Reference: Babylon, Mystical
Fausets
(Re 16:19,17-18; 19:2-3). Not 1Pe 5:13, where "Babylon" can only mean the literal Babylon: "the (church) at Babylon .... saluteth you." A friendly salutation is hardly the place wherein to find mystical phraseology. The whole epistle, moreover, is remarkably plain, and contains none of the imagery of prophecy. Moreover the literal Babylon was the center from which the Asiatic "dispersion" (dispersed Jews), whom Peter addresses, was derived. Babylon contained many Jews in the apostolic age ("one of the greatest knots of Jews in the world:" Lightfoot, quoted in Smith's Dictionary), and doubtless "the apostle of the circumcision," Peter, who had among his hearers on Pentecost (Acts 2) "the dwellers of Mesopotamia," would visit the Jews there. "Bosor," which Peter uses for Pethor (Nu 22:5; 1Pe 5:14), is the Aramaic pronunciation moreover; Josephus contra Apion, 1:7, Ant. 15:3, section 1, also favors the Aramaic Babylon.
The "woman arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication, and upon her forehead having a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Re 17:4-5), is avowedly mystical. The later Jews regarded Rome in the same light as their fathers regarded Babylon (Jer 51:7, compare Re 14:8.) John had seen the woman "clothed with the sun, and the moon (the earth's satellite) under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars "; i.e. God's pure church of the Old Testament and of the New Testament clothed with the Sun of righteousness, and having the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles as her coronet (Revelation 12).
Then she was "persecuted" by" the dragon, Satan," but nourished by divine Providence for "three and a half times" "in the wilderness" of the Gentile world. But now he prophetically sees her sadly and awfully changed. So he "wondered great admiration." The spiritual Jerusalem has become mystical Babylon; the church has become the harlot! The same truth under the same imagery appears in Isa 1:21, "How is the faithful city become an harlot!" That the world should be beastly (Daniel 7) is natural, but that she whose calling was to be the faithful bride should become the Babylonian whore is monstrous (Jer 2:12-13,20). Not that the elect apostatize; but Christendom, as a whole, and as the visible "woman," has apostatized from its first faith and love. The elect invisible church, the true "woman" and "bride," remains hidden in the visible that has become the harlot, and shall only be manifested when Christ our Life is manifested (Col 3:1).
External prevalence over the world, and internal corruption by the world, (the spirit of the world ruling the church) is symbolized by the world-city's name Babylon; the contrast to "Jerusalem above, the mother of all" believers (Ga 4:26), the "holy Jerusalem, that great city," which shall hereafter on the "new earth" "descend out of heaven from God, having the glory of God" (Re 21:10). The Roman Catholic Church is the prominent type of Babylon, resting on the world power, and arrayed like it in its "scarlet" gauds, and ruling it by its claim of supremacy, while the beast or secular power on which it rests is "full of names of blasphemy," which after the harlot's overthrow shall be more glaringly displayed. It and the Greek apostasy are whorish in principle, by external and internal idolatry and systematized worldliness.
The evangelical Protestant church is pure in theory, and eschews image and host-mass worship; but in so far as it yields to "covetousness which is idolatry," and conforms to the world, it partakes of the harlot and ceases to be the bride. Compare Achan's "Babylonian garment," Jos 7:21; Hebrew: "a robe of Shinar." While the Syrians were noted for dyeing, and the Phrygians for patchwork, the Babylonians inwove their garments (Tertullian De Habitu Mul., i.), i.e. tapestry work with colored figures inwoven or wrought with the needle: Pliny H.N., 8:48. Septuagint has psilee poikilee, "a smooth, pictured coat." Such garments passed through Jericho in the trade between the Phoenicians and Babylon (Eze 27:24.) In the case of both the Catholic churches and the Protestant churches God's retributive law holds good.
When the church forsakes her true Husband for the love of the world (contrast Ps 45:10-11), the world, the instrument of her sin, becomes the instrument of her punishment. Already this is taking place in Spain, Italy, Austria, and France (Re 17:16). Our turn shall come next; as in the case of Israel first, then Judah (Ezekiel 23), then the restored Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, for whom Jerusalem gave up the true "King of the Jews" (Joh 11:48,50; 19:15). Then "iniquity" shall be no longer as now in "mystery," but openly developed in the last awful Antichrist who shall combine the world against Christ in a system of superstitious credulity and infidelity together (2 Thessalonians 2; Re 16:13-16; 17:17; 19:19). The final judgment on Babylon the whore (Revelation 17), after the elect shall have been translated out of it and transfigured, seems to be just before the judgment on Antichrist.
Babylon, the spiritual whore, is succeeded "the false prophet," who ministers to Antichrist and perishes with him (Re 19:20). Rome's forced outward unity, of which its one official language, Latin, is the symbol while inwardly there is spiritual confusion, answers to Babel, the scene of the forced attempt at concentration of power and peoples, issuing in utter confusion of tongues; so too, in a wider sense; does all Christendom in its apostasy from apostolic unworldly purity, faith, and love.
The harlot retains human shape as woman, does not become a beast; i.e., has "the form of godliness while denying the power." (Manliness is godliness, because man was made in the image of God.) The worldliness of the church is therefore the most worldly of all worldliness, and shall be terribly judged by God. But the whore or Babylon is not to be confounded with the beast. She, however degraded, has borne the divine image; the beast never has. She must fall before the beast develops all his hostility to God.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me.
So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, "Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me.
when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it."
when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it."
Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father's house;
Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father's house; Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.
Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.
How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.
How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD.
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD. "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
"For long ago I broke your yoke And tore off your bonds; But you said, 'I will not serve!' For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot.
"For long ago I broke your yoke And tore off your bonds; But you said, 'I will not serve!' For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot.
Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, Intoxicating all the earth The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore the nations are going mad.
Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, Intoxicating all the earth The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore the nations are going mad.
"They traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of many colors and tightly wound cords, which were among your merchandise.
"They traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of many colors and tightly wound cords, which were among your merchandise.
"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."
nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."
So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.
But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.
And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality."
And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality."
And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;
And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.
for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. ("Behold, I am coming like a thief Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.")
("Behold, I am coming like a thief Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.") And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done."
Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done." And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.
And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality,
The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
"And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.
"And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. "For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.
"For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.
BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER."
BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER." And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER."
And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER."
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,