Mystery Babylon Part 2
So far I have presented Message Part 1 on Mystery Babylon, we are slowly going through each verse in Revelations looking at Babylon the Great City. I do hope that you have enjoyed them as much as I have.
I would like to summarise on what we have seen so far in Part 1.
If you have read or listened to Part 1 on Babylon the Great City you would have noticed that we covered the following points:
- Babylon is a Great City and referred to as a she
- Babylon commits Fornication with Nations
- Babylon made other Nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
- Babylon is linked to the Beast, the image of the Beast and the mark of the Beast
- Babylon the Great City is going to fall from her high great place
We can see very clearly that Babylon is a City and NOT a Nation, not a religion and not a Church
We still don’t know where This Great City Babylon is, but we know a little more about the timing of this City Babylon.
We know that the Great City Babylon did not exist in her Greatness at the time when John had the vision, she was a City that was in ruins but people still lived in pockets.
It is no doubt that John would have been remembering the Old City of Babylon and he would have been thinking about this Prophesied City of Babylon.
The next Chapter that I will be looking at is Chapter 17 in Revelations, it begins with an Angel describing the Judgment of a Great Whore that sits upon many waters.
Let us look at the first two verses in Chapter 17.
Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
The Angel asks John to come so that he could be shown the Judgment of the Great Whore, verse two tells us that the Whore was the one that the Kings of the Earth had committed Fornication with, and that the inhabitants of the Earth had been made drunk with the wine of her Fornication.
This is the First time in the Book of Revelations where the word “Whore” is used; it is used 3 times in Chapter 17 and again in Revelations Chapter 19 before Christ comes to earth.
Rev_17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev_17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whoresitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev_17:16 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.
Rev_19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
The word Whore in the Greek is “porne” it is where we get our word Porno from, she is a Harlot or a Prostitute, even though it is the first time the word Whore is used in Revelations we still know who the Angel is referring to.
The Angel tells us in in Revelations 17:1-2 that she is the Whore woman with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
The Angel is referring to that same Great City Babylon that was spoken of earlier in Revelations 14:8 where the Angel said Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nationsdrink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
This Great City spoken of in 14:8 that was committing Fornication with the Nations and making them to drink of the wine of the Wrath of her Fornication is the same City that is spoken of in Revelations 17:1-2 as being a Whore that has made the Nations drunk with the Wine of her fornication.
It is made very clear to us by the Angels; the Great City Babylon that commits Fornication is a Great Whore that sits on many waters.
She is Babylon the Great City the Whore.
Do you know what God says about Whores?
God does not speak very highly in the Old Testament of a Whore.
Lev_19:29 Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
Lev_21:7 They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
Lev_21:9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
Deu_23:17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
Deu_23:18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Pro_23:27 For a whoreis a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
Even though it is the First time that the word Whore is used in Revelations 17 we do know who the Whore is.
The Whore is the Great City Babylon, it is not a Nation and it is not a Religion or a Political Power, No!
It is a Great City.
Rev_14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
In 14:8 we read of the Nations that drink of the wine of the wrath of her Fornication.
In Revelations 17:2 we read that the inhabitants of the earth have been made DRUNK on the wine of her Fornication.
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
I want to say this about Wine Drinking.
One is not DRUNK until one drinks of wine for some time, so it is with the Nations of the earth, they shall drink of her Fornication and they will then become DRUNK on her Fornication.
So far John has not seen the Great City or the Whore, he has only been told about the City.
In Revelations 17:1-2 the Angel asks John to come so that he can be shown the judgment of the Great Whore.
It is in Revelations 17:3 that John is taken by the Angel to see the Whore.
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Finally John sees the Whore the Great City Babylon with his eyes.
John is taken away to a wilderness area so that he can see the Whore.
This word “Wilderness” in the Greek is “Eremos” and it means desolate, lonely, it is a Greek word that is translated as wilderness 32 times in King James Bible.
It is an area of land called a desert waste land.
In some cases it is used as a destitute woman with no husband, unmarried.
There is a large area of Wilderness from the southern part of Judea down along the side of the Dead Sea also the Arabian Desert along the Red Sea.
We have been given a brief idea as to where the Mystery Babylon will be, she will be in a Desert Land.
John now begins to describe the Whore in detail.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
What John sees is a Woman that is dressed in Expensive Royal clothing and she is wearing the most expensive in jewellery, she looks like a Queen and she is holding a Gold Cup in her hand.
