November 29: BABYLON CRUMBLES

Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Revelation 16:19

Under the seventh and final plague, poured into the air (v.17), the cohesion that was supposedly achieved through the impressive and showy efforts of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (vv.13-14) is proven to be very short-lived. This fragile union consists of three basic groups: unbelievers under the dragon’s direct influence, those who are religious and loyal to the beast, identified as the papacy (13:4), and those Protestants who have carelessly drifted back toward papal false doctrines due to their own failure to break away completely (3:2; 13:12). Just before the breakup of Babylon, there is a seemingly glorious hour (17:12) when all three groups see themselves as successfully united.

While it is true that great Babylon is headquartered at the great city called the Vatican, her breakup will bring mass chaos into every city across the world. Her constituents will turn against each other, just as Israel’s enemies the Midianites did when Gideon and his small army came to the outpost of the enemy camp (see Judges 7:19-22).

The name Babylon is the ultimate symbolic name for confusion. The horrendous scenes on the news of recent decades will pale by comparison to the terror and chaos that will overtake the streets as every variety of old prejudice is raised up unrestrained. The fierceness of His wrath is what happens when His protections are completely removed. It is what happens amid godlessness and a prevailing disregard for God’s word. Love waxes cold. Wherever there is a void of the Holy Spirit’s leadership, Satan stands ready to fill the vacuum. Isaiah was shown a glimpse of such a scenario. The Message paraphrase put it like this:

God says, “Even if a giant grips the plunder and a tyrant holds My people prisoner, I’m the one who’s on your side, defending your cause, rescuing your children. And your enemies, crazed and desperate, will turn on themselves, killing each other in a frenzy of self-destruction.” Isaiah 49:25-26a

It is no coincidence that this scenario closely resembles the fall of the great Roman Empire. Unlike the previous empires, it was not overtaken by another nation. Instead, it imploded amid its own selfish pursuit of power, being carved up by barbarian tribes within its realm.

To hear that great Babylon [is] remembered before God does not at all mean He had forgotten about her. His protections were still in place as long as there were any whose minds could become yielded to Him. However, in the last plague scene, those who are faced with the fierceness of His wrath have firmly made up their minds against Him (see Galatians 6:7-8).

Ezekiel weighs in on the fall of Babylon as it crumbles from within:

For the king of Babylon stands at the parting . . . of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liver. And it will be to them like a false divination in the eyes of those who have sworn oaths with them; but he will bring their iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken. Therefore thus says the LORD God: “Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.” Ezekiel 21:21,23-24 (compare to Jeremiah 31:34)