Who is really Babylon the Great?

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thes·sa·lo·niʹca, for they accepted the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so – Acts 17:11

I'm sure you believe the Bible is the Word of God.

If you really believe it, you will agree that it is consistent and does not contradict itself.

You will also agree that it is the highest authority to which the Christian should refer - compare Matthew 4: 4

The Lord Jesus Christ was undoubtedly the most educated and intelligent person ever existed yet many times in his speeches He referred to the Word of God - Matthew 15: 3-9; 21: 13-16; Mark 12: 24-27

Not only that, he encouraged reading and meditating personally on the Scriptures - Luke 10:25, 26

I'm sure that's what you're already doing but have you ever met a person with a bias?

Is it not true that some people, despite being devotees, fail to understand certain scriptures because of their own preconceptions?

If a person firmly believes in the innate immortality of the human soul, for example, when he reads a simple and direct writing like John 5:28, 29 what will he say, most likely?

"The resurrection takes place in heaven!" And therefore it will not do much to ask "where the memorial tombs are" because their own preconception will prevent them from understanding even the simplest things.

This does not mean that the person is stupid or even a bad person. He simply has a preconception.

Do you agree that the Christian should study the Bible with the utmost care of mind, in the likeness of the Bereans, and this includes not having any kind of prejudice?

Do you think it is possible that even among true Christians, today, prejudices can exist? - Galatians 2: 11-14

This article aims to show what the Bible really teaches about a very important subject: Babylon the Great.

Will you make the highest authority, ie the Bible, have the last word in this sense, or will you allow a possible preconception to prevail?

Babylon the Great: what does the Bible say?

What do we know for sure about Babylon the Great?

It is described as a woman dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with precious stones and pearls - Revelation 17: 4

She holds a golden cup full of "disgusting things" and is sitting on a "wild beast scarlet which was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns" - Revelation 17: 3

It is also sitting on "many waters" which mean "peoples, crowds, nations and tongues" - Revelation 17:15

She is described as a "great whore" because the kings of the earth commit sexual immorality with her and all the inhabitants of the earth get drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality - Revelation 17: 1, 2

These fundamental aspects and all the events that revolve around it, described in chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation, are the only clues that we have useful for correctly identifying the subject.

Because of the name that it carries, the history of ancient Babylon can be useful but it is really critical that any reasoning to identify it is in harmony with the Word of God - 2 Timothy 3:16, 17

I'm sure you'll agree on this.

So we begin to see if what we have been told about this subject is really in harmony with the Scriptures.

Who is, really, Babylon the Great?

Can not it be a nation?

We have been told, for example, that Babylon the Great can not be a nation.

One of the main reasons given to prove it is the fact that it "commits fornication with the kings of the earth".

A strengthening of this statement would be the fact that both kings and merchants mourn its destruction.

Finally, it would not be a nation because it is said to mislead the entire inhabited earth through its "spiritual practices".

"Let's see if things are really like this" by examining the Scriptures - Acts 17:11

In Isaiah 23: 15-17 we speak of Tire as a "forgotten prostitute" and therefore "prostitute herself with all the world’s kingdoms on the face of the earth ".

Let's stop for a moment.

Do you agree that you are talking about a nation - and not some symbolic or spiritual empire - and that this nation commits prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth? - Romans 15.4

So a nation can be described, in the Bible, in the act of committing prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth and remaining a nation.

Prostitution may have to do with trade or acts of injustice and bloodshed and not necessarily with religion - Naum 3: 1-4

In particular, the Tire's prostitution has nothing to do with false religion because if they were, Jehovah would not be considered "holy" his compensation - Isaiah 23:18

Prostitution can have to do with the covenant and trust placed in other nations, as reported many times in the Bible when Israel and Judah proved to be unfaithful by allying with pagan nations.

It is clear, therefore, that if this nation is compared to a prostitute, the loss of this prostitute would have caused pain to her lovers (the nations with whom she committed prostitution and the merchants who have enriched herself with it) just as ancient Israel felt joy for Tire's prostitution gifts and this not because Tire was a religion or the religion of Tire.

A king can "cry" for the loss of a political ally (therefore for the fall of a nation) and a great merchant can cry for the fall of a commercial ally (which can be big or small but certainly rich nation).

