In this page I will firstly show why I believe "Babylon the Great" from Revelation refers to the city of New York, and therefore the USA. Then I will examine what that means for the world in the coming years.
Ancient Babylon
"But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt," declares the LORD, "and will make it desolate forever..."
Jeremiah 25:12
"It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation..."
Jeremiah 50:39
She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; ...
Isaiah 13:20
When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, "So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring on her. And her people will fall."
Jeremiah 51:64
The above passages are a sample of what Isaiah and Jeremiah have to say about Ancient Babylon, before Babylon took the Israelites into captivity. They are both very clear that Babylon was to be destroyed and would not be rebuilt. Ancient Babylon, in Iraq, still lies in ruins today, as Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold.
In addition, Babylon the Great, from Revelation, is a port city by the sea (Revelation 18:17-19), whereas Ancient Babylon in Iraq is several hundred miles inland. So despite the same name, they clearly do not refer to the same place.
So why is a modern city called Babylon the Great in Revelation if it does not refer to the site of Ancient Babylon? To me, this indicates that the new Babylon will share many similar characteristics to Ancient Babylon. I will explore these in the next section.
So here is a list of the top 3 characteristics of Ancient Babylon, which are shared by New York/USA:
1. Babylon was named after the tower of Babel (Genesis 11). This tower was built up to the heavens by men after the flood, so that "we may make a name for ourselves". New York is also famous for its towers, having the tallest building in the world for most of the last 150 years, including the Empire State Building, and the World Trade Center (before 9/11).
2. Babylon was both the political and economic capital of the world at that time. It was famed for its wealth. New York is in a similar position. As headquarters for the United Nations it is the political capital of the world. Economically the USA is the largest country, and controls the US dollar, the main currency of the world. New York hosts by far the two largest stock exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, between them representing over half the market capitalization of publicly traded shares.
3. Babylon was famous for having a large Jewish population, exiled from Israel by Nebuchadnezzar. New York is also famous for having a large Jewish population, the largest Jewish population outside Israel.
Revelation chapters 17 and 18 hold many other clues about the identity of this modern day city of Babylon:
[Work in Progress]