#191: Babylon

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They will stand far off, in fear of her torment and say, "Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come" Revelations 18:10

4,000 years ago, there was a powerful, progressive, and incredibly wealthy city. It developed into one of the greatest cities in the world. The streets were paved, numerous gates lead into the city wall that had over 250 towers that were at least 100meters high. This is where modern writing and mathematics were invented. Roads, Ferris and Draw bridges ensured efficient transport. The mythical garden was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The city's wealth was unimaginable, the people created impressive works out of gold, there was a golden image of Baal, a beautiful table that was supposedly made of 22, 000 kilos of pure gold with a golden Lion and a golden statue of man. The majestic royal palace was the largest ever built in world history. Babylon use to exist in what is now modern-day Iraq.

Everyone has heard of Babylon or at least of the tallest tower in the world at the time, known as the Tower of Babel. Babylon first appeared in the Bible under the guise of the Tower of Babel (Gen.11). Babel is the Hebrew word for "confused". The great evil of the tower builders is their sinful pride against the rule of God. Although the name "Babylon" is derived from the Akkadian word Babilu meaning "gate of god" it is an evident counterfeit of God's eternal city. The opposition to the rule of God by world power or the exile of God’s people from the Land of Blessing. This started since the beginning of time from the garden of Eden. The devil never wants us to accept and appreciate the good things that God has made available for us for free. The first man Adam was exiled from the garden of Eden because of sin, because of disobedience. The consequences that follow sin is very damaging. The sin of Adam and Eve has put us all under captivity and as long as we are in this world we are in exile.

How can we liberate ourselves from this? Is it by revolting or conforming to the world?

See the life of Daniel, the city of Jerusalem was attacked by the Babylonian Empire, the Temple was destroyed, thousands of Israelites were taken and relocated to Babylon, they became exiles. They were in a strange land with a new culture and new people. Some of them revolted against their traditions, some of them embraced it and decided to be like the Babylonians, to look like them. But there was Daniel who neither revolted nor embraced the Babylonian way of life but prayed to the Lord on its behalf. Daniel with his three Hebrew friends were recruited to work in the High Court of Babylon. Yes it may seem that he was working for the enemy, they even took on Babylonian names (Dan.1:7) and even their clothing style but there were moments where they drew the line and chose Faithfulness to their God, resisting the influence of Babylon; like when they were commanded to stop praying but Daniel still prayed three times a day (Dan. 6), when they told them to bow down to the idol of Babylon and give allegiance to the King as the god. This is when you see where their loyalties lie. They criticized Babylon’s idolatry of power, its arrogance, its injustice but they did not do it by fighting with their fist but by laying down their lives for what they believed in and God vindicated them (Dan. 3:12-25).

There were moments where Daniel hoped that God will destroy Babylon, so they could go back home but he found out that after Babylon there was another oppressive Empire and they were still ruled by Babylon successors (Daniel 7) so they had to maintain the mind of an exile waiting for their true home to come to them and they never revolted against any other leader that came along.

This leads us to Jesus. The empire of his day was Rome ruled by Caeser. Some Israelites wanted to resist while some gave in and there was Jesus who said in (Mark 12:17) to give to Caeser what belongs to him and to God what belongs to God. The currency in Rome had Caeser's face on them and not that God did not own it but as we are here on Earth, ruled by this government, we are to give them what is due to them and to God our whole self (loyalty, submission totally to him, realizing we are made by Him and for Him to work the works of Him who sent us now that there is time and bearing in mind that we do not belong in this world; it is not our home). Jesus was arrested for speaking against the corrupt leaders of Jerusalem. He critiqued their idolatry of power and it cost Him His life. But God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead as the one true King of the Nations (the Redeemer that Daniel had hoped for) and one day His kingdom will prevail.

The New Testament (Especially the book of Revelations) employs Babylon as a symbol of man's sinfulness and God's judgement. Babylon, the historic oppressor of Christ's church, pride, idolatry, cruelty, and greed as associated with the city itself. But Peter (1 Pet.2:11) did not fail to remind us that we followers of Christ are foreigners in exile, but we are to respect the authorities of whatever place you happen to be in because this is not your home. We all live and walk in Babylon.

But Jesus is The Way, the only way to our true home; so as long as we are still in this world, we are in exile because even though we are in the world we are not of this world. As long as you are a Christian, you are a Heavenly Man.

Written by Faithful Ogbeche. Join us next week by God's grace as we are graced by another contributor who weighs in on the exile theme from scriptures.

Let us know your concept of Babylon in today's culture in the comment section down below...

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