Babylon the great

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Babylon is fallen!

John reveals in the chapters 17th and 18th of Revelation on the mystery of Babylon and of the beast on which a woman rides. This woman is revealed as seated on a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, 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 (17:3-4). The riches of this kingdom are further narrated in 18:12-13. Upon her forehead was name written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. She was drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

There is purely an economic and materialistic kingdom in this world, being established on the foundation of money and wealth, and not on the laws of God. In other words, it is a kingdom of trade and industry. Every ruler has committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies (18:3). This materialistic kingdom is quite opposed to the kingdom of Christ. This kingdom does not trust in the one true God but in the wealth of nations. This materialistic kingdom makes every ruler forget God and His laws so that he, by virtue of his material prosperity, commits spiritual adultery with this global economic system. It has corrupted the whole world (19:2).

It we read the church history, the rulers of this world who worshipped the god of materialism, and who did not worship the true living God and Christ killed many believers. The gospel of Christ did not allow them to lead a sumptuous and materialistic life. Nor did it allow them to help the needy because Christ preached that the rich cannot enter the kingdom of God. They had a free hand to accumulate wealth by suppression and exploitation of the weak. In every nation, this economic system suppresses the poor and the weak. The millionaires of this world are a part of this Babylonian system.

The waters where the whore sits are “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”. This whore, symbolical of this global economic system, reigns “over the kings of the earth”(18:15, 18).

What about the mystery of the beast that carries this woman? (18:7). It “shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition….” (18:8). It has the seven heads and ten horns (18:8). This is the same beast as described in the 13th chapter of Revelation. This is none but the Antichrist. This clearly shows that this global economic system is propped up by the political power of the Antichrist or his kingdom.

According to John, the ten horns, representing ten kings, had not received their kingdom at the time he wrote the book of Revelation. But they would receive power as kings one hour with the beast (18:12). The word “one hour” is not literally one hour of our worldly clock. This shows a very short period of time within which the kingdom of the ten horns would receive their political power from the beast, the Antichrist.

We now see a powerful economic kingdom emerging through the EU. The European Common Market is about to control the whole economy of this world. These ten horns “which thou sawest upon the beast”, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (17:16). As we are aware, the economic power of the US Dollar was ruling the whole world. Economy of every nation is still being controlled by the Dollar diplomacy. Now slowly, the currency of EU, called Euro, is gaining momentum. Euro is thus eating the flesh of the Dollar system. These ten horns hate the hegemony of the Dollar system, which has pervaded the global economy.

The sins of this whore, the present global economic system controlled by the Dollar “have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (18:5). God is now remembering her iniquities and judging her by plagues (17:1 and 18:21).

John describes the severity of the divine judgment on the whore in 18:9-24 and 19:1-3). An angel proclaims in Rev.14:8, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication”. All nations are thus partaking of the divine judgment on Babylon. The fall of the twin trade towers in USA due to the terrorists’ attack on 11 September 2001 is symbolical of the downfall of the present global economy system controlled by the Dollar. In every nation, its economy is not sound with unemployment soaring high, and with poverty showing its ugly head.

Even developed nations are not free from economic ills.

John exhorts the members of the Body of Christ to “come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (18:4). These days, we find that plagues like SARS, AIDS, etc. are spreading their tentacles everywhere, especially creating a great panic in those countries that believe in the god of materialism.

The Babylonian rule of this world leads to self-gratification and materialism. Let us not follow the global principles of accumulation of wealth by becoming richer and richer at the cost of morality, holiness and righteousness.

The people of God should come together in the one body of Christ, leaving the filthiness of the Babylonian rule. The people of God should not be materialistic-minded but should be Christ-minded. Let them not accumulate wealth but share their material blessings with the other members of the Body of Christ who are poor and needy. During the New Testament period, the disciples sold their possessions and shared their material things with the other people of God. They should thus come out of Babylon lest her plagues should take hold of them.

-Job Anbalagan