FURTHER DESCRIPTIONS OF MYSTERY BABYLON AND HER FALL

THINGS WE LEARNED ABOUT THE PROSTITUTE, THE WOMAN, IN CHAPTER 17

• She is associated with a large number of people of various nationalities and languages from all over the world. 
• She has some special association with ten future governments of the world, including the revived Roman Empire.  These are the governments that are collectively known as the beast.
• It certainly appears that the scarlet beast that the woman is riding is the beast out of the Abyss, a Nephilim, and that he is the leader of the empire called the beast; in fact he is the antichrist.
• She is a false religion and has great influence over the leaders of the world.
• She is a great prostitute in that she commits spiritual adultery with the leaders and peoples of the earth.  That would mean that she does not recognize Jesus as God and as the only way to heaven. 
• She is also called a woman and Babylon the Great.  Babylon was the origin and headquarters of idol worship and false gods for thousands of years.
• John says that when he saw the woman he was greatly astonished.
• The antichrist and his empire will grow to hate the prostitute and will bring her to ruin.

  All of these clues seem to be pointing to the great prostitute, mystery Babylon, being the world wide false religion of the end times that is supported by the antichrist.

  ADDITIONAL THINGS WE LEARN ABOUT THE PROSTITUTE IN CHAPTERS 18-19
            Rev 18 begins with a proclamation by an angel who had great authority.  By comparing this to Rev 14:8 we see that this is the second of seven angels who visit the earth just before the Second Coming of Jesus.  This angel has a major proclamation to make, “Fallen! Fallen! is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”  So it seems that mystery Babylon’s final fall does not take place until the Second Coming.  The antichrist may think that he destroyed her, but in fact he just changed her character a bit.  It will be Jesus that finally and completely destroys her at his Second Coming.

  Rev 18 seems to parallel Isa 47-48, which seems to be about the future destruction of the old Babylonian empire because of their treatment of the Jewish people in the sixth century B.C. when they conquered Judah and took the Jewish people into captivity in Babylon.  We will note the parallel scriptures in the following analysis and in the table at the end of this chapter.
  Following are the clues given in chapters 18 and 19.

• She has a history of worshipping God but is now full of demons, evil spirits, sin, idol worship and excessive self indulgences, Rev 18:2, 5; 23,  Isa 47:9-10, 12. 
• All of the nations of the earth and their leaders have become drunk by participating in adultery with her. The merchants of the earth have become rich from her excessive luxuries.  Rev 18:3, 10-19, Isa 47:5, 15. 
• A voice from heaven, possibly the Holy Spirit, has already spoken to those in the apostate church who are believers in Jesus and urged them to leave the church, Rev 18:4-5, Isa 48:1-22, especially verse 20.  There are seven angels that visit the earth just before the Second Coming as recorded in Rev 14.  The second of these angels is making a proclamation about the fall of Babylon the Great in Rev 18:1-2.  The first angel had just appeared on earth as recorded in Rev 14:6-7 and had just visited all of the people on earth to present the gospel of Jesus to them.  They are given one final chance to accept Jesus and leave the apostate church before Jesus returns and it is too late for them.
• The voice from heaven says that Babylon the Great, the prostitute, will be paid back double for her deeds, and will be given torture and grief equal to the glory and luxury she gave herself, Rev 18:5-7, Isa 47:9-10, 12-13.
• The apostate church had boasted that she was “queen,” that she was still married to God and would never mourn, Rev 18:7, Isa 47:7-8.
• However, the voice from heaven says that in one day God would judge her; the plagues of death, mourning, and famine that she had been undergoing would overtake her and she would be consumed with fire, Rev 18:8, Isa 47:9, 11 and 14.
• The leaders of the earth shared in the wealth of the great prostitute, Rev 18:9, Isa 47:15.
• Babylon is destroyed very quickly, in one hour, Rev 18:10, 19, Isa 47:11.
• The prostitute was by far the world’s greatest consumer of goods and services.  The merchants of the earth mourn because they have lost such a great consumer of their expensive and lavish merchandise, Rev 18:11-13, Isa 47:15.
• The merchants of the earth mourn over the quick destruction of the one who was so extravagantly and excessively wealthy, Rev 18:14-17, Isa 47:15.
• Merchants who traded with the prostitute did so by ocean going vessels.  Those who owned the ships mourned because they had become wealthy carrying merchandise to her shores, Rev 18:17-19.
• The prostitute is destroyed by fire since the smoke of her burning is seen far away, Rev 18:18, 8-9, 19:3, Isa 47:14.
• God judges the prostitute for the way she treated his people, Rev 18:6, 20, 24, 19:2, Isa 47:6.
• The prostitute will be so completely destroyed that she will never function again, Rev 18:21-23, Isa 47:15.  All of those in the false religion will be sent to Hades at the sheep-goat judgment just after the Second Coming and before the beginning of the millennium.  There will not be an apostate church on earth during the millennium as everyone will recognize Jesus as God.  Jesus will be on earth as King of kings.
• The prostitute had led all nations astray through using what seemed to be magic, Rev 18:23, Isa 47:12.
•  The prostitute was held responsible for the deaths of those who believe in and testify for Jesus, the believing Christians, and for others that she had killed all over the earth, Rev 18:24. 
• God condemned the great prostitute for corrupting the earth with her adulteries.  God sought vengeance from her for the blood of his servants, Rev 19:2.  This may mean that the apostate church is stained with the blood of the prophets and apostles since it denies the truth of what they were saying; principally that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus.  This may also be referring to the deaths of Christians attributed to the Catholics, Islamics and other world religions down through the years.

