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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.