“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” (Revelation 17:1-5, NASB)

What kind of woman is your city? Here’s a question that came to mind as I read today’s passage. In the Bible, God sometimes sees our cities as women, some godly and some ungodly. Now it is not as though the city itself is godly or ungodly, but the people who live there shape the city’s personality and characteristics. In Revelation 18 and 19, we are given a description of a great city that will be judged by God in the Tribulation Period known as “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.” It says in today’s passage,

“And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I shall 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. And 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 upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.’”

After the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls judgment, John saw a vision of a great harlot sitting on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns with this name written upon her forehead. According to the angel’s interpretation, the beast with seven heads and ten horns represents Satan’s kingdom throughout history, culminating in a one-world government under the Antichrist (Rev.17:9-14). Furthermore, the last verse of this chapter reveals that this harlot is a “great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” Therefore, if the beast that this woman is sitting on is the antichrist and his one-world government, then it is logical to say that this city will be where the beast rules. Since the prophecies of Daniel, Jesus, and Paul say that the Antichrist will take his seat in the temple of God and declare himself God (Mt.24:15, 2 Thess.2:3-4), it would not be far-fetched to identify this city as Jerusalem.

The words used to describe this city indicate that the city will be very much anti-God. Here are the descriptive words: “harlot” (prostitute-like), “acts of immorality” (evil and wicked), “drunk with the wine of her immorality” (sexually sinful), “purple and scarlet” (royal or religious), “adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls” (rich and wealthy), “gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality” (enjoying perversions in a party-like atmosphere), and “the mother of harlots” (instigator or source of these things on earth).

Further, the word “Babylon” originally comes from the Tower of Babel story, where Noah’s descendants chose to build a city and a tower to make a name for themselves, but God scattered them across the earth by confusing their languages. The city was built by a man named Nimrod, and it was the beginning of the spirit of Babylon (Gen.10:8-12, 11:4-9). The spirit of Babylon reappears during King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, where he conquered most of the earth, and he was found saying, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan.4:30) The spirit of Babylon will reemerge during the Tribulation Period, and the antichrist will carry her spirit on his back and rule the earth.

By calling this city a harlot-like woman and tying her to the antichrist, God is saying that she will be his woman or wife. If this city is indeed Jerusalem in Israel, then it shows that the city once known to be God’s wife will now be known as a harlot. This is not the first time that God called Israel a harlot. We need not look further than the book of Hosea. God commanded Hosea to prophesy against Israel, “Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband; and let her put away her harlotry from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts” (Hos.2:2). This makes a lot of sense, as God later shows John the new city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven as the bride of Christ. John is told, “Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Rev.21:9-10). There is a great difference between the two women and the two cities, the earthly one and the heavenly one. One belongs to Christ and the other to Satan. The city once known to be the city of God will become the city of Satan, harlotry, and immorality. God will once and for all deal with this city and bring a new Jerusalem out of heaven. This leads us to questions about our own cities. If these things are so, where do major cities like Los Angeles, London, Paris, Beijing, Moscow, Rome, Tokyo, and Mecca stand?  

• What do you think? What city on earth do you think the Babylon the Great represents?
• What kind of woman is your city?
• What can we do to turn our cities into daughters of Jerusalem rather than daughters of Babylon?