stevep@cadence.com (Steve Peterson) (04/09/91)
I am interested in hearing views about the identity of Babylon the Great, the
mother of the harlots in Revelation. Who or what does she represent? What
evidence has lead you to this belief? And, what Scriptures help to identify
her?
Best Regards......
Steve Peterson
----
stevep@cadence.com or ...!uunet!cadence!stevep
[This is going to be hard to respond to without giving a more general
presentation on eschatology. That is, whether people interpret
Babylon as something in the 1st Cent, the 20th, or the dim future
depends a lot on their overall approach to eschatology. So I think
responses are going to have to be fairly general. Also, I would like
to remind people that there are many of our readers who don't know the
precise meaning of terms such as "pre-millenial". I'd suggest that
you define any technical terms that you use. --clh]tom@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht) (04/10/91)
In article <Apr.9.03.12.42.1991.5536@athos.rutgers.edu> stevep@cadence.com (Steve Peterson) writes: >I am interested in hearing views about the identity of Babylon the Great, the >mother of the harlots in Revelation. Who or what does she represent? What >evidence has lead you to this belief? And, what Scriptures help to identify >her? Here are some comments on the subject. They are taken from a longer discussion of the book of Revelation that was previously posted in s.r.c last Fall. I apologize to those who may have seen them before. Some background. I believe Revelation is primarily concerned with events that "must shortly come to pass." (v. 1:1; 22:6) The reader is reminded that "the time is at hand" for all these things to occur. (v. 1:3; 22:10) I don't believe we can ignore these time references and do justice to the interpretation of the book. Revelation is a symbolic book, and in order to understand the symbols one must read the book from the perspective of the 1st century Christian living in Judea or Asia Minor. St. John is writing in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Many of the symbols are taken directly from those sources and applied to contemporary events (contemporary to St. John, that is). There are some scholars who suggest that Revelation is St. John's version of the Olivet Discourse where Jesus the Prophet warned His disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem. It might be good to keep this in mind when looking into the subject at hand. I believe the "great whore" of Revelation 17 is apostate Israel of the 1st century, figured as Jerusalem, who had been persecuting the Christians along with Rome during these early Church years (v. 17:6; cf. Acts 7:52; 8:1; 11:19; 13:50). Since St. John was very careful to characterize the "harlot" with various descriptive phrases, we must look at those phrases and compare them to the rest of Scripture to discover the meaning of the "harlot" vision. Simply saying they refer to some as-yet-future "Babylon" won't cut the mustard. St. John says that the "harlot" is "drunk with the blood of saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (v. 17:6) One need only read the book of Acts to see how the unbelieving Jews persecuted and killed the new followers of Christ. We see it in the testimony of Stephen (Acts 7:52). We see it in the complicity of Paul (Acts 8:1). We also see it in the phrases used to describe the false Jews in the Church (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). The "harlot" will align herself with the beast and make war against the Lamb. You might recall the words of the Jews in St. John's gospel as they stood against the King of kings and declared, "We have no king but Caesar." (John 19:15) History tells us that right up until the very end, Rome and old Jerusalem were united against the new Jerusalem, the Church. Another item of note is that the "harlot" is called "the great city." (v. 17:18) Now every Jew in the 1st century would know that "the great city" referred to Jerusalem (cf. Jer. 22:8; Matt. 5:35). And those who were familiar with the prophecies of Ezekiel 16 & 23 would realize the iniquity of the city of God. (As an aside, Ezekiel 16 is so explicit with its sexual imagery as a portrayal of Israel's iniquity that many 19th century preachers refused to preach from it. And one of John Calvin's translators wouldn't translate Calvin's comments on Ezekiel 16 because of the explicit nature of the subject.) She had committed fornication with the kings of the earth. In this case St. John picks up on the harlot imagery of Isaiah 1:21. She was the prostitute that was chasing after the pagan nation, Rome. She had turned her back on her Husband, the God of the covenant, and was about to be judged. Jerusalem was also called the "holy city" (Is. 52:1; Matt. 4:5), but with the coming of Christ and the inauguration of the new covenant, that title passed to the Church (Rev. 21:2). According to Hebrews, this spiritual city is what the patriarchs sought after (Heb. 11:10,16), and what we long for (Heb. 13:14). We also have another clue in Revelation as to the identity of "the great city." In Rev. 11:8 she is called "spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where Our Lord was crucified." By ist century standards this is an obvious reference to Jerusalem. There is an interesting contrast in Revelation between the "harlot" and the Bride of Christ. Here are a few of what I believe to be parallels: The "Harlot" The Bride And there came one of the seven And there came unto me one of the angels which had the seven vials, seven angels which had the seven and talked with me, saying unto vials full of the seven last me, Come hither; I will shew unto plagues, and talked with me, thee the judgment of the great saying, Come hither, I will shew whore that sitteth upon many thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. waters: (17:1) (21:9) With whom the kings of the earth And I John saw the holy city, new have committed fornication, and Jerusalem, coming down from God the inhabitants of the earth have out of heaven, prepared as a been made drunk with the wine of bride adorned for her husband. her fornication. (17:2) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. (21:1,2) So he carried me away in the And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I spirit to a great and high saw a woman sit upon a scarlet mountain, and shewed me that coloured beast, full of names of great city, the holy Jerusalem, blasphemy, having seven heads and descending out of heaven from ten horns. (17:3) God, (21:10) And the woman was arrayed in Let us be glad and rejoice, and purple and scarlet colour, and give honour to him: for the decked with gold and precious marriage of the Lamb is come, and stones and pearls, having a his wife hath made herself ready. golden cup in her hand full of And to her was granted that she abominations and filthiness of should be arrayed in fine linen, her fornication: clean and white: for the fine And upon her forehead was a name linen is the righteousness of written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE saints. (Rev. 19:7,8) GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND Having the glory of God: and her ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. light was like unto a stone most (17:4,5) precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; (21:11) And here is the mind which hath And had a wall great and high, wisdom. The seven heads are seven and had twelve gates, and at the mountains, on which the woman gates twelve angels, and names sitteth. (17:9) written thereon, which are the And he saith unto me, The waters names of the twelve tribes of the which thou sawest, where the children of Israel: On the east whore sitteth, are peoples, and three gates; on the north three multitudes, and nations, and gates; on the south three gates; tongues. (17:15) and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (21:12-14) -- Tom Albrecht