To grasp why God’s hatred for Babylon is so absolute, we must trace its roots back to Babel and the figure of Nimrod. This is not a matter of ancient curiosity or mythic speculation—Babylon is the archetype of organized, satanic rebellion against God. Its legacy is foundational to every anti-God world system that has ever arisen.
Nimrod and the Foundation of Rebellion
Babylon’s origin is Babel, the first world empire, which appears in Genesis 11. Babel was not merely a city; it was the first concerted effort to establish a world order in open defiance of God. Nimrod, whose very name means “to rebel,” led this movement. The biblical record calls him a “mighty hunter before the Lord,” but the true sense—reflected in the Greek Septuagint and the Talmud—is “a mighty hunter against the Lord.” Nimrod was not a mere outdoorsman; he was a hunter of souls, subverting men from the worship of God and drawing them into rebellion. He was outspoken in his opposition to God and succeeded in persuading people to follow him in this defiance.
The text in Genesis 10:8 says Nimrod “began to be a mighty one”—in Hebrew, a gibborim. This is no accidental word choice. Gibborim is the same term used in Genesis 6 to describe the Nephilim, the supernatural offspring of fallen angels and human women. These beings filled the earth with violence and wickedness before the flood. The implication is clear: Nimrod, though born after the flood, was of the same spiritual lineage—an agent and embodiment of the same rebellion that provoked God’s judgment in Noah’s day.
The Legacy of the Nephilim: Corruption and Judgment
Genesis 6 records that the Nephilim—giants, gibborim—were the result of fallen angels cohabiting with human women. Their presence brought about an era of unprecedented wickedness and violence. All flesh became corrupt; every imagination of man’s heart was only evil continually. This was not mere myth or fable. The ancient legends of demigods and titans, echoed in cultures from Greece to Mesopotamia, are distorted memories of this catastrophic period. Greek mythology, for example, portrays the “gods” as violent, lustful, and deceitful—mirroring the true satanic character of the fallen angels and their offspring.
God’s response was decisive and righteous: He judged the world with the flood, purging it of this corruption. This act of judgment was not negative; it was a necessary and good intervention to preserve a remnant—Noah and his family—through whom the promise of redemption would continue. God’s judgment was the only remedy for a world saturated in organized, supernatural rebellion.
Babel: The Prototype of the World System
After the flood, the spirit of rebellion was not eradicated. Nimrod, as the grandson of Noah through Ham, sought to resurrect the pre-flood order. Occult traditions even claim he achieved “apotheosis”—becoming like a god through illicit contact with the supernatural realm. His motivation was thoroughly satanic: to lead humanity in a fresh, organized revolt against divine authority.
The construction of Babel was not innocent. The city and its tower were built with bricks burned in fire and sealed with bitumen—technologies designed to withstand another flood, despite God’s covenant never to judge the earth in that way again. The non-canonical Book of Jasher records that their intent was to storm heaven itself, to wage war against God, to enthrone their own gods, and to establish a rival dominion. This was not mere pride; it was calculated, militant enmity toward God.
Babel thus became the blueprint for every subsequent world empire—the “World System” over which Satan is prince. Every empire that has followed in its pattern is a continuation of this satanic, anti-God agenda.
What Is Lost If This Is Denied?
To dismiss or soften the biblical record of Babylon’s origins is to lose sight of the true nature of the world system we are called to overcome. If we treat Babylon as mere myth or cultural artifact, we blind ourselves to the reality of organized, supernatural rebellion that still animates the world’s systems. Worse, we risk undermining the necessity and goodness of God’s judgment—His righteous opposition to all that would corrupt, enslave, and oppose His redemptive purpose.
If the church fails to recognize Babylon for what it is, we lose the clarity of our inheritance as sons—those called out of the world system and into covenant with God. We lose the urgency of justification by faith alone, for if the world’s rebellion is merely human error and not satanic conspiracy, then the cross becomes optional, and the finished work is diluted. The distinction between covenantal promise and human performance collapses, and with it, the foundation of our assurance.
The Enduring Pattern: God’s Hatred and Judgment
God’s hatred for Babylon is not arbitrary; it is the necessary response to the archetype of all that opposes Him. Babylon is the mother of every system that seeks to dethrone God, enthrone man, and perpetuate supernatural tyranny. Its pattern is pride, rebellion, and counterfeit authority. God’s judgment against Babylon—past, present, and future—is good, just, and essential for the vindication of His name and the preservation of His people.
When we see the world pressing toward a unified order that exalts itself against God, we are witnessing the resurgence of Babel’s legacy. The church must not be naïve or sentimental about this. Babylon is not a secondary issue; it is central to the cosmic conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. To compromise here is to compromise everything.
God opposes Babylon, and so must we—standing in the finished work of Christ, cleansed in conscience, and secure in our inheritance as sons. Anything less is to be swept along in the very rebellion that God has sworn to judge.