Babylon

Text: Revelation 17:1-18:24

Thesis: Whom will you love?

Application: We must decide carefully where our affection will be given and the impact it will have on ourselves and others.

Reading of the Word

Revelation 17:1-18

Intro

Cities Personified as Women

Personification is a common literary feature in the Bible

Personification is when you take inanimate objects or concepts and treat them as if they are people.

Rivers clap their hands, mountains sing - Psalm 98:7–8

“May the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. May the rivers clap their hands, May the mountains sing together for joy”

Mountains will sing, trees will clap their hands - Isaiah 55:12

“For you will go out with joy And be led in peace; The mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Abel’s blood cries out - Genesis 4:10

“Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.”

Wisdom cries out - Proverbs 1:20

“Wisdom shouts in the street, She raises her voice in the public square;”

A Battle of Two Women

The City of Babylon Personified as a Prostitute

When we encounter Revelation, we see that the city of Babylon is now being described as a woman who is in cahoots with the Beast.

Revelation 17:5 “and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.””

Revelation 17:18 “The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.””

Why?

Why Personification?

Remember: The Final Battle from Multiple Perspectives

Personification of the city provides a unique perspective on the final battle and human participation in institutional evil.

If the marks of the Beast and the Lamb (Rev. 13 and 14) revealed who we belong to and the bowls of wine (Rev. 15 and 16) revealed the intensity of what we receive as a result of our belonging, the personification of Babylon reveals why we end up belonging to someone and why the result is so intense.

The answer to why? - Love.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves….

Another Pair of Contrasts

We Continue to Look at Pairs

Babylon as a prostitute is contrasted with another city that will be personified as a woman: the new Jerusalem.

Revelation has been functioning this way the whole time: highlighting contrasting pairs.

The Bible does this all throughout, and Revelation is not the first pair of contrasting personified women!

Remember in Proverbs when wisdom cries out?…

Lady Wisdom vs. Lady Folly

Lady Wisdom

Proverbs 8:1–4

“Does not wisdom call, And understanding raise her voice? On top of the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, she takes her stand; Beside the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries out: “To you, people, I call, And my voice is to mankind.”

Proverbs 8:12–21

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride, arrogance, the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate. “Advice is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine. “By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. “By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly. “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. “Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness. “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold; And my yield better than choice silver. “I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, To endow those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.”

Proverbs 8:32–36

“Now then, sons, listen to me, For blessed are those who keep my ways. “Listen to instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it. “Blessed is the person who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts. “For one who finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord. “But one who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death.””

Proverbs 9:1–6 “Wisdom has built her house, She has carved out her seven pillars; She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine; She has also set her table; She has sent out her attendants, she calls out From the tops of the heights of the city: “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks understanding she says, “Come, eat of my food And drink of the wine I have mixed. “Abandon your foolishness and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.””

Lady Folly

Proverbs 9:13–18

“The woman Folly is boisterous, She has a lack of understanding and knows nothing. She sits at the doorway of her house, On a seat by the high places of the city, Calling to those who pass by, Who are going straight on their paths: “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,” And to him who lacks understanding she says, “Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”

Babylon vs. Jerusalem

Just as Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly are contrasting personified women, the city of Babylon and the city of Jerusalem are also contrasting personified women.

Babylon, like folly, is filled with nothing but depravity, sexual immorality, and murder.

But Jerusalem (who we will meet next week), like wisdom, is pure, holy, good, and beautiful.

Highlighting the depravity of Babylon enhances our understanding of the purity of Jerusalem, and vice versa.

Personification Highlights Love

Personification Reveals the Evil of Babylon, but Also How Many People Love Her

Rev. 18 - Those who love Babylon mourn her, and they had so much reason to love her!

Money

Power

Pleasure

Remember the Cry of the Martyrs

Those who have suffered while bearing the mark of the Lamb will mourn no more. Their mourning and suffering has come to a complete and total end.

But those who love Babylon, who did evil, who persecuted those who loved the Lamb, their story ends with mourning.

Jeremiah 51:63–64 “And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again, because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her; and they will become exhausted.’ ” To this point are the words of Jeremiah.”

Outro

Our Place in Institutional Evil

You don’t need to be a king to love evil.

You don’t need to be a king to participate in evil.

Let’s give up our love for Babylon and cling to our love for Christ.