Reading Through The New Testament in 2016 - December 26th, 2016 - Revelation 18

Well, Babylon has fallen.

My question is, “doesn’t Babylon not even exist anymore?”

If you ask that question, you would be with me. And well, your intuition would be correct, because it does indeed not exist. There are many biblical scholars that disagree on this topic. Some, who take Revelation literally say that Babylon will first have to be rebuilt in order to be destroyed. I don’t necessarily like that narrative, because why would a destroyed city, thousands of years old be rebuilt? It just doesn’t seem to fit in the context of the world we live in now.

Others suggest it could be a city like Rome, which kind of makes sense because of the historical connotations. Another idea is that it could be New York City, because it seems to be the commercial hub of the world, which is what this scripture is calling it.

I don’t think it matters what Babylon is, and I don’t think it needs to be read literally.

Here’s what a commentator said:

I do not believe this is so! If you read Rev. 17 v.18 you see: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the Kings of the earth." In reality the "woman" was the corrupt religious system and not a city. The same applies here. Commercial Babylon is a corrupt commercial, social and political system that will be destroyed at the end of the Tribulation.

When you read about the destruction of Babylon, how do you read it? Is it a literal city for you? A political system? Or a metaphor for something completely different?