So the reasons that "Babylon the Great" can not be a nation because kings and merchants mourn his departure are not valid.

What can we say, however, of the strongest affirmation in reference to Babylon the Great, that is, that "all nations have been misled by hers spiritual practice"?

This statement in particular has led many to think that it was a religious empire (for many sects of Christianity Babylon the Great is Catholicism and for some Catholics it is even the Second Vatican Council).

First of all we must realize that all the empires of the past have resorted to spiritualistic practices and this is true also for the modern so-called atheist empires.

Pharaoh opposed his "magic practitioners" to Moses and Nebuchadnezzar was practically surrounded - Exodus 7:11 - Daniel 2: 2

The same can be said of Assyria, Syria, Media Persia etc.

So if the Bible, speaking of a literal nation, said that "uses magic" or "divination practice", it would not say anything exceptional.

We also know from the study of the Scriptures that nations are governed by demons that mislead the entire inhabited earth and that during the wars not only human beings are involved - Daniel 10:13

Can we hypothesize that the demons have given particular power to a nation and that this has, today, "the kingdom over the kings of the earth"? - Revelation 17:18 (see also Luke 4: 5-7)

Regardless of our beliefs, if we stick only to Scripture we can not be ruled out "Babylon the Great" among nations.

If Babylon the Great were a nation, to which nation would it correspond today?

From what we have just read, accepting the possibility that Babylon the Great is a nation involves understanding which nation it may be.

Indeed, throughout history, it has been "identified" with many cities and nations: USA, UK, USSR, Rome, China and of course everyone can say what they want.

However, none of these hypotheses has ever passed the scrutiny of the Scriptures which, as we have said, is the only authority.

From the clues of Revelation can we get to understand univocally what nation could it be?

In Revelation 17: 1, 2 we read that Babylon the Great "sits on many waters".

We know that the waters mean "peoples and crowds and nations and languages".

Which nation, more than any other, sits today on many peoples?

Israel "sits on many waters" because it is surrounded by peoples and nations that can not stand it ("to sit on" can also mean against the will of the neighboring peoples).

In Isaiah 8: 5-8 one speaks of the powerful Assyrian army as "devastating waters"; therefore the "waters" are not always a symbol of protection - Isaiah 8: 5-8

It was put there by the UN against the will of the many neighboring nations.

He also sits "on many waters" because his position is due to the nations that make up the United Nations (Babylon the Great also sits also on the wild beast of scarlet color, who is the beast of scarlet color?) that, besides having settled it where it is still today, they protect it militarily.

The armies of Assyria are compared to "devastating waters", so we can say that they also sit on many armies? - Revelation 17: 3, 16

It is also noteworthy that only the nation of Israel is right in the "crossroads" of three continents: Europe, Africa, Asia.

Perhaps you are thinking that this is nonsense but I invite you to go on reading.

Remember: an injury can impair understanding - James 1:19

If Babylon the Great were a nation (let us assume: if it were) and wanted to find a nation located on "many waters" (ie peoples and nations and tribes and languages) - both geographically and politically - which nation would correspond better than modern Israel?

We also know that the prostitute rides a fierce scarlet beast.

According to what you have been taught, who or what does this scarlet beast represent?

It is the UN, is not it?

In Revelation 17: 3 we read "And he carried me away in the power of the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns".

How is it possible that the world empire of false religion rides the UN?

Israel exists, thanks to the push of the Anglo-American empire, thanks and through the United Nations, since 1948.

Historical events prior to and following the creation of the state of Israel confirm that the Jewish people have ridden the scarlet-colored wild beast even before returning to being a nation.

In this regard, I encourage you to do a historical research on Balfour (1917) and all subsequent events.

There is another detail that we should pay attention to.

This beast is scarlet in color and it represents the United Nations, right?

The great prostitute is dressed in purple and scarlet. Does not it seem to indicate that it is a nation?

Revelation also tells us that she is the mother of all prostitutes.

What do you mean?

Revelation 17: 4-5: The woman was clothed in purple+ and scarlet, and she was adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,+ and she had in her hand a golden cup that was full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her sexual immorality.* 5  On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the mother of the prostitutes+ and of the disgusting things of the earth.” .

