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Therefore her plagues will come in one day - death and mourning and famine. And she will literally be burned with fire, for strong is Lord who judges her.
And kings of earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas, this great city Babylon, mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.' And merchants of earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore ... Rejoice over her, O heaven, and your holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her."
Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into sea, saying, "Thus with violence great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found ... and light of your lamp shall not shine anymore. For your merchants were great men of earth, for by your sorcery all nations were deceived. And in her was found blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on earth." (Revelations 18:1-24) 3. Here is another verse that says her destruction will come in one hour.
"For in one hour such great riches came to nothing." (Revelations 18:17)
Conclusion1. Babylon probably has to be rebuilt sometime before 7 year Tribulation starts. If it is going to be a flourishing city by time Antichrist sets out to destroy it, it has to be rebuilt sometime before Antichrist really comes to power in order to properly set stage for it to be a "flourishing and wealthy" city again.
Prophecy students feel that its destruction by Antichrist will probably come somewhere around midpoint of Tribulation or shortly thereafter. Remember, Antichrist will rise to power more on peace and diplomacy during first three and half years. It is in last three and half years of Tribulation that Antichrist basically goes nuts and starts mass persecution of Jews and all who will not accept his mark. My guess is that Babylon is included in last three and half years of his mass destruction of both people and countries.
2. You'll also notice that Babylon is destroyed in one hour by fire. The first verse above says that beast will burn her with fire. I have to believe that Antichrist will probably launch some type of nuclear missile or bomb on Babylon to completely destroy it by fire in one hour.
3. The Bible says our God is a jealous God. The first of Ten Commandments is "You shall have no other Gods before Me." The second commandment says:
"You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in water under earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Lord Your God, am a jealous God ..."
All of other false religions that have come onto this earth all have their origin with ancient city of Babylon - and they all involve some form of idol worship.With our God Father being one and only true God of entire universe, He calls all of these other false religions originating out of Babylon harlots! That is because they are not one and only true faith involving God of Bible. I've already done an article titled "The Basics of Salvation Through Jesus Christ". The Bible makes it very clear that there is only one faith, one God, one religion and one Savior - Jesus Christ. God Father will not honor in any way, shape or form any of these other false religious systems. All of these other religions are an abomination in His sight and they all have their origin with Satan himself. And city of ancient Babylon was really official starting point from where Satan really started to develop and work in all of other false religions of world today into each of other countries around world.
Once you understand and see "big picture" as how God sees it, you can understand why He would want to resurrect city of Babylon again, just so that He can set it up for its final destruction at end of times.
The above verses also says this destruction is set up by God in order to avenge all of His people who have been martyred throughout history by all of these other false religions.
4. If you want to read more on Babylon and its final destruction, go to chapters 17 and 18 in Revelations. Those two chapters were too long for me to type out everything in this article. The above verses are highlighting basics on this subject for you. Note Revelations 17:3 where it says:
"And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns."
The woman is city of Babylon and beast she is sitting on is Antichrist. This verse tells you that initially Babylon will be riding on and working with Antichrist and probably helping him set up his agenda.There are also predictions that out of Babylon, will come a lot more of New Age Movement, along with a heavy increase in sorcery, magic and occult. Demons and their supernatural powers will be at their peak during end times, and city of Babylon will also have a lot of occultic activity surrounding it which will help draw a lot of people from all over world to visit there. This would probably explain why it is going to become so popular and wealthy again once it is resurrected.
All of above is just another powerful "puzzle piece" given by God in Bible to let us know when we really are starting to approach end of times and return of His Son to our earth to set up His 1000 year Millennium Kingdom.
Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of Bible commentary and teaching. If you do not want to wait for the next article, you can go to our end times section. Copyright © 2005 by Michael Bradley. All Rights Reserved.