“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!’” Revelation 18:1-2.
The destruction of Babylon described here takes place very late in the tribulation period. This can be verified by reading Revelation 16 again. All of the bowls of God’s wrath were poured out and the battle of Armageddon staged, bringing us to the last battle which will end seven years of terror and death.
The seven bowls are such severe judgments that it is said that they will be poured out in quick succession and very near the end of the tribulation.
The first bowl became a foul and loathsome sore on those who had the mark of the beast.
The second bowl turned the oceans to blood, not just blood, but foul blood as of a dead man.
The third bowl turned the rivers and springs to blood.
The fourth bowl unleashed the sun to scorch men with great heat.
The fifth bowl brought darkness over the entire earth.
The sixth bowl dried up the river Euphrates and released three unclean spirits to gather the whole world together for battle at Armageddon.
The seventh bowl brings a horrendous earthquake which levels mountains and sinks islands, and hundred pound hailstones fall.
“And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” Revelation 16:19b.
The above verse ties in with those things depicted in Revelation 18:2 shown earlier in the opening verse.
And Babylon becomes a habitation, dwelling place, prison for demons. While it appears that there three categories of demon here, I am inclined to think that there only two, with the term demon being what they are.
Some translations use the term devils (see Matthew 4:23-24 King James Version quoted further below), this is unfortunate, for there is only one devil and that is Satan himself. Devil means accuser, while the name Satan means adversary.
All demons, and Satan the Devil, are fallen angels who rebelled against God in eons past. All angels were, as we, created by God. God did not create fallen angels; they were all created good as Adam and Eve were.
At some point the angels followed Satan in rebellion against God, and later our ancestors followed him in rebellion also.
Satan is just a fallen angel, he is not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent, these are God’s traits alone. Satan appears to have these traits because he has an army of demons continually reporting to him and coordinating their efforts with him.
Do not just disregard him though, he is far greater in intelligence than all of us, and he has a lot of power, especially over and through those who have opened doors to him via Ouija boards, horoscopes, dabbling in the occult, or just associating with people who habitually play with these things.
This power is also in play through godless demonized men, billionaires and trillionaires, many of whom believe the world population should be reduced by a billion or more human beings by killing them.
Politicians, communists and those who control the media are often demonized and in collusion with those who fund things like “gain of function” in which scientists will take something like an animal virus that will not spill over to harm humans and re-engineer it so it will, even to the point of killing or maiming men, women and children indiscriminately. These viruses were not put here on earth by God. Gain of function is just a euphemism for biological weapons.
Satan also blinds and fills the atheist with anger and bitterness to the point that they profess not to believe in Satan or God. It does not hurt Satan’s feelings if folks say he does not exist, it serves his purpose.
It has been said that, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist.” Charles Baudelaire.
The first rule of warfare is to know your enemy; you cannot face this malevolent person alone, he will beat you every time.
This is why God wants you to lean on Him in all things, He is the only One who can lead you through the maze of life; He speaks primarily through His word, know your Bible, take everything to Him in prayer and avoid much grief.
Babylon has become “a prison for every foul spirit”. Foul here is the same thought as unclean, that is to say unclean in thought and life. So these foul spirits are filled with filthiness in their hearts and their lives.
This would explain why some men having given themselves over to these spirits engage in the most obscene filthiness and evil in their thoughts and actions.
It can be safely said that men have a capacity to do evil on their own. But when the vileness of their actions revolt the sensibilities of the average individual there is something very wicked involved.
Vile things such as the recent gang rape of an eleven year old girl, or when you hear of the horrors inflicted by a Ted Bundy, Gacy, or the atrocities of Isis and those of Boko Haram in Africa; look for demonic activity.
Demons are known to possess men and in the process they may inflict physical infirmity on them, or induce bizarre behavior in them. Beware though, all sickness and insanity is not necessarily demonic, look at the categories in the following passage which was mentioned earlier.
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils [demons], and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them.” Matthew 4:23-24 KJV.
As you can see demon possession and insanity (lunatick) are mentioned separately, so it is possible to be insane without being possessed.
Babylon will also become, “…a cage for every unclean and hated bird”, this one presents a difficult question which is hard to answer without getting too speculative.
The Israelites were familiar with clean and unclean animals because God had specified which were clean to sacrifice and eat and those which were unclean, either for food or sacrifice. Among the birds this would include the carrion eaters and fish hunters, with others.
Because of the wording of the verse, it would seem that something else is meant here. The word unclean has the same meaning as foul discussed earlier, that is to say, unclean in thought and life.
The word hated, is rendered hateful in other translations, this may assume a personality on the part of the bird. A possible example of this is in the Lord’s parable of the mustard seed.
“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’” Matthew 13:31-32.
The mustard seed becomes a shrub, not a tree. What the Lord is saying here is that His intention for the church was not for it to desire to become a tree like the others, with rituals, mantras, riches, and to dominate government.
However when godless men joined the church and gained power this is exactly what the church did become in the Middle Ages. Nor was it intended to be run like a corporation as many mega-churches are today.
Now watch this, the shrub becomes this unnatural sprawling tree which then draws the birds of the air who nest in its branches, if you have ever seen a tree filled with birds you may have noticed that its limbs and trunk are white with dung, it is neither fit to lie under for shade nor is it beautiful to look at.
This is what many churches are today, the ungodly come in unchallenged and set up shop wherever they please and further corrupt Christ’s church with their plans and programs taken from the latest polls in Time magazine and other worldly sources.
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…” 1 Timothy 4:1-2.
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:2-4.
Is it not possible that these deceiving spirits spoken of here are the same as birds that nest in the mustard tree; is it not possible that these are the same hateful and unclean birds that are to be caged in Babylon?
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3.
Revelation 18:1-2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 3-2-17, updated on 10-27-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.