Parallel
Babylon’s – Ancient and
Modern
The leopard-like
beast is called Babylon six times
in the book of Revelation because
there are many parallels between
the ancient empire of Babylon and
the modern empire of Babylon.
Consider these parallels: Ancient
Babylon was a world empire and
modern Babylon will be a world
empire. Ancient Babylon worshiped
false gods and modern Babylon
will worship false gods. The
prophets and gods of the ancient
Babylonians were shown to be
grossly inferior to the true
prophets of God and the same
thing will happen to modern
Babylon. Ancient Babylon captured
and persecuted God’s people.
Modern Babylon will capture and
persecute God’s people. The
king of ancient Babylon set up an
image that everyone was required
to worship. Anyone refusing to
worship the image was to be
killed. The king of Modern
Babylon will do the same thing.
The king of ancient Babylon did
not recognize the sovereign
authority of the Most High God.
The king of modern Babylon will
do the same. Ancient Babylon was
defiant and insulting to God and
modern Babylon will be the same.
Modern Babylon will experience
the same fate as ancient Babylon.
The king of modern
Babylon (Lucifer) will prove to
be more blasphemous than the king
of ancient Babylon. Remember the
ego and vanity of King
Nebuchadnezzar. “[H]e [King
Nebuchadnezzar] said, ‘Is
not this the great
Babylon I have built
as the royal residence, by my
mighty power and for the glory of
my majesty?’ The
words were still on his lips when
a voice came from heaven,
‘This is what is decreed for
you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your
royal authority has been taken
from you.’” (Daniel
4:30,31, insertion and italics
mine) After being warned about
his exceeding arrogance and pride
(Daniel 4:4-27), Nebuchadnezzar
continued to ignore the warning
that the Most High God had given
him. The king vainly reasoned
that Babylon was the product of
his genius and of his great
power. One day after speaking
boastful words (Daniel 4:29,30),
God instantly turned
Nebuchadnezzar into a raving
madman. The king was driven away
from his residence in the city to
live among the wild beasts of the
field for seven years. (Daniel
4:31-33) At the end of his
sentence, God not only restored
the king’s mind, but he
restored the king to his throne.
(Daniel 4:34,35) Nebuchadnezzar
confessed to his empire that
indeed, there is a Sovereign God
who rules over the kingdoms of
men and gives them to anyone He
wishes. (Daniel 4:36,37) It is
ironic that Nebuchadnezzar could
not bring himself to tell the
empire that the Sovereign God of
the universe, who restored his
good fortune, was not the God of
the Jews. God rarely gets the
credit He deserves.
Unfortunately,
Nebuchadnezzar’s offspring
did not learn from his experience
or testimony. A few years after
Nebuchadnezzar died, Belshazzar
became king, and after insulting
the God of Heaven one too many
times, God destroyed him. (Daniel
5) The fate of Belshazzar, king
of ancient Babylon, and Lucifer,
king of modern Babylon, will be
the same.
Babylon –
A Hand Puppet of the Devil
The great red
dragon (the devil) has an anatomy
that is similar to the
leopard-like beast (Babylon).
There is a good reason for this.
When the time comes, the great
red dragon will enter the
leopard-like beast similar to the
way a hand is inserted into a
latex glove.
The Bible says, “The
dragon gave the [leopard-like]
beast his power and his throne
and great authority.” (Revelation
13:2, insertion mine) Babylon
will become the hand puppet of
the devil. Remember,
Babylon’s mandate will be
simple: Appease God so that His
judgments will cease. People will
think the solution will be to
eliminate decadent and degenerate
behavior. Therefore, Babylon will
create many “sin-less”
laws that civil authorities will
enforce. Notice this profound
point: If a person obeys the laws
of Babylon, he actually worships
the leopard-like beast because
the biblical meaning of the word
“worship” is
submission. Today, we usually
interpret the word
“worship” to mean a
religious celebration, a church
service, or a religious
gathering, but the Greek word for
“worship” is proskuneo
that means to surrender
obedience, to prostrate oneself,
or to kiss with submission.”
(Remember Judas’ kiss.
Matthew 26:49) When Abel
worshiped God, he killed the
sacrificial lamb as God demanded.
On the other hand, Cain did not
worship God, but instead presumed
to worship God by putting fruit
on the altar. Obeying the laws of
Babylon means worshiping the
devil. The Bible cannot make it
any clearer. “Men
worshiped [obeyed] the
dragon because he had given
authority to the beast, and they
also worshiped [obeyed] the
[leopard-like] beast and
asked, ‘Who is like the [leopard-like]
beast? Who can make war [resist
his authority and argue] against
him [without being punished]?’”
