“MYSTERY: Babylon the Great, Mother of all prostitutes and all filthy practices on earth”842, the “great city that has authority over all the rulers on earth”843, by whom all the ship owners and merchants have been made wealthy and who has been responsible for all the blood ever shed on earth”844.
Given the universality of its impact, this “city” must refer to a mystical entity, for no one country, city or institution could be responsible for all corrupt practices on earth or all its slaughter. It is the “structure of unrighteousness” referred to in Enoch, and in terms of personnel, “the wicked” in Old Testament writing; “children of the devil” in the New. The two key points for those inclined to dismiss a period of messianic rule on earth to note is that “Babylon” is to be destroyed in order that the spiritual and political framework of evil
can no longer function in the world. Currently, wrote John, “we are of God but the whole 838 Rev21:24
839 En40:5 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Enoch_(Charles)/Chapter_40
840 Enoch50:1-4 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Enoch_(Charles)/Chapter_50
841 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Enoch_(Charles)/Chapter_91
842 Rev17:5
843 Rev17:18
844 Rev18:24
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world lies under the sway of the wicked one”845. The fall of Babylon cannot pertain to the end of the time-space universe for the people of the world subsequently mourn over her demise. The rich and powerful are distraught at her downfall whilst God’s chosen people celebrate [indicating three groups again]. Clearly even “Babylon” cannot be directly responsible for all bloodshed and depravity on earth but as far as God is concerned, she rather than the world is ultimately liable and will bear the punishment of destruction; the second key point then being that “Babylon” is destroyed but not the earth along with her. It is not always easy to distinguish between past and future events in Revelation but here the sequence at least is clear. Not until “Babylon” has been destroyed can “the reign of the Lord God (on earth) begin” and the marriage of the Lamb take place, the wife having at last made herself ready846. That reflects Old Testament prophecy in which the reign of Christ with His people invariably follows the destruction of their enemies.
Cyrus: a type of Christ
The Neo-Babylonian empire, who under king Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the first Jewish Temple and brought God’s people into exile as slaves in Babylon was defeated by Cyrus the Great. God used this enlightened Gentile to liberate His people from Babylon and through his sovereign edict, their temple was rebuilt. He was described by Prophet Isaiah as “God’s anointed one” or messiah847. The self-styled king of the world destroyed the Babylonian hold over God’s people and cleared the path for them to worship JHWE in the city of the great king. This prefigures the end-time destruction of “Babylon”, representative of the mystical, invisible body of satanic evil, currently functioning in the world in opposition to the mystical, visible Body of Christ: the one seeking to bring light, truth, peace and healing, the other moral degradation, greed, deception and destruction. That is the nature of the struggle; it is not the Church versus everyone outside her as depicted in Augustine’s
“City of God”; it is a two-way battle for allegiance from amongst the World’s inhabitants.
The Church and “Babylon” are both seeking to woo people to themselves but for opposite ends, resulting in three outcomes: the saints, the satanic agents and the rest of creation who will one day after much tribulation be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”848.
Since flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom849 we look to heaven from whence the Saviour will come “to change our lowly bodies to be fashioned like His glorious body according to the operation by which He will subject all things to Himself”850. For those resurrected at that time will have an incorruptible body, which as well as being indestructible will no longer be subject to the corrupting influence of the “body of this death”, so they will no longer be inclined to fleshly passion and pride but to righteousness and peace. Those worthy to attain that age and the first resurrection851 will be like the angels in heaven yet still able to relate on earth to those subjects in corruptible bodies just as the risen Jesus related for a time with His disciples, as did angels with the likes of 845 1Jn5:19
846 Rev19:6-7
847 Is45:1
848 Rom8:21
849 1Cor15:50
850 Phi3:21
851 Lk20:35; Phi3:11
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Abraham and Lot. Paul had described this particular resurrection as being a “prize he was striving to attain”852 whereas all who have died are to be resurrected at some point so Paul cannot have been referring to the general resurrection for he was seeking to attain a prize
provided to the few853.
Two resurrections are also indicated in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians854 in which he states that at Christ’s coming, the dead in Christ will be raised before the living elect join them “in the clouds” having been raptured so as to be spared the time of testing that the rest of the world must endure when the wicked are ingloriously removed from the earth by His holy angels855. Those remaining on earth will have cause to mourn over their rejection or ignorance of Christ856; many of whom will call upon His name, accept His Lordship and accordingly find mercy. The two resurrections are explicitly set out in the Revelation of God to Jesus Christ857, and this bunny will always take Scripture at its word unless obvious symbolism is intended. There is no textual justification to treat this datum metaphorically, especially as no one has come up with a workable suggestion as to what two resurrections could symbolize.