  ANALYSIS OF THE CLUES TO THE IDENTITY OF THE GREAT PROSTITUTE
            We have identified about 25 clues to the identity of the great prostitute in chapters 17-19.  Some of them seem contradictory at first look until you decipher the symbology.  We will next consolidate and simplify the clues. 
  It seems that the prostitute is:

• Reliant upon the antichrist, the beast,
• an apostate religion that openly rejects Jesus,
• a religion that once had some Christian roots but it now rejects Christ and is Satanically inspired; those in the apostate religion that become believers just before the Second Coming are warned by God to get out of the false church,
• a large group (most) of people from all over the world, including people of every nation and language,
• apparently destroyed by literal fire by the antichrist, but it turns out that he only changes the prostitute; Jesus finally destroys her completely at his Second Coming.  He does so by fire; he sends everyone who is a member of the apostate church to the lake of fire where they are destroyed,
• very wealthy and the leaders of the nations of earth share in the wealth,
• a great consumer and her apparent destruction by the antichrist causes the merchants of the world to mourn; those who trade with her do so primarily by ocean going vessels.  The antichrist may literally destroy some nations who give him problems as examples for other nations.  If the United States is one of these countries that would certainly help us understand these passages about the mourning of the merchants of the world.  The United States is by far the greatest consumer nation in the world.
• held responsible by God for the deaths of many believers and servants of God all over the world, and
• completely destroyed very quickly by fire by Jesus at his Second Coming.

  If we boil down the clues one more time we see that the prostitute is:

• A Satanically inspired, Christ rejecting apostate religion that encompasses people from all over the world, including people of every nation and language,
• a large group of wealthy consumers, whose wealth supports the commerce of the entire world, and
• reliant upon and led by the antichrist in the end times.

  THE ANSWER TO THE PUZZLE OF MYSTERY BABYLON, THE GREAT PROSTITUTE
            Finally, we will summarize what we have learned about mystery Babylon, the great prostitute, and identify who she seems to be given the large number of clues that we have analyzed; The great prostitute is the future Jesus rejecting apostate religion of the end times that is Satanically inspired and led by the antichrist in the great tribulation.  She includes the remnants of all of the world’s religions after the rapture of believers to heaven, including Protestants, Catholics, Islamics, Mormons, Buddhists, etc.  The antichrist believes he has destroyed this mystery Babylon when he forces all members of every religious group to accept him as the god of the world.  In effect he has not destroyed mystery Babylon, he has only changed her in God’s eyes.  She was and still is an apostate one world religion, but with a different false god.  Jesus finally and totally destroys her at his second coming, as he speaks the word and all unbelievers are sent to the lake of fire.

  WHAT ABOUT THE PROPHESIZED FUTURE DESTRUCTION OF LITERAL BABYLON?
            Isa 47 and 48 which we indicated paralleled Rev 18 seem to be about the future destruction of the remnants of the historic Babylonian empire because of their treatment of Israel.  I suspect that this prophecy of destruction will be literally fulfilled and is another primary and valid interpretation of Rev 17-19.  Isa 13 and 14 as well as Jer 51 and 52 also talk about the complete and utter destruction of the area which had once been the Babylonian empire.  This includes the areas which are today known as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, the southern portion of Turkey and the north eastern section of Saudi Arabia.  These passages are parallel in their meaning and use very similar words to describe the destruction.  This destruction is obviously happening during the tribulation period, in that day  This great prostitute, mystery Babylon, that is completely destroyed in the tribulation period encompasses this group of Muslim countries and the Islamic religion, possibly including a rebuilt city of Babylon.