powerful
entity making the leaders of the world rich. NYC right
now has fallen to Islam. That just put a big target on
that city, imo.
I used biblehub.com for the verses/translations.