Daniel’s Vision and Babylon The Great
From the Book Reckoning of Time
What are Babylon the Great the mother of the whores adorn with gold in Revelation 17 and Babylon the Great the whore in Revelation 18? Are they the two Babylons called by the same name: Babylon the Great, or one? Daniel saw a ten-horned beast and Yochanan (John) saw Babylon the Great riding the beast. Did they see one prophecy or two separate ones of the same Babylon the Great? This chapter is dedicated to answer these questions.
In Part I of this study the goal was to restore the Sabbatical and Jubilee years from the Creation of the world to the last 6,000th year. In Part II and Part III the goal will be to restore the events prophesied in the Scripture, as the present author sees them, of the last three and half years and try to answer the question how close we are to his coming.
Part II of the book The Reckoning Of Time studies the prophecies of Baruch, Daniel, Ezra, and Yochanan (see Appendix A). These four prophets wrote in the same style and language depicting a puzzle of prophecies of the world empires which reigned over different periods of time as each piece of the puzzle was given as a revelation to a certain prophet so that all of them when put correctly together make one complete prophecy.
Daniel’s vision of the fourth empire
You, O sovereign, were looking on, and saw a great image! This great image, and its brightness excellent, was standing before you, and its form was awesome. This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You were looking on, until a stone was cut out without hands, and it smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing-floors. And the wind took them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled all the earth. You are the head of gold. And after you rises up another reign lower than yours, and another third reign of bronze that rules over all the earth. And the fourth reign is as strong as iron, because iron crushes and shatters all. So, like iron that breaks in pieces, it crushes and breaks all these. Yet, as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the reign is to be divided. But some of the strength of the iron is to be in it, because you saw the iron mixed with muddy clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the reign is partly strong and partly brittle. And as you saw iron mixed with muddy clay, they are mixing themselves with the seed of men, but they are not clinging to each other, even as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these sovereigns the Elah of the heavens shall set up a reign which shall never be destroyed, nor the reign pass on to other people – it crushes and puts to an end all these reigns, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great Elah has made known to the sovereign what shall be after this. (Dan 2:31-45) Nebukadnetsar the sovereign made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. (Dan 3:1) And four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another (see also the parallel with Rev 13:1-7).
The first [Babylon] was like a lion and had eagle’s wings. I was looking until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and it was given a man’s heart. And another beast, a second [Persia], like a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said this to it, ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ After this another, like a leopard [Greece], which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and rule was given to it. After this a fourth beast [Rome], fearsome and burly, exceedingly strong. And it had great iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was thinking about the horns, then saw another horn, a little one, coming up among them, and three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots before it. And see, eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great words. Then, because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking, I was looking until the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning fire, and the rest of the beasts had their rule taken away. But a lengthening of life was given to them, for a season and a time (for a set time and year). (Dan 7:3-12) These four great beasts are four sovereigns which rise up from the earth. (Dan 7:17) The fourth beast is the fourth reign [Rome] on earth, which is different from all other reigns, and it devours all the earth, tramples it down and crushes it. And the ten horns are ten sovereigns from this reign. They shall rise, and another shall rise after them, and it is different from the first ones, and it humbles three sovereigns, and it speaks words against the Most High, and it wears out the set-apart ones of the Most High, and it intends to change appointed times and law, and they are given into its hand for a time and times and half a time. (Dan 7:23-25)
The vision, concerning what is continual, and the transgression that lays waste, to make both the set-apart place and the host to be trampled under foot: “For 2,300 days, then that which is set-apart shall be made right for the vision is for the end, what shall take place in the latter time of the wrath, for at the appointed time shall be the end. The ram which you saw, having two horns, are the sovereigns of Media and Persia. And the male goat is the sovereign of Greece, and the large horn between its eyes is the first sovereign [Alexander The Great]. And that it was broken and four stood up in its place: are four empires arising out of Greece, but not in its power. In the latter time of their rule, when the transgressors have filled up their measure a sovereign [Antiochus Apiphunis] fierce of face and skilled at intrigues, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, and he shall destroy incredibly, and shall prosper and thrive, and destroy mighty men, and the set-apart people. Through his skill he shall make deceit prosper in his hand, and hold himself to be great in his heart, and destroy many who are at ease, and even stand against the Ruler of rulers – yet without hand he shall be broken (Dