A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” – Revelation 14:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 28, 2015): Revelation 14

Ancient Babylon is a city that has captured the imagination of many. The ancient city was, during two of its historical periods, the largest city on the face of the earth (from 1770 to 1670 B.C.E. and then again from 612 to 320 B.C.E.) The city of Babylon was most likely the first city to ever grow beyond the 200,000 mark in population. In 1983, Saddam Hussein made plans and started to reconstruct the city. In fact, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was patterned after Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. (Maybe Hussein’s plan for the site of the ancient city explains the U.S. Military’s decision to occupy the city, severely damaging some of the ancient artifacts still contained within the ruins. From the U.S. Military point of view, their presence in Babylon was to protect the site from looters who wanted to steal from the ancient city.) But after 320 B.C.E, the city began its decline into oblivion. The idea of Babylon has remained important to all of those who are willing to remember her, but the city itself was relegated to obscurity.

By the time John wrote these words, the Babylon the Great of history was gone forever. So the angel’s words cannot be taken literally. Most experts recognize in the angel’s words a prediction against another great city of the world, a city that posed a threat to John and his message. The angel was speaking directly against John’s Rome. And the imagery that we are left with is that Rome, like Babylon, would one day disappear from the face of the earth.

Maybe the fact that the City of Rome did not totally disappear is part of the reason why we sometimes miss the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy. For Babylon, both the city and the Empire have disappeared. We remember them and Iraqis dream of one day rebuilding the Babylon of history – but Babylon is gone. For Rome, the city still exists. Because of the great cultural significance and ultimately because of the importance that Christians place on the city, Rome actually flourishes. But it is not the Empire that it once was. The Empire died in last days of the fifth century C.E., in direct fulfillment of the angel’s words.    

But biblical scholars hasten to add that it is not just that Babylon and Rome have disappeared from the glory that they once possessed that is import of the angel’s words. The prophecy reminds us that all great urban centers on the earth opposed to the will of God will find their demise before the return of Jesus to the earth. As great as the powers of this world may seem to be to us, they will not stand up in the presence of God. We may be tempted to worship the power of this world, but it is in reality nothing but folly. Because we know that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 15