Political Babylon

RV218-01

Revelation 17 has been an astounding chapter of information. If you've had the smarts to be faithful in attending the church services on this exposition, you are far ahead of the average person, and head-and-shoulders above the average Christian, in a knowledge of the religious aspect of Babylon. Revelation 17 is a frightening chapter, and it is one of extreme importance for us to understand the religion of Babylon. It has not been easy to try to explain this, but we're discovering, and gradually we're getting the feel for, the various subtle expressions of what began at the Tower of Babel, substituting man-made idols for the true God, and the worship of these idols in place of that God. That's what Babylonianism is all about, but it's done in an increasingly sophisticated way.

Psalm 115 that we read in the previous session put it in an almost ludicrous and ridiculing way, as it described all the facets of the idol, and every facet (its ears, its nose, and its eyes) – everything about it was dead. Yet this is what people are devoting themselves to.

However, I must remind you that there is a life behind idolatry. It is a life of demonic power. So, you cannot just pass off the religion of Babel as empty nonsense, because it is a powerful religion, and it is powerful today in the New Age movement, and in its more subtle aspects of the expressions in the charismatic movement, and in the religions of the world, at the heart of which is idolatry.

Revelation 17

In verse 3, the harlot religion dominates the world's political leaders for the first three-and-a-half years of the tribulation. The seven heads, we pointed out, are the seven empires. These are the world empires of the past that have been the conveyors of the religion of Babylon, and the ten heads are the ten kings of the Western Confederacy of the antichrist. Verse 4 indicates that the harlot religion looks very glamorous. It is extremely wealthy, and it dispenses moral abominations to all mankind.

In verse 5, the source of the harlot religion is the idolatry that came from Babylon itself. The Babylon religion had a mystery aspect (a secret aspect) to it in times past which God has now revealed. That secret aspect was that a filthy religion of idol worship would in time become the leading religion of all the world and of all mankind. That secret is now made clear, and all the world is rushing to do.

This verse 6 indicates that the heart of the church persecutes and murders genuine believers to silence their biblical messages. Verse 7 indicates that the worldwide acceptance of the religion of Babel idolatry has in past generations been a secret, but now is made known to everyone. In verse 8, the ancient Roman Empire is restored to its imperial power in the tribulation under the antichrist, and unbelievers flock to support this restored empire and its religion.

In verses 9-12, we learned that the revived Roman Empire of the tribulation is the product of the previous world empires, which transmitted the religion of Babel in various forms. In verses 12-13, we found that the antichrist receives the allegiance of ten kings to form a confederacy in Western Europe which becomes the basis of his world government. In verse 14, the antichrist's confederacy, we find, will actually go to war against Jesus Christ when he appears in the sky on the field of Armageddon. He who is their Savior will be the one that they come to destroy.

In verses 15-16, the Harlot religion of idolatry controls the political authorities during the first three-and-a-half years of the tribulation. Then they throw off that control, and they destroy the system. In verse 17, the action of the evil kings of the confederacy to join with the antichrist as their leader is an act of the sovereignty of God to fulfill His own words. They make the decision, but God's mind has driven them to this to this madness.

So, we come to the end of Revelation 17 with Revelation 17:18. Revelation 17, as a whole, deals with the power and the destruction of ecclesiastical Babylon. So, get that in your mind. Whenever you read Revelation 17, it's ecclesiastical (religious) Babylon. When we get to Revelation 18, we're now going to shift gears to political and economic Babylon. If you thought you saw the world before your eyes in Revelation 17, wait until you see the details of Revelation 18, and say, "That's what they're doing in Congress. That's what they're doing in the White House. That's what they're doing in the capitals of the world. It's all coming together right before our eyes."

The system of idol worship began after the flood in Babylon under the leadership of Nimrod. The Tower of Babel's confusion of the one language into many caused the people to spread out, and they took the religion with them wherever they went. Over the centuries, Satan's Babel religion has been under the judgment of God, which is finally now here, in Revelation 17, judged with God's great wrath and vengeance. Ultimately, God will destroy Babylon, the city itself that gave birth to the system. He will destroy it to the point where it will be obliterated – this city which spawned the religion of Babylon.

