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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. – Revelation 14:8 KJV

Babylon

“…Babylon is fallen…”

The second angel’s message is the shortest of the Three. It is a statement saying that Babylon is fallen. Now, what might this mean? We also see the declaration made, “because she made all nations drink of the wine”. We see the term fornication. This verse is short, but rich, and much attention needs to be given to it. Babylon, as enticing, as good as it feels, is fallen, is the message. Lets do as we did with the first angel, and break it down.

Now, using blue letter Bible, I clicked using the strongs option on “Babylon” and came to Strong’s G897 - Babylōn. The result was interesting. Here it is:

Babylon = “confusion”

1) a very large and famous city, the residence of the Babylonian kings, situated on both banks of the Euphrates. Cyrus had formerly captured it, but Darius Hystaspis threw down its gates and walls, and Xerxes destroyed the temple of Belis. At length the city was reduced to almost solitude, the population having been drawn off by the neighbouring Seleucia, built on the Tigris by Seleucus Nicanor.

2) of the territory of Babylonia

3) allegorically, of Rome as the most corrupt seat of idolatry and the enemy of Christianity -http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G897

Whoa, thats quite a fill of information. Lets start with “Babylon=confusion”. That right there is right on point. Do you recall the 11th chapter of Genesis? Do you remember the tower of Babel? Verse 1 of that chapter says the whole world had one language. Verse 7 says their language was confounded which in the strong’s means “to mix, mingle, confuse, confound”. These men were building a tower in defiance to God, and confusion was the result of their rebellion. Uh oh, that right there is a whole other point, but related. Rebellion brought….. confusion…. Think about that. (In case you are wondering why building a tower was rebellion, God has said in Genesis 9:1 to “replenish the earth”, not settle in one part and build a city)

Now in verse 9 we see the name of the tower to be Babel. Its interesting that using Blue letter Bible again, in clicking the strong’s for that word, we find this result: “Babel or Babylon = “confusion (by mixing)” Confusion by mixing? We’ll get to that later when we talk about the term “fornication” that was used by the 2nd Angel.

Fallen

“… is fallen, that great…”

I looked up the term fallen, and the results were amazing. I’ll share a few of them here, and then give you the link so that you may investigate yourself. It was said, that Babylon is fallen.

-to descend from a higher place to a lower

You know, Babylon always was rich. And who would they fear? No one was available to really concern them in a way that would threaten them. But the declaration is made, Babylon, is fallen. Even if it was a “great city”. This Babylon, or even “state of confusion”, is to come to an end. More on that in a bit.

-to fall from a state of uprightness

If God has given us instructions, which are good, and we see from the tower of Babel that men rebelled against God, and that the result was confusion, can we now also say that they had fallen from a state of uprightness? Might that be possible for some of us? Living in a time where many have “mixed” with the world, to bring about confusion, might that have put us in a state where we have also fallen from uprightness?

-to perish, i.e come to an end, disappear, cease

You know, sadly, whats interesting is that if someone in the church is approached about how something may be confusing, seem wrong in the church, many instead of searching the scriptures will become angry citing only that their intentions are good and that their traditions, customs, have been for so long, and thats the way they “feel” good. Might that also be, rebellion?

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G4098

Babylon is fallen. Confusion, is to come to an end. I hope you’re following so far.

Wine

“..she made all nations drink of the wine..”

Would you trust your children to get into the car of a person who says they are a leader, but has become drunk with wine? Would you hire a lawyer who has been drinking wine to help you with a critical case? Would you want him to appear in court even still drinking wine? Would you want a financial advisor, or treasurer, drinking wine while handling the finances, and even executing financial decisions? How about having a drunk teacher?

The answer to everything above is NO.

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. – Proverbs 20:1 KJV

Lets think of wine as doctrine. Fermented/alcoholic, and pure grape juice. One harmful. The other healthy.

And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. – Luke 5:37 KJV

Is it possible that “Mystery Babylon”, Rome (will be covered in another blog) has introduced new doctrines that has affected not just churches, but the world? Keep in mind, the function of this post is that of an intro, but lets look at some of the “wine of Babylon”.

  • Sunday observance
  • Immortal soul
  • Transition to heaven, hell, purgatory immediately after death
  • Eternally burning hell
  • Infant baptism

Rome has introduced many “new” doctrines, and the Christians have adopted a number of them. This is sad, but God is giving everyone light now, to act now, to choose… now.

The “bottles” containing pure doctrine, truth, almost burst during the dark ages, when Rome ruled for 1260 years.

Fornication

“..of her fornication..”

for·ni·ca·tion
noun
1. voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.
2. Bible . idolatry.

Well, isn’t that interesting. Having a specific type of relationship between two unmarried people. That is fornication. You know, something special about the United States so far, is that it has not yet mixed religious power with secular, political power. But, Rome did. These two are not to be under the power of any man, and is fornication.

Oh, but Israel had both, right? True. But they were also truly under God. God was their King, and only He can govern in both the religious and the political affairs. When Rome tried it, death occurred by the thousands, millions even, over hundreds of years. Thats unacceptable. But the deadly wound will heal, and the United states will make an Image to Rome, reveals a careful study of the 13th chapter of Revelation. We’ll cover that later on too. Remember this is an intro.

What about us though? Are we also committing fornication? How so?….  you may ask. Are some of us professing to be Christians while living a worldly lifestyle? Dressing like the world, talking like them, listening to their music, being entertained by them? Oh but theres nothing wrong with that, one might say. Its only some things and its not even that bad… well…

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. - James 4:4 KJV

Are we being faithful to God? Yes or no?

Conclusion

The 2nd Angel’s Message is the shortest of the three, and maybe the least acknowledged. Many don’t have a problem recognizing it literally. We can study the Bible and see clearly Babylon is that Roman system of the papacy (system, not individuals. God has many sincere people in the Catholic church who will understand the light God reveals to them in their time individually to make choices).

What few want to look at however, is what it means still literally, but maybe a little closer to home. That Babylon is also a state of confusion. We do some things in our churches, that simply put, is confusing. And it needs to come to an end.

One more angel follows. The Third Angels Message, which is different from the previous two. Heres an interesting fact. Later, a 4th unites with the 3rd, repeating the Second Angel’s Message. What might this tell us?

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