(Revelation 13:4, insertions
mine)
Babylon will be a
“monster-sized”
church-state empowered by the
devil. Remember, the devil’s
focus is a specific group of
people – the remnant of the
woman. He tried to kill Jesus at
birth and failed. He tried to
keep his seat in God’s
government, but Jesus cast him
out on Resurrection Sunday. He
chased the woman for 1,260 years
and failed to destroy her in the
wilderness. Therefore, this
ancient scholar of Scripture
knows full well this will be his
last chance, and he is determined
to totally destroy God’s
people. “Then the dragon
was enraged at the woman and went
off to make war against the rest
of her offspring – those who
obey God’s commandments and
hold to the testimony of
Jesus.” (Revelation
12:17) The devil has a plan and
Babylon will be the perfect tool
for executing it. The devil will
manipulate Babylon’s
leaders. He will dictate laws
through them, and the governments
of the world will enforce these
laws – thinking that they
are appeasing God. Ultimately,
Lucifer will persecute billions
of people through Babylon’s
blind leaders. (Luke 6:39)
Given the global
diversity of mankind today, it
seems foolish to predict that a
time is coming when the whole
world will voluntarily
submit to one religious
authority. A global church-state
is unthinkable and impossible
right now, but the Bible predicts
it will surely occur. The Bible
says, “The whole
world was astonished [by the
first four trumpets and
recognizing their need to appease
the wrath of Almighty God, the
political leaders of the world
laid aside their objections] and
followed the [demands of the
leopard-like] beast.”
(Revelation 13:3,
italics and insertions mine)
The leopard-like
beast will be man’s solution
to God’s wrath.
Babylon’s logic will be
simple: Appease God by outlawing
decadent behavior. Religious
leaders will trample on the
inalienable rights of human
beings and the political
structures of all nations. If
anyone speaks against Babylon, he
will be accused of blasphemy and
punished accordingly. (This is
why we need to spread the word
now – before freedom is
lost.)
To make matters
worse, the political leaders of
the world will yield to
Babylon’s demands; more
wrath from God will surely fall!
In short, the nations of Earth
will allow Babylon to rule over
them. A horrible world order will
be established without firing a
single bullet. The devil will
rejoice! He will energize false
religions and paralyze
politicians with fear so that he
can persecute the saints. The
first four trumpets will remove
the political leaders of the
world from their exalted posts of
duty and the religious leaders of
the world will take their place
for 890 days. During this time
frame, God intends to confront
the seven false religions of
Earth head on and expose them for
what they are. You may recall
that God did the same thing with
the religious leaders in ancient
Babylon. (See Daniel 2.)
The
Crowns Are Moved
We have already
noticed that the leopard-like
beast has seven heads and ten
horns just like the great red
dragon. However, the crowns are
moved from the seven heads on
the great red dragon in
Revelation 12:3 to the ten horns
of the leopard-like beast in
Revelation 13:1. This relocation
of the crowns indicates a shift
in persecuting authority
The Greek language
has two words that mean
“crown.” The first word
is diadema and the second
is stephanos. A diadema
is a crown of authority (a
king’s crown), whereas a stephanos
is a winner’s crown
(such as the Miss America
Pageant’s crown). The book
of Revelation uses and identifies
both types of crowns. The woman
in Revelation 12:1 wears a
winner’s crown (a
stephanos) that has twelve
stars in it, whereas both beasts
wear a diadema – a
crown of authority.
The dragon chases
the woman into the wilderness for
1,260 years as Revelation 12
begins. The crowns’
placement on the red dragon is
important because the diadema
are on the heads of this beast.
In other words, persecution comes
from the religious authorities.
Religious authorities persecuted
Jesus (and His followers) and
religious authorities also
persecuted Christians during the
Dark Ages. However, when Babylon
rises from the sea, the diadema
are located on the ten horns.
This means the devil will use
civil authorities to persecute
God’s people. How clever!
The devil will speak through
Babylon’s clergy. They will
create many “sinless”
laws designed to appease God.
Babylon will then dictate these
laws to the nations of Earth and
civil authorities in each nation
(e.g., national police, security
services, armies, etc.) will
enforce them. Civil authorities
will end up doing the
devil’s dirty work! Very
clever.
While the
mechanics of demon possession are
complex, the result is rather
easy to understand. A
demon-possessed person has a
deranged mind. A demon-possessed
person cannot control his
emotions, thoughts, or impulses,
at times. A demon-possessed
person has moments of no
tolerance or compassion, and a
demon-possessed government is no
different. Demon possessed
leaders like Herod are not
concerned about the welfare of
their subjects. They are obsessed
with exercising and maintaining
absolute power and control. They
think nothing of imposing
suffering and torture on their
subjects to accomplish their
goals.
After Babylon
forms, it will quickly become a
demon-possessed government.
Babylon will create laws that
will become increasingly
oppressive as time passes.
Penalties for “civil
disobedience” will escalate
accordingly. This will be a
telltale sign that the devil has
gained control of Babylon, for
there is nothing that brings
Lucifer greater joy than to have
human beings inflict horrible
suffering upon one another. The
devil rejoices every time an
injustice is done. He rejoices
every time a violent act is
committed. The devil rejoices to
see innocent victims suffer and
die. Make no mistake, he also
rejoices when the real
perpetrators of crime languish in
prison or receive due justice.
The devil does not care about
anyone – the perpetrator or
the victim of crime. The dragon
wants human beings to suffer
because he wants Christ to
suffer. Lucifer knows that
nothing produces more grief in
the heart of Jesus than human
suffering.
