The Mysterious City

[Tevye]

Mystery Babylon ...what does the bible say about her?

"The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."

Mystery Babylon is a city.
(verses a nation or empire)

Babylon, before Persia, was an empire.
So the use of Babylon is for describing
the spiritual nature of the mystery city.

What do we know from the Bible about this city?

"...the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
With her the kings of the earth committed adultery
and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated
with the wine of her adulteries.”

It is a city that is known for it's spiritual adultery.
(rather than for being non-religious, like say Wash. D.C.)
Adultery in relation to the reality of a pure relationship to Yeshua.

Where is it described that the woman is located?

"Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert."
In the Spirit to a place of spiritual depravity, or an actual desert location?
I'm thinking a place deprived of the presence of the real Spirit of God.
(a place that once had the presence of the Spirit of the Lord there)
(In the temple?)

"I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints,
the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus."

A city that that has slain many prophets and those sent to her. (the saints)
"In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth.”

Only one place can be responsible for all...
(the city where Christ was crucified for all)

"And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem,
the city that is figuratively called "Sodom" and "Egypt,"
the city where their Lord was crucified." (nlt)

Yeshua cried out to her in Matthew 23

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate."

She was in spiritual adultery and not willing to allow the Lord to gather her to him.

"When I saw her, I was greatly astonished."
A city that when the Apostle John saw her he was like... "no way man!"
Why would he be so surprised if it was a place that was not of the Lord?
John was surprised because he saw a city that was a place he thought
was holy, and a city he thought loved God. This is why she is in adultery.
(in that time of great tribulation and of God's wrath) ...and will be left desolate...

"the great prostitute, who sits on many waters"
"“The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages."

One day the empire of the beast capital will be in Jerusalem
and this empire will have power over all of the earth.
(peoples, multitudes, nations and languages)
"The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

One day Jerusalem will be our sign that the time has come for the 70th week of Daniel to begin.
First...
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him
to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked.
“I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Some of the stones He was looking at are still in the stacked position they were in at His time.
(so that prophecy is yet to be fulfilled, rather than having been partially fulfilled in AD 70)
There is a sequence in scripture. The desciples asked (in a sense) "when" will 'all' of this happen
when these things be when You will return? When? So we know that the first thing will be
a battle that will leave Jerusalem desolate and then the 70th week will begin.
Daniel chapter 9 confirms this sequence.

"The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations
have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’

First... the destruction of Jerusalem then the covenant for a seven or 7years.
Yeshua confirmed this in Matthew 24
Not one stone will be left upon another and then there will be...
(anitchrist- against and in place of Christ)

“Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’
and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.
Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

The begining of (birth pains) the begining of the 70th week of Daniel.

So what are we looking for that will happen first? A great battle that will change Jerusalem forever.
No more stones of the temle mount, walls or foundation stacked as they have been for generations.

The people of the prince who is to come, will pave the way for his empire in Jerusalem.
When that empire is established by the giving of power by ten kings to antichrist
then Jerusalem will become Mystery Babylon... the mother of harlots.
...and of the abominations of the Earth.

"...on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination
that causes desolation, until the end..."

[1whowaits]

Tevye, i would agree, the description of Babylon in Rev 17 most closely fits that of Jerusalem described elsewhere in scripture.

The next event would appear to clear the way for the Israelis to begin to rebuild the temple which is later desecrated by the AC. The muslims would never willingly allow the Jewish people to build a temple on what they regard as a muslim holy site. So the muslims will be dealt with decisively, and the judgement would have to appear to come from God for them to cease from attacking Israel and the temple even after a decisive military defeat. The event that most closely fulfills this role is Gog-Magog.

Satan has always wanted to exalt himself above God, the taking over of the Hebrew temple that scripture calls the 'temple of God' would appear to further Satan's goals. Subjecting the city God calls His city, the people that God calls His people, would also appear to fulfill Satan's desire.

[Tevye]

Thank you. : )

Glory to the Lord.

[Resurrection Torchlight]

I also agree that Jerusalem does seem to fit the description of mystery Babylon.

RT