Babylon as Jerusalem in Revelation
By Robert E. Cruickshank, Jr. (March 22, 2026)
Edited by Daniel E. Harden, Reviewed by Brett Prieto
[5 ½ -Minute Read Time]
The word “Babylon” is mentioned six times in the book of Revelation, and Revelation prophesies its fall (Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 18:2, 21). Historically, Babylon had fallen six centuries earlier when the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, overtook the city with overwhelming force in 539 BC.[1] Taking an Old Testament designation and reapplying it like this is nothing unusual for John in the book of Revelation.
Through examples like Balaam (Rev. 2:14), Jezebel (Rev. 2:20), Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8), Gog and Magog (Rev. 20:8), etc., we know that John frequently takes concrete historical persons, places, and events from Israel’s past and reorients them in conjunction with the events which “must soon take place” in his own day (Rev. 1:1).
The Balaam, Jezebel, Sodom, Egypt, and Gog and Magog of John’s day were obviously not the Balaam, Jezebel, Sodom, Egypt, and Gog and Magog of past days. But the core theme or idea behind the historical referent comes to life in a new situation in each case. For John’s purposes, the name remains, the theme is the same, but the circumstances are all brand new.
The same is true of Babylon.
Meet the New Babylon, Not Quite the Same as the Old Babylon
While this thematic reorientation is rather obvious, and most realize this, many overshoot and fling fallen Babylon (Rev. 18:2) so far into the future that it loses all relevance for John and his original audience.
The tendency in modern-day pop-prophecy is to equate the Babylon of Revelation with modern-day nations. Typically, present-day Iraq[2] or even the United States itself[3] are the leading candidates. As J. Nelson Kraybill reminds us, however:
“Revelation refers to itself as prophecy (Rev. 22:7), which can be confusing because modern English uses the terms ‘prophecy’ and ‘prediction’ interchangeably. But biblical prophecy often has more to do with spiritual insight into the writer’s immediate circumstances than with forecasts of the distant future. John’s vision gave insight into ‘what must soon take place,’ in his era (1:1). The seer knew nothing of global warming, the Internet, or the United Nations. He wrote a scathing critique of political idolatry in the first-century Roman Empire, not an analysis of Al Qaeda or the inequities of modern globalization.”[4]
In other words, John isn’t forecasting distant geopolitical events in the twenty-first century but targeting a present-day reality in his own century. It’s not difficult to identify who or what he had in mind. In fact, John makes it rather easy for us.
In passages like Revelation 16:19 and 18:19, “Babylon” is called “the great city.” In Revelation 11:8, the phrase “the great city” is introduced, and there it refers to the city where “the Lord was crucified.” This narrows it down to only one possibility.
As N.T. Wright puts it, “Jerusalem, under its present regime, had become Babylon.”[5]
The Great City and the Cities of the Nations (Revelation 16)
Historically, first-century Jerusalem was in fact where Jesus was crucified (Lk. 13:33), and what John describes in Revelation 16:19 perfectly describes what happened to that city and the surrounding area.
John tells us that this “great city” (the new Babylon) would be “split into three parts” (Rev. 16:19). Accordingly, Josephus relates how Jerusalem was “parted into three factions, and that one faction fought against each other” (Wars 5.1.1). Josephus is referring to the attacks that the Jewish Zealots made upon each other and the other Jewish people in the city itself.
In conjunction with what was going on inside of Jerusalem at the time (the infighting among these three Zealot factions), John relates how the war would take its toll on cities outside of Jerusalem as well. He says that “the cities of the Gentiles fell” (Rev. 16:19). This would refer to the cities of the region of Galilee, which had long been known as “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Isa. 9:1; Matt. 4:15; 1 Macc. 5:15). This epithet was due to its heavily mixed population.[6]
According to Josephus, there were 204 cities, towns, and villages in Galilee, the smallest of which numbered over 15,000 inhabitants.[7] The region was massive, covering 2000 square miles with a population of 2-3 million.[8] Its cities would have included familiar Biblical places like Nazareth and Capernaum (Matt. 4:13). During the Roman-Jewish War, the entire territory of Galilee, along with its 204 cities, towns, and villages was “all over filled with fire and blood,” “laid waste,” and “burned” along with its “neighboring parts” (Josephus, Wars 3.4.1, 5.9.4, 6.6.2).
So, the cities of the Gentiles in Galilee fell, and Jerusalem itself (the new Babylon) was split into three factions by the Zealot uprising. These historical events are a perfect reflection of the prophetic script that John wrote on the pages of Revelation 16.
In like manner, the imagery of Babylon in the following chapter is a perfect reflection of the danger that first-century Jews posed to the first generation of believers, as they instigated the surrounding multitudes to rise up against Christ’s followers.
