Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #4 of Revelation, chapter 18, and we are going to be reading Revelation 18:2:
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Once again, it must be said that the fall of Babylon occurred at the end of the seventy-year period. Now that is important because the historical parable that God established in the Old Testament was one in which Babylon, ruled by the king of Babylon, conquered Judah and took the Jewish people into captivity. Babylon grew in power and might and glory throughout the seventy-year period. It was the greatest kingdom on earth.
But in a night, as we read in Daniel, chapter 5, the king of Babylon was having a feast and drinking wine with a thousand of his lords. They were drinking of the vessels taken out of the temple of God. Then the king of Babylon saw the writing on the wall and he did not understand, but it was so disturbing to him that his knees knocked together. The queen reminded the king that there was a man in the kingdom that could interpret dreams and Daniel was called to interpret the writing. The interpretation was that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to the Medes and the Persians. Babylon fell in that very night and the kingdom of Babylon was unaware and they were caught off guard. They were having a party while the army of the Medes and Persians and their King Darius (also known as Cyrus) was en route and marching toward them. Their kingdom was taken, the king of Babylon was slain in that night and Darius took the kingdom and that is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who comes as a thief in the night and takes the world by surprise.
The Bible says that Christ comes suddenly or “unawares” and brings an unaware destruction upon the inhabitants of the earth. This is what God did on May 21, 2011 when He brought spiritual judgment. Christ took the kingdom of Satan and Satan was put down and, for all intents and purposes, he was slain. Christ took his kingdom and began to rule with a “rod if iron” over all that Satan had previously ruled over, all the unsaved inhabitants of the earth. That is what is in view when we look at it through the historical parable. Babylon does not fall until the end of the seventy-year period, which typifies the Great Tribulation period. So that means that Satan’s kingdom, typified by Babylon, did not fall until the end of the Great Tribulation. When did the Great Tribulation come to a close? It was after an exact 23 years. The Great Tribulation began on May 21, 1988 and 23 years later (to the very day) on May 21, 2011 the Great Tribulation concluded and that was the end of the judgment that had been exclusively on the churches and it was the time of transition to the judgment of all the unsaved inhabitants of the Babylon of this world.
Just as God used Satan as an instrument of destruction to bring judgment upon the churches, He then turned His attention to the judgment of the kingdom of Satan and this world immediately following the end of the Great Tribulation. That is what God did to the Babylonians. He used Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to destroy Judea, but following the seventy years, God judged the kingdom of Babylon. That is the time that Babylon fell and that points to Judgment Day, which occurred “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” That is when the fall of Babylon took place.
When we look in the Bible regarding the language that “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” it is interesting that God “doubles” it and repeats it. He certainly does not want us to miss this fact and when we search the Bible regarding Babylon’s fall, it is mentioned a few other places. What is very interesting is that in all the other places the fall of Babylon is mentioned, it is mentioned in the context of the feast of harvest. This is interesting because of what Jesus said in the parable of the sower in Matthew, chapter 13, as He explained the parable. It says in Matthew 13:37-39:
He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
This is an important identification that the Bible makes and it is how God defines His terms. As He said, “The field is the world.” So when we read the Bible and we read of the field, if we are a careful Bible student and we want to come to a proper understanding, we had better take into consideration that it might be pointing to the “world.” Likewise, when we are reading about “harvest,” we had better think that the “harvest is the end of the world.” That is another reason why the Feast of Tabernacles, according to Leviticus 23, is held in conjunction with the feast of ingathering and the feast of ingathering is the final harvest, the final bringing in of the crop of the precious fruit of the earth. So when we discover that the 1,600 day-period ends on October 7, 2015, which is also the 10,000th day since judgment began on the house of God and is also the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the last day of the feast of harvest, we had better consider what the Bible has to say when it says the “harvest is the end of the world.” We need to take that into account and consider it seriously.
I know one person who has said that they do not understand why the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles is so important and why Christ must return on that day, but, as we look at the language of the “last day,” this phrase overwhelmingly points to the day of the final resurrection, when it says, “the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day,” or “I will raise him up at the last day.” God links that kind of language to the Feast of Tabernacles. In addition to that, the “last day” is also the last day of harvest and the Bible says the “harvest is the end of the world.” So we have the joint feasts of Tabernacles and Ingathering and the joint spiritual meaning of the “last day” and Tabernacles and harvest along with ingathering and these are all joining together with an emphasis upon that day (October 7, 2015) as the end.
It is also important that when we read about the fall Babylon, God does so in the context of harvest. Let us take a look at this in Isaiah 21:9-10:
And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
Here is the language of harvest, as when you thresh the wheat or the corn is on the floor in the time of harvest. At that time God says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” and then He follows it with a strange reference, “O my threshing, and the corn of my floor.” When we look into it further, we see that God often links together Babylon’s fall with harvest, and then this language in Isaiah 21 does make sense.
