April, 2021
Part 7
Hi Beloved & Friends
Continuing with our study on Babylon the Great…
1- Rev 18:14 And the fruits of the lust of your soul have departed from you, and all the fat things and the bright things departed from you, and you will find them no more, not at all.
15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand afar off because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning
16 and saying, Woe! Woe to the great city which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 For in one hour such great riches was desolated. And every ship-pilot, and all the company on the ships, and sailors, and as many as work the sea, stood afar off.
18 And they cried out, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying: What is like the great city?
19 And they threw dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe! Woe to the great city, by which all who had ships in the sea were rich out of her costliness! For in one hour she was ruined.
Finally we get to see what will be most of the consequences of her devilish acts, polluting the nations with her devil worship rituals.
When I read… “the fruits of the lust of your soul have departed from you”, seems to me as if for a brief moment the Lord would speak directly to Babylon but for a moment in his proclamation & would tell her; she will no longer enjoy the pleasures from the material things she enjoyed. Then, He keeps proclaiming that all those merchants who became rich by trading those goods with her will lament because their business has come to an end & the execution of the sentence against her has been so strong, dramatic and totally annihilating, they stand in awe watching from far. As I said in part 5 of this study talking about verse 18:9. I tend to believe the destruction of Babylon will be carried out in only one hour, because she will be destroyed with a nuclear explosion.
I read a book by a Dominican man, called Elias, some years ago, about the destruction of Babylon whom he argued was, in his Bible interpretation, the city of New York. He detailed many of the reasons why New York fits the description of Babylon, including this great city is a great trading center, the city is also infested with all kind of sins & abominations, besides being The United Nations’ Headquarter.
But even though there may be some interesting good points in his argument, New York is not the city where the Antichrist & the False Prophet will set the “Image of the Beast” of Revelation 13: 14-15. It is the very image of the Antichrist himself, which in my opinion will become the very “Abomination of Desolation” of Mat 24:15, as the Antichrist, the Son of Perdition will take his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
Some people argue: Jerusalem is not a port city because it says all the company on the ships, sailors, & as many as work the sea, stood afar off & they cried out, seeing the smoke of her burning. So even though Jerusalem is located some 52.6 km from the Mediterranean Sea, this is what we find in the Old Testament concerning Jerusalem in the times of King Solomon.
1Ki 10:21-22 All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
So this fact of Jerusalem not being a port city didn’t prevent king Solomon from having a great fleet of ships at the sea. Now very interestingly, I found that according to the Quora website…
The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, Glasstone and Dolan. The mushroom cloud from a commonly deployed nuclear weapon - between 100 and 500 kilotons - would top out between 14 and 19 kilometers, which could be observed from 420 to 490 kilometers away, respectively.
So it is quite possible that as many as work by the sea, stood afar off & they cried out, seeing the smoke of her burning, & they threw dust on their heads, crying, weeping & mourning, saying, Woe! Woe to the great city, by which all who had ships in the sea were rich out of her costliness! For in one hour she was ruined.
One passage that helps us understand the timing of this chapter 18 is found in Revelation 14
Reading all chapter 14, makes me think that the destruction of Babylon will occur very close to the return of the Lord Jesus before the Rapture of the Church, the Ecclesia, God’s Elect in Mat 24.
- See Babylon is predicted to fall, I think some short time before the Rapture, as there are some of God’s people still in Babylon before it gets destroyed.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My People, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.
You see, God’s People leave Babylon, then…
- Babylon falls
Rev 14:8 And another angel followed, saying, The great city, Babylon, has fallen, has fallen; because of the wine of the anger of her fornication; she has made all nations to drink.
- “The Rapture” shortly after the fall of Babylon
Mat 24:29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
We can read about Jesus coming in the heavens to gather his elect in other Bible passages, here I will share only…
1Th 4:16-17 For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. (Look also Jn 5:25, Jn 6:39-40, 1Cor 15:23-25, & 15:51-57)
- The Wrath of God… The Rapture of God’s Church signals the beginning of the Wrath of God to fall upon the whole world.
Rev 6:12-17 And when He had opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed like a scroll when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him sitting on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of His wrath has come, and who will be able to stand?
See? Here in Revelations 6, when the Sixth Seal is opened, is when the Sun & the Moon grow dark, the stars fall from the heavens, the heavens are shaken, just like in Matthew 24. Then Jesus is seen coming in the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory, as the Elect are taken into Heaven, then the people left on Earth try to hide from God’s Wrath. We have the description of the Vials of the Wrath of God in Revelation 16, which culminates when the seventh angel poured out his bowl…
Rev 16:16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
We find out in that the great city, referring to Jerusalem is split into three parts in this point where it says “God remembered” Babylon, most surely to prepare the geographical zone where the present day Jerusalem is located, to accommodate the zone where a new Jerusalem will become for the first time the Capital of the world this time under the Reign of Christ.
- The Millennium of Christ Reign on Earth: See, when the sixth bowl of the Wrath of God is poured upon the Earth then God allows Satan, the Antichrist & all their devils to go out throughout the Earth & this time deceive the kings of the Earth, one more time, for what is called the “Battle of Armageddon”. Please refer to part 3 of this study where I put the Bible passages referring to this Battle when the reign of devilish men is finally ended & the Kingdom of God is established on the Earth, giving place to the one thousand years Millennium of Christ Reign on Earth.
Zec 2:9-12 For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. 10 Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. 11 Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 12 Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
Isa 2:1-4 This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
So we see that when the Kingdom of God is established on Earth, a New Jerusalem will be set in the land of the true Israel of God, as the Capital of the world. During the Millennium Reign of Christ, there will be wars no more, until after this period when Satan will be loosed again from the prison where he spent those one thousand years & again Jerusalem will be surrounded by the enemies of God, & this time all God’s enemies & the entire Earth will be devoured by fire, giving place to the New Heavens & New Earth. Read Rev 20:7-10, & 21:1-2
2- Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, Heaven, and the holy apostles, and the prophets, since God judged your judgment on her.
21 And one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, So on an impulse the great city, Babylon, will be thrown down and not at all will be found any more.
22 And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and flutists, and of trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. And every craftsman of any craft will not be found any more in you. And the sound of a mill will never more be heard at all in you.
23 And the light of a lamp will never more shine at all in you. And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will never more be heard at all in you. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth; for by your sorceries all nations were deceived;
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all those who were slain on the earth.
We are told now to rejoice over Babylon’s judgment, as it is part of an answer to the Saints request in…
Rev 6:9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. 10 They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the Holy and True, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all those who were slain on the earth” This passage is indeed a bit mysterious, but when we read Jesus pronouncement when He dealt with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem it clears up…
Mat 23:29-39 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? 34 Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the Earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! 38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Where it says “will not be found anymore” it is obviously referring to the adulterous city with all her sorceries with whom all nations were deceived. All the pronouncements concerning the riches which she used to delight herself are obviously gone up in fire as well.
Well Beloved… Please feel free to send your questions & comments. I am sure the Lord will show you more on this matter as you take time to study his Word, remember the promise… Rev 1:3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
Blessings in Jesus Name… Alejandro
If this reading has been a blessing to you, please don’t hesitate to share it with the world. We need to be a blessing to others today, tomorrow may be too late. John 9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me, while it is day. Night comes when no man can work.
As you may have noticed, all our material is there for you totally free. If the Lord leads you to give a donation to help us continue to share the Word with the world, there is a link to our Pay Pal account in our Home page. We will be forever thankful... Blessings in Jesus Name..!!!
Comments