Revelation 17:18 then says, "And the woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." The woman is the harlot woman. This woman whom John saw up in Revelation 17:4 appeared so glamorous and had such a glamorous appearance, but was full of filthy abominations. The woman is a harlot because she is guilty of spiritual fornication. She is a false religion of idol worship. She is closely related to the source of that religion, which is "the great city." That great city refers to the city of Babylon on the Euphrates River. The harlot's religion originated in Babylon, and so she is viewed virtually as being one with the city. To speak of the harlot is to speak of the city; and, to speak of the city is to speak of the harlot religion.

The harlot thus carries the name Babylon (in verse 5) inscribed on her forehead. She is so closely aligned with the city that she carries the name. The false system of idol worship was begun by Nimrod in Babel, and from Bible the system was transmitted around the whole world. Again, I remind you that all idol worship is demon worship, and there is great power in worshiping an idol because the demons act in your behalf. The harlot's religion will reach its zenith in the tribulation under the revived Roman Empire structure, and the religion in Babylon will be universal over all mankind and its political rulers.

So, here we have this woman who is related to the city of Babylon, and we're told that she reigns (that is, that she has a kingdom) over the kings of the earth. The woman, from her power base in Babylon, exercises ecclesiastical control over all the rulers of the world. This was very much like what happened in medieval times under the Roman Catholic Church. This woman in the tribulation will be reigning over the kings of the earth. These kings have rejected Jesus Christ who died for them. So, they will accept instead the religion of Satan. This is the climax, indeed, of the current movement in the United States to place women in positions of authority over men.

You have a woman who represents this religious system, and she will be in total authority over the men (the rulers) of the world. It is interesting that we are now in the United States falling all over ourselves, putting as many women in positions of public authority over men as we can. And I mean low-quality women – women who have demonstrated their spiritual disorientation, and who have been in public positions of responsibility, and have a trail of destruction behind them. People think, "Boy, you don't want to point to a woman like that." Look at the injury.

Look at Jocelyn Elders, and the injury that she did to the youth of Arkansas when she was the surgeon general of that state, with her condom desires and her cute little condom tree on her desk. When it was brought to our attention that we have been distributing to our schoolchildren a batch of condoms that are entirely unsafe, she gave the order: "Don't say anything about it. We don't ever want anybody to recoil from using condoms so that they can do what they want to do." Under her reign, the occurrences of every venereal disease went higher, and teenage pregnancies increased. It was a total disaster.

You are inclined to say, "We don't appoint a person like that now to be over the whole United States. Wrong! That's because you think that the people in authority in our country don't want those things happening to the youth of our country. You're going to have to shift gears in your thinking. These people are selected for the explicit purpose that they will bring destruction upon the American people. When the American people stand whimpering in their destruction, what are they going to do? When they are hurting beyond human belief, what do you think they're going to do? They're going to ask for more government. They're going to ask for a strong man. They're going to be ready to subject themselves even to an abomination like the antichrist.

What we are reading here in verse 18 is climaxing, and being exemplified, by the violation of the biblical principle that women are not to rule over men in positions of authority. These rulers (these men) ruled by this harlot woman and her religious system are going to hate her; they're going to despise her; and, finally, they will be unwilling to continue that subjection, and at mid-tribulation, they're going to destroy her structure. They're going to burn her; they'll eat her flesh; and, they'll be done with her.

So, at mid-tribulation, the antichrist and his confederacy destroys the harlot religion, and thus terminates her control over them. Then, three-and-a-half years into the tribulation, the antichrist sets up the final form of the religion of Babylon in a worldwide worship of himself as God.

Revelation 18

All political and all the economic evil of socialism, and all governmental tyranny originated with Nimrod in Babylon. That has always been the goal of the sin nature of rulers. So, Revelation 18 is not a reiteration of Revelation 17: "After these things, I saw another angel." The word for "another" looks like this in the Greek Bible: "allos." The word "allos" in the Greek tells us that this is an angel like the one in Revelation 17 who was one of the seven angels with the seven bowls. This is another angel (a different angel), but "allos" indicates that he's like the other one. If he was a different kind of angel, the Greek would have to use the word "heteros." But this is "allos." He is a representative of God, and he is a regular, ordinary angel loyal to God. Therefore, this is not (as sometimes people think) Jesus Christ referred to under this angelic symbol. No, this is another angel. It's another one of the spirit servants of God.

John observes that this is an angel like the one who gave him information in Revelation 17. This new angel in Revelation 18 is like that angel, but he is another angel. This new angel guide stresses a new and a later aspect of Babylon now, which is being viewed apart from what was in Revelation 17. Ecclesiastical Babylon is destroyed, but political economic Babylon is in full-force.

