Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas. The United States is full of pagan symbols all having their origins in ancient Babylon, especially Washington, DC. Great Babylon Is Modern Day America.
by Don Clasen
Dec. 11, 2013
Is contemporary America the latter day Great Babylon described in Revelation 16 to 18? Beyond the mention of the beginnings of Babylon in Genesis, not much is said about it again until the days of Nebuchadnezzar II. It was during his era Judah was carried away after a series of three sieges famously known as the 70 year Babylonian Captivity (606-536 B.C.). Jeremiah in particular warned Judah for decades of these people coming to judge them for their idolatry, as described in Jeremiah 52. It is also mentioned in II Kings 24 and 25 and other places.
This captivity was effectively ended by the Medes and the Persians. Daniel 5 tells the story in detail including the appearing of a supernatural “finger of God” writing on the wall. In a number of Old Testament passages, especially Isaiah 13, 14 and 47 and Jeremiah 50 and 51, Babylon was prophesied to be utterly destroyed. A superficial reading of them would lead one to believe that they must be referring to this judgment on Belshazzar in Daniel 5, but there seems to be more.
A Deeper Look
But such an interpretation doesn’t fit the record. Babylon surrendered to Darius the Mede at that time and no damage was done to the city or its inhabitants. Likewise, Alexander the Great conquered it in 331 B.C., again without firing a shot, and began to revive it into a thriving commerce center. Not until Antiochus I transferred the inhabitants out to re-locate them to Seleucia in 275 B.C. could it be said that Babylon came even close to being “no more inhabited forever” (Jer 50:39). Even in our own time, American and Polish troops occupied the ancient city to the dismay of archeologists the world over, damaging much of the ancient ruins.
Furthermore, it is said in Jeremiah 50:20, “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” “At that time,” the ten northern tribes of Israel had been long carried off by the Assyrians and disappeared into the mists of history. As for Judah, they were far from their sins “not being found” either as Ezra 9 illustrates, not to mention the story in the New Testament. We can safely assume then that “In those days and in that time” is eschatological, and refers to “those days” of the restoration of all things by the Second Coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ (Dan 9:24).
A Double Fulfillment At The Least
When the prophets of old received their messages from God they were sometimes given things that have a double fulfillment, one closer to the prophet’s own day and another far into the future. At other times, they would be given messages either visually (as “seers”) or “audibly,” as in a stream of thoughts moving through their spirits so powerful that they knew this was not their own minds. Much of the time the prophet did not fully understand the nature of what he was being given.
In spite of the shock of judgment falling on Babylon with the conquest of Darius, there are indications that suggest that these prophecies are speaking of some unknown entity yet future:
–“The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together:…They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land“ -Isa 13:4,5.
Not only are many nations in view here, but they come from the end of heaven no less! Yet the Medes and Persians were adjacent kingdoms to Babylonia. And as we’ve noted, Babylon was never destroyed, only de-populated nearly 300 years after Daniel 5.
–“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine...Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of her place…” -Isa 13:10,13.
This is clearly apocalyptic language, echoed almost word for word in the last days prophecies (Joel 2:30-32; Mt 24:29; Rev 6:12,13, etc.), and gives us a hint as to the time frame of this “judgment on Babylon.”
–“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.” –Isa 47:8-10.
The New Testament Connection
This kind of language is repeated almost verbatim in Revelation 18 in reference to a great judgment on a latter day “Great Babylon.” I interpret the “sorceries” mentioned there to be referring to the media propaganda and lies that spew forth from New York City over the entire earth. “For thy merchants [businessmen] were the great men [rich men] of the earth; for by thy sorceries [lies] all nations were deceived” (Rev 18:23).
Jeremiah 50 and 51 is a virtual treasure trove of hints as to the extreme judgment God will soon mete out on the United States and given with great detail that cannot be describing what happened to the ancient counterpart:
–“In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten” –Jer 50:4,5.
This passage tells us the time frame of what is described in the next two long chapters. When the Jews left Babylon they already had the same covenant they had when they arrived there, so it is unlikely this is referring to that historical event. The “perpetual covenant” would more naturally describe the New Covenant that the remnant of Israel that survives to the Second Coming would come to embrace at last.
–“Your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced. She will be the least of the nations–a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.” –Jer 50:12.
Ancient Babylon had no mother; she was in fact the first civilization as we saw in the first Babylon article. The United States on the other hand was born of Great Britain who is already ashamed of our antics. Will the greatest nation on earth, both in terms of might, prominence, reputation and professed morality be reduced by God to the least, a nation that won’t even exist during the thousand year Millennial reign of Christ?
A New York Application
In addition to these anomalies, the reference to a latter day “Great Babylon” in Revelation 16-18 is clearly future if one interprets chapters 4 through 22 in Revelation to be yet future and unfulfilled. Chapter 18 alone is such a perfect description of New York City, certainly the virtual commercial capital of the United States right down to its “sorceries” being broadcast throughout the world.
These inconsistencies suggest a direct connection between these Old Testament prophecies and the Great Babylon of the future in Revelation. That those prophecies describe so thorough a destruction planned upon this latter day entity should give us sober cause to consider who she might be.
