Mystery Babylon in the New Testament (2)

I don’t love boring post titles like this one. However, in this case the alternative was my working title, Babylon 5. You can thank me later.

Yes, this series has run longer than expected. We are done today. In yesterday’s post, we briefly examined the current frontrunners for the real-world, present-day religious and political entity toward which scripture’s “mystery Babylon” symbolism is pointing us. Eschatologists in the Reformed tradition put forward apostate Judaism as its prime candidate, while the more popular names in the Dispensationalist school have historically envisioned Roman Catholicism in the role of the great prostitute seated on many waters or, as John refers to her, “Babylon the great”.

Hey, we’re Protestants. We have to protest something. Or someone. And yes, I know more than a few saved Catholics. Let’s not go there.

Getting back to mystery Babylon, in examining the scriptures on the subject, I’m not yet satisfied that the errors associated with either apostate Judaism or Romanism are sufficient to meet the descriptions provided by the New Testament writers. Let’s finish our study.

Revelation 17:4-6

The first few verses of chapter 17 describe the great prostitute seated on many waters (or influencing many nations):

“The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.’ And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”

While Roman Catholicism has definitely influenced many nations, verse 6 causes its detractors a bit of a problem. Certainly, there’s no doubt that Rome as a political entity martyred large numbers of the believers in the second through fourth centuries. For this reason, some refer to that period as the Age of Martyrdom. If the traditions are correct, most of our Lord’s apostles went to their reward that way.

However, we can hardly hold Roman Catholicism responsible for that, since it didn’t exist at the time, at least not formally. Catholic historians have retrofitted Peter into the office of first bishop of Rome, but there’s no historical evidence he was ever even in Rome, let alone its first or primary religious influence. There was no ‘pope’ in the modern sense until Leo the Great in AD440, long after the Age of Martyrs had passed. Blaming Roman Catholicism for the early church martyrs is simply a bad fit, and points out the deficiencies in limiting the identification of mystery Babylon to Protestant Christendom’s favorite whipping boy.

If you ask the Internet, you’ll find (perhaps to your surprise) that it was not the first century but the 20th century that produced the greatest number of Christian martyrs in history. Revelation teaches that the great tribulation will produce many more, as those who refuse to worship the beast and take his mark pay the price for identifying with Christ. What I mean is this: we are unlikely to identify mystery Babylon successfully by the sheer volume of martyrs she has produced in the past. Of the estimated 70 million who have gone to their deaths with the name of Jesus on their lips in the last two millennia, at least half perished under fascist and communist regimes, which, as awful as they may be, seem unlikely fits for mystery Babylon.

Let’s consider it possible, even likely, that Babylon the great has yet to come close to draining her cup. The blood of the saints has yet to spill as the prophets say it will spill during the great tribulation.

On the bright side, consider how many new believers may come to Christ in the great tribulation, perhaps through the testimony of the 144,000.

Revelation 18:2

The last three references to mystery Babylon in Revelation come one after another in chapter 18. The first is another angelic announcement, this one coming after Babylon’s destruction:

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons … For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her.”

Wherever sexual immorality symbolizes something in scripture, it is invariably an allegory for idolatry, an evil that takes many forms. Whatever temptation Babylon has offered the rich and powerful of our world over the centuries, its defining feature has been that it replaced God on the throne of men’s hearts. Babylon was a thief.

Revelation 18:10

The second reference to mystery Babylon in chapter 18 comes from the rich and powerful “kings of the earth”, the merchants who profited from its lavish excesses and the seafaring men who made their living transporting her goods back and forth. They stand far off in fear, crying, “Alas, alas, you great city.” It’s the beneficiaries of mystery Babylon’s luxuries who understand best what has attracted so many to her over the centuries, and they reveal it here: “delicacies”, “splendors”, “all this wealth”, “all who had ships at sea grew rich by her”. The primary motives for worshiping false gods over the centuries have been two: (1) financial profit (“Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth”), and (2) the excuse to carouse and indulge self (“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play”). This is the allure of mystery Babylon.

Again, I’m struck with the impression that neither Romanism nor apostate Judaism provides a sufficient answer to the question “What is mystery Babylon?” The sheer scale of the luxuries, indulgence and profit described in this chapter dwarf the excesses of either. It sounds like something far more bloated and omnivorous than any single religious system. It sounds like what you get when man’s true god becomes the fulfillment of his most exotic appetites.

Revelation 18:21

The final reference to mystery Babylon is another declaration from a mighty angel:

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

The next word is a multitude in heaven crying “Hallelujah!”

Another Babylon

So now, who is the great prostitute who has corrupted the earth? With what shall we identify her? I’ll leave it to our readers to judge. Do you really think either Romanism or apostate Judaism is up to the task of bearing the weight of the “mystery Babylon” tag when you examine the scriptures on the subject carefully? Or do believers from all eschatological schools need to do a bit of a re-think on that issue?

I believe it would be a great thing to get Dispensationalism’s most astute minds and hearts working on it.