Chapter Thirty -"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!"

IT IS the hour of God's judgment!  Listen,then, to the divine message:  " And another, a second angel, followed, saying:  'She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, she who made all the nation drink of the wind of the anger of her fornication!' " (Revelation 14:8)  For the first time, but not the last,Revelation focuses attention on Babylon the Great.  Later, chapter 17 will describe her as a voluptuous harlot. Who is she?  As we shall see,she is a global empire, she is religious, and she is Satan's counterfeit system that he uses in fighting against the seed of God's woman.  (Revelation 12:17)  Babylon the Great is the entire world empire of false religion.  She includes all religions that preserve the religious teachings and practices of ancient Babylon and that manifest her spirit.

It was at Babylon, more than 44,000 years ago, that Jehovah confused the tongues of the  would-be builders of the Tower of Babel.  The different language groups were scattered to the ends of the earth, taking with them the apostate beliefs and practices that are in the basis of most religions to this day.  (Genesis 11:1-9) Babylon the Great is the religious part of Satan's organization.  (Compare John 8:43-47) Her most prominent segment today is apostate Christendom, which emerged as a powerful, lawless organization in the fourth century after Christ, with creeds and formalism derived not from the Bible, but largely from Babylonish religion.  -2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.  

You may ask, 'Since religion still exercises great influence on the earth, why does the angel announce that Babylon the Great has fallen?  Well, what resulted in 539 B.C.E. when ancient Babylon fell?  Why, Israel was freed to return to it homeland and restore true worship there!  So the restoration of spiritual Israel in 1919 to a radiant spiritual prosperity, which continues and expands to this day, stands as evidence that Babylon the Great fell  in that year.  No longer does she have power of restraint over God's people.  Moreover, she has come into deep trouble within her own ranks.  Since 1919 her corruption, dishonesty, and immorality have been widely exposed. In most of Europe, few people go to church anymore, and in many socialistic countries, religion is regarded as "the opium of the people."  Disgraced in the eyes of all lovers of God's Word of truth, as it were, for the execution of Jehovah's righteous judgment on her.  

Next time:  Chapter Thirty - "Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" -Babylon's Disgraceful Fall

From the book of Revelation