Here's the difference. Revelation 17 tells us that ecclesiastical Babylon is destroyed at mid-tribulation. Political economic Babylon, in Revelation 18, is not destroyed until the end of the seven-year period at the Second Coming of Christ. Also, there is this difference: the kings of the earth rejoice at the destruction of ecclesiastical Babylon in Revelation 17. But when political economic Babylon is destroyed in Revelation 18, we read that they weep." The merchants (the international bankers), the boys who run things now, are going to sit there completely disoriented and completely stunned in disbelief that the economic world of socialism, that they put together for the control of mankind, has collapsed on their ears.

Command Presence

Command presence is something that I find that you can't teach people. It is something that is very important for teachers in a school. If you have a teacher in your classroom that does not have command presence, kids very quickly sense that. They pick it up, and they just chew up that teacher. They walk all over her; whereas, to that same classroom, another teacher will walk in and just stand there and look, and they will cower in respect. And they won't dare step out of line.

This angel has this quality of great authority. Why? Because he is an angel acting on God's authority. When you and I speak the Word of God, and when you and I are acting upon God's authority from Scripture, it places within us a commanding authority. It gives us command presence. It gives us the ability to face off with any kind of evil.

You remember how it was when Jesus was dealing with the woman taken in adultery? Jesus wrote a few words in the dirt on the ground (in the dust.) We don't know what he wrote. Perhaps he was naming a list of sins, and saying, "How about this, boys? How about this one? Is anybody guilty of this one?" And Jesus said, "Any one of you who is without sin, you throw the first stone." Then He stood and looked at them, and they backed off.

When they took Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked them, "Whom do you seek?" They said, "Jesus of Nazareth." He said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth." And, boy, the command presence of Christ hit them like a brick wall falling upon them, and they all fell over backwards and fainted. If there's anything that Jesus had, it was command presence.

This power of God is transmitted to this angel who is coming with a message to John about political, economic Babylon's imminent destruction.

The Hierarchy of Authority of the Angels

The Light of God's Glory

1 Timothy 6:16 points this out to us: "Who alone (speaking of God) possesses immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see." God dwells in unapproachable light. That's the light of the glory of God.

The psalmist recognized this also in Psalm 104:2: "Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. God covers Himself with a light as an expression of His glory.

In Exodus 34:29-35, Moses has been in the presence of God receiving the Law. He has been in the presence of brilliant light. When he sat up there on Mt. Sinai, he was immersed in a brilliant light, the glory of God. That light permeated the cell structure of his body: "And it came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shown because of speaking with Him." The glory of God had permeated the physical structure of Moses, so when he stepped down, he was aglow of light, like somebody had attached an electrical cord to him and just illuminated him like a light bulb.

The people were amazed when they saw this: "So, when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shown, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. And afterward, all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had spoken to him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out. Whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. So, Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with God."

Eventually the light dissipated, but for a while you couldn't even look at Moses and speak to him because of the brilliance of his face. He was just a blinding light bulb, so to speak, before your very eyes.

Of course, the brilliance of God's glory was dramatically demonstrated at the announcement of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2:8-9: "And in the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. They were terribly frightened." Here is this dark night, and suddenly, this whole hillside is illuminated as if 100 artillery shells had been shot all at once with flare shells all over the countryside. Suddenly, what had been dark was illuminated as pure light.

When the unbelievers see this angel of Revelation 18 coming down from heaven, enveloped in this brilliant light of the glory of God, it's not going to be hard for them to make the contrast between this angel, who claims to speak for the real God, and the dullness of the appearance of the antichrist, who claims to be God.

In Revelation 18:2, the angel speaks: "And he cried out with a mighty voice." The word "mighty" is a word that indicates a really powerful voice. When this angel speaks out, his command presence is conveyed in his voice as well. The angel of God already has the attention of the tribulation world with his command authority and with his illuminated glory of God. Now, he has another forceful feature. As they look up and watch this angel, this powerful creature of God, they hear his voice. A puny voice would be inappropriate for this angel, and would distract enormously from his divine message.

