02.04. Great Babylon, which I have built'

’Great Babylon, which I have built’

Babel, the site of the tower that early rebels built as a symbol of their advanced civilization, gave its name to the city of Babylon and the kingdom of which it was the capital. The people who built the tower prided themselves that they were socially and technically so advanced that they could achieve anything they wished.¹ Through their collective effort they felt self-sufficient and invincible. They saw themselves as independent of God; indeed, they defied God.

Already, in the earliest times, human beings had shown that as soon as they were aware of new-found abilities, they used those abilities to exalt themselves at the expense of God. Babylon became a symbol of human arrogance and rebellion. This was demonstrated in a vision given to the king of Babylon in the time of Daniel. In the vision, one nation after another set itself up in what it thought was an unconquerable kingdom, but in the end God smashed the lot.² The king did not learn the lesson, and a few years later he was still walking around boasting, ‘Is not this great Babylon which I have built?’ God dealt with him decisively, so that he was reduced from his god-like status to that of an animal.³ In the closing book of the New Testament, God gave John a vision of the overthrow of Babylon to picture the destruction of human society. An ungodly world might use its collective power to assert itself, oppose Christians and defy God, but in the end God will overthrow it.⁴

Babylon may not exist on today’s map, but symbolically it is present everywhere. Its spirit dominates the world and distorts every advance in civilized society, whether in the tower-builders of Genesis, the king of Daniel’s day, or the Roman Empire of New Testament times. It challenges Christians to see the reality of their world, to beware of apparent human achievements, and to live according to the values of God’s kingdom.

1. Genesis 11:3-9 2. Daniel 2:36-45. The king was Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned 605-562 BC.

3. Daniel 4:30-32 4. Revelation 18:1-24

Museum reconstruction of Ishtar Gate, Babylon