A Tale of Two Cities

About six hundred years before the birth of Jesus, enemy soldiers invaded Jerusalem and carried many of God’s people into exile in Babylon. Among them were Daniel and three of his friends. Babylon did not merely imprison these young men. It welcomed them into its schools, taught them its literature, gave them prestigious opportunities, surrounded them with luxury, and even gave them new names honoring Babylonian gods.

Babylon did not merely want to relocate them. Babylon wanted to remake them.

Perhaps that helps explain Daniel’s decision to refuse the king’s food. He could not avoid speaking Babylon’s language or learning its literature. He could not control what name they called him. But somewhere he needed to draw a line. In effect, Daniel was saying, “You may get me into Babylon, but I will not allow Babylon to get into me.”

That remains one of the greatest dangers facing God’s people today. The world does not always threaten us with a sword. Sometimes it welcomes us to a table. It invites us to enjoy its pleasures, admire its beauty, adopt its values, and gradually become indistinguishable from everyone else.

That is the danger Revelation 17–18 places before us. Here John sees Babylon pictured as a seductive prostitute. In John’s day, Rome was the clearest expression of Babylon, but Rome was neither the first Babylon nor the last. Babylon represents every human culture organized in rebellion against God. It takes good gifts like art, music, commerce, cities, food, possessions, and pleasure and reorganizes them around the worship of man rather than the worship of God.

But Revelation reminds us that cultures that reject Christ may flourish for a time, but only Christ’s kingdom lasts forever. To resist Babylon’s allure, we need to remember three truths.

Babylon Is Dazzling

The first thing we notice about Babylon is how attractive she is. Revelation 17 pictures her as an influential prostitute dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls, and holding a golden cup. She is powerful, wealthy, beautiful, and intoxicating.

Babylon still dazzles us in the same ways. Her influence reaches everyone—rich and poor, young and old, educated and uneducated, conservative and liberal. The particular Babylon that tempts us may look different from person to person. One person is seduced by wealth and status while another is seduced by comfort and entertainment. One craves the approval of progressive culture while another craves the approval of conservative culture. Babylon is remarkably skilled at tailoring her temptations to her audience.

The wine may come in different bottles, but it produces the same intoxication: we begin wanting what the world wants, loving what the world loves, and measuring our lives by what the world celebrates.

Babylon also dazzles us with her possessions. Revelation 18 describes an enormous inventory of luxury goods—gold, silver, jewels, expensive fabrics, spices, wine, livestock, and more. None of those things are necessarily sinful. Neither are our new phones, nice cars, dream homes, vacations, streaming subscriptions, or countless other things we enjoy. But good gifts become dangerous when they capture our hearts. Eventually Babylon’s inventory even includes “human souls.” A culture devoted to consuming God’s gifts will eventually begin consuming people too. Human beings become products to exploit, bodies to use, and obstacles to discard.

So we should ask ourselves: Where am I being dazzled by Babylon? What good thing is in danger of becoming a god thing? Even John “marveled greatly” when he saw her. If an apostle needed help seeing through Babylon’s beauty, so do we.

Babylon Is Demonic

Babylon’s beauty is only skin-deep. Beneath the beautiful woman is something far darker: she is riding the beast.

The woman represents the seductive power of the world, while the beast represents the oppressive power of the state. They are distinct, but they ultimately serve the same enemy. As Revelation 18 puts it, Babylon has become “a dwelling place for demons.” Behind the golden cup is the dragon.

This helps us understand the confusing imagery of heads, horns, mountains, and kings in Revelation 17. Rather than trying to connect every symbol to a modern nation or headline, we should see the larger point: Satan’s opposition to Christ repeatedly resurfaces throughout history. Kingdoms rise and fall, but the beast keeps appearing in new forms. In John’s day it wore the face of Rome. In other ages it has appeared through other rulers, empires, and cultures.

The costumes change. The crowns change. The kingdoms change. But the spiritual power behind them remains the same.

That is why we must be careful not to identify Babylon exclusively with one nation, political party, or cultural movement. Babylon is always easiest to recognize when she is wearing someone else’s colors. The harder question is not merely, “Where do I see Babylon out there?” but “Where is Babylon appealing to something in here?”

The world’s temptations are not spiritually neutral. Satan tries to force us through oppressive power, fool us through deception, and flirt with us through Babylon’s pleasures. Different weapons, same enemy.

But Christians do not need to be intimidated. The beast’s authority is temporary, and Babylon’s beauty will not last. Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He will conquer every power that opposes Him.

Babylon Is Doomed

Even the strongest cultures eventually die. Revelation 17 describes the beast and the kings of the earth eventually turning against the very prostitute they once supported. Evil cannot create lasting unity because sin eventually turns allies into enemies and begins devouring itself.

History repeatedly confirms that truth. Rome called itself “the eternal city,” yet its empire splintered. Monuments crumble, armies disappear, borders are redrawn, and civilizations that once seemed invincible become chapters in history books.

Revelation 18 points beyond those historical collapses to Babylon’s final destruction when Christ returns. Her judgment will be sudden and irreversible. The city that appeared untouchable will fall “in a single hour.”

Babylon is like the Titanic of human civilization. She looks magnificent. The music is playing, the tables are full, and the party is still going. But she is sailing toward certain destruction. The Babylon that dazzles the world today will one day sink beneath the waves forever.

That is why God tells His people, “Come out of her, my people.” This does not mean Christians should abandon our jobs, neighborhoods, communities, or everything in our culture. Daniel never physically escaped Babylon. He studied its literature and even served in its government. He could not get out of Babylon, but he could fight to keep Babylon out of him.

We must do the same. Some lines have already been drawn clearly in Scripture: we must reject sexual immorality, dishonesty, greed, idolatry, and everything else God calls sin. Other lines require wisdom. Perhaps you need to step away from social media, stop consuming entertainment that teaches you to laugh at sin, resist the constant pressure to upgrade and accumulate, or turn down an opportunity that would require you to neglect your family or church. No one can draw every wisdom line for us, but if we never draw a line anywhere, eventually we will look just like Babylon.

Love the Better City

Yet saying no to Babylon is not enough. Revelation tells a tale of two cities, pictured as two women. There is Babylon, the prostitute, but there is also the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ.

The local church is meant to be a city within a city—a preview of the New Jerusalem living within Babylon. In the church, God’s Word retrains our thinking, our worship redirects our affections, and our life together reshapes our desires. Here we learn to tell the truth in a culture of lies, pursue holiness in a culture of indulgence, practice generosity in a culture of consumption, honor human beings in a culture that uses them, and love people in a culture that discards them when they are no longer useful.

So do not merely ask, “What should I reject?” Ask, “What kind of person is Christ calling me to become?” Do not merely flee the prostitute. Love the Bride. Commit yourself to Christ’s church. Gather with her, worship with her, serve her, give generously through her, and build relationships within her.

By nature, all of us belong to Babylon. We have desired her treasures and participated in her rebellion. But Jesus came to rescue rebels like us. On the cross, He willingly drank the cup of judgment we deserved, died in our place, and rose from the grave as King of kings and Lord of lords. So come out of Babylon by coming to Christ.

Babylon may appear beautiful now, but one day she will be stripped bare and destroyed. The Bride may appear weak and unimpressive now, but one day she will be presented to Christ in radiant beauty.

Do not give your heart to the city that dazzles today and disappears tomorrow. Give your heart to Christ. Love His Bride. And live as a citizen of the city that will flourish forever.