This Woman looks extravagant but in her hand she holds such filth and Abominations, she is the Queen of Fornication.
John saw what was on this woman’s forehead and sees “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth”.
This Great City Babylon that John sees has a Mystery about it and I want to look at this Mystery, this Mystery word does not mean that it will always remain a Mystery.
No!
This Mystery word means that it is a Great City that will be seen one day, it will be revealed.
I want to take you to Revelations Chapter 1 and show you something.
In Revelations 1:16 John saw Jesus and Jesus was holding 7 Stars in his right hand, John did not know what these stars were, it was a Mystery to him.
16And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
In Revelations 1:20 John is told what the Mystery of the Stars are.
20The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
We have a similar picture in Revelations 17:5 where John can see a Name written on the Forehead of the Woman the Great City Babylon.
It is “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
John marvels at what he sees but he does not clearly understand what this woman is and what is written on her head, in Verse 7 the Angel comes to John and tells him that he will explain the Mystery of the Woman.
Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
For the purpose of this Message I am not going to focus too much on the Beast that this Great City rides on, I want to focus on the City. I want to read verses 15-18.
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16 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.
Rev 17:17 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.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
John is told very clearly that the Whore sits on waters and the waters are peoples, multitudes, Nations and Tongues.
John is told that the Woman who we know is the Whore is that Great City which reigns over the Kings of the Earth.
John is told clearly that the Great City Babylon the Whore will eventually be hated by the 10 Kings that rule with the Beast and she will be made desolate and naked and her flesh shall be eaten and she will be burnt with fire.
John has been told by the Angel that God will put it into the hearts of the 10 Kings to destroy the Great City Babylon.
John has been shown some information about this Whore City so that it is not so mysterious; the only real Mystery that now remains is to know what City it will be, and where it will be in the Wilderness.
I have not yet spoken about what John saw in verse 6 in regards to this Great City, in verse 6 John sees that the Great City the Whore woman was drunk with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus.
It again is very clear, this Great City will be responsible for the deaths of many believers in God, and they are the Saints and the Martyrs of Jesus.
What I would like to say about the Beast that the Great City Babylon rides on is that the Beast is a Literal Kingdom, it is going to be ruled by a literal person who is also called a Beast and there will be 10 Kings that will rule with the Beast for a short time.
The Beast Kingdom is not all over the whole world, No! It is a Literal Kingdom area in the Middle East as Daniel so clearly describes in the Book of Daniel.
It will be similar to the Assyrian Kingdom, the Babylonian Kingdom, The Media Persia Kingdom, the Greece Kingdom, and most likely the Roman Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire Kingdom.
The Great City Babylon is going to be most likely somewhere in that location, some say that it is by the Red Sea as described in the Old Testament.
I do not know if its name will be Babylon and whether it will be anywhere near where the Old City Babylon was and is in ruins today?
I would now like to bullet point all that we have seen in this Message 1 and 2 regarding the Great City Babylon.
- Babylon is a Great City and referred to as a she
- Babylon commits Fornication with Nations
- Babylon made other Nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
- Babylon is linked to the Beast, the image of the Beast and the mark of the Beast
- Babylon the Great City is going to fall from her high great place
- The Great City Babylon is a Whore
- The Kings of the Earth commit Fornication with her
- The inhabitants of the Earth have been made Drunk with the Wine of Her Fornication
- She is in the Wilderness
- She is like a Woman that is dressed extravagantly in rich clothing and Jewellery
- She holds a Gold cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication
- The Name on her forehead is “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
- She sits on peoples, multitude, Nations and tongues
- She will eventually be hated by and destroyed by the 10 Kings that Rule with the Beast
- Many Saints of God and Martyrs of Jesus have been killed in her
As you can see Babylon the Great City is just that, she is a City, she is not a religion, and she is not a Nation. She may look beautiful and extravagant but because of her fornication she is a Whore full of filthiness and Abominations.
Do you see all that I have seen about this City?
Do you believe the Word of God when it so clearly tells us that She is a Great City and She is a Whore?
In the next few Messages on the City Babylon you shall see more of Her Filth and Abominations but you shall also see much more of her Wealth and what she buys.
I Hope that this Message has shed much understanding on Mystery Babylon and that she is no longer so much of a Mystery.
She will appear one day when the Beast and the False Prophet appear.