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 So by 1919 Babylon the Great has fallen, opening the way for God's people to be released and restored, in one day as it were, to their land of spiritual prosperity. (Isaiah 66:8) By that year, Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, the Greater Darius and the Greater Cyrus, had maneuver matters so that the false religion could no longer keep a hold on Jehovah's people. No more could it prevent them from serving Jehovah and making known to all who might hear that harlot-like Babylon the great is doomed and the vindication of Jehovah's sovereignty is at hand! - ISAIAH 45:1-4; DANIEL 5:30, 31. 

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Chapter Thirty-Six/The Great City Devastated -Babylon the Great Takes a Tumble - Continue

 Whom does this angel with great authority use in heralding such amazing news before mankind? Why, it is the very people that are released as a result of that fall, the remaining anointed ones on earth, the John class. From 1914 to 1918, these suffered greatly at the hands of Babylon the Great, but in 1918 the Lord Jehovah and his "messenger of the [Abrahamic] covenant," Jesus Christ, began judgment with "the house of God, those professing to be Christians. Thus apostate Christendom was brought to trial. (Malach 3:1; 1 Peter4:17) Her tremendous bloodguilt incurred during the first world warm, her complicity in persecuting Jehovah's faithful witnesses, and her Babylonish creeds did not help her in the time of judgment; nor did any other part of Babylon the Great merit God's approval. - Compare ISAIAH 13:1-9. 

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Chapter Thirty-Six/The Great City Devastated - Babylon Takes a Tumble

 John continues the account, telling us: "After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, with great authority; and the earth was lightened up from his glory. And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: 'She has fallen Babylon the Great has fallen.' " (Revelation 18:1, 2a) It is the second time that John hears that angelic announcement. (See Revelation 14:8.) This time, however, its significance is emphasized by the magnificence of the heavenly angel, for his glory lights up the whole earth! Who can he be? Centuries earlier the prophet Ezekiel, reporting on a heavenly vision stated that "the earth itself shone because of his [Jehovah's] glory. (Ezekiel 43:2) The only angel to shine with glory comparable t0 Jehovah's would be the Lord Jesus, who is "the reflection of [God's] glory and the exact representation of his very being." (Hebrews 1:3) In 1914 'the Son of man arrived in his glory," and since that time Jesus, installed "on his glorious throne" in the heavens, has been exercising authority over the earth as Jehovah's associate King and Judge. It is fitting then, that he should announce the fall of Babylon the Great. -MATTHEW 25:31, 32. 

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Chapter Thirty-Six/The Great City Devastated

 It is therefore appropriate that Revelation should confirm the doom of false religion by giving us two detailed descriptions of her fall and subsequent events leading to her total desolation. We have already seen her as "the great harlot" that is finally devastated by her erstwhile lovers of the political realm. (Revelation 17:1, 15, 16) Now, in still another vision, we are to view her as a city, the religious antitype of ancient Babylon.

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Chapter Thirty-Six/The Great City Devastated

 SUDDEN, shocking, devastating-such will be the demise of Babylon the Great! It will be one the most catastrophic events in all history, making the start of the "great tribulation such as not occurred since the world's beginning until now, no, nor will occur again." - MATTHEW 24:21.

False religion has been around for a long time. It has existed without a break since the day of bloodthirsty Nimrod, who opposed Jehovah and set men to building the Tower of Babel. When Jehovah confused the tongues of those rebels and scattered them over the earth, Babylon's false religion traveled with them. (Genesis 10:8-10; 11:4-9) Since then, political empires have risen and fallen, but Babylonish religion has endure. It has taken many shapes and forms becoming a world empire of false religion, the prophesied Babylon the Great. Its most prominent part in Christendom, which grew out of fusion of early Babylonish teachings with apostate "Christian" doctrine. Because of the long history of Babylon the Great, many people find it hard to believe that will ever be destroyed.

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Chapter Thirty-Five/Executing Babylon the Great - Carrying Out God's Thought - Conclusion

 As if to emphasize the certainty of Jehovah's execution of judgment on the world empire of false religion, the angel concludes his testimony by saying: "And the woman whom you saw means the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth." (Revelation 17:18) Like Babylon of Belshazzar's time, Babylon the Great has "been weighed in the balance and found wanting." (Daniel 5:27, The New English Bible) Her execution will be swift and final. And how do Jehovah's Witnesses respond to the unraveling of the mystery of the great harlot and of the scarlet-colored wild beast? The show zeal in proclaiming Jehovah's day of judgment, while answering "with graciousness" sincere searchers for truth. (Colossians 4:5, 6; Revelation17:3, 7) As our next chapter will show, all those who desirous of surviving when the great harlot is executed must act, and act quickly!

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 Yes, the nations will use the scarlet-colored wild beast, the3 United Nations, in destroying Babylon the Great. They do act on their own initiative, for Jehovah puts into their hearts "even to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast." When the time comes, the nations will evidently see the need to strengthen the United Nations. They will give it teeth, as it were, lending it whatever authority and power they possess so that it can turn upon false religion and fight successfully against her "until the words of God will have been accomplished." Thus, the ancient harlot will come to her complete end. And good riddance to her! 

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 Again Jehovah uses human rulers in executing judgment: "For God put into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished." (Revelation 17:17) What is God's thought"? To arrange for the executioners of Babylon the Great to band together, in order to destroy her completely. Of course, the rulers' motive in attacking her will be to carry out their own "one thought." They will feel that it is in their nationalistic interests to turn upon the great harlot. They come to view the continued existence of organized religion within their boundaries as a threat to their sovereignty. But Jehovah will be maneuvering matters; they will carry out this thought by destroying his age-old adulterous enemy at one stroke! - Compare JEREMIAH 7:8-11, 34. 

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Chapter Thirty-Five/Executing Babylon the Great - Carrying Out God's Thought

 How does Jehovah execute this judgment? This may be illustrated by Jehovah's action against his apostate people in ancient times, concerning whom he said: "In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible things, committing adultery and walking in falsehood; and they have strengthened the hands of evildoers in order that they should not return, each one from his own badness.  To me all of them have become like Sodom, and the inhabitants of her like Gomorrah." (Jeremiah 23:14) In 607 B.C.E., Jehovah used Nebuchadnezzar to 'strip off the garments, take away the beautiful articles, and leave naked and nude' that spiritually adulterous city.  (Ezekiel 23:4, 26, 29) Jerusalem of that time was a pattern of Christendom today, and as John saw in earlier visions, Jehovah will administer to Christendom and the rest of false religion a similar punishment. The desolated, inhabited condition of Jerusalem after 607 B.C.E shows what religious Christendom will look like after being stripped of her wealthy and shamefully exposed. And the rest of Babylon the Great will fare no better. 

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Chapter Thirty-Five/Executing Babylon the Great - Devasting the Harlot -Conclusion

 Why would the nations treat their former paramour so outrageously? We have seen in recent history the potential for such a turning against Babylonish religion. Official government opposition has tremendously reduced the influence of religion in lands such as the Soviet Union and China. In Protestant sectors of Europe, widespread apathy and doubt have emptied the churches, so that religion is practically dead. The vast Catholic empire is torn by rebellion and disagreement, which the itinerant pope has been unable to calm. We should not, though, lost sight of the fact that this final, all-out attack on Babylon the Great comes as an expression of God's unalterable judgment on the great harlot. 

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