Mystery Babylon is an End-Time religious and economic power-house that will align with the Antichrist. She is the greatest source of false religion and idolatry ever devised. She will reign over the kings of the earth. The Bible warns God’s people to “come out of her.”

 

Revelation 18:4-5 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

 

For this reason, it is important for believers to identify this end-times city/state. The Bible gives us a long list of specific characteristics that she will have. Many different cities have been suggested over the years; Rome, The Catholic church, Babylon in Iraq, the United Nations, Jerusalem, New York, and the list goes on. Today, Mecca/Saudi Arabia seems to fit all the scriptural requirements of the harlot Babylon.

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Mystery Babylon: Unlocking the Bible's Greatest Prophetic Mystery

by Joel Richardson

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A LITERAL actual, physical CITY 8X.  in a desert. A DESERT CITY: The harlot city sits in wilderness, specifically a geographical desert, Saudi Arabia/Mecca?  Isa 21.  Rev 17:17-19.  A PORT OR COASTAL CITY: The Bible seems to indicate that the harlot city is a port city, or at least close to the sea. A FUTURE MEGACITY (NEOM?)

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A CONSUMER, NOT A PRODUCER: Harlot Babylon imports everything, luxury items, food, humans. The earth’s merchants have grown rich from the goods she purchases Rev 18:11-13.

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THE GREATEST CITY OF IDOLATRY: Babylon “the great” is called “the mother of all harlots (the mother of all storms, the biggest and baddest) and . . . abominations” (Rev. 17:5). She is the greatest source of false religion, idolatry and tyrannical system ever devised. City of Mecca is absolutely the unqualified greatest city of idolatry that has ever existed.  She is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” In her was found the blood of prophets . . . and of all who have been slain on the earth” (Rev. 17:6; 18:24). A CITY THAT MURDERS BOTH JEWS AND CHRISTIANS. She will make war with the saints to over come them (Rev 13:7) as she rides her cohort the Beast, Antichrist, to power. In the beginning, they are a team, a close partnership, sharing the same team colors, scarlet and purple. (Rev 17:14).

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10 HORN BEAST REPRESENTS KINGDOM OF ANTICHRIST. The harlot’s false religion is the same as Antichrist’s Rev 14.

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MYSTERY BABYLON A SEDUCER OF KINGS AND PEOPLES. That the harlot “reigns over and seduces the kings of the earth” “drunk with the wine of her immorality” (Rev. 17:2, 18) and that they in turn “commit acts of immorality with her” (Rev. 18:3) makes it clear that the influence of this city is indeed global. 

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SHE IS HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT. The harlot brags, “I sit as queen” (Rev. 18:7). This is a direct allusion to Isaiah 47, which reflects the attitude of the last-days Babylon, who in her wickedness also says, “No one sees me” (Isa. 47:10). The picture is of a city governed by both arrogance and secrecy. Despite all of her abundant sins, she somehow manages to fly under the radar of most. 

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A RELIGIOUS CAPITAL AND MISSIONARY CENTER: The last-days Babylon is specifically a missionary-sending force, spreading her false religion all over the world and holding sway over “kings, . . . peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (Rev. 17:2, 15)

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A CITY OF EXCESS LUXURY. The last-days harlot is a city of extreme luxury and material excess (Rev. 17:4; 18:7). Saudi Arabia, unlike any other nation on earth, is specifically known for its absolutely excessive materialism and luxury.

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AN ECONOMIC SEDUCER. The harlot Babylon’s material excess serves to greatly amplify her seduction and influence far beyond what she can accomplish through her religion alone. Both “merchants” and “shipmasters” have “become rich through the abundance of her luxury” (18:3, 9). All of this material wealth is directly responsible for the kings of the earth joining in with her spiritual corruption and bloodshed (17:2; 18:3).

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A CITY OF SLAVERY. The last-days Babylon is an importer of “slaves and human lives” (Rev. 18:13).

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SHE REPRESENTS ROYALTY. The harlot is “clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls” (Rev. 17:4). These colors and adornments speak of the woman as royalty. Saudi Arabia is not a nation in the traditional sense; rather, it is a kingdom. The House of Saud is indeed a royal monarchy.

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THE  SPIRITUAL AND FINANCIAL CAPITAL OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD:  The Scriptures reveal that Babylon is the capital of the seventh and eighth beast empires, which arguably is a reference to the Islamic empire, the only empire to have followed the Roman Empire. If the Islamic end-time theory is true, then identifying the final Babylon is as simple as identifying the spiritual and financial capital of the Islamic world. Mecca is the religious heart of the Islamic world, and Saudi Arabia is the financial heart of the Muslim world, providing over 90 percent of the global funding of Islam.

 

CONCLUSION 

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I believe I have sufficiently demonstrated that Mecca/Saudi Arabia seems to fulfill all the scriptural requirements of the harlot Babylon. To be clear, this is not to say that another option, a new city entirely, could not emerge in the future. For now, however, the view that Mecca is the last-days Babylon is not only a very legitimate view, but it would also seem to be the best option.  Joel Richardson

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