This story has always intrigued me and I have never been able to get a true fix on it.
Like the buying and selling of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.
And all this stuff is being shipped and sold into one place , one city , but for what purpose , what are they then going to do with it once they have it ? Will they hord it , use it , re sell it or what ?
So what do you think is going on here?
There are scriptures that appear to point to Jerusalem as Mystery Babylon. I'll quote them below. Having said that, I don't think that Rev 17 and 18 are about Jerusalem.
Ezek goes into great detail about how Jerusalem/Israel is a prostitute under the wrath of God for her detestable practices with similar descriptions as Rev 17 and 18.
Rev 18:24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth.
compare to:
Mat 23:34 Therefore
I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
Mat 23:35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
Mat 23:38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
God used Babylon to destroy and exile Jerusalem/Israel. Then God used someone else to destroy Babylon. God used Rome to destroy and exile Jerusalem/Israel AGAIN. The Roman Empire evolved. There were pope and emperors. Now there's just a pope who claims spiritual authority from God Himself over men. I believe that mystery Babylon of Rev 17/18 is "the land of the North"/the "daughter of Babylon" mentioned in Zech 1 & 2.
Zec 1:18 Then I looked upand there before me were four horns!
Zec 1:19I asked the angel who was speaking to me, What are these?
He answered me, These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.
Zec 1:20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.
Zec 1:21 I asked, What are these coming to do?
He answered,
These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.
God will bring something against what remains of the Roman Empire.
Zec 2:6 Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord, for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven, declares the Lord.
Zec 2:7Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!
Zec 2:8 For this is what the Lord Almighty says: After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered youfor whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye
Zec 2:9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.
compare to:
Rev 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
God is going to use the devil/beast/10 kings to destoy Mystery Babylon.
Rev 17:16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled.
Then, God is going to destroy the beast/10 kings.
It's just like when God used Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and when God used Rome to destroy Jerusalem. Now, God is calling His people from the "land of the North" aka the "daughter of Babylon" because He is about to destroy her too. And once Rome/Land of the North/Daughter of Babylon is destroyed by the beast/10 kings, He's going to take out beast/10 kings who destroy her.
So, bottom line....mystery Babylon is not Jerusalem because "Jerusalem/Israel" are the people God is calling out of mystery Babylon before mystery babylon is destroyed.
I don't feel like I understand it completely, and it seems that symbolic Babylon has changed from actual Babylon to Jerusalem to the Roman Empire....so take it or leave it.
In a way...I can see how or why God would apply the name Babylon to both Jerusalem and the Roman Empire....false gods, idolatry, perversion, ...and we could even spiritualize it and apply the term "mystery Babylon" to all false religion.
As far as the description of wealth goes in Rev 18, that's also in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 27 & 28, referring to Tyre. Tyre is another one...where the symbolism applies. So, it seems we really have to dig around in Scripture to understand the full meaning of Rev 17 & 18.
(Sorry if I rambled...I was thinking and speculating as I wrote)
Babylon is the USA. We import and export more globally then any other country on this planet. It isn't a "hording" situation, but foreign and domestic commerce in action. We have made other nations rich by having our manufacturing jobs shipped over seas, and we are importing their "cheap" goods as manufacturing here in the USA anymore is almost nil. Look at your labels inside your clothing. You rarely ever see "made in the USA" anymore. This nations economy is going to be drained dry and taken out in one hour as Rev so states and commerce will shift to the EU. New York is already using Euro dollars in a lot of their stores....not good. These Presidential candidates are saying that they will bring jobs back to America..isn't going to happen!! We are in that time frame for the Antichrist, and I say that very seriously!!