So, suddenly, this angel speaks, and it's a booming, thunderous voice. And what he says is: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great." This declaration is to the people of the earth. This word "fallen" in the Greek language is in the aorist tense, which we call a prophetic aorist. It hasn't happened, but it is so absolutely certain of happening that it is described as if it already took place. So, the angel is giving a preview of something that's imminently to take place. What it refers to here in this chapter is the total destruction of Babylon in its political and economic aspects. And the city in which this political system of governmental tyranny and of economic socialism originates is the city of Babylon on the river on the Euphrates. This is a future event that is so certain that it's spoken of as if it had already taken place.

The word "fallen" is repeated. Perhaps this is to say fallen in its ecclesiastical sense; and, now fallen in its political, economic sense. In any case, the duplication of the word is an emphasis to indicate the certainty of what is going to happen. Religious Babylon, during the first three-and-a-half years, has dominated all nations. It has been destroyed, and its final destruction is imminent in the form of its worship of the antichrist. Political Babylon at the end of the tribulation is going to fall into total destruction as well. Babylon is once more described as Babylon the Great. This word refers to the magnificence of the city of Babylon, as well as to its role in history.

It is amazing to realize that this city, this very day, even as we speak, is to be found on the shores of the Euphrates River, and that it is in the process of being rebuilt in order to become the world capital of the antichrist: the world's commercial center; and, the world's religious center. Everything is going to be focused upon this city. That's kind of hard to believe. You would think it might be New York; it might be Chicago; or, it might be some other major city of the United States, but Babylon on the Euphrates? Here's a little bit of information from the Word of God. That's exactly where it's going.

Therefore, the Bible says, "Babylon always has been a great city. Nebuchadnezzar, in his day, was very proud of what he had done with turning Babylon into a magnificent city of the ancient world. In the book of Daniel, one evening Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was standing out on one of his balconies probably. He was looking out over the city of Babylon, and he was taking such great pride in what he sees. Daniel 4:28-30: "All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. 12 months later, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon." These were flat roofs constructed with railings around them. In the cool of the evening, Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of the palace, looking out over the city: "The king reflected and said, "Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?"

Nebuchadnezzar was extremely proud of the city that he had built. He looked out at the city, and saw its massive walls and its hanging gardens, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. I understand that this is a wonder that Saddam Hussein is trying to repeat – restore Babylon's hanging gardens. He saw the broad boulevards. He saw the beauty. He looked at the canals, and saw the terrific irrigation system that produced those fertile fields. He saw all the luxuries all around him as he looked out over this city to satiate the senses. Babylon was a great city, and Nebuchadnezzar took a great deal of pride because it reflected so well on him.

Well, the antichrist, in his day, like Nebuchadnezzar, is also going to take great pride in the rebuilt Babylon. This city is going to have meteoric rise in the near future, and it will become a place of world influence. Eventually, it will become the capital of the tribulation world. It will become the center of world government; the center of commerce; and, the center of religion. The enormous wealth of the world, which is controlled by the international bankers today, is the power of five or six financial families, including the Rothschilds, the Rockefeller, and the Carnegie families. I cannot put in words such that the average person could grasp the enormous power of wealth that these families possess. They're into everything, and they're related to everything. ... It is their dough that is making the things happen that are happening in the world. They are the upper crust. (The upper crust is a bunch of crumbs held together by their own dough.) This is what you are dealing with.

These are powerful families, and they have tax-exempt foundations which do so much destruction to the United States: the Rockefeller Foundation; the Ford Foundation; and, the Carnegie Foundation, all of whom are controlled by powerful people. And they don't get taxed on the things that they finance, which are the grossest abominations imaginable.

Well, these people are going to be in a position to readily finance the restructuring (the rebuilding) of Babylon as a city. Do not forget that Babylon is located in what country? Iraq, which is the most oil-rich country in the world. Don't forget that. Iraq is the most oil-rich country in the world, so it's a terrifically good creditor for these bankers and these financial families to lend money to restore this city. The new Babylon is going to become the center of commerce; of religion; and, of government. Babylon will, in the tribulation, once more be a place of magnificent appearance; wealth; prestige; power over people; totalitarian government at its best (socialism rampant); luxurious living; and, pomp to impress the whole world. In Babylon, God's moral laws will be discarded. The result will be a society that is always the result when you discard the laws of God. The same thing is happening today.

In this Babylon, in its final days (in its final three-and-a-half years), with the antichrist now at the epitome of power and world control, the moral laws of God will be discarded. The result will be a society of fear; of violence; of loss of freedom; and, increasing government controls to try to make people do what is right. Today, we live in that kind of society. You have to fear for your life in certain places. You have to avoid going to certain places at certain times. You have to be concerned for the security of your property. You may park your car, and come back out, and it's gone. You may drive from an airport, as a tourist in Miami, and before you can get to your hotel, you are killed by a group of maggot-headed scum balls who want to take from you what you have earned, because they have been reared in a society that has told them that they deserve to have things that they have not earned for themselves.