If we accept the possibility that a nation can be compared to a prostitute (just like Tire), then the nation of Israel is the "mother of all prostitutes" because it has committed greater fornication than any other nation in the world.

How can we say it?

If the prostitute rides the scarlet-colored wild beast, which, as we know, is the League or League of Nations, it is supposed to have committed fornication with all the nations adhering to the United Nations.

Indeed, its very existence as a nation is due to its political lovers, for which, to continue to exist, it must commit excess prostitution on an ongoing basis.

No other nation can compare itself to her as acts of prostitution because no other nation has the urgent need to please the UN to continue to exist.

Drunk with the blood of the saints.

The writing continues saying "And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and of the witnesses of Jesus".

Israel has a huge blood fault and Jesus referred to this nation when he said "so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel+ to the blood of Zech·a·riʹah son of Bar·a·chiʹah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar" – Matthew 23:35 (see also Luke 11:50, 51)

Therefore Jesus himself identifies Israel, not another nation, as responsible for hace poured of "all the right blood" (compare also the words of Stephen recorded in Acts 7: 51-53).

The book "Insight", under the heading "Babylon the Great", correctly points out that not all Christians were persecuted by the Pharisees and the Jews themselves have suffered, in turn, a great persecution and it is absolutely true.

However, even Abel was not killed by a Pharisee or even by any religious minister.

Moreover, the millions of deaths caused by the communist atheist empire could hardly be pointed to false religion.

Can we hypothesize that Jehovah and Jesus hold particularly responsible those who have "known God" and, despite this, commit unspeakable crimes?

The nation of Israel fits perfectly in this context. - Hosea 8: 2 - Amos 3: 2

Condolence for the end of Babylon.

Revelation 18: 9-14 says: "“And the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality* with her and lived with her in shameless luxury will weep and beat themselves in grief over her when they see the smoke from her burning. 10  They will stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment and say: ‘Too bad, too bad, you great city,+ Babylon you strong city, because in one hour your judgment has arrived!’ 11  “Also, the merchants of the earth are weeping and mourning over her, because there is no one to buy their full cargo anymore, 12  a full cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, and scarlet cloth; and everything made from scented wood; and every sort of object made from ivory, and from precious wood, copper, iron, and marble; 13  also cinnamon, Indian spice, incense, perfumed oil, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, carriages, slaves, and human lives.* 14  Yes, the fine fruit that you* desired has left you, and all the delicacies and the splendid things have vanished from you, never to be found again".

As we saw at the beginning, both the kings of the earth and the travelers traders suffer for the demise of their lover.

Unlike any other nation, the destruction of Israel would bring desperation and "misfortune" between rulers and traders all over the world.

Why?

Because the Jewish people are owners of the world's largest banks, almost all the gold, oil, the largest multinationals and everything that can be imagined.

The largest world powers (including the US, USSR and China) have benefited from copious loans to wage war on other nations and to build massive and colossal structures (such as the Suez Canal).

Just do some research to find out how and how many owners of the world's largest banks have been involved in almost every wars of the last two centuries and probably far back in time.

The words of Revelation 18: 11-14 in this regard are significant.

Really the kings of the earth and travelers traders around the world would be right to beat their chests, to mourn and cry, "Woe!"

"Come out of her, my people."

Revelation 18: 4 says: And I heard another voice out of heaven say: “Get out of her, my people,+ if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues".

If Babylon the Great is the modern nation of Israel then it is easy to understand to whom this urgent appeal is addressed: to our dear brothers present in the nation of Israel who are also "a remnant to be saved".

If they stayed there, they would receive part of his wounds as a result of the United Nations furious attack.

This possibility is to be evaluated very seriously.

This would also mean that the destruction of Jerusalem, occurred in 537 a.E.V. and then in 70 E.V. would have a further and definitive fulfillment. The third (Revelation 4: 8; 8:13; 16:13, 19 - Ezekiel 21:14).

The book of "Revelation: its climax", page 265 paragraph 24 (in the Italian edition) explains that the servants of God must separate themselves from false religion if they do not want to receive part of its wounds.

