Bible Talks - Traditional Church (Sunday 8am)
Series: Letters from Heaven · Talk No. 8
The Fall of Babylon
Sunday, 10 September 2006
Last week we saw how creation and rebellious mankind, were the subject of the seven plagues of destruction which were poured out from the seven bowls containing the wrath of God, but we were led to believe that soon the new heavens and new earth which will be described in chapters 21-22 would soon come. However before these can become a reality the sources of evil must be eradicated.
Marxists believe that greed, as epitomized by the capitalist nations of the world, is the great evil which must be removed before the new age of socialist utopia, the workers’ paradise, can arrive. Secular humanists see the abolition of ignorance and poverty as prerequisites to the emergence of the great society. Christians agree with the Marxists that greed is a great evil and with the secular humanists that the education and health of our fellow-humans are among the highest priorities for any community. Indeed historically, Christians have pioneered the provision of these ministries. It is only in recent times that have governments taken responsibility for hospitals and schools. But based on Revelation and other New Testament teachings, Christians regard evil as deeply entrenched within the human personality, in fact demonic and originating ultimately from the great "deceiver of the nations" and we do not believe in the easy elimination of evil nor in the perfectibility of society by human means.
The new utopian age, therefore, will not arise from human endeavour; it will come neither by revolution nor by evolution, neither by the sword nor by quiet process. All that can come from below, from humanity, will be "more of the same". Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Technology will become more advanced and new "buzz words" about the coming of a new age will be used, but the principle of evil in one form or another will still be present, because in spite of our efforts and aspirations, mankind hasn’t really changed and the true evil has not yet been expunged.
The next few chapters of Revelation are important because they depict, in the John’s words, the removal of supernatural evil in the defeat of those three evil beings, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, who have warred against God and his people.
These evil beings believe that they are about to engage with God and his armies in the last great battle which they, apparently, have every hope of winning. They are blind to the fact that the battle has already been fought and lost as we saw last week. Armaggedon was a great non- event. God simply said, “It is done.” And it was. God's final disposal of the evil trio, as it turns out, proves to be an anti-climax, a non-event.
Firstly we have fall of the woman and the beast in Chapter 17
The first supra-evil power to be overthrown is one whom John describes as the great prostitute whom he later identifies in verse 18 as the great city that rules over the kings of the earth. This is a clear reference to Rome and her dominance over her large empire. The many waters on which she sits are identified in verse 15 as the peoples, multitudes, nations and languages ruled by Roman power. Her clothing of purple and scarlet and adornment of gold, precious stones and pearls symbolize her imperial and regal status. She holds a golden cup filled, on one hand with her adulteries with the kings of the earth, and on the other, with the blood of the saints, with which she is drunk. In her great wealth and power, Rome seduces the rulers of the world to trade with her, regardless of the best interests of the indigenous citizens. Her godless standards spread throughout the world. Intolerant of any nonconformity, she pursues and kills any group, especially the Christians, who will not give absolute allegiance to her. The nations of the world in imitation of Rome are now attacking God's people.
No doubt John has in mind the multitude of believers slaughtered in Rome by the Emperor Nero in AD 64. But this assault was being repeated elsewhere within the empire, for example in proconsular Asia where the seven churches of chapters 2 and 3 were located, and the persecution persists today. There are many places where to be Christian is to invite official enmity from the government and unofficial enmity from the citizens of that place. I know I have mentioned before that more Christians were killed for their faith in the 20th century than in any previous century. The enmity between the world and the followers of Christ is actually increasing.
The great prostiutue is seated on the beast, whom we have already encountered and whom is to be identified as the Roman emperor. Like the woman, he too, is scarlet in colour, signifying imperial status. The blasphemous names remind us of the idolatrous and pretentious character of the imperial cult to which John's original readers were subject. The Roman emperor was to be worshipped as a God and there were severe penalties up to death for refusing to obey.
As described in Chapter 13 the beast that is the Roman Emperor has seven heads and ten horns. These horns, which symbolize strength, are here identified with ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom but who for one hour receive authority as kings along with the beast. These are probably the governors who, in senatorial provinces like proconsular Asia, served for only one year Their authority, like that of the beast, derives from the Dragon and their one purpose is to give power and authority to the beast. As instruments of the beast, these governors make war against the Lamb.
John gives multiple meanings to the seven heads. On one hand these are the seven hills on which Rome is located. These seven heads are also seven kings, about which much has been written by scholars. These are in veiled reference to the emperors who had to that point ruled the Roman world.
The best suggestion is that the five who have fallen are the Emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius and Nero.
the one who is is Vespasian who ruled from AD 69-79, the other who is not yet come and who must remain a little while is Titus who had a sahort rule from79-81 then follows Domitian (81-96) who is described as Nero "re-incarnate".
Nero loomed large for Christians in the last quarter of the first century. He was their first persecutor. It was widely believed that he was to return from the dead at the head of mighty armies and resume his place as emperor, something that would strike terror into the hearts of Christians. John does not hold this view. The only way Nero is thought of as returning is in the person of Domitian the new persecutor, who, however is heading for destruction.
As Neil pointed out a few weeks ago, John portrays Nero/Domitian as a kind of parody of God's true ruler, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Just as Jesus was (incarnation), and is not (ascension) but will come again (parousia or return at the end of history), so too, in John's presentation, Nero once was, now is not and yet will come again.
But unlike Jesus who will come from heaven and take up his everlasting rule over all things, this beast, this pretentious ruler, will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. We’ll have to wait until next time before we receive John’s description of the destruction of the beast in Chapter 20.
In the meantime Chapter 18 gives his description of the fall of Babylon.
