And I also like to correct some misinterpretation about Babylon the Great.
Revelation 18:20-24 KJV
[20] Rejoice over her, thou
heaven, and ye
holy apostles and
prophets; for
God hath avenged you on her.
[21] And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that
great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
[22] And the
voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be
heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be,
shall be found any more in thee; and the
sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
[23] And the
light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the
voice of the bridegroom and of the
bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for
thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
[24] And
in her was found the blood of prophets, and
of saints, and
of all that were slain upon the earth.
Many people misunderstood about "all" in verse 24. Yes, all always means all.
But the word "all" in scripture is often
"qualified", meaning, we have to find out what "all" is it talking about. All of whom, or all of what? Is it all the prophets, all the saints, all of them that were slain upon the earth, or is it all mankind, you me, the apostle Paul and Peter. Or is it only "all" the unsaved of the earth. Before we can assume, we need to know what particular "all" is in view. Going about it systematically, it can't mean "all" of mankind because the redeemed are part of mankind and yet they don't have the blood of prophets and saints on their hands. So yes, all means all, but the question is, all of whom.
The way the word is qualified, is by other scriptures. God's word doesn't exist in a vacuum, it is always contingent or conditioned by other scriptures. Just as when Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness when he said, "it is written." He quoted scripture (Matthew 4:6-7) that was absolutely true and trustworthy. But in order to understand that scripture correctly, we must read the whole Bible and see it in the light of all other scriptures. It is only then that we learn that "other" Scriptures qualify the passage hat Satan quoted. His Scripture is true,
but it was only part of the truth. Which is why Jesus said, it is written
again, or "more" is written. And Christ gave another scripture that qualified the verse Satan gave. That is our example of how to approach Bible study. The word often "qualifies" and defines the word. Or to put it another way, the Scriptures interpret themselves. For example, Christ died for all, but He didn't die for the wicked. That's no contradiction, because the qualifier is that Christ died for "all" of
His chosen people.
Matthew 1:21
- "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."
Therefore, all who dwell in the world are not secret/mystery Babylon, else we have contradiction after contradiction. Babylon signifies a city
"in" the world, not the world itself. The kings of the world fornicate with "this city" Babylon. You can't have the world fornicating with itself. There is no symbolism in Scripture that supports that.
Revelation 14:8
- "And there followed another messenger, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
Again, clearly God illustrates this woman is a great city
in the world, a city that the nations "of the world" drink her wine and (like Israel before them) commit spiritual fornication. She is a spiritual Harlot.
Revelation 17:5
- "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
God calls her that great city, not that great earth or world. Here in this verse God calls her the mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth, "not" the earth itself. That great city and a Harlot is the exact same words God called "His congregation" Israel
because of their spiritual unfaithfulness. Again, Scripture interprets Scripture.
As for Cain being the one who slew Abel,
Genesis 4:9-11
- "And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
- And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
- And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;"
The message is not that the world can drink blood, or that the world is responsible for Abel's blood, but that "Cain" is. The blood Cain spilled on the ground in symbolism is a witness against him. God saying the earth is drinking it is
a metaphor, not a declaration that the world is responsible.
When God says now you are cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood
from thy hand, He is simply saying that because you (speaking to Cain) spilled blood on the earth, the earth will not yield to him its increase as before. It is as a "testimony" to his sin, not that the earth is responsible for Abel's murder. This also confirmed in the very next verse, 12.
The portrait painted here is that Cain is the
first unbeliever of God's people, the first
"brother" to rise up in the family against the Lord's chosen and slay him. Cain is the first of the generation (or family) of evil, the first of the line of those who hate and are offended by the Lord's servants. There would be many more after Cain. This is also illustrated in Israel when Christ called those of His people belong to the same family of evil. If we consider the mystery wisely, Christ tells us who Babylon is and why
all the blood from Abel to his time is required of her.
Matthew 23:31-35
- "Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
- Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
- Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
- Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
- That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
- Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation."
Christ didn't claim that all the blood from Abel to Zechariah would be upon the whole world. Christ didn't say that the world were the seed, the family, the generation of them that killed the prophets. Christ didn't say the world was responsible for killing, persecuting, crucifying and scourging the prophets in their synagogues,
Christ said perfectly clearly that it was these people, "His OWN people," who were responsible for this, and who did all these things, and who the blood of Abel was upon. Not the world. THEM --the unfaithful of His own very congregation. The children of those who slew the prophets. That generation or family of evil. They are the one who has spiritually become Babylon!
How were "they" responsible for the blood of Abel? Just as Christ explained, they were the
children (family) of those who killed the prophets. Even though they protested that they would never do such a thing, Christ knew they had the
exact same murderous, wicked heart of their father the devil. And that congregation is measured the same as their fathers, and would become a cage of devils, the hateful birds. This was all proven, of course, as they ended up having Christ crucified, fulfilling Christ's words. They were of that "same" evil generation or family that Cain was of. The
whole unfaithful family of Gods congregation (not the world) were the
ones killing God's prophets. Read Bible history, it's all right there illustrating that the major antagonists of God's servants were God's own people! The rebellion was spiritual brother against brother, Israel against Israel, The Jews against their God. These verses 34 and 35 could have been taken right out of the text of God concerning Babylon, because they are nearly identical.
Babylon is the unfaithful congregation, the harlot, "the great harlot" which God called Israel again, again, and again! Scripture interprets Scripture. Babylon is a contradiction if it represents the world.
Luke 11:47-51
- "Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
- Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.
- Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
- That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
- From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation."
It shall be required of "THIS" family/generation, all of "THIS" generation of vipers, all of "THIS" evil and adulterous generation or family of Satan. They are considered adulterous because they are betrothed to God, corporatelly speaking! The children of the devil residing ALONG WITH the Lord's true servants and slaying them. They are the ones the church should be wary of, not the world. Not Iran. Not United States of America! The world isn't going to kill the witnesses of the church, it is the
people of the church itself, as spiritually Babylon! That is why many people totally missed it because it is a mystery! Did you ever wondered WHY is God's own unfaithful congregation called "mystery" Babylon? For the exact reason that so many of the church
cannot see who she is. Only very few recognize her as the unfaithful church. We have many people, even here, are too busy claiming she's America, Iraq, the United Nations, Rome, the world system, Mecca, London Royal Bank of Scotland, or even physical city of Jerusalem in the Middle East, the list is endless! But those are all private interpretations!! Period! God interprets the harlot
as His congregation, His people.
Revelation 17:7
- "And the messenger said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns."
Think about it. If Babylon is the world or even city Jerusalem, who is the Beast with 10 horns (10 kings) that
carries her? The Messenger of the Covenant will explain what is meant by the symbolism of this great city that is now full of abominations, and the secret meaning including the beast and horns and rules. But it is a mystery for a reason, it's in symbolism for a reason, just as Christ said of Israel, that seeing they will see and not understand. The "Revelation" of the mystery is
for saints who let Scripture interpret Scripture. Cain, Esau, Judas, etc, they're all of the same generation and the blood of the prophets are required both of them, and of these today of that same generation is still running today until Christ returned. "THAT" generation that will not pass until all is fulfilled.
Selah!