Who is Babylon?

“For this reason her plagues will come in one day-
death and grief and famine.
She will be burned up with fire,
because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”

Revelation 18:8

What country is or will be this Babylon of Revelation?  If we are still hundreds or thousands of years from the time of the fulfillment of this prophecy then it will only be for those who are alive then to discover.  But if the time is near now then we might want to consider what country is prophetically called Babylon.

Some have said that it is Iraq, since that is where Babylon was when it was in it's glory.  But seemingly only the location fits the description of that country today.  For years I have heard speculation that Babylon in this passage is the United States of America.  Most of the descriptions fit nicely.

We sing God bless America when trouble comes and ban Him from every part of our lives when things are going well.  We are serious traffickers in corruption, vice and sex in the world.  We are the main source of evil and demented movies.  We kill hundreds of thousands of our babies each year before they are born.  But we steadfastly look for the ten righteous men so that God will not rain fire down upon us like He did with Sodom.  The only problem with that is that we have no Abraham pleading for us with God.  Sure there are righteous people among us, but earlier in this chapter God clearly warns the believers in Babylon to flee so they won’t be punished with the rest. 

The question then for us is this:  Am I where God wants me to be?  If I am then I must trust God to deliver me from the fire or by the fire!  I am not here to avoid problems.   I am here to glorify God and live my life as He directs.

There is no record of Lot calling for Sodom to repent.  But we can still proclaim repentance as the only appropriate response for our nation today.  If we don’t repent we will be destroyed like all nations down through history that turned to sin and away from righteousness.  If we are Babylon of Revelation 18 we can still proclaim repentance because, as we know there are men and women turning to God every day in these increasingly difficult times.

Life is short.  Either Jesus is coming soon, or I am going soon!  Be ready and about His business when He comes or you go!