Who or what is Babylon?
‘After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated from his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich from the excessive wealth of her luxury.” I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive any of her plagues; for her sins have [f]piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her offenses. Pay her back even as she has paid, and [g]give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.’ – Revelation 18:1-6 NASB
Who or what is Babylon?
Remember the rule! Trace the history of Babylon through the stories of the Old Testament. It begins at the tower of Babel where we get the first inference that Babylon is somehow representative of salvation by works; those who want to build their own way to heaven. Babylon came to mean “confusion” where their tongues were confused and their rebellion of building their own way to heaven was dealt with by the Judgment of God. There are numerous references to the neo-Babylonian empire in the book of Revelation.
One of the keys to understanding the prophecies in Daniel is the stories.
One last parallel that is important to this passage. Daniel Chapter 1 began with the King of the North (Historical, literal Babylon) coming from the north and taking the people of God captive. When the historical call came, under Ezra and Nehemiah, in the days of King Artaxerxes, for God’s people to come out of the captivity imposed by Babylon and return to the promised land, only a remnant numbering about 50,000 responded. This was in comparison to the multitude taken into captivity who had become comfortable there and chose to stay. Sometimes we get the impression that this was another Exodus, but it was not!
Thus, as we begin chapter 18, we are reminded again of Revelations link to the Old Testament and in particular, the book of Daniel!