Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #5 of Revelation, chapter 18, and we are continuing to look at 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.
I will stop reading there. Last time we were discussing that Babylon’s fall identifies with the end of the Great Tribulation. Historically, God gave a type and figure of the Tribulation of a seventy-year time from 609 BC to 539 BC. The actual Great Tribulation was 23 years and concluded on May 21, 2011 and it was then that God began the judgment upon the kingdom of Satan and that is when spiritual Babylon fell. It was at that point in time and we need to keep going over this because for some time we thought that the fall of Babylon meant the fall of the churches. But there are too many verses that will not allow for that conclusion and it must be the end of the Great Tribulation, once the judgment on the churches was completed and it was then the kingdom of Satan fell.
It goes on to say in our verse, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” and we saw that this phrase ties in with the language of “harvest” and it so happens that the same statement is made in Revelation 14:8, where it says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” and then it leads into a discussion of the final judgment of mankind and gives an in depth illustration of “harvest,” which is the end of the world. Then God gives us that number “1,600” in regard to the blood that came out of the winepress of the wrath of God and flowed forth for the space of 1,600 furlongs. When we go 1,600 days from the fall of Babylon, spiritually, which occurred on May 21, 2011, we come to October 7, 2015, the last day of “harvest,” which would very likely be the last day of Babylon’s fall and the last Day of Judgment Day. It is just amazing how God relates Babylon’s fall to the end of the Great Tribulation, which was an exact 23 years, from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011. Then God gives us that number, “1,600,” which is four years, four months and 16 days, and the number “four” points to the furthest extent of Judgment Day and lands on the last day of Tabernacles and the last day of harvest in the Biblical Hebrew calendar. It really is a tremendous proof the Bible gives to show that this will complete the harvest and complete the judgment upon Babylon.
It goes on to say in Revelation 18:2:
… 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.
When Mr. Camping went through a study of Jeremiah 50 and Jeremiah 51, he related Babylon to the churches and he made reference to this verse and he thought that Babylon cannot be the world, but the churches, because it has “become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit.” But what that fails to take into account is what God had said about the churches early on in Revelations, chapters 2 and 3. Were there foul spirits and devils in the churches? Yes, there were, even in the seven earliest churches we read about in the Bible. God spoke of the “synagogue of Satan” and in another church He refers to Satan’s seat being there, so Satan had already infiltrated the churches and had sown tares among the wheat “while men slept,” throughout the period of the church age. That is nothing new. Many churches had fallen away and became apostate and Satan ruled in those churches and even in some whole denominations, so it is not as if there is much difference when we look at the world. Yes, the world is full of devils and foul spirits, but so were the churches to a good degree throughout the church age, so we cannot make that argument.
So what does God mean when he says that Babylon “is become the habitation of devils”? Let us start by looking at Isaiah, chapter 13. Remember it says in verse 1 that it is the “burden of Babylon,” and then God goes on to talk about the day of JEHOVAH being at hand in verse 6 and He says in Isaiah 13:9-11:
Behold, the day of JEHOVAH cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity…
This is the “burden of Babylon.” After giving us all this definite language to indicate it is the judgment on the world, God then brings the conversation of Isaiah, chapter 13, back to “Babylon” and He says in Isaiah 13:17-18:
Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
Why the Medes? When speaking of the “burden of Babylon” and speaking of Judgment Day, why does God “shift gears” (to use an expression) and revert back to speaking of Babylon and to say He will stir up the Medes against them? It is because it directs our attention to the end of the seventy-year period in 539 BC. Who was it that conquered Babylon, historically? It was the Medes and the Persians, led by King Darius (Cyrus), whom the Bible sets up as a type of Christ. He took Babylon in a night and it was as if he came as a “thief in the night,” like Jesus Christ came upon the world. That is why God goes back to discussing Babylon being taken by the Medes because, spiritually, it is the same thing when God says He will punish the world or when He says He will “stir up the Medes” against Babylon.
Then it says in Isaiah 13:19-22:
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
And that concludes the chapter. When God says that Babylon “shall never be inhabited,” it means it is “desolate.” Remember what the Lord said concerning Judah? He said she would be desolate without an inhabitant and we saw that this language means that the Spirit of God has departed. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ abandoned Judah, which in turn points to the time when the Spirit of God would abandon the churches during the time of the Great Tribulation when judgment was upon them. God uses the same figure regarding Babylon, who represents the world, when God shut the door of heaven and ended His salvation program; He withdrew His Spirit, leaving the world desolate, without an inhabitant. In a desolate land, you have “doleful creatures,” like owls and other unclean birds.
Let me read, again, what it means to be desolate, in Jeremiah 6:8:
Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.
