Tale of Two CIties
A key theme in Revelation is the contrast and conflict between the two cities - New Jerusalem and Babylon.
The book
of Revelation often
uses several terms to portray the same reality. For example, the people of God
are called the “servants
of God,” the “saints,”
and the “brethren.”
Churches are pictured as “lampstands,”
priests, and the “Two
Witnesses.” And the overarching cosmic conflict is presented by contrasting
two very different “cities.”
The book communicates symbolically. Its
symbols represent definite realities but are not themselves real. For that
reason, it often uses more than one image to picture the same thing, images
that are incompatible if the book’s visions are literal.
For example, the community of overcoming
saints is described as the “holy
city” AND the “bride
of the Lamb.”
THE HOLY CITY
To the church in Philadelphia, Jesus
promises to make overcoming saints “pillars
in the sanctuary of my God” in the “city,
New Jerusalem that is descending from God” - (Revelation 3:12).
But before “New Jerusalem”
descends as a “bride
without spot or wrinkle,” she must undergo persecution and bear witness to
the “inhabitants of
the earth.” Her “descent”
is both a process and
an event.
An angel commands John to “measure” the “sanctuary,” the “altar,” and the
priests who are “rendering
divine service” in it to prepare the city for habitation. But first, the “holy city” must be
delivered to the “nations”
and “tread upon for
forty-two months” - (Revelation 11:1-2).
The “Two
Witnesses” and the “two
lampstands” represent the same reality. The “witnesses” testify
over the same period of “forty-two
months” until they are killed by the “Beast,”
and “lampstands”
in the book represent churches.
Thus, the “holy city” is a
metaphor for the church bearing witness and suffering persecution, among other
things. The same attack is pictured again when Satan is released from the “Abyss” to gather all
the nations “from the
four corners of the earth” in a final attempt to destroy the “camp of the saints, the beloved city” - (Revelation 11:3-7,
20:9).
After the final judgment, John sees the “holy city…descending
from heaven.” The Greek term translated as “descending”
represents a verb in the present tense which signifies an action in progress.
Thus, John sees it in the process of “descending.”
And the “city” appears as a “bride adorned for her husband,” and is also called the “sanctuary of God,” an example of mixed metaphors being applied to the one people of God - (Revelation 21:1-9).
The city called “New Jerusalem” will
be inhabited by the people of God, and He will “wipe away all their tears.”
When the “city” descends to the earth, He “makes all things new.”
Thus, on some level, the “city” is
also the New Creation, the “new heavens and the new earth.” It includes the
overcoming saints who will “inherit
these things.”
The physical dimensions of the “city” are enormous.
It lies “foursquare”
with its length, width, and height measuring “twelve-thousand furlongs”
in each direction. It is coterminous with the New Creation, and every redeemed
soul is housed within its walls.
THE GREAT CITY, BABYLON
“Babylon” is introduced as the “Great
City,” the place where the “dead bodies” of the “Two Witnesses”
are left lying for three days. It is described as “spiritually, Sodom and
Egypt” where the “Lord was crucified.”
Not only is it the place where the
righteous are slain, but it is perpetually “unclean” because of
the blood spilled on its streets, and because it is the dwelling place of
demons – (Revelation 11:9-13). Later, an angel pronounces the fall of the “Great City”:
- “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, for she has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
Consequently, the “winepress” of
God’s wrath is “trodden” underfoot outside her walls, producing “blood…as far as sixteen-hundred furlongs,”
another impossibly large figure. And just as the “nations trampled the holy
city underfoot,” so, now, “Babylon” is “trodden” underfoot in
judgment and retribution - (Revelation 14:8-20).
When the “seventh bowl of wrath”
is emptied, the “Great City, Babylon” fell along with the “cities of
the nations…and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to
give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
The verbal parallels demonstrate that the
vision portrays the same reality as the previous vision of the “winepress of God”
that was “trodden”
outside the city’s walls.
It is at this time that “every island flees, and
the mountains are not found,” as the entire earth is shaken and “great hail” falls
upon the “inhabitants of the earth.” Effectively, “Babylon” is
coterminous with the earth since every “inhabitant of the earth” dwells
within her walls – (Revelation 16:19-21).
Next, John sees the “Great City” as a
whorish figure in contrast to the “holy
city,” the “bride
of the Lamb.” She is “Babylon
the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth.” She is
the one who seduces the “inhabitants
of the earth” to commit “fornication”
and idolatry, and she is “drunk
with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.”
She is in the “wilderness,” the
same place where God “nourished”
the “woman clothed
with the sun” after she produced the messianic “son.” Thus, for the
time being, the two cities occupy the same time and space - (Revelation
12:1-17, 17:1-6).
And “Babylon” is seen “sitting on
many waters.” That image symbolizes “peoples, multitudes, nations,
and tongues.”
She also rides the “Beast with ten horns”
since she is the “Great City” that reigns over the “kings of the
earth.” And the key to her influence is her economic control, and her power
over the nations is dependent on global commerce - (Revelation 17:15-18:9).
TRIUMPH OF NEW JERUSALEM
But contrary to her claims, Jesus is the “ruler of the kings of
the earth,” not “Babylon.”
He is the “son”
who inherits sovereignty over the nations, indeed, over the Cosmos.
Whatever the “kings of the earth” may intend, the “Lamb” is the “King of kings,” and he uses them to accomplish his purposes.
Thus, they will learn to “hate the
harlot” and will turn against her, and she will be “burned utterly with
fire.” Therefore, “in one hour her judgment will come… in
one hour is she will be made desolate.”
At the end of Babylon's reign, a “strong angel” will
take a “great
millstone” and cast it into the sea, and so, “Babylon, the Great City,
will be cast down and be found no more at all.” In contrast, the saints
will dwell in “New
Jerusalem” forevermore with the “Lamb.”
Thus, the “holy city”
represents both the people of God and their final habitation in the “new heavens and the new
earth.” In contrast, the “Great
City, Babylon” symbolizes humanity in its opposition to Jesus and his
people, especially in the economic sphere though not exclusively so.
Neither “city” is limited to a specific
geographic location. “Babylon”
holds sway wherever the “inhabitants
of the earth” are located, and the holy city of “New Jerusalem”
encompasses the entire new earth after its “descent” from God.
