Bible Studies

THE BABYLONIAN ASPIRATION

by Luella Campbell
05/07/15
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THE BABYLONIAN ASPIRATION

See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright - indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples (Hab. 2: 4a; 5).

What was the aspiration of Babylon's ruler? He wanted to own and rule the world. The Babylonian army was raised up and trained to fulfil his dream. King followed king with the same ambition - to be the ruler of the greatest empire on earth. They were accurate representatives of the god they worshipped - Satan - the deceiver of men and usurper of God's throne.

What is the spirit of Babylon? Greed! Babylon represents the drive to possess - in this case not only things but people. Death and the grave are perfect pictures of the spirit of Babylon - never satisfied; always wanting more. Hitler, Stalin, and even some of the modern religious sects and cults are Babylonian at heart - and so is every individual who has the insatiable desire to control and to possess.

Satan spawned Babylon because, through Babylon, he aspired to rule the world and to hold every human being captive to his ambition to take the throne from God and to be Lord. Babylon is symbolic of every person and everything that is anti-God and anti-Christ - every person who wants to control and, in the end every individual who dominates others by intimidation or manipulation. The spirit of Babylon is the spirit of witchcraft.

But Babylon not only symbolises the spirit of the world; it also symbolises the counterfeit church - the great prostitute of John's visions in the book of Revelation. Babylon, the city and the false religious system, was the source of every false religion which still infests and infects the world today.

Nimrod and his evil wife, Semiramis, set out to defy the living God by establishing cities to keep the people together and a tower to rescue the population from destruction by any further flood and to get nearer to heaven by their own efforts. It was a fist shaken in the face of God. It was the spirit of Frank Sinatra's song, "I did it my way."

However, God was always in charge, now as then. He had instructed them to fill the earth with people, not to stick together in cities. Confusion drove them apart and sent them out to populate the earth.

They went, taking their false religion with them. Instead of obeying God's instruction to manage their earth for Him, they went out as representatives of Satan to sow disobedience and destruction wherever they went. Every nation in the Old Testament had its own form of the Babylonian mystery religion, symbolised by the mother and child cult - and all over the world today the same ancient religion is practised under many names.

What is the fate of Babylon?

"Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!" (Rev. 18: 10).

What is God's prescription for His church?

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

Yes, God raised up the Babylonians in history just as He revealed to Habakkuk. What they did to God's people was no happenstance. He intended to be a wake-up call to His people to separate themselves from the spirit of the world. God has raised up today's "Babylons" to awaken and purify His church. His word to us today is still the same:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? . . . Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6: 14; 17-18).

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (2 Cor. 7: 1).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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