Hidden Babylon and God's Last Warning

“Come out of her, my people!” A voice from heaven calls out this exhortation in Revelation 18:4 to all who would listen. It can only be assumed it is a call from God, for who else in heaven but God could call a people his? If we are God’s people, we are called to come out of Babylon the Great, the woman riding the seven-headed beast, who is also named “the great city” (Rev. 17:18).

What exactly does coming out of her mean? There has been much confusion on this topic, most coming from not knowing the identity of Babylon the Great, it seems. If we knew who she was, we would know who or what to leave. In effect, the command to “Come out of her” is just as mysterious as the identity of Babylon the Great herself.

This exhortation is actually a warning due to the ominous nature of what immediately follows in Revelation 18:4: “That you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues.” Her plagues, as the Bible tells us, are many and severe and take place at the judgment at the end of the age, as well as for eternity.

The warning given in Revelation 18:4 is also the last one given in the Bible. Since this is the last warning and comes with terrible consequences if ignored, it is important to take notice.

This warning seems to be treated by many in the Church in one of two ways. Either it is treated as advice to leave whatever city or religion Babylon the Great supposedly is, or it is treated as a nebulous call to leave some worldwide religious system. Many may have thought over the centuries, “I don’t need to worry about leaving her because I’m not part of what I think she is.” This goes on even today in the Church.

I know I thought the same way at one point. Up to a few years ago, I didn’t think much of the whole topic. If a specific city or religious group was going to be targeted for extra punishment, I thought, So what? My mind was occupied studying other topics like the coming Signposts and the very hard times to come across the world, as presented in my earlier books. Since as a world we were all going to be suffering hard times anyway, as the trumpet and bowl judgments would supposedly punish the entire world, it never seemed important to me.

I also saw problems with the logic of interpretations saying Babylon the Great was the Roman Catholic Church, or Islam, or Rome, or New York City. All of these positions have one thing in common: they all involve one group of people. When reading Revelation 17 and 18, holes can be found in the logic of all these arguments that Babylon the Great is one particular city or religion.

If the words of Revelation 18:24 are taken literally, then how could all the blood ever shed be in any one city or institution? Just about every religion and city would have blood on its hands from at least one person who was murdered within its boundaries, but how could they be guilty of all the blood shed on earth?

Commentators such as Barnes, Poole, and Gill, believing that pagan and papal Rome is Babylon the Great, wrote that Rome is responsible for all the blood. In my opinion, the fault with this argument is that it leaves out other political and religious entities, such as Islam, that have slaughtered many more people than Rome.

Also, how could every sea captain gather within several miles of a single port city to watch it burn (see Rev. 18:17)? There are thousands upon thousands of huge cargo, container, and passenger ships traversing the world’s oceans.

No explanation seems as if it could solve these problems.

Babylon the Great has been called a city, a nation, a religion, and a religious system, among other things. This book will prove it is none of these, though admittedly, the “religious system” label comes closest. Revelation 17 and 18 does not describe a special group that can be easily and physically seen like a city, nation, or religion. Paradoxically, Babylon the Great is all around us and everywhere you look.

In Revelation 17:5, the Greek word for “mystery” appears preceding the name of the Harlot. The word is musterion (Strong’s #3466, pronounced moos-tay′-ree-on) and is the source for the noun “mystery” in our English translations. Something that is a musterion is hidden and can only be revealed by God. That might be a clue right there that Babylon the Great is not physical. Even with all the books written about Babylon the Great and their many conflicting arguments, one might say her identity is still hidden.

I wasn’t looking for the answer when I stumbled across it. The simple answer I found is two-fold.

First, Babylon the Great is the spiritual place that most people are part of and live in—that is, people who elevate their fleshly desires with their idols as a lifestyle above serving the living God. It doesn’t matter whether a person is an all-out atheist, or calls himself or herself a Christian. If a person does not elevate God in his or her heart and follow Christ, above his or her idols, that person is included in Babylon the Great.

Secondly, Babylon the Great is also the spirit of idolatry that rules the hearts of individuals and enslaves them. This all may sound very indicting, but we will see that Scripture tells us this if we take the time to piece together all the passages.

Before you dismiss this proposed identity for Babylon the Great, please realize that, if true, this has significant impact on the meaning of that last exhortation to “Come out,” as well as on our understanding of much end-time Bible prophecy!