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
And he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River in the land of Amaw, to summon him, saying, "Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are settling next to me.
And he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates River in the land of Amaw, to summon him, saying, "Look, a nation has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are settling next to me.
I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath."
I saw among the goods we seized a nice robe from Babylon, two hundred silver pieces, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels. I wanted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground right in the middle of my tent with the silver underneath."
Listen, O princess! Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family!
Listen, O princess! Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family! Then the king will be attracted by your beauty. After all, he is your master! Submit to him!
Then the king will be attracted by your beauty. After all, he is your master! Submit to him!
How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! She was once a center of justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers.
How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! She was once a center of justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers.
Be amazed at this, O heavens! Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded," says the Lord.
Be amazed at this, O heavens! Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded," says the Lord. "Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water."
"Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water."
"Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said, 'I will not serve you.' Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.
"Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said, 'I will not serve you.' Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.
Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad.
Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad.
They traded with you choice garments, purple clothes and embroidered work, and multicolored carpets, bound and reinforced with cords; these were among your merchandise.
They traded with you choice garments, purple clothes and embroidered work, and multicolored carpets, bound and reinforced with cords; these were among your merchandise.
If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation."
If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation."
You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish."
You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish."
Then they shouted out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The high priests replied, "We have no king except Caesar!"
Then they shouted out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The high priests replied, "We have no king except Caesar!"
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
The church in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son.
The church in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son.
A second angel followed the first, declaring: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city! She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion."
A second angel followed the first, declaring: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city! She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion."
Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful.
For they are the spirits of the demons performing signs who go out to the kings of the earth to bring them together for the battle that will take place on the great day of God, the All-Powerful. (Look! I will come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.)
(Look! I will come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.) Now the spirits gathered the kings and their armies to the place that is called Armageddon in Hebrew.
Now the spirits gathered the kings and their armies to the place that is called Armageddon in Hebrew. Finally the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: "It is done!"
Finally the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: "It is done!" Then there were flashes of lightning, roaring, and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake -- an earthquake unequaled since humanity has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.
Then there were flashes of lightning, roaring, and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake -- an earthquake unequaled since humanity has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed. So Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup filled with the wine made of God's furious wrath.
The great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed. So Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup filled with the wine made of God's furious wrath.
Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality.
Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: "Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth."
On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: "Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth."
The ten horns that you saw, and the beast -- these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked. They will consume her flesh and burn her up with fire.
The ten horns that you saw, and the beast -- these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked. They will consume her flesh and burn her up with fire. For God has put into their minds to carry out his purpose by making a decision to give their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.
For God has put into their minds to carry out his purpose by making a decision to give their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.
because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!"
because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!" Then a second time the crowd shouted, "Hallelujah!" The smoke rises from her forever and ever.
Then a second time the crowd shouted, "Hallelujah!" The smoke rises from her forever and ever.
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army.
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to do battle with the one who rode the horse and with his army. Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf -- signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf -- signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
So he took me away in the Spirit to a huge, majestic mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
So he took me away in the Spirit to a huge, majestic mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.