At first, I thought they were discussing the great falling away. Well, perhaps it is, but maybe it is falling away from the church that man built.
The question then is....”who or what is “Babylon the great”?
We are told in no certain terms to remove ourselves from that immoral entity. She is pictured as a harlot, who is “in bed” with God’s enemies, and has always had the political and commercial world to do her bidding....but in these last days, those who can identify her have to act before God does....(Rev 18:4-5)
She is going down!
She is an integral part of satan’s rulership over this earth.....he has three main elements with which he controls this world.....corrupt political, greedy commercialism and false religion....all three components are under his complete influence, so all of humanity are unwittingly kept under his control by means of these three key elements. It’s why Jesus said we must be “no part of the world”. (John 17:16)
“Babylon the great” is mourned by both the political and commercials elements, even though it is the political elements that attack her. (Rev 18:9-11) Therefore, BtG has to be a grander global version of what original Babylon was. The means by which false religion was spread into all the world. (Gen 11:1-9)
After the flood of Noah’s day, it wasn’t long before rebellion again reared it’s ugly head with Nimrod, Noah’s great grandson. It was Nimrod who rebelled against God’s instructions to spread abroad in the earth, wanting instead to stay put and build his own political and false religious empire. Babylon was the city he built with its famous tower “with its top in the heavens”...legend has it that this was so that if God flooded the world again, they would have a safe place to save themselves. (Much like modern day world leaders have their purpose built bunkers for when it all goes pear shaped....to save themselves, but no one else)
Babylon the great also pictures the captivity of the Israelites when, because of their continuing disobedience, God allowed the Babylonian world power of the day, to conquer his people and destroy their temple and their city, leaving it in ruins and the people carried off to that distant land as captives. Babylon was renown for never allowing their prisoners to go free.....so it looked as if Israel was in a hopeless situation.
Many in Christendom feel that way too, feeling trapped.....not knowing how to get out of what they see is a sham, pretending to be what it is not....having no beneficial purpose in the world.
Any wonder some want to discard religion altogether?
The captivity of the Jews was foretold to last 70 years (by Daniel who was himself a captive but because of favourable circumstances, and God’s blessing and direction, he became the second most important figure in the Babylonian Empire.)
But at the end of the foretold 70 years, God allowed another powerful nation to conquer Babylon, allowing a “remnant” of faithful Israelites to go back and rebuild their city and their temple.....it took a long time because of opposition from the prevailing rulers, but eventually God’s temple was restored to its former glory and true worship was reestablished in Israel.
God’s people were in Babylon by God’s own decision as a punishment for their disobedience...... Christianity has fallen in the same manner, and a greater Babylon was used, this time as a global empire, entrapping many in a variety of religious faiths, none of which were of God’s making. All had the same core of religious teachings......a multiplicity of gods....belief in an immortal soul....and a hell of firey eternal punishment for the wicked, but a heaven of bliss for the good. All false religion has these elements...the Bible has none of them.
“Babylon the great” is a world empire of false religion created by the devil to cater to all religious tastes and preferences.....the most reprehensible part is Christendom, who like the Jews, claimed to worship the same God that Jesus and his apostles preached, but were “far removed” from him in their teachings and conduct. (Matt 15:7-9)
History repeats because human nature does not change.....which is why the devil is so successful...he knows exactly how to take people away from God, as skillfully as he did the first humans. All he has to do is convince people that his lies are the truth and that God’s truth is all lies. He holds freedom and independence from God as the best choice, (do your own thing) but all it results in is slavery to him....religious, commercial, and political. Humans never learn....
Big picture.....
