Ｄ
Babylon the Great will have two falls—the fall of religious Babylon and the fall of material Babylon—14:8; 18:2:
１
The fall of religious Babylon will take place at the beginning of the great tribulation—17:16-17.
２
The fall of material Babylon will take place at the end of the great tribulation—18:2, 21.
３
The praise in 19:1-4 is related not mainly to the fall of material Babylon but to the fall of religious Babylon, because in the eyes of God religious Babylon is more hateful than material Babylon.
Ｅ
God will judge Babylon to such an extent that nothing of Babylon will remain in the universe:
１
Both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied that once Babylon has been destroyed, it will not be restored—Isa. 14:22-23; Jer. 50:39; 51:62.
２
When God destroys both the religious and the political Babylon at the end of the age, that will be the end of the judgment on Babylon prophesied in chapters 50 and 51.
３
Babylon the Great will be destroyed, removed from the earth, and cast into the lake of fire, and the New Jerusalem will be brought in to be the prominent center of God’s eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth—Rev. 11:15; 21:2,10-11.
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 51:61-62 …When you come to Babylon,…say, O Jehovah, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off,…for it will be an eternal desolation.Rev. 11:15 …The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.
21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…
In Revelation the restored Roman Empire is called Babylon the Great (Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2). Babylon the Great has two aspects—a political aspect (Rev. 18) and a religious aspect (Rev. 17)….The political aspect of Babylon the Great includes many material things and many things related to the international trade and commerce upon the earth (Rev. 18:9-19)….At the end time, the political situation of the world will not be communistic, for international trade, not merely national commerce, will be thriving. (Life-study of Jeremiah, p. 248)
Today’s Reading
The world situation is under the influence of Roman politics and Roman religion. Most of the present governments were adopted based on Roman law and Roman administration. In other words, modern government is built upon Roman principles of law and government. Furthermore, the Roman church is prominent in many nations, and the pope has a high political standing. Hence, today, both politically and religiously, the entire earth has been Romanized.Since the whole world has become Roman, under the influence of Roman government and Roman religion, it may seem that God has been defeated. However, the book of Revelation shows us that our God surely has not been defeated.
At the end of this age, the Roman Empire will be restored and strengthened to produce its last Caesar, Antichrist, the man of lawlessness (Rev. 17:9-11; 2 Thes. 2:3-4, 8), who will be very powerful. It is he who will destroy the Roman church at the beginning of the great tribulation. Concerning this, Revelation 17:16 says, “The ten horns which you saw and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked and will eat her flesh and burn her utterly with fire.” That the ten horns and the beast will hate the harlot and make her desolate means that Antichrist and the ten kings of the restored Roman Empire will persecute the Roman church. They will make the Roman church “desolate and naked,” meaning that they will destroy her, rob her of her riches, and expose her; they will “eat her flesh,” meaning that they will kill her members; and they will “burn her utterly with fire,” meaning that they will annihilate her altogether. Then, at the end of the tribulation, Christ will come down from the heavens, with the overcomers as His army, to fight against Antichrist directly and defeat him and cast him alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19). That will be the last fighting of man against God, a fighting that began at Babel and that will increase and intensify until the war at Armageddon. With Christ’s defeat of Antichrist, the entire Roman Empire will be destroyed and all the Roman things will be removed, cleared away, from the earth….Then what will be prominent on earth will not be Babylon but the New Jerusalem.
In the Bible there are two prominent cities—Babylon and Jerusalem. We see these two cities in Jeremiah and in Revelation. In the Old Testament, in Jeremiah, Babylon came to destroy Jerusalem and to make her a ruin, a desolation. At the end of the Bible, in Revelation, there are Babylon the Great and the New Jerusalem. Eventually, Babylon the Great will be destroyed, removed from the earth, and cast into the lake of fire, and the New Jerusalem will be brought in to be the prominent center of God’s eternal kingdom in the new heaven and new earth. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 248-250)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “The Four Men in the Bible,” ch. 9; CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “The Living and Practical Way to Enjoy Christ,” chs. 7-8