Everyone agrees that the book of Revelation predicts the fall of
Babylon; what they do not agree upon is the identity of Babylon. Some say it is
Rome, Roman Catholicism, a modern day world-wide church, or apostate
Christianity as a whole. One thing is certain, the interpretation of Revelation
and thus much of the Bible, hinges upon who Babylon is or was.
In Revelation the coming of Christ, the New Creation, judgment
and resurrection are associated with the fall of Babylon. To mistakenly identify
Babylon is to incorrectly interpret these issues. Whatever one makes Babylon to
be these issues are inextricably linked with her fall! Can we identify Babylon?
Yes indeed!
Revelation 16:6; 17:1-6; 18:20, 24 tell us that Babylon was drunk
with the blood of the prophets. This is a critical point! The term "the
prophets" appears 88 times in the New Testament. The overwhelmingly normal usage
of the term refers to Old Testament prophets.
Now the city of Rome, the Roman Catholic church, apostate
Christianity, nor any modern world-wide church ever persecuted Old Testament
prophets! But Babylon of Revelation did, therefore none of these can be
identified as Babylon; it is just that simple! What city persecuted the Old
Testament prophets and filled the Cup of her Sin by so doing? It was Jerusalem.
Comparing Matthew 23 with Revelation plainly reveals this. In
Matthew 23:31 Jesus said it was Jerusalem that had killed the prophets; in
Revelation it is Babylon. In Matthew 23:32 Jesus said the Jews were about to
fill the cup of their sin by continuing to persecute those sent to her; in
Revelation 17 Babylon has filled her cup by persecuting not only the prophets of
old but the followers of Jesus as well, 17:6. In Matthew 23:35 Jesus said
Jerusalem was guilty of "all the blood shed on the earth," 23:35; in Revelation
18:24 Babylon bears the guilt for "all the blood shed on the earth." In Matthew
23:36 Jesus said judgment on Jerusalem for killing the prophets would come in
his generation; in Revelation Jesus said "Behold, I come quickly" 22:6, 10, 12,
20. Such parallels are not accidental!
Finally, the Great City Babylon is "spiritually called Sodom,"
Rev. 11:8; and the only city in the Bible--other than historical Sodom--that is
ever called Sodom is Jerusalem, Isaiah 1:10; Jer. 23:14, Ezek. 16:44f. Babylon
is also "where the Lord was crucified" Rev. 11:8. Jesus was not crucified in
Rome, or by the Catholic church; Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem!
Avenging the Prophets
One of the major themes of Revelation is the avenging of the
martyrs. This theme is stated in chapter 6:9ff; 11:11-19; 17:4-6; 18:20, 24, to
cite a few passages. The judgment of Revelation is on "Babylon" the city
"drunken with the blood of the saints" and "all those slain on the earth," 17:6;
18:24. Who was Babylon?
Many believe it was Rome because the city was said to "sit on
many waters" 17:2; and to rule over the kings of the earth, 17:18. But "waters"
in Revelation often signifies "people" or nations instead of "H2O." See
Revelation 13:1ff where the beast arose out of the "sea." Further, the city of
Jerusalem was "supreme, and presided over all the neighboring country as the
head does over the body" so says Josephus the Jewish historian of the first
century. He also called Jerusalem "the great city" Every designation of
"Babylon" in the book of Revelation was used by secular writers of the first
century to describe the city of Jerusalem!
More importantly, as just seen, Jesus defined Jerusalem as the
persecuting city drunken with the blood of the saints. In Matthew 23:31-39 Jesus
said it was Jerusalem that had slain the prophets through the ages. He said he
would send them prophets and they would slay them also. He also said the blood
of the martyr's all the way back to Abel would be judged in that generation, vss.
35-36! Read Matthew 23:29-36 side by side with Revelation 18 and see the perfect
correlation.
The Bible places the blame for persecuting the church squarely at
the feet of Israel/Jerusalem; not on Rome!
It was the Sanhedrin that beat Peter and John, Acts 4-5; and
stoned Stephen, Acts 6-7. The Jews instigated a "great persecution" against the
church in Jerusalem, Acts 8. Saul the persecutor of the early church had letters
of authority from the High Priest to persecute Christians, Acts 9:2-3. Even
Herod, when persecuting the church did so to please the Jews, Acts 12:1-3. The
Jews in Antioch stirred up the city against Paul, Acts 13:50. The Jews stirred
up the Gentiles to persecute Paul in Iconium and Derbe, Acts 14:4ff, 19f. At
Thessalonica the Jews "set all the city in an uproar" attempting to kill Paul,
Acts 17:5f. The Jews attempted to involve the Romans against Paul but they
refused to persecute him, Acts 18:12ff. The Romans actually rescued Paul from
the Jews, Acts 21:27-40.
While the Gentiles participated in persecution against the early
church, blame for instigating the persecution was pointed by Biblical writers at
the Jews "who have both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have
persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men," 1
Thessalonians 2:15f.
If Revelation was written in A.D. 95-98 as is generally
suggested, Rome had only persecuted the church for about four years! Nero, at
the instigation of the Jews, persecuted the church from approximately A.D.
64-68. It is now being admitted that Domitian did not actually persecute the
church! Are we to believe that Revelation ignores Jerusalem, the city that had
persecuted the saints for centuries, and focuses on the destruction of a city
that had persecuted the saints for only four years?!?
If Babylon was Jerusalem of the first century as we have
suggested then the modern ideas of a coming Armaggedon, a millennium, and "end
of time" judgment are false concepts. What more evidence is there that Babylon
was Jerusalem of the first century?
In Revelation 14:6f John's vision revealed an angel with the
gospel to preach to all the world with the message of the soon coming judgment
on Babylon. When the gospel had been preached to all the world we find the
coming of the Lord in judgment because the sin of the land was full, vs. 14ff.
The elements of concern here are 1.] the preaching of the gospel into all the
world; 2.] the filling of the measure of sin; 3.] the soon coming of the Lord.
Notice the comparison chart of Revelation 14 and Matthew.
Matthew 23-24
Preaching to all the world, 24:14
Message of judgment, 23:34-35
Filling the measure of sin, 23:32
Judgment in Jesus' generation, 23:34; 24:34
Revelation 14
Preaching to all the world, 14:6
Message of judgment, 14:7
Harvest is fully ripe, 14:15f
The hour of his judgment has come, 14:7
This chart shows the perfect harmony between Jesus' prediction against Jerusalem and Revelation's prediction of coming judgment against "Babylon." Can it be shown that the gospel was preached into all the world before Jerusalem fell?
In Romans 10:18; 16:25-26 the apostle said, about 60 A.D., that
the gospel had been preached to all the nations in all the world. In Colossians
1:5-7, 23, about 63-64 A.D., he said the gospel had been preached "to every
creature under heaven." In Titus 2:11 he said the gospel had appeared to all
men. If we are going to accept scripture the Bible says the gospel was preached
in all the world before the fall of Jerusalem!
Now unless one can demonstrate that there were to be two great
commissions to be preached into all the world, declaring the imminent coming
judgment upon two cities that were about to fill the measure of sin by
persecuting the saints of God, then consistency demands that we identify Babylon
as Jerusalem of the first century. It was Jerusalem that was to fill the measure
of her sin by killing the prophets; Jerusalem that Jesus said the gospel would
be preached world-wide before her fall; Jerusalem that was to see his coming in
his generation.
Babylon was first century Jerusalem.