“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
–Revelation 17:1-5
PART TWO
Who or what is Babylon the great?
Much has been written about end times Babylon. Rather, much has been written about the IDENTITY of end times Babylon.
God’s Word provides many, many, many clues as to the identity of this powerful, though doomed, place. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel and Revelation are only a few of the books in the Bible which provide information on this end times entity.
This series aims to examine some of those clues to determine Who is Babylon?
—Who is Babylon the Great: The Golden Cup
The whore has “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” written upon her forehead.
The whore IS Babylon the Great. If the reader determines who this whore is, he will determine who end times Babylon is.
In Part Two, there two other clues as to the identity of Babylon. Both of these clues are given to John by the angel in Revelation 17:1-5
Part Two’s clues:
Babylon is described as a “whore.”
Babylon is dressed in purple and scarlet (red).
PART ONE: Who is Babylon the Great: The Golden Cup
PART TWO: Who is Babylon the Great: The Whore
PART THREE:
BABYLON IS A WHORE
When God’s Word speaks of whoredoms, it is speaking of spiritual unfaithfulness.
Who could be unfaithful to God? It couldn’t have been the pagan Gentile nations: they were never faithful to Him.
A great part of Ezekiel’s prophecies concerned the warnings to those in Jerusalem and Israel who had forsaken God and had chosen to worship idols and pagan (strange) gods (demons) instead. In fact, God uses Ezekiel 16 to both warn and condemn this group of devil worshipers.
Specifically, God warned those in Jerusalem.
“Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
–Ezekiel 16:1-2
“Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.“
–Ezekiel 16:8
“But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,”
–Ezekiel 16:15-17
“Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.”
“And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;) That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.”
–Ezekiel 16:20-26
“Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.”
–Ezekiel 16:28-39
Ezekiel wasn’t the only prophet God used to warn these devil (demon) worshipers; He used others as well.
And not just warn, but to warn in a very particular way, using very, very specific language.
“Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.
For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.”
–Jeremiah 2:2,4,7-9,20
“The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.”
–Jeremiah 3:6-11
So God refers to ONE and only one very specific group, city and place as “harlots.”
He does not refer to the Catholic Church as a “harlot” (though the Catholic Church is a corruption which sprang from; an extension of these idol worshipers).
The whore church (a corruption of the Church of Jesus Christ) is an extension of the original idol worship which predates Christianity by hundreds of years. The whore church is a tool of the great whore of Babylon.
God Almighty does not refer to the “Jews” as “harlots” (though this group of demon worshipers arose from the Hebrews and included many of their people, including their leaders).
God SPECIFICALLY refers to only ONE city as a “harlot.”
Nowhere does the Bible reference Rome as “His.”
The city is NOT Rome.
BABYLON IS DECKED OUT
The second clue is the way the whore of Babylon is dressed.
“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls”
–Revelation 17:4
Again, many commentators wish the reader to believe these colors are peculiar to Rome and the Roman Catholic Church.
They are not. Rome got these colors from somewhere else.
There’s more information in Revelation 18.
“And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!”
–Revelation 18:12
Does the Bible use these descriptions any other time?
“And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the LORD hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; And to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work.
And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.
–Exodus 35:30-33,35
“And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses. And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel.”
–Exodus 39:1-2,5-6
Additional descriptions of the priestly garments and ceremonial garb can be found in Exodus 39.
So, to conclude this section: the whore of Babylon (who, the angel informs John, represents a city (and a group of people) is seen in particular clothing of particular colors with particular adornments.
CONCLUSION
The reader now has three clues.
- Babylon was ONCE a golden cup in the LORD’S hand.
- Babylon is a city which has been spiritually unfaithful to God.
- The harlot is dressed in a very distinctive manner. The Bible tells us that there were others dressed in a similar manner once before.
There are a great many more clues. Several of these will be the topic of the next installment of this series.
“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
–Revelation 14:8
Time is Running Out: Today is the Day of Salvation
There’s still yet time to leave Babylon and the kingdom of darkness and be transformed into the kingdom of light.
Tender Mercies of the Lord: Will Not Always Be Available
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:”
–2Corinthians 4:3
THE GOSPEL
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. ”
–1 Corinthians 15:1-8
“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
—John 20:31
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
-–Romans 1:16
[Portions of this piece appeared originally in End Times Prophecy Headlines: April 19, 2016.]
RELATED ARTICLES
by Jeremiah Jameson
–with Mondo Frazier
images:
1- ETPR/Wikimedia Commons/pd
2- Salvatore Vuono, FreeDigitalPhotos.net
© Jeremiah J. Jameson and End Times Prophecy Report, 2012-16. © Mondo Frazier and End Times Prophecy Report, DBKP 2007-2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeremiah J. Jameson and End Times Prophecy Report with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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