The only real “inhabitant” that is of any concern is the habitation of God and when God leaves, you can still have people and creatures, but your land is “desolate” because God is “life.” God is the blessing and God is everything. But when God has abandoned you, you have nothing but a wasteland. This is the point God is making in Revelation 18, when Babylon falls “and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” An owl, for example, is an unclean bird.
We find similar language in Isaiah, chapter 34. This chapter is another chapter dealing with the judgment of God upon the world. It says in Isaiah 34:2:
For the indignation of JEHOVAH is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
Then look at Isaiah 34:8-15:
For it is the day of JEHOVAH'S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
Verse 11 lists several unclean birds, in the context of Judgment Day, including the owl, the raven, the great owl and the vultures. It is not in the context of judgment on the churches, but it is the judgment on the world. If you read very carefully the chapters in Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 34, you will see how it leads into a discussion of a desolate wasteland that is only inhabited by these “doleful creatures” or “unclean birds” and you can see how God identifies the situation that when the world is under His wrath, His Spirit departs and, spiritually, this is what is left – there is no habitation of God, but it is desolate: “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.”
The English word “hold” and the English word “cage” are translations of the same Greek word, which is Strong’s #5438. This word means “prison.” It is a word translated as “prison” several times. It is also translated as “watch” a few times. For instance, let us look at Matthew 5:25:
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
The word “prison” is the same Greek word, #5438 in Strong’s Concordance. Here, the adversary is God and in His wrath on sinners, He delivers them to the judge and the judge delivers them to the officer and they are cast into prison.
Then it goes on to say in Matthew 5:26:
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Since this is God’s wrath, the “prison” is pointing to the punishment of God where payment is exacted and the debt you owe is paid and you cannot come out until the debt is paid completely. This is what the language means when it says, “till thou has paid the uttermost farthing.”
This word is also used in Luke 12:58-59:
When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him…
Of course, this would have to do with seeking the Lord during the day of salvation. That was the time when you could quickly agree with your adversary and that was the only time to do it. There is no more “agreeing” with God or finding Him because the day of salvation has ended.
Then it goes on to say in Luke 12:58-59:...lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
The other verse said “the utmost farthing,” but another Scripture tells us that two mites equal a farthing, so it is the same thing. You must pay the debt in full. It is interesting that the “1,600 days” added to the 8,400 days of judgment upon the churches and congregations of the world totals 10,000 overall days, which points to “completeness.” It is the completeness of whatever is in view. That is how we spiritually understand “10” or “100” or “1,000” or “10,000” in the Bible – it points to the completeness of whatever is in view. For example, when God says He owns the cattle upon a “thousand” hills, it points to the completeness of His ownership of cattle and all things in this world.
When we discover that October 7, 2015 is the 10,000th Day of Judgment since judgment began on the house of God, it is amazing. If it had landed on October 6, it would only have been 999 days or if it had landed on October 8, it would have been 10,001 days, but October 7, 2015 is unlike any other day before it or any other day after it, because it is the 10,000th day, as well as the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and the last day of “harvest,” and the 1600th overall day of judgment on the world. On that day it is the 40th “40” since May 21, 2011. All these things point to that one day and on that day we have a good expectation that God will “complete” His judgment and the pouring out of His wrath. What does it mean if He has completed His judgment? It means that the wicked have made the payment that the Law of God demands unto the “uttermost farthing.” The payment is completed with the destruction of the unsaved on that day. We can see how all that could be possible and work out very well with everything we have learned from the Bible. This would be the finality of the wrath of God and all things concerning God’s wrath toward the sinners of this world would be finished and completed and paid to the uttermost. It would all come to a grand climax on that day. If we are correct, it would fit perfectly with everything we have learned.
Let us think of it this way: why would it not happen? Is there something that still needs to be done? Is there another pouring out of the Gospel to come? No, there is not. Does God have to judge the churches? No, He has already done that. Then what is left to be done? When we look at how God speaks of the time of the end, does the world have to be “prepared” for judgment? No, because it has already been prepared for judgment. Do the churches have to fall away first? No, because they have already fallen away. So what is preventing that day from being the last day and the day that does complete all things? Since it falls on the last day of Tabernacles, it would spiritually fulfill that third and final feast and the Feast of Tabernacles would have “fully come.” Again, the idea of something “fully coming” is the same idea of “completeness.”
The 10,000th day would be the perfect day for God to spiritually fulfill the Feast of Tabernacles and for that feast to “fully come.” When we look at everything the Bible says, there is nothing outstanding and there is nothing remaining that needs to be done wherein time would need to continue in order for “this or that” to happen. We cannot think of anything, so it really goes to show that this coming date is an outstanding possibility for God to complete His end time judgment program.