If we only had to deal with chapter 17 in terms of Babylon and the judgment of the harlot we would
be on easier ground. However chapter 18 introduces perspectives that call into question the
simplicity of the interpretation we focused of for chapter 17. While the interpretation offered for 17
still seems very compelling, and is almost sure to be at the very least an earlier fulfillment of a pattern, in chapter 18 the focus is more clearly on “a literal city”, and there are statements that suggest very different ways of looking at things. For instance, let’s look at the reaction the world has to the destruction of the city:
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The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’ “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth!
For in one hour she is made desolate.’
(Revelation 18: 15-19)
Does this really seem fitting for modern Rome? Terms like “what is like this great city?” imply
something of much greater magnitude and importance than the city of Rome (at least in its present
form).
Some people suggest that the term “Mystery, Babylon the great” may actually relate to Washington,
a city whose very architecture is firmly rooted in the occult. Although relating well to a period of American ascendency in the world, this interpretation would be hard to link to attributes such as
“being drunk with the blood of the martyrs”, unless this kind of persecution one day emanated from
Washington. Another suggestion given is that the city of Babylon (in Iraq) will ultimately be rebuilt into a fabulous world city which will be the epicenter of the Antichrist’s kingdom in the end times (at least until the Antichrist destroys it). This could be the case, which would presumably imply that end times are not immediately imminent since Babylon is far from being of much significance at the time of writing this. Further supporting the idea that literal Babylon is rebuilt in end times is the fact that prophecies concerning its total and permanent destruction have never been fulfilled.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation; nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
(Isaiah 13: 19-20)
The simple truth is that, while Babylon is not of much significance today, it is inhabited. That it is totally destroyed at some point does not automatically imply that it must first become a great city again, but the possibility is there. If this is the correct interpretation of Revelation 18 then it may also suggest a movement of power from the “Christian West” to the “Islamic East” (unless the West
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ultimately takes control of the Middle East, a scenario that is not entirely unlikely given its actions so far in Iraq and Afghanistan, Libya, etc).