It says in Jeremiah 50:15-16:
Shout against her round about: she hath given her hand: her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down: for it is the vengeance of JEHOVAH: take vengeance upon her; as she hath done, do unto her. Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land.
Here, God speaks of Babylon’s foundations as fallen and her walls are thrown down and this is language that describes a defeated kingdom. Then He mentions a sower and handling the sickle in the time of harvest. Again, there is the picture of Babylon joined with language of harvest.
It also says in Jeremiah 51:8:
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
The entire chapter deals with the fall of Babylon, but it says in Jeremiah 51:33:
For thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.
Do you see how God begins chapter 51 by mentioning that Babylon is suddenly fallen and then He goes on to say, “it is time to thresh her…and the time of her harvest shall come.” Why does God do this?
We also find the connection in the New Testament in Revelation, chapter 14. It says in Revelation 14:8:
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
When you read the following verses it leads to awful language of God pouring out His wrath. For example, look at Revelation 14:10:
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Babylon is fallen and it leads right into the final judgment of mankind, the time when God pours out His wrath upon the wicked. God gives us this illustration and this kind of language, but if we continue reading chapter 14, what do we find? It says beginning in Revelation 14:14-15:
And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Is this just a coincidence? Did God write the Bible in a random way and things do not relate to one another? God does not speak of Babylon’s fall just anywhere, but He specifically spoke of it in the passages I have read and in these places He has tied it together with harvest because “the harvest is the end of the world,” according to Mathew 13:39. Here in Revelation 14, God is revealing the “end” and He begins the passage with detailed language describing the final judgment of mankind at the end of the world with the phrase, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” and then He leads us into the language of harvest. It is not just Revelation 14, verses 14 and 15, but it is also mentioned in Revelation 14:16:And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
Verse 17 mentions another angel that also has a sharp sickle. Then it says in Revelation 14:18:
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
Then it says in Revelation 14:19:
And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Here is the fulfillment of what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 13:39: “The harvest is the end of the world.” In this chapter of Revelation, the harvest is joined with Babylon’s fall and, yet, there is one more piece of information in Revelation 14 that is in the context of Babylon’s fall and harvest and that is the final verse. It says in Revelation 14:20:
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
We are not going to get into the Biblical validation for understanding “furlongs” as “days.” We have discussed that before; the Bible allows it. This is God’s Book and He has written the Bible this way, where a “field” can represent the “world” and where a “harvest” can represent the “end of the world” and where “branches” in the Book of Genesis can represent “days.” And, here, in Revelation 14:20, God speaks of “1,600 furlongs” that the blood that comes out of the winepress of His wrath and it flows by that space of 1,600 furlongs and then the flow stops. When we make the substitution, which the Bible permits, of “1,600 days” in place of “1,600 furlongs” and when we understand that this chapter describes Judgment Day which began on May 21, 2011, we go 1,600 days from that date and it brings us to October 7, 2015, which is this year. On that day, what do we find? As Mr. Camping used to say, “Lo, and behold.” We find that on October 7, 2015, we will have come to the last day of “harvest” in God’s Biblical calendar. It is the 23rd day of the Hebrew seventh month, which is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Since the feast of harvest or feast of ingathering was held in conjunction with the Feast of Tabernacles, it is also the last day of the feast of harvest.
Is that a coincidence? Is that accidental? Did we manipulate things to get that to happen this way? The answer is that it is not an accident. It is not a coincidence and, believe me, there is no possible way to manipulate the information in order to get all these things to fit and for October 7, 2015 to be the 1,600th day, using the day God gave us. We did not just pick that date out of a hat. There are 1,600 days from the start date of May 21, 2011, another date that God gave us that came from the Bible; it is the day that the Great Tribulation ended and the Bible indicates that is when Judgment Day began, “immediately after that tribulation.” That is the day that was exactly 7,000 years from the flood and had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of 2/17, which was when the flood began in the calendar of Noah. All of these things come together and point to October 7, 2015, the 10,000th overall Day of Judgment, when we combine the 8,400 days of judgment upon the churches and the very likely 1,600 days of judgment upon the world. It would be the 10,000th day (10 x 10 x 10 x 10”or 10 to the 4th power) and it would be a day we would expect to complete the wrath of God which He had started at the house of God back on May 21, 1988. And then we consider that this day is the last day of “harvest.”
As our verse says, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” and this points to the final harvest of this world when the kingdom of Satan, comprised of all the unsaved people of the earth, is put into the great winepress of the wrath of God and their blood or their lives continue on while enduring that wrath, but only for a very likely 1,600 days.