How ironical it is that the woman is overthrown not by her enemies but by those closest to her, by the beast himself and the ten horns who hate the prostitute and bring her to ruin. The great city will fall not because of an invader but because of her own ruler. This is a surprising comment given the preoccupation most civilizations have had with external threats to their security. While such fears have often been well-founded, it is significant that few civilizations have seen their destruction coming from within.
John now turns to describe the fall of this city, which he designates as Babylon the Great. The greatness of her immense wealth is matched only by her corrupting of those who trade with her, on one hand, and by her crimes against the saints on the other. Despite her awesome power and her self-glorification, she is in reality a seductress and her evils have now been disseminated universally. Accordingly Babylon will come under the judgment of God. A voice from heaven says her sins are piled up to heaven and God has remembered her crimes and mighty is the God who judges her.
John prophesies at some length about her downfall. “Fallen! Fallen! is Babylon the great......Woe! Woe! O Great city, O Babylon, city of power. Despite her glory, greatness and power she shall fall quickly, in one day, in one hour. She is no "eternal city" as she supposed; in a moment God will cast her down, never to recover. Never again will be heard there the sound of music, or of bridegroom and bride, never again will be found any workman of any trade, never again will be seen the light of lamp. She shall become desolate and uninhabited, except by demons, evil spirits and every unclean and detestable bird.
Babylon the tawdry prostitute will be no more; in her place God will bring the new Jerusalem, the pure and beautiful bride of the Lamb. Thus those who belong to the bride of the Lamb, persecuted as she now is, are exhorted to come out of Babylon the prostitute and to resist her seductive ways. God's people can have no part in her worship of the beast nor in the judgment of God which will soon ensue.
John's prophecy of the fall of imperial Rome is remarkable. At the time he wrote the Revelation, during the nineties, Rome was at the height of her powers. There was no serious threat to her frontiers nor any sign of major uprising from her own subject peoples. Pirates had been cleared from the seas and brigands from the countryside. Elegant cities dotted the shores of the Mediterranean and were to be found in many inland regions as well. Soon the tyrant Domitian would fall and the empire would enter the golden years of the "five good emperors", Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, spanning AD 96-180. Those who read the Revelation during those years must have found John's prophecy of the fall of "Babylon" very difficult to believe.
John’s references tp Babylon, however, arise from the mmany references to that city and civilization in the Old Testament. She is Babel, the city built by the descendents of those driven out of the Garden of Eden by God. They built a metropolis and a tower to make a name for themselves and to resist being further scattered by God to whom they would not turn in humility and repentance. In God's judgment on her, Babel will never be completed and her citizens will not speak the same language, now will they understand one another. This city built for the name of mankind will lack permanency; it will be marked by alienation and disunity.
Moreover, with the passage of time the people of Jerusalem, because of their sin end up as captives within pagan and powerful Babylon. In Psalm 137 we see them weeping in Babylon as they remember distant Jerusalem and as they submit to the taunts of their tormenters.
In Isaiah 14 Babylon is portrayed as a proud, Satan-like being who aspires to be equal with God saying "I will make myself like the Most High". This brutal city "subdued nations with relentless aggression" and inflicted great suffering on the people of God. God will bring down this evil civilization and leave it desolate. It is clear that John has prophesied the fall of Rome through his reading of Isaiah 14.
John has also seen Rome as "Babylon" through the reading of Isaiah 47. God had allowed his people to go into captivity into Babylon. Babylon, however, "showed them no mercy" and "even on the aged . . . laid a heavy yoke". Babylon proudly usurped the place of God by taking his name, saying "I am; there is none else beside me". In her own eyes she is eternal and divine. "No one sees me", she said, denying any deity beside herself. "I will never be a widow nor suffer the loss of children", she said, claiming immunity from judgment and catastrophe. But God said to Babylon "Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day". And we see it come to pass in Daniel Chapter 5 when King Belshazzar saw the writing on the wall and that night, without even a battle, the Medes and Persians and the leadership of Darius killed Belshazzar and took over the Babylonian empire.
For John, then, Rome was "Babylon", a civilization in revolt against God and his kingdom, a community which warred against God and the people who bear faithful witness that he alone is God. Thus John, after careful reflection on passages like Isaiah 14 and 47 declares that "Fallen! Fallen! Is Babylon the great". It must not be thought, however, that God judges "Babylon" simply because it is a city or a civilization per se, or that God condemns the human culture that flourished in ancient Babylon or, for that matter, imperial Rome. God's judgment falls on any society, ancient or modern, which usurps the place of God and which oppresses the people who worship the creator and who decline to worship as god either the state or its ruler.
So in the time of Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, it was Babylon itself which came under God's judgment. In the book of Revelation it is Imperial Rome with its emperor cult that is symbolized by Babylon. In our times today it is any individual, culture, city, country or society that places itself above God. That dares to usurp the place of God and persecutes those who dissent and insist on giving to God alone, true worship and honour.
We may think that it’s only godless totalitarian regimes that are opposed to God, like Soviet or Chinese Communism, or militant Islam, or good old fashioned dictatorships. But what about our own society where the media often seizes any excuse to rubbish the church. Where the Australian Democrates are promoting a bill that will effectively end the teaching of scripture in schools. Where there is a push to enforce the antidiscrimination legislation in such a way that Christian organizations cannot insist that they employ only Christians. In our society they don’t lock us up, confiscate pour goods or kill us for our faith but they try to sideline us, by-pass us, marginalize us, ridicule us and ignore us.
In John’s day it was the mighty Roman Empire that stood under judgment. In our day it is the whole of mankind.
We’ll hear more of this next week.
Let us pray.