We all live in a Babylon.
It may not have ziggurats or the Euphrates running through it. It doesn’t need to. The new Babylon is sleek, digital, polished. It has streaming services, luxury brands, false peace, and carefully curated distractions. And like the old Babylon of the Bible, it’s powerful, persuasive, and passing away.
The book of Revelation, for many, is like trying to read poetry in a language you forgot. But if we lean in just enough, if we let the text read us, we’ll find something staggering: Revelation isn’t just a prediction. It’s a mirror.
And Babylon? It’s not just a city. It’s a system.
From Ruins to Relevance
Historically, Babylon was a real empire: mighty, golden, feared. In 586 B.C., it conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and dragged Israel into exile (2 Kings 25). Babylon meant dominance. Babylon meant loss.
But even Babylon couldn’t outlast truth. God raised up Cyrus, a Persian king from the east, who diverted the Euphrates River, entered Babylon without a fight, and set the captives free. Isaiah called him God’s “anointed” (Isaiah 45:1). Jeremiah said Babylon would “sink and never rise again” (Jeremiah 51:64). And it did.
But Babylon’s story didn’t end with archaeology. It was reborn in metaphor.
Revelation’s Babylon: More Than a City
Fast forward to the book of Revelation. Babylon returns, this time as a harlot, a symbol, a seductress of nations (Revelation 17). She’s wealthy. She’s powerful. She holds a golden cup filled with spiritual poison. And she sits on “many waters,” which Revelation tells us represents “peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15).
Babylon, in this context, is a worldview. A cultural current. A false religious system wrapped in moral confusion and spiritual compromise. It’s the system that lulls us to sleep with comfort, tells us truth is relative, and insists we can serve both God and self.
Sound familiar?
Come Out of Her, My People
Then comes the call: urgent, unmistakable, and divine.
“Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, lest you receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
This is more than relocation. It’s renunciation. To come out of Babylon is to reject her values: pride, deception, materialism, and counterfeit faith. It’s to unplug from systems that sell you spiritual junk food while starving your soul.
This isn’t just for “them.” This is for the people of God. For me. For you.
Enter Galatians 4:29
Paul wrote to the Galatians, reminding them of a tension that still exists:
“But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.” (Galatians 4:29)
Babylon, in whatever form it takes, always resents the free. The system doesn’t like the liberated. Those who live by the Spirit, who see through the illusion, become threats to the order. They are mocked, sidelined, or worse.
But here’s the good news: Babylon may be loud, but it is not lasting.
From the East Comes Freedom
Just as Cyrus came from the east to deliver Israel, Christ will return “as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west” (Matthew 24:27). The prophecy points forward. The final liberation is coming. But the spiritual call is now.
Don’t wait for Babylon to fall to come out of it.
Come out so you’re ready when it does.
Final Thought
This isn’t about ancient history. It’s about everyday choices.
It’s about what you worship when no one’s watching.
It’s about the voice you believe when Babylon tells you to settle in.
Because the true Jerusalem is coming down from heaven (Revelation 21:2).
And the only people ready for it are the ones who’ve already walked away from Babylon.
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