However, can we reason about the meaning of the expression "my people"?

Anyone who is part of the false religion, despite having the best intentions, can not be called "people of God".

This is in fact one of the things that the people of the world reproach us when they say "Only you believe you have the truth!".

In fact, one becomes part of God's people only after having understood the fundamental biblical truths, having repented of the conduct of the past, having converted and therefore dedicated and baptized.

That's right?

How can God call his people among the ranks of false religion?

If Babylon the Great is the world empire of false religion we must necessarily assume that God calls those people who will become his people. Those people who could potentially become his people but who are not yet.

The Scripture, however, seems to indicate clearly that, when he calls these people "out of Babylon", they are already His people (just as they did in ancient times, they may have been purified and disciplined but remained, all the time, his people).

If Babylon the Great, on the other hand, is the modern nation of Israel, then there is not much to interpret.

Our beloved brothers are also in the modern nation of Israel.

Is it possible that God is telling the brothers present in Israel to literally flee away in view of the imminent destruction?

This would mean that "the remnant", as reported many times in the Scriptures, would literally (and physically) be a remnant! A remnant to save.

If we admit that Babylon the Great is a nation, does Israel correspond to the description that the Bible makes?

Whether we like it or not, and as much as it can constitute a "domino effect" on other interpretations, this is in harmony both with the secular history and with the Scriptures.

So the answer is yes.

Which of the two subjects, in the light of the Scriptures and not of desires or personal ideas, is more likely to be?

Let's make a series of honest reflections.

It is evident that in the Bible there are hundreds of parallels between Babylon and unfaithful Israel.

Even the cup "full of disgusting things" from which the harlot gets inebriated recalls the utensils of Jehovah's temple.

The problem is to understand what we must understand when we read these parallels.

Surely the false religion has some points in common with the description of Babylon the Great (like the bloodshed and its spiritual practices on all nations) but can we honestly say that it answers all the indicated indications?

All of Jehovah's judgments, reported in the Scriptures, have fallen upon peoples and literal nations, and even the wounds sent to the land of Egypt, which served to destroy / humiliate their false gods, yet had to fall upon a specific nation.

If we accept the possibility that Babylon the Great is a literal place (and be modern Israel) we must consider that even the mountains, above which the woman sits, are literal mountains.

There is always talk of the seven world powers of biblical history but we never talk about the seven mountains.

We never talk about the seven mountains because the political powers, they say, are the seven mountains.

Yet the writing of Revelation 17 explains that there are seven kings ... and (conjunction, that is "and there are also") seven mountains and this conjunction could suggest that have seven mountains as objects of similitude with the number of kings.

It would seem a literal clue useful for identifying Babylon the Great.

Now the question is ...

Which and how many mountains are indicated in the Scriptures that were part of the Promised Land?

1) Monte Moria 2) Monte Sion 3) Mount of Olives 4) Ghilboa 5) Gherizim 6) Ebal 7) Mount Tabor.

N.B. Mount Nebo and the others, also mentioned in the Scriptures, were part of the territory of Moab and Edom and are therefore excluded.

This parallel is simply impossible to do with the world empire of false religion.

Revelation 3:12 and other scriptures that are fulfilled after the Lord's day, which mention the New Jerusalem, seem to emphasize a contrast with Old Jerusalem.

In chap. 18 of Revelation, Babylon the Great is destroyed.

In chap 19: 7, 8 the marriage of the lamb is prepared, so ...

The prostitute, who pretended to be a bride, dies, and the marriage can finally begin.

Marriage takes place with the "New Jerusalem"; was the prostitute the "Old Jerusalem" that is the carnal, impure, disobedient, idolatrous? - I Corinthians 9: 6-8; 10:18 - Galatians 4: 26-29

If I were looking for a people and a literal nation that passed itself off and that was the people of God, to which country would I arrive?

Only the people who were the people of God have what it takes, so to speak, to impersonate legitimate wife.

Of the two clothed witnesses described in chapter 11 of Revelation it is said that, once killed, "their corpses will be on the wide street of the great city which in spiritual sense is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was put to the stake "- Revelation 11: 8

What "great city" the Lord Jesus was impaled?

