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Particulars
of Christianity:
314
End Times Prophecy (Eschatology)
Prophetic
Symbols: The Great Prostitute (Part 5)
Prophetic
Symbols: The Great Prostitute (Part 1)
Prophetic Symbols: The Great
Prostitute (Part 2)
Prophetic Symbols: The Great
Prostitute (Part 3)
Prophetic Symbols: The Great
Prostitute (Part 4)
Prophetic Symbols: The Great
Prostitute (Part 5)
Prophetic Symbols: The Great
Prostitute (Part 6)
Prophetic Symbols: The Great
Prostitute (Part 7)
Articles 7-12
Articles 13-18
Articles 19-25
Articles 26-29
Now we will cover the third argument that Babylon is Rome,
Italy. This argument was that Revelation 17:18 refers to the
great city in the present tense as "that great city, which
reigns over the kings of the earth" and that since Rome, Italy
was the city that was presently reigning over the kings of
the earth at the time Revelation was written by John, Babylon
must therefore be Rome.
The reason that this argument is not compelling is because
we have ample precedent in the Book of Revelation when distinctly
future figures are referred to using the present tense in
the exact same way that Revelation 17:18 does of Babylon.
There are a total of six instances in Revelation (including
Revelation 17:18) when future events or figures are described
using present tense verbs. Three out of the five follow the
exact same pattern used to discuss Mystery Babylon.
The pattern that exists in each of these cases is as follows.
1. Something is identified for John using a present
tense form of the verb "to be" ("this is" or "these are").
2. The thing, which is identified to John, is further
described as performing an activity that is rendered in a
present tense verb.
The three identical cases are Revelation 7:13-15, Revelation
11:4-6, 8, and Revelation 14:4.
Revelation 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying
unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
and whence came they? 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple:
and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Notice that though these people come out of the great tribulation
of the last three and a half years of history they are referred
to in the present tense and performing actions that are rendered
in the present tense. The actions that are rendered in the
present tense in the Greek are "came," "are," and "serve."
Revelation 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and
the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their
mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt
them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power
to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy:
and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite
the earth with all plagues, as often as they will...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.
In Revelation 11 we see that the two witnesses prophecy during
the last few years of history and yet are described as performing
actions in the present tense even though they will not perform
these actions until sometime in the future. Or in other words,
they are depicted using present tense verbs doing things that
they were not doing in the present when John wrote Revelation.
Revelation 14:4 These are they which were not
defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they
which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were
redeemed from among men, [being] the firstfruits unto God
and to the Lamb.
As in the first two cases we see that the 144,000, who are
clearly end times figures, not around in the first century
are again described in present tense language. In this passage
the words "are" (two times) and "follow" are expressed in
the present tense.
Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is
that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
When we compare each of these three instances to Revelation
17:18 where Babylon is described we see the same pattern is
followed wherein a future figure is referred to in the present
and described as performing some action in the present tense.
Yet we know that in these other cases the figures in view
were not around in the first century and were not performing
those actions at that time.
The two inexact matches also fit this description. They are
found in Revelation 8:10 and Revelation 13:11-14.
Revelation 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there
fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp,
and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the
fountains of waters; 11 And the name of the star is called
Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood;
and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming
up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and
he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of
the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them
which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly
wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he
maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight
of men,14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by [the
means of] those miracles which he had power to do in the sight
of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that
they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound
by a sword, and did live.
Of these last two examples, we will only make a few brief
comments. In the first example in Revelation 8 we see that
the name of the star is given in the present tense. Also,
"burning," "is," and "died" are rendered in the present tense
though none of this will occur until the end of history.
In the second passage, the False Prophet, the head of the
seventh empire, is described as performing acts in the present
tense though he will certainly not perform them until some
time in the future.
From all of this we can see that the use of the present tense
to describe Mystery Babylon and her "reigning over the kings
of the earth" in Revelation 17:18 does not necessarily indicate
that Revelation 17 and 18 can only have in view the city that
was ruling over the earth at the time John wrote the vision,
which would be Rome, Italy. From each of these other examples
we see that these chapters are depicting a future entity,
which did not necessarily exist in John's day, using present
tense verbs.
The fourth and final argument that we will now dismiss was
that Babylon is Rome, Italy because Rome, Italy sits on seven
literal hills, while Revelation 17:9 tells us that the woman
sits on seven hills or mountains. We have already dealt with
this issue earlier in this study when we showed the interpretive
difficulties that arise by interpreting the seven hills or
mountains on which the woman sits as literal landscape objects.
The gist of that discussion was that because the symbol of
the head is used to dually refer to both kings and mountains
all the attributes that are given to the symbol of the head
need to be able to be applied to both kings and mountains.