So, believers who use the Bible in the tribulation to expose the antichrist's evil are going to be martyred and silenced. There is great momentum in the world today, as you know, for world government; for an international monetary system; and, for a world military force. We are constantly hearing about the Secretary General of the United Nations, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who is so eager to send American troops to die for somebody's triviality. Did you ever think you'd come to the time when you'd see American military forces running around the world, getting food to people, and chasing little warlords, as serving our national interests? ...

The Americans are sitting out there on their ships, off in international waters, wondering how they can get into Haiti. This is what happens when a country's honor is defiled by people who are in authority who do not understand the laws of divine establishments for government. They have forgotten such a simple rule that armies of military power have only two missions: to kill people; and, to break things up. That's all. That is all that a military is to do: to kill people; and, to break things up, until they yield to your will. Outside of that, their mission is compromised.

Well, here we have this momentum for a world military system under control of the United Nations. Don't come and tell me that all of this is discouraging to you, because I didn't make it up. This is the Word of God, and you happen to be fortunate enough to be living in an era where you're seeing it unravel before your very eyes. The giant screen is playing all this out. God, before your eyes, has brought you to see these things come to pass. All of these things are the groundwork for the world of the antichrist. There's a move for an international banking system – for a system where only credit cards are used. There are calls for a single world religion, and it's all going to end up in a single world capital.

Babylon is going to reach the zenith of its power in the tribulation of a city of idolatry; of occultism; and, of illicit and perverted sex – a commercial center, and a city of great government control. Please remember that everything that the authorities and government do today worldwide has one goal – to exercise increasing controls over the lives of people.

National Health Care

I don't know whether you saw it, but Tipper Gore (Vice President Gore's wife) has been on TV, kicking off the latest plan of putting government control over the lives of people. I couldn't believe it. I sat there listening to her saying, "There are millions of you Americans who are depressed. You don't even know it, but this is a serious problem, and you must do something about being depressed." This lady is a pretty good-looking lady. She's out there. At least we have somebody good-looking out there in the top echelons of government. But she's out there saying this right to your face, very sincerely. She said, "Please notice this 800 number. Call this 800 number so that we can put you in touch with an appropriate person to see if you are depressed."

Boy, I was depressed by the time that thing was over. I sat there listening to her, and I wasn't depressed until then. Can you imagine how many foolish Americans went to the phone and called that 800 number so that Tipper Gore could help them to find that they're depressed? Why is Washington doing this? It's all part of the national health insurance scam for government to take that one more giant step of controls over Americans. And when they get controls over Americans, the rest of the nations are gone. But Americans are a tough lot to control because of reformation Christianity, and the freedom and liberty that stem from reformation Christianity.

So, at the tribulation, it's all going to come to its apex of power – government over the people. Government is going to be in every aspect of the life of the people. And those who will not conform will simply be eliminated. The problem is that most Americans are so devoid of God's viewpoint, and so ignorant of Scripture, that they don't know what is happening to them. They have been reared from their school days on the idea that if you ever have a need, the government should supply it.

I'm glad for Dick Armey. At least we have one congressman that has finally stood up and said in Congress, "The whole health care national health care program is wrong because it's unconstitutional. The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to provide for the health care needs of individual citizens." Isn't that simple? Even I knew that. But when it comes to the Supreme Court, those evil people are going to look the other way and say, "Yes, we see here behind this little phrase of this sentence in the Constitution that you can have health care." That is just like behind one little phrase in one little sentence, they found that a woman could kill her unborn children.

We are dealing with a nation which is rapidly going into its coordination with the rest of the world – a world which is gearing up to turn its back upon the God who has made us; to turn its back upon the principles of godliness and of biblical morality; and, to impose upon all of mankind the iron fist of the final totalitarian government of the antichrist.

George Orwell had a very good analogy when he compared the domination of government to a soldier with his hobnailed boot forever on the neck of a fallen victim. Americans are going to weep when they discover what has been done to them by people who know not God; who promote public abomination as government policy; and, who think that the words of God will not be fulfilled. How wrong they are!

Dr. John E. Danish, 1993

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