There are many mentions of cities in the Bible and quite a variety of those: Strong city, priest city, city of David, city of the Lord, tumultuous city, joyous city, rebellious city, golden city, royal city, etc., but the city this post is concerned with is....The Great City.
Genesis 10:8-12 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, "Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." And the beginning of his kingdom was BABEL, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh ( and the city Rehoboth) and Calah, And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a GREAT CITY.
The first Biblical mention of a "great city" is Nineveh, associated with Babylon (Iraq of today).Joshua 10:2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a GREAT CITY, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.
God is speaking to the king of Judah but He is not speaking about the city of Jerusalem. It is instead the "house of Judah" and they are the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. He is telling that house that if they worship other gods then He will send destroyers. Some say this references the time Jerusalem was invaded by the Roman general Titus in 70AD but....God is not speaking to the city of Jerusalem here, it is instead the "house of Judah" He is addressing. So, what city does God mean when He says, "many nations shall pass by this city," for that city is the "great city?" This prophesy will happen in the end of days for it is written that those that are in her, the "choice cedars" are to be "cast into the fire" and that is repeated in [Revelation 18:18 below] The cedars are symbolic of people while the choice cedars are those in high positions that helped this Great City. When are those "choice cedars" cast into the fire? In the "time of the harvest" which is the end of days.....Mighty # 1368 gibbor ~ powerful, by impl. warrior, tyrant, champion, chief, excel, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man.Mighty men often mean...giants, offspring of the fallen angels. Here, this great city, was feared because "all the men thereof were mighty" - all the men were giants! So, the "great city" is connected to Babylon and the fallen angels.
Jeremiah 22:6-9 For thus saith the Lord unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto Me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, 'Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this GREAT CITY?' Then they shall answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.'Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." Jonah 1:2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that GREAT CITY, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me."Jonah 3:2-3 "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that GREAT CITY, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee" So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding GREAT CITY of three days' journey.Jonah 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that GREAT CITY, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"
Here we have the great city shown as Nineveh, the capital of the ancient kingdom and empire of Assyria, situated about two hundred and fifty miles north of Babylon. This is part of the kingdom of Nimrod.Nineveh was a literal city while the "great city" is not. Nineveh was a type of the great city and all she stands for. It is interesting to me to see God speaking of "sparing" some of those in the great city, in the future sense. Why? Because they are misled...don't know their left from their right. And that is because of their false teachers. The great city is full of false religion, idol worship, apostasy.Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the GREAT CITY, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
This was shocking to me but I finally realized....THIS IS NOT JERUSALEM BEING SPOKEN OF. Yes, Christ was crucified in Jerusalem, actually outside the gate, but this "great city" is not a literal location. For that reason it is referred to as "spiritually" being called "Sodom and Egypt." Which just means wickedness. Egypt is symbolic of the world, worldly lusts and desires and you know what Sodom is all about.....evil, wickedness. That wickedness is what crucified our Lord and is what will kill the witnesses. It is not a place, the great city is Satan's realm....evil.
