DAY 361

WHO or WHAT is BABYLON?

Zechariah 1, 2, 3, & 4 and Revelation 18

ZECHARIAH: As Haggai encouraged the returned Jewish exiles to rebuild the temple, Zechariah encouraged them to repent and renew their covenant with God. Such spiritual renewal would be necessary for the people to be ready to worship God once the temple was rebuilt (about 516 bc). He accused them of doing the very things their ancestors had done before the exile. He was concerned about social justice for widows, orphans, and foreigners. But as the people endured opposition from the non-Jewish inhabitants of Judea, Zechariah reassured them of God’s abiding comfort and care. God would continue his covenant with Israel. Messianic hope was rekindled during Zechariah’s ministry, and the book ends with the promise that the Lord would establish his rule over all the earth (14:9).

For today and tomorrow I want to focus on SCENE 6: Babylon the whore. This of course is a “lovely title” and it just reinforces that the Bible is not a watered-down book—no it is often very direct.

Let’s pause for a moment and ask, “Where are we in this REVELATION?” The answer is that the world, our world has ended. I am not sure I emphasized that enough yesterday…but it is done. With that news you might be full of questions such as “What about us?” or “What is next?” You actually know the answer to these questions. Those who are the Lambs are in heaven with the Lord. “What’s next?” Well that is an answer for the next few chapters. John’s REVELATION is about us, but also more, much more. What we read from 17:1—18—19:10 is what happens to Babylon…the whore.

Today I want to give you an outline of this scene, and then tomorrow we will dive in. Here is the outline, and yes it is an outline in Seven Stages:

1.      The first word about Babylon; the scene opens, 17:1-6

2.      The second word , the mystery of Babylon, 17:7-18

3.      The third word, the fall of Babylon, 18:1-3

4.      The fourth word, the judgment of Babylon, 18:4-20

5.      The fifth word, the death of Babylon, 18:21-24

6.      The sixth word, the doom song of Babylon, 19:1-5

7.      The seventh word, the successor to Babylon, 19:6-8

8.      These words are true, 19:9-10

Before we dig into each of these pieces, the question we might ask is just who or what is Babylon? We have come into contact twice with Babylon. The first mention was in 14:8, Scene 4, where we read about the cosmic conflict between an ideology of evil which is always seeking to exalt itself to a supreme position, and that of the gospel. Then in 16:19, Scene 5, we read of the pouring out of the bowls, and the final bowl was poured upon Babylon.

What is she? On the surface a grand lady of gaudy splendor, but underneath she is simply a harlot. In the coming scene we will read of Jerusalem the bride. The contrast is between one who is faithful, and one who is not. I write “simply a harlot” because the matter of unfaithfulness is not difficult to understand, but do you and I grasp the degree? One of the aspects of REVELATION is that it seeks to communicate the degree—the degree of unfaithful godlessness that sets itself up against Almighty God is one of the goals of such a drama. Babylon is any place/person/system of the world that sets itself up over and against God.