Verse 18:2 mentions Babylon:
Heavenly Messenger (with
a powerful voice): Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great city!
It has become a habitat for
demons,
A haunt for every kind of foul spirit,
a prison for every sort of
unclean and hateful bird.
I have heard many predict where “Babylon” is and what city
it may be today since it’s been long gone. As you follow in verse 3 it implies
the world revolved around this country and city. The first thing that we must
understand is this city is where mystery religions from Babylon are held. Many
have said Jerusalem but the world would not notice the loss of this nation but
if you think we are at the end today the USA has to be this nation, because if
it ceased all other nations would be greatly impacted. So I tend to believe it’s
New York City or Washington DC. Both have alleged links to the mystery
religions of Babylon.
DC is laid out with much of this in mind. If either one were
to disappear our economy would go into a freefall and therefore all the world’s
nations who trade with us would go away. So I tend to think this nation founded
on Godly principles has lost its way and will be the center of the major
collapse.
Now many claim the Middle East is where this must be and one
could argue since the world relies on the oil that flows from this region, if a
collapse happened this would be catastrophic for all nations. Either way I
believe this is clearly an economic collapse and will be one of the great
economic players. Right now that is the USA and the Middle East. At this time
there is enough oil production outside that region, I am not sure how much of
an impact it would have unless they crush production by pricing. Our nation’s
consumption is what drives the world as I see it now. So … stand by.
Verse 19:10 has some important components to it:
At that, I fell down at his feet to
worship him, but he refused my praise.
Guide: Stop it. Don’t
you see? I am a servant like you and your brothers and sisters, all who hold
fast to the testimony of Jesus. Address your worship to God, not to me!
For the testimony about Jesus is essentially the prophetic
spirit.
First notice that the Guide does not accept the praise as
only one does. Also, this chapter heralds in the coming of Jesus, or at least who
everyone assumes to be Jesus since it’s really not implicitly said. But this
time the white horse rider has many crowns, unlike the white horse of the 4
horseman who is interpreted to be the Anti-Christ.
This is something we have seen from time to time in the
Bible where worship is misdirected and the receiver stops them to ensure they
worship the one true God only. This has been from messengers to men like Paul.
Chapter 20 is an interesting look since it’s the final battle where Satan is
release from the depths to battle. Now they describe 1000 years and the
question is are we in those 1000 years or has it yet to be started? It’s
difficult to say for sure, but based on the prophecies leading into this we are
not there yet. There are two ways of looking at Revelations, try to read into
the vision a bunch or take it more literal. I tend to fall on the Keep It
Simple … Stupid mindset and the imagery will be clear as it unfolds. We may not
understand the 10 headed beast, but if we were to see a large consolidation of
nations into 10 districts around the world this will be clear. So be aware and
don’t read too much into the scriptures and try to point to everyone we dislike
as the anti-Christ.