1Ti 4:1 ¶ But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons
Rev 17:1 ¶ And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters;
2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.
3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication,
5 and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder.
7 ¶ And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, [they] whose name hath not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come.
9 Here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth:
10 and they are seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a little while.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet; but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour.
13 These have one mind, and they give their power and authority unto the beast.
14 ¶ These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they [also shall overcome] that are with him, called and chosen and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire.
17 For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.
18 And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Rev 18:2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation
of demons, and a {1} hold of every unclean spirit, and a {1} hold of every unclean and hateful bird. {1) Or prison}
3 For {1} by {2} the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth
committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her {3} wantonness. {1)
Some authorities read of the wine...have drunk 2) Some ancient authorities omit the wine of 3) Or luxury}
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship
with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues:
5 for her sins {1} have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Zech 5:8 And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall
be set there in her own place.
Babylon in the new testament from International Standard Bible Ency.
BABYLON IN THE NEW TESTAMENT:
Babylon [Babulw~n, Babulon], is used in New Testament in at least two
different senses:
1. MESOPOTAMIAN BABYLON:
In
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Matthew 1:11,12,17;
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Acts 7:43 the old Mesop city is plainly
meant. These all refer to the captivity in Babylon and do not demand any
further discussion.
2. SYMBOLIC SENSE:
All the references to Babylon in Revelation are evidently symbolic. Some
of the most important passages are Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2,10,21. In
Rev. 17:5 Babylon is designated as [musterion]. This undoubtedly in
dicates that the name is to be under stood figuratively. A few interpreters
have believed that Jerusalem was the city that was designated as Babylon,
but most scholars hold that Rome was the city that was meant. That
interpretation goes back at least to the time of Tertullian (Adv. Marc., iii.
13). This interpretation was adopted by Jerome and Augustine and has
been commonly accepted by the church. There are some striking facts
which point to Rome as the city that is designated as Babylon.
(1) The characteristics ascribed to this Babylon apply to Rome rather than
to any other city of that age:
(a) as ruling over the kings of the earth (
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Revelation 17:18);
(b) as sitting on seven mountains (
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Revelation 17:9);
(c) as the center of the world's merchandise (
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Revelation 18:3,11-
13);
(d) as the corrupter of the nations (
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Revelation 17:2; 18:3; 19:2);
(e) as the persecutor of the saints (
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Revelation 17:6).
(2) Rome is designated as Babylon in the Sibylline Oracles (5 143), and
this is perhaps an early Jewish portion of the book. The comparison of
Rome to Babylon is common in Jewish apocalyptic literature (see 2 Esdras
and the Apocrypha Baruch).
(3) Rome was regarded by both Jews and Christians as being antagonistic
to the kingdom of God, and its downfall was confidently expected, This
conception is in accord with the predicted downfall of Babylon
(
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Revelation 14:8; 18:2,10-21). As Babylon had been the oppressor of
Israel, it was natural that this new power, which was oppressing the people
of God, should be designated as Babylon.
3. IN 1 PETER:
In 5:13 Babylon is designated as the place from which 1 Peter was written.
Down to the time of the Reformation this was generally under stood to
mean Rome, and two cursives added "en Roma." Since the Reformation,
many scholars have followed Erasmus and Calvin and have urged that the
Mesopotamian Babylon is meant. Three theories should be noted:
(1) That the Egyptian Babylon, or Old Cairo; is meant. Strabo (XVII, 807)
who wrote as late as 18 AD, says the Egyptian Babylon was a strong
fortress founded by certain refugees from the Mesop Babylon. But during
the 1st century this was not much more than a military station, and it is
quite improbable that Peter would have gone there. There is no tradition
that connects Peter' in any way with Egypt.
(2) That the statement is to be taken literally and that the Mesop Babylon
is meant. Many good scholars hold to this view, and among these are
Weiss and Thayer, but there is no evidence that Peter was ever in Babylon,
or that there was even a church there during the 1st century. Mark and
Silvanus are associated with Peter in the letter and there is no tradition that
connects either of them with Babylon. According to Josephus (Antiquities,
XVIII, ix, 5-9), the Jews at this time had largely been driven out of
Babylon and were confined to neighboring towns, and it seems improbable
that Peter would have made that his missionary field.
(3) That Rome was the city that was designated as Babylon. The
Apocalypse would indicate that the churches would understand the
symbolic reference, and it seems to have been so understood until the time
of the Reformation. The denial of this position was in line with the effort to
refute Peter's supposed connection with the Roman church. Ancient
tradition, however, makes it seem quite probable that Peter did make a visit
to Rome (see Lightfoot, Clement, II, 493 ff).
Internal evidence helps to substantiate theory that Rome was the place
from which the letter was written. Mark sends greetings (1 Pet 15:13), and
we know he had been summoned to Rome by the apostle Paul (2 Tim
4:11). The whole passage, "She that is in Babylon, elect together with you,
saluteth you," seems to be figurative, and that being true, it is natural that
Babylon should have been used instead of Rome. The character of the
letter as a whole would point to Rome as the place of writing. Ramsay
thinks this book is impregnated with Roman thought beyond any other
book in the Bible (see The Church in the Roman Empire, 286).
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