Ecclesiastical Babylon by Woodrow Kroll Today s Radio Study: 1 Ecclesiastical Babylon Woodrow Kroll: Let s think about what we re learning in Revelation 17 that relates back to chapter 14 at verse 8. Let s read what it says in chapter 14, verse 8. He s describing the time when John is having visions of angels coming out of heaven. He says, Another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Now, Babylon the Great is fallen. When you talk about Babylon, you immediately are faced with a problem. And that is, are we talking about the real city of Babylon? Are we talking about that ancient capitol of Nebuchadnezzar? Or are we talking about another city? So, let s start by ID-ing Babylon here. What do I think the word Babylon means? When you get down to verse 5 of chapter 17, it says, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF ALL THE EARTH. There are only two possibilities here: One of them is that Babylon is, in fact, the original capitol of the Babylonian Empire. Now, it lies in ruins today. It s not far from Baghdad, and Baghdad is in the news almost every day today. There are people who believe (and these are good people who believe) that Babylon will one day be rebuilt and will become the center of world activities, center of religious activity, be the center of economic activity, be the center of political activity. There are others who say, No, no, no, no. Remember the Book of Revelation is signified. That means there are signs in this book. There are symbols in this book. And it s not literal Babylon we re talking about. But Babylon is being used by John as a way to describe a political world system, a system of government, a system of religion, a system of economy. And Babylon is not the ancient Babylon. It s probably another city today. And the most likely candidate is the city of Rome, which is in the center of the European economic community. Which of these two is correct? Well, let s be open to the possibility neither of them is correct. But since they re the only two possibilities we really have, let me think with you, first of all, about the literal rebuilding of the city of Babylon.
Now, those who hold that this city is going to be rebuilt say they do that because of the reference to Babylon and the proximity of the Euphrates River. The Euphrates flows through modern Iraq today. Babylon is in modern Iraq today, and they say there would be no mention of the Euphrates if it did not literally mean Babylon in the country of Iraq. I ve read some very nice books about the rebuilding of the city of Babylon in modern Iraq today. Let me just point out, however, that the Euphrates River and Babylon are not mentioned in the same passages. While both of them are in the Book of Revelation, they re not together in the Book of Revelation. So, the passages that refer to the Euphrates, Revelation 9 for example, verse 14 and Revelation 16:12, they don t mention Babylon. And the passages that mention Babylon don t mention the Euphrates. So, the fact that both of them are in the book may not have any bearing on how we identify the city of Babylon. On the other hand, the Bible does have something to say about Babylon and its being rebuilt. And what it has to say is that the city will never be rebuilt. Now, we won t take the time today. But you might want to read Isaiah 13; you may wish to read Isaiah 47, mentioned again in Jeremiah 50 and 51, also mentioned in Zechariah 5. All these passages refer to Babylon, the original city of Babylon, being destroyed, being devastated, being in ruins and never being rebuilt. Now, those who think that Babylon will be rebuilt say, Sure, it s uninhabited today. But during the Tribulation period, it will be rebuilt. And that building doesn t have to start until the Tribulation period starts. And since the Tribulation hasn t started, you shouldn t expect to see any rebuilding going on in Babylon today. If you ve ever seen pictures of Babylon, you know that it s just a pile of stones. It s just rubble. And, remember, the whole rebuilding of the city of Babylon has to take place in the first half of the Tribulation period because in the second half Babylon is mentioned as the center of world economy, the center of world trade, the center of world religion. And it just doesn t appear to me, at least, that there s sufficient time for Babylon to entirely be rebuilt as a city and also become the center of world trade and the center of world politics and the center of world religion. So, it may be that we re not talking about a literal rebuilding of the city of Babylon here. Now, today, if you went to Iraq, you would find Baghdad as the modern, thriving city of Iraq. What would you find at Babylon? You d find a pile of stones. Babylon never has been rebuilt. I don t think Babylon ever will be rebuilt. So, it s possible, then, that the alternative explanation for what we re talking about here: that it s a symbolic thing, is the explanation we ought to follow. Let s assume that s the case today. Then what does it mean when we get to chapter 17? There are seven angels with bowls of judgment ready to pour these bowls of judgment out on the face of the earth. And one of those judgments comes on this city of Babylon, the great city of Babylon. Let s read a few verses, and then let s take a stab at understanding what this means. Verse 1 of chapter 17: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with 2 Ecclesiastical Babylon
whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement (Revelation 17:1-6). Now, he describes a woman here. And, again, I m not sure we re talking about a literal creature. We re talking about a representation of world religion as it s found in the city of Babylon. Historically, Babylon began back in chapter 10 and 11 of Genesis when Nimrod, who was a fierce hunter and a rebel against God, was not a God-fearing person; he built a city. And he wanted that city to have a tower that would reach all the way to God. And you know the name of that tower. It s the Tower of Babel. And as a result of that, Babylon has always been a representation of religion without God, religion that is anti-god, man s religion as opposed to God s religion. So, throughout the course of the world, anytime you get a mystery like Babylon here, you re following the course of a religion that is not a true representation of what God wants religion to be. Babylon, then, is the religious capitol of the world in the future Tribulation period. Babylon is described as a woman who s bedecked with jewels and pearls and wearing these fine garments. And it s just to show how ornate religion can become without having a heart. And there s a lot of religion in the world today just like that. Now, you ve seen the description of the mystery of Babylon the Great, the harlot, harlot being an unfaithful person, unfaithful woman in this case. And if he s using The Great Harlot here as an example of an unfaithful religion, then it should be that we can find examples in history of this kind of unfaithfulness. The fact of the matter is they re everywhere. I mentioned Nimrod. Nimrod was the first person who really rebelled against God and formed organized religion opposed to God. He wanted to have a tower built that went all the way to heaven, the Tower of Babel. And he wanted people to form the religion of man as opposed to the religion of God. Now, here are some interesting facts about history. Nimrod was married. Nimrod had a wife whose name was Semiramis. Semiramis founded a Babylonian religion founded her own religion. And, interestingly, this religion is the same religion that I think we re talking about here in the mystery of Babylon, the harlot. This is a religion that is not the religion of God. It s the religion of mankind. 3 Ecclesiastical Babylon
Now, what do we know about Nimrod s wife s religion? Well, she shrewdly conceived this religion based on the promises of Genesis 3:15. And here s what she did. She claimed that she gave birth to a son whom she said was miraculously conceived. In other words, he was not the son of Nimrod. She had an immaculate conception. She had a virgin birth. She also claimed that she was a part of the religious system; and so all the symbols of her religion, all the icons of her religion showed a mother and a child: the madonna and child. So, there was a woman her who was the center of her religion and the child she gives birth to (she claims) as a virgin. She also claimed that her son was indeed the savior and redeemer of the world. You re seeing some parallels here already, aren t you? Here s the real thing though. Semiramis wanted worship from people around her so she called herself the Queen of Heaven. And as the Queen of Heaven, she proposed that certain things could happen that related to her that could not happen if you didn t relate to her. So, for example, she believed that there was to be a purging period after death in which you could purge your sin and still be saved even if you died in your sin, a purging process. She believed that if you followed the sacraments of her religion, you did all the things her religion told you to do, you did the stuff of her religion, following the sacraments would bring you salvation. Do the sacraments; you get salvation. In fact, she had a whole order of priests of her religion who would put water on their people. They called it holy water. And when they would put the holy water on the believers of Semiramis religion, those people would be cleansed of their sin. It doesn t stop there. She said, I need a counterpart to these priests. So, Semiramis (this is all part of history) established a whole order of virgins who wore long robes and were dedicated specifically to the work of Semiramis. If you happen to be a Roman Catholic today, and you hear all this about Semiramis, you say, Can that possibly be true? Let me say to you, it s not only possibly true, this is historical evidence. This is fact. We know this to be the case. And, yes, it does look like there are some really significant parallels in the Roman Church