God’s hatred for Babylon is not a matter of mere history or geography—it is the settled opposition of a holy God to the culmination of spiritual rebellion that has run from Genesis to Revelation. Babylon is not just a city; it is the system that gathers together the ancient defiance of the fallen angels, the ambition of Nimrod, the seduction of Jezebel, and the ongoing deception of false teachers who infiltrate the church even now. This is the system that seduces God’s people, opposes His purposes, and will be decisively exposed and destroyed by Jesus Himself.
The Roots of Rebellion: From Genesis to the Abyss
Scripture is unambiguous: the angels who sinned in Genesis 6 were not merely disobedient, but crossed a boundary that provoked God’s immediate and severe judgment. As Peter writes:
“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment…” (2 Peter 2:4)
The word translated “hell” here is Tartarus—a term unique in the New Testament, describing a prison of darkness for these rebellious spirits. Both Peter and Jude make it clear: these angels are held in chains until the appointed time of judgment. According to apocryphal tradition (cited by Jude, though not as Scripture), their binding was for seventy generations, after which they would be released for judgment.
Revelation 9 reveals what happens at that appointed time. A fallen angel—depicted as a “star”—is given the key to the abyss. When he opens it, an army of locust-like tormentors is unleashed upon the earth for five months, led by a king named Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon (Greek). This Apollyon is no mere mythological figure; scholarship demonstrates that the Greek Apollo is a retelling of the Babylonian Nimrod—the same spirit of rebellion, simply clothed in different names across the ages.
Babylon’s Seduction: False Teachers and Spiritual Fornication
This is not ancient history; it is the present spiritual reality. The spirit of Jezebel and her children—symbolic of false teachers and spiritual seducers—has infiltrated the church, now with increasing supernatural manifestations. This is not merely error; it is spiritual fornication, participation in Babylon’s system. The deception is not always obvious. Many who build up this system do so knowingly, with deliberate deceit and self-serving motives. Others, however, are unwitting—caught up in a hierarchy where only those at the top fully grasp the depths of Satan’s designs. Yet, whether through appetite or ignorance, they are complicit in building a counterfeit religious system that leads to apostasy.
Let us be clear: this is not a secondary matter. The infiltration of Babylonian deception into the church is not a peripheral issue—it strikes at the heart of justification, inheritance, and sonship. If you accept a system that seduces believers into spiritual adultery, you undermine the finished work of Christ and the purity of the covenant. You cannot serve two masters. To tolerate Babylon is to lose the very conscience-cleansing and assurance that the gospel secures.
The Goodness of God’s Judgment
God’s response to this rebellion is not passive. He binds the fallen angels in Tartarus to restrain evil and reserve them for judgment—a positive act of justice and protection. At the appointed time, He allows the abyss to be opened as part of His end-times judgment, exposing the true nature of Babylon’s system. When Jesus pronounces judgment—“I will kill Jezebel’s children”—He is not merely expressing anger; He is executing a necessary and righteous destruction of those who seduce His people. This is a positive outcome: God’s wrath poured out on Babylon is the vindication of His holiness and the preservation of His people.
What Is Lost If the Error Is Accepted
If you accept the infiltration of Babylon—if you allow false teachers, spiritual seduction, and counterfeit systems to stand unchallenged—you lose more than doctrinal precision. You forfeit the very foundation of your assurance before God. You trade the inheritance of sonship for participation in a system destined for wrath. You undermine the finished work of Christ by tolerating a mixture that God has sworn to destroy. There is no neutral ground: to compromise here is to side with the enemies of the covenant.
The Sovereign Judge Exposes All
Jesus is not deceived by outward appearances or supernatural displays. He is the Lord who searches the reins and hearts. At the final judgment, He will expose the true nature of every false teacher and every participant in Babylon’s rebellion. All the churches will know that He is Lord—not merely in title, but in the sovereign execution of justice. The destruction of Babylon is not a loss for the church; it is the triumph of God’s faithfulness and the cleansing of His people.
We cannot fully imagine the strangeness of the world after the rapture, any more than we can fathom the days before the flood. But we are not left in ignorance. We know what is at stake. We know what men and movements are doing even now. And we know, above all, that Jesus will not share His bride with Babylon. His judgment is certain, His knowledge is perfect, and His wrath against this system is both just and good. Let us not be found among those who build what God has sworn to destroy.