This being the case it is impossible to see how Revelation
13's description of a head that is wounded and healed could
be applied in any way to a literal hill. How could one of
the seven literal hills of Rome be wounded by the sword and
healed? How could this happen to only one of Rome's seven
hills? Obviously, such an interpretation will not work. Therefore,
the seven hills upon which the woman sits cannot be taken
to be Rome, Italy simply because Rome was founded on seven
literal hills.
Since we have now shown that the identity of the specific
city that is Mystery Babylon is not directly provided for
us in Revelation 17 and 18, we move on to our final objective,
to examine the relationship between Mystery Babylon and the
empire of the False Prophet and the empire of the Antichrist.
We will deal with how Mystery Babylon relates to the empire
of the Antichrist first. As we have demonstrated earlier in
this study the empire of the Antichrist is the revived Roman/Byzantine
empire that is reformed when the 10 horns or 10 kings give
their power to the Antichrist.
Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest
are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but
receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have
one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the
beast...16 And the 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
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to
agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words
of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest
is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
The simple and clear statement that is made in these verses
is that the 10 kings who give their kingdom to the Antichrist
will hate, attack, and destroy the great city, which is Mystery
Babylon. Therefore we understand that the empire of the Antichrist
will regard the Babylonian harlot, the great city, as an enemy.
We will notice that Revelation 17 does not state that the
Antichrist himself will hate the harlot, but only the 10 kings
who give their kingdom to him. This will be discussed more
momentarily as we now turn to examine the relationship between
Mystery Babylon and the empire of the False Prophet.
As we have demonstrated earlier the False Prophet is the king
over the seventh kingdom of the seven-headed succession of
empires. Revelation 13:11-18 gives the most complete description
of this man, his kingdom, and his work.
Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming
up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and
he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of
the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them
which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose
deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders,
so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth
in the sight of men, 14 And deceiveth them that dwell
on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had
power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that
dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the
beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast,
that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that
as many as would not worship the image of the beast should
be killed. 16 And he causeth all, both small and great,
rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right
hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy
or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast,
or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him
that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for
it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore
and six.
Since we have already studied the False Prophet and his empire
in depth earlier we will not spend a great deal of time reviewing
it now. We will, however, take note of some significant characteristics
of his empire and his actions for comparison to the harlot
city of Revelation 17 and 18.
From our analysis of the descriptions of Mystery Babylon given
in Revelation 17 and 18 and our examination of the mystery
cult throughout the scripture and from other sources we can
see that the False Prophet (and by extension his kingdom)
and the mystery cult, which comprises Mystery Babylon are
described in the same terms doing the same things.
Both the mystery cult that is Mystery Babylon and the False
Prophet:
1. Have authority over many ethnic groups, nations,
and peoples - all who dwell on the earth (Revelation 13:12,
17:1, 2, 15, 18 and Revelation 18:3, 9).
2. Wield great financial and commercial control (Revelation
13:140-18, Revelation 18:3, 11-15, 17, 19, 23).
3. Are responsible for the martyrdom of the saints
according to the following pattern: (Daniel 3 and 6, Revelation
13:12, 14-18, Revelation 17:6, Revelation 18:20, 24, and perhaps
Esther as well)
a. A law is enacted to trap God's people into either
disobeying the law or disobeying God.
b. The law requires people to worship the king, an
idol, an image of the king, or an image of a man.
c.Those who disobey the law are condemned to death.
4. Deceive all the nations through sorcery, false religion,
and lying signs and wonders. (Revelation 13:13-15, Revelation
18:23)
These same activities are accredited to both the False Prophet
and to the mystery cult, which is Mystery Babylon. And we
have seen the pages of the Bible that the predecessors of
Mystery Babylon, did these same activities and played these
same roles in the empires of their day, the previous heads
of the seven-headed beast. From all of this there can be little
doubt that there is a strong connection between the empire
of the False Prophet, the mystery cult, and their great city.
In fact there is strong reason to believe that Mystery Babylon,
the great city, is the leading city in the empire of the False
Prophet.
The reason for this is driven by Biblical and historical precedent.
In each of the previous cases that we have covered from the
scripture the mystery cult presided in the leading city of
the current empire of the seven-headed beast. We will now
restate these examples in order to demonstrate this claim
and to further validate the idea that Mystery Babylon, the
great city, is likely to be the leading city of the empire
of the False Prophet.
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Additional
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Lexicon Excerpts
Apocalyptic
Comparison Chart
7 Heads of the
Beast Chart
Illustrations of
Symbols Series
(Illustrations 1-7)
Correspondence of
Visions Diagram
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