Finally we could ask ourselves why, the writer of Revelation, after having seen frightful wild beasts, incredible celestial visions both beautiful and terrifying, thundering declarations and many other things, only at the sight of the woman he "was greatly amazed " - Revelation 17: 6 , 7

Of course we can not know so we can only make hypotheses but generally we are surprised when we see something that we would never expect to see.

Could it "was greatly amazed" for having seen its own people and its own nation (which at the time of the writing of Revelation no longer existed)?

Jeremiah 25:10, 11 and Revelation 18:22, 23 are very similar to each other, yet Jeremiah speaks of Israel while Revelation speaks of Babylon the Great.

In Revelation 18: 5-8 it is said that "God has remembered his acts of injustice".

Why did God "remember"?

False religion has not always done evil, in 6,000 history, without stopping a moment since the days of Nimrod?

Could it not be because "Babylon" has not existed for many years, as a nation, but appears again after the "Lord's Day" by another name?

From the book "Insight", in "Babylon the Great," he said ...

Characteristics of ancient Babylon. The foundation of Babylon in the Sinar plain coincided with the attempt to build the tower of Babel. (Ge 11: 2-9) The construction of the city and the tower by the people was not motivated by the intention to exalt the name of God, but by the desire to 'make a famous name'. The ziqqurat discovered not only in the ruins of ancient Babylon but throughout Mesopotamia seem to confirm the essentially religious nature of the original tower, whatever its form or style. The resolute action of Jehovah God to overthrow that Templar construction is a clear condemnation of his false religious origin. While the Hebrew name of the city, Babel, means "confusion", the Sumerian name (Ka-dingir-ra) and the Akkadian name (Bab-ilu) both mean "God's door". So the inhabitants left in the city altered the name to avoid the original meaning of condemnation, but the new form also reveals the religious nature of the city.

As has also been reported in the publications, the creation of the modern nation of Israel and the return of the Jews to their homeland was not the work of God and, much more seriously, it was not made to give glory to God. all this was done for "the desire to make a famous name".

Moreover, the Jewish religion still believes to be "the Door of God" but it is a mystification of reality. She is not a legitimate consort or queen but, with her political and commercial alliances, has proved to be a sordid prostitute (biblically speaking).

In Revelation 16: 16-21 we are now in Armageddon, the great city is divided into three parts, the nations fall and Babylon "was remembered".

So Babylon is related to the fall of other nations as if it were a "special" nation, something to remember, but still a nation.

Which, among all the nations of the earth, could it be considered "special" by Jehovah God?

Could the golden cup full of "disgusting things" held in the hands of the great mertetrice remember the utensils of the temple of God? - Compare Daniel 5: 1-4

Let's have a couple of questions.

Question one.

According to the explanation of the book "Revelation: its climax" it is appropriate that the great harlot sit on the wild beast of scarlet color because, the false religion, has always had power over the kings of the earth even coming to name and oust them.

We know that the League or League of Nations has as representatives also "old nations" mentioned in the bible as Rome, Media-Persia and others but it would not have been more logical to see the "great whore" ride the first wild beast and that which ascends from the sea, since the false religion exists since the days of Nimrod?

Instead the great whore sits on that beast that "was, but is not, and is about to ascend from the abyss, and will go into destruction" - Revelation 17: 8a

What rode the world empire of false religion when the beast was not?

Question two.

As has been pointed out, in the Bible Israel is compared to a wife and Jehovah to the marital owner.

When it showed itself unfaithful, allying itself with other nations and mixing with the false adoration, Israel became "infidel" and even "prostitute".

Christianity claims to serve God but, in reality, prostitutes itself with the nations and with every false doctrine of pagan origin.

However, if Babylon the Great is the world empire of false religion (and therefore also includes religions such as Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism, tribal religions, etc.), why is it considered, as a whole, a prostitute?

Has Jehovah ever identified himself as the "marital owner" of nations like Ammon, Moab, Egypt, or others?

So if we apply the concept of prostitution exclusively in the spiritual-religious sense, one would think that this infamous prostitute is exclusively Christianity.

Have you read the whole article or have you come to the end by skipping the pages?

Have you compared all the scriptures like the Beraenes or are we "Bereans" only when we have to refute the doctrines of Christianity?