Mystery, Babylon the Great

“Mystery, Babylon the Great”

“Mystery, Babylon the Great” alludes to the religion of Rome. The reasons for this view are:

(1) “The great harlot that sitteth upon many waters” (17.1). This harlot is a city. Since the city of Rome is never built on many waters (there is only one river in the city of Rome), this harlot cannot be applied to political Rome.

(2) “The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth” (17.9). As indicated earlier, Rome is built on seven mountains and she is called ‘the seven-hilled city. Since this seven-hilled city points to political Rome, the harlot here who sits on the seven mountains cannot herself be representative of political Rome but must stand for religious Rome that sits above political Rome.

(3) “And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder” (17.6). Should this woman point to political Rome, where is the wonder or surprise to be found in that? She instead must be religious Rome, and hence the amazement. It is not at all surprising for the nations to persecute Christians; but for the Roman Church to persecute Christians, this is really astounding.

(4) The “fornication” mentioned in 17.2 cannot be applied to something physical, it has to be a reference to something doctrinal in nature. A physical city is unable to commit physical fornication; so that what is meant here must have application to religious Rome.

(5) Political Rome controls the kings of the earth, hence it is not possible for political Rome to commit fornication with them. The great harlot in 17.2 is without doubt religious Rome.

Nevertheless, Babylon also has reference to political Rome, for the following reasons:

(1) According to 17.16 the end of the woman comes when she is burned by the beast (Antichrist) and ten horns (ten subordinate kings). But in 18.8 she is judged by God. For this reason, 17.16 has reference to the religious aspect whereas 18.8 has reference to the political aspect.

(2) In 18.7 it reads: “She saith in her heart, I sit a queen”; but by the time of 17.16 she is already dethroned by the beast and the ten kings. How, then, can it still be said in 18.7 that she sits a queen? This is possible only because one speaks of religious Rome and the other of political Rome.

(3) Chapter 17 is largely symbolic, while the latter half of chapter 18 is almost entirely literal. The angel explains to John what is shown in chapter 17 because it is allegorical; but the second part of chapter 18 needs no interpretation since it is not symbolic.

(4) After 8.13 records “Woe, woe, woe”, there in fact do come three woes shortly thereafter. Similarly, when 18.2 mentions “fallen, fallen”, there must be two fallings to come; one, the fall of political Rome; the other, the fall of religious Rome.

(5) There are two Jerusalems referred to in this book: one is on earth and one, in heaven. Likewise, there are to be found the two aspects of Rome in this book: one which is political and one religious. These two are distinguishable but not separable.

Consequently, religious Rome falls first: during the first half of the Tribulation. Political Rome fallse second in the second half of the Tribulation.

The wheat are saved people, whether rich or poor. Money is the root of all evil, but even a rich man can get into heaven. The wheat are the unsaved people in the kingdom of heaven. The wheat are the saved. What God is saying in Matt. 13 is that there are the dogs outside the kingdom of heaven (like atheists and Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and agnostics). But the kingdom of heaven, that is its outward appearance and sphere, there are also unsaved souls too.

Money is the root of all evil, so there will be no money in the millennial kingdom. Religious Rome and Political Rome use of money will not exist because both aspects of Rome will also be destroyed.