The Many Waters and the Multitudes of People (Revelation 17)
In Revelation 17:1, Babylon (“the great prostitute”) is said to sit “on many waters.” As David Chilton wrote,
“Jerusalem could truly be portrayed as seated on ‘many waters’ (i.e., the nations) because of the great and pervasive influence the Jews had in all parts of the Roman Empire before the destruction of Jerusalem. Their synagogues were in every city, and the extent of their colonization can be seen in the record of the Day of Pentecost, which tells us that ‘there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation under heaven’ (Acts 2:5).”[9]
In Revelation 17:15, the “many waters” are identified as “peoples and multitudes (ochlos) and nations and languages.” This is not a vague symbol of humanity at large, but a recurring feature of the Gospel and Acts narratives. The crowds are stirred, moved and manipulated by hostile Jewish opposition to Christ and His mission.
Consider the following:
In Acts 13:45, we are told that the Jews were “filled with jealousy” when they “saw the multitudes (ochlos)” assembling to hear Paul.
By the time we get to Acts 14:19, we see that the Jews “had won over the multitudes (ochlos).” They then stoned Paul, dragged him out of the city, and left him for dead.
In Acts 16:22, the multitudes (ochlos)” rise up against Paul and Silas, and succeeded in having them beaten with rods.
In Acts 17:13, the “Jews from Thessalonica” succeed in “stirring up the multitudes (ochlos),” forcing Paul to flee to Athens (Acts 17:14-15).
In Acts 21:27, “the Jews from Asia” stir “up all the multitude (ochlos)” to lay hands on Paul, drag him out of the temple (Acts 21:30), and attempt to kill him (Acts 21:31). If it wasn’t for the intervention of the commander of the Roman battalion, they would have succeeded. Paul had to be protected by the Roman soldiers from “the violence of the multitude (ochlos)” that was instigated by the Asian Jews.[10]
From these accounts in the book of Acts, we can see that the idea of a “great prostitute” sitting on “many waters/multitudes” is an apt image depicting Jerusalem’s ability to rouse, direct, and ultimately weaponize the crowds it sat upon – riding them to violent ends.
Babylon Really has “Fallen”
Revelation’s Babylon is not a distant, modern nation but first-century Jerusalem, the city where Christ was crucified. John’s visions reflect the real historical events of his time: Jerusalem split by internal Zealot factions, the surrounding Galilean cities destroyed, and hostile Jewish leaders stirring multitudes against believers. The imagery of Babylon sitting on “many waters” captures Jerusalem’s wide influence and its power to manipulate crowds for violent ends, showing that Revelation exposes the immediate threats to the early Church rather than predicting far-off global events.
In short, the Great Prostitute (Mystery Babylon) was the Jerusalem of John’s own day, stirring the crowds and spilling the blood – right in front of the first-century believers she sought to destroy.
The Babylon of Revelation fell long ago (Rev. 18:2), when the Sea Beast (Rome) turned on the Harlot (Apostate Israel) and left no stone unturned.
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[1] Fall of Babylon | History | Research Starters | EBSCO Research https://bit.ly/4rRqgwz
[2] Is the Babylon in Revelation the real city in Iraq? | Verse By Verse Ministry International https://bit.ly/4t42FtC
[3] The case for identifying Babylon the Great with the United States of America | TruthOnlyBible https://bit.ly/4uJAdyA
[4] J. Nelson Kraybill, Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation (Gand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010), 22.
[5] N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992), 323.
[6] This would have begun with the Assyrian conquest of the region in the 8th century BC (2 Kg. 15:29), as the Assyrian policy was to repopulate conquered areas with non-indigenous peoples (e.g., Ezra 4:2, 10). For more on this, see: Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation (Acworth, GA: Tolle Lege Press; Vallecito, CA: Chalcedon Foundation, 2024), 1246-1247.
[7] G. J. Goldberg – Chronology of the War (Part 4): Josephus in Galilee December 66 – May 67 https://bit.ly/47vm8tN
[8] Galilee Area in the Time of Jesus – Bible History https://bit.ly/4ohPV0a
[9] David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Tyler, TX: Dominion Press, 1987), 438-439.
[10] This last example is especially pertinent since there is a tendency to identify Rome with Babylon in Revelation, but here we see Rome protecting God’s servant (Paul) from “the multitudes (ochlos)” upon which Babylon sits. While Rome indeed plays a part in Revelation, it is the Sea Beast of Revelation 13 and not the Babylon of chapters 14, 16, 17, and 18. As James Jodan points out, Rome was really not a threat to Christianity until Nero went “nuts” in the mid-60s (James B. Jordan- Kings of the Oikumene – Revelation 16v14 | James B. Jordan Archive (YouTube) https://bit.ly/4sn6av1
