Babel (Babylon)
The devil has his worldly kingdom. He is jealous. He wants to be the god who is worshiped. His kingdom is here on earth. If you’re not a citizen of Yahweh’s Kingdom, you are a citizen of his kingdom. This is because of our sinful nature. His royal city is called Babylon.
Yahweh will have an eternal worldly Kingdom, here on earth very soon. He is God and is worshiped. His Son, Yeshua, saves people and let them live in Yahweh’s Kingdom. Yahweh’s royal city is Jerusalem.
Yahweh has a Son Yeshua. Yeshua died and resurrected. The devil has the scarlet beast who was slain, but recovered from his fatal wound and came alive.
The Holy Spirit brings us to Yahweh and Yeshua.
The antichrist will bring people to the devil and the scarlet beast in the end times.
Our study of today is focused on Babylon. The great city of the devil. We will start with Yahweh’s command to humanity and the reaction of Nimrod the son of Cush.
Genesis 10:8-10
Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
In Genesis chapter 9 verse 1 we read what Yahweh wants us to do.
Genesis 9:1
And Yahweh blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
Nimrod rebelled and decided not to disperse, but to build a city. Nimrod is the first ruler on earth and founded enormous cities. Babel was his first city.
He wanted to make a strong and powerful city. He wanted his family to stay close with eachother. And become mighty and invincible. Yahweh stopped them building the city and the tower. He confused the language of the people and scattered them abroad the whole earth. But Nimrod didn’t stop building. As we read earlier he made several cities. And He was a strong and mighty man. He didn’t gave up his dream.
Genesis 11:4-9
They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
Nimrod in Hebrew means “rebel” or “let us rebel.” Nimrod was not happy with the fact that his grandfather Ham was cursed by Noah. It is likely that Nimrod blamed Noah and possibly Yahweh for this. He was clearly aiming for a conflict. Nimrod was a great hunter, afraid of nothing or no one. The word hunter used here is the Hebrew word 'tsáyidh' and means both hunter of animals and of men. It is clear that Nimrod wanted to rule over others.
Babel was the largest city in the vast Babylonian empire. Founded as a small port on the Euphrates River, the city's ruins are located in present-day Iraq.
The fysical Babel is destroyed at this moment. But the spiritual Babel is very alive. And there’s reason to believe that one day Babel will become also fysical great again. In the new Testament the city Babel is called Babylon. It’s not a different city. It’s the same city. In Revelation chapter 17 we read about the future Babel.
Revelation 17:1-6
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Yeshua.
Babel is a city full of sins. There’s a lot of worship of false gods. That’s why she is called a harlot. She isn’t faithful to Yahweh. Many waters means that she controls many kingdoms. And the kings of these kingdoms were also big sinners who didn’t obey Yahweh but did whatever they wanted. The scarlet beast is a worldly system controlled by Babel. It’s a scarlet beast because it controlled many kingdoms with different cultures. They mocked Yahweh. The seven heads correspond with seven big kingdoms. The ten horns are the ten kings who control the seven kingdoms.
In Revelation 17:18 we read also about the fact that Babel rules over many kingdoms.
Revelation 17:18
The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
We find more explanation about the heads and the horns of the beast in verse 9 till 13 of the same chapter.
Revelation 17:9-13
Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
There are six existing kingdoms with a king. Five kings will fall. One king is leftover. The seventh kingdom doesn’t exist yet, but it will come. The beast gives ten kings authority for one hour over this new seventh worldly kingdom. Those ten kings give the total control of the seven kingdoms to the beast. The beast is the worldly control system of Babel.
The clothes of the woman tells us that her character was as well religious as worldly. The purple stands for religion. Scarlet for the world. She’s very wealthy and utterly appearance is paid much attention to. Her wealth you can find back in her appearance. She has a golden cup filled with immorality. That’s her inner appearance. She is called Babel, the mother of the people who are in false religion and the godless people. The saints and the followers of Yeshua are persecuted by her. The saints are Yahweh’s people who don’t recognize Yeshua as their Messiah yet, but who obeyed Yahweh.
We read more about the scarlet beast in Revelation 17 verse 8:
Revelation 17:8
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
Babel excisted in the past. And it’s already a long time not excisting. That’s why people who don’t study the Bible are surprised to see the rise of the city of Babel. And they are surprised that it become so strong and powerful. Remember her controlling system is the beast.
Revelation 18:2-3
And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
The unthinkable is happening. This strong city that controls the whole world falls. Not because of men, but because Yahweh is destroying her. We can read this if we continue with reading.
Revelation 18:4-8
I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and Yahweh has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord Yahweh who judges her is strong.
We not only read about her punishment and destroying. We get also a warning. We have to come out of Babel. We must not participate with her sins. If we do that we will receive also her plagues.
I see a worldly system coming. If we participate with this system we will fall in sins. We cannot be in this system without falling in sins.
We are now going to read about this:
Revelation 13:1-4
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
The seventh kingdom that was, and is no more and will rise again is the seventh head. The seventh kingdom will give authority to the beast over the whole world. It’s Babel with her worldly controlling system. The dragon is the devil. And they worshiped the devil because of this beast.
Revelation 13:8
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Revelation 13:11-17
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This second beast is the antichrist. He looks like a lamb. This means that he seems to be a the Messiah. But this isn’t true because he speaks as the devil. If you don’t approve the worldly reign of Babel, you will be killed. If you join into this system you will get a mark that’s needed to buy and to sell.
You can see now that if you participate with this system, you worship the devil himself.
I give you a last warning.
We read that one in:
Revelation 14:9-11
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Make sure that you don’t participate in the sins of Babel. Go out of her if you want to live in Yahweh’s Kingdom.