BYE BYE, BABYLON

George Offerman

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me ”Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the vine of whose fornication to dwellers on earth have become drunk,  And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and had seven heads and ten horns.  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication; and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earths’ s abomination.  And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”.   Rev. 17:1-6

“And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the harlot: they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and giving over their royal power to the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled.  And the woman that you saw is the great city which has dominion over the kings of the earth”.  Rev 17:15-18.

(For the sake of brevity, I skipped verses 7-14, but they give a clear interpretation of this beast, and leave no doubt about whom it is and what the makeup of this vision entails).

The above verses clarify for John, the distinctions between the two beasts that appear in the visions.  The beast quoted above is very distinct from the beast in chapter 13, in that it is a unified beast that is scarlet in color and none of the heads have a mortal wound.  The seven headed ten horned beast rising from the water is the man made Babylon, lead by the devil, which is represented as the seven headed ten horned beast that ultimately kills the whore who has been riding on its back up until now.  If one notices, the whore is dressed in purple, which in scripture is the representation of religion and religious authority, and the scarlet color is representative of power, as well as the blood of the saints and martyrs.

This whore is responsible for the man made chaos up until this point, and was given its authority by the beast it is now riding.  The beast hates the whore, and the force behind the first Babylon, with its seven heads, represented by seven religious systems and ten horns, represented by civil powers and authority, were the ‘glove’ that fit over the real beast which was the ‘invisible hand’ behind the power.  However, now that the beast has total control over the world, there is no longer a need for the seven religious systems, and the hour of judgment for them has now come.

By now, the majority of those who have God’s seal and most likely all of the 144,000 have been martyred, and for the first time since the beginning of the trumpets, Satan has full control over the earthly kingdoms.  Since the majority of Christians that believe the devil is real, also know the devil has no tolerance for ANYONE getting ANYTHING that he believes is his.  So, as the religious leaders, who up to this time believed this false Christ was on their side, will now find out to their utter despair that they are to be eliminated immediately.  Since Satan now presents himself as king of kings and lord of lords (representing both religious and political systems) he will not tolerate any competition or split loyalties among his followers.  It is only now that these leaders, on the brink of their own destruction, realize they were deceived, and despair overcomes them.

The imagery used in scripture pertaining to the end of this human Babylon is ominous, but in some senses, well earned.  It is also clear that God has put it in their ‘hearts’ to obliterate these people who instigated so much human suffering, and deceived multitudes into eventually taking the mark of the beast.  Now they will be subject to the same humiliating end that they subjected the 144,000 and those sealed by the living God.  The difference in this is there will be NO ONE to come to their aid or assistance; hence their end will be ‘naked and desolate’.  Those that slay these ‘religious leaders’ will do it with great zeal and without mercy.  Those who benefitted from this false group will mourn and weep over lost opportunities.

At this point in the story it would appear that all of mankind has chosen their fate and it is near time for the seventh trumpet that will ultimately ‘seal the deal’.  However, Babylon will continue on in form, but now lead by the 8^th king, the Anti Christ who will seat himself on the throne with great pomp and circumstance and there will be absolutely no human power that will stop him.  The Anti Christ will install his 10 king puppets and they will have their one hour of time ruling what is left of the once great Babylon.  It will be a great time of dread for all alive and great fear will rule the hearts of men on that day.