today from the religion of Semiramis. But I want to hasten to say that the future religion of this world is not any one religion. This is the religion of mankind. And while the religion in Rome may be the basis by which the Antichrist takes what is in the Roman Catholic Church today and prostitutes it, makes it part of the harlot religion of Rome or Babylon (mystery Rome) while that s the case, there are going to be plenty of Baptists and plenty of Methodists and plenty of Episcopalians and plenty of Protestants and plenty of other evangelicals who are a part of this as well. This is not a single religion. It is a very great parallel to a single religion today, but this is a religion that is the religion of mankind. Are we able to say that the religion of mankind exists today? I d have to say, Yes, we are very much able to do that. And here s the reason why. There was a time in my life when I was involved in pursuing my own education and I was in a PhD program at the University of Virginia. And I was moving from Virginia to New York and so I went to a very prestigious university in the State of New York and I spoke to the head of the religion department in this prestigious university and I asked, Is there a possibility I could transfer all my credits from U.V.A. to this institution and finish my PhD work here? And he said, Of course. Now, I look on your resume and I see that you are seminary trained. 4 Ecclesiastical Babylon
And I said, Yes, that s true. I did go to seminary. And he said, Well, I want you to know that we aren t impressed here at this prestigious university with seminary training because we believe if you only know one religion, you know no religion at all; that in order for you to understand religion, you have to know everything there is to know about all the religions of mankind. These are his words, exactly. You need to know Christianity. You need to know Judaism. You need to know Islam. You need to know Shintoism. You need to know all the religions of man to understand religion. I was a bit quiet in my chair. And he could tell that I was a bit disconcerted with his discussion with me. And he said, Oh, but listen. Let me put your mind at rest. I want you to know that we all worship the same Lord and Savior, Socrates. Socrates! Socrates that s what he said. In the history of false religion, there are lots of things that I told you today that parallel present religion. But when Satan gets a hold of present religion, he s going to take what is there and he is going to just twist and turn what is there for his own benefit. So you cannot say this ecclesiastical Babylon in the future, though it may be Rome, you cannot say that it is just one religion in Rome. This is the religion of mankind. This is the highest religion man can have without God. Remember the number 666? That s the highest the beast, the false prophet and Satan could go without God. And now we get to chapter 17, and we find out that the highest ecclesiastical order on the face of the Earth during the Tribulation period is going to be a very substantial religious organization that Satan needs in the first half of the Tribulation. But he doesn t need in the second half. And so he s going to destroy this Babylon, this religious system of mankind. He ll just totally annihilate it. And he ll say, I don t need you now. I have my own system of religion. And what is being used by Satan today to draw people away from true religion, in the future, will be destroyed by Satan when he s over and done with it. Now, what does that say for you and me now? You know what it says to me? We have to find those elements of religion that are biblically based and separate them from those elements of religion that are based in mankind. And we have to get rid of what s based in mankind and get back to the Bible. Now, when the world doesn t do that and it won t the world marches right into the Tribulation, faces a religion that is dreamed up by mankind; and, as the result of that, they ll love this religion. They ll follow it the first three and one-half years of the Tribulation. And Satan will use religion to accomplish his own goals until he no longer needs it. And then he just brushes it aside. So, you want a relationship with God today? You won t find it in religion. You ll find it in the Person of Jesus. Let me remind you that all this is future. And all this is real. And all this is in your future unless, of course, you ve come to the foot of the cross and trusted Jesus as Savior; and you have the promise of God that He will keep you from this hour, that He will take you home to be with Him so that you don t face this ecclesiastical Babylon, this false religion that will permeate the world because it is then the religion of mankind and not the religion of God. Unless otherwise indicated, scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 2012 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to the Bible P.O. Box 82808 Lincoln, NE 68501 1-800-759-2425 backtothebible.org 5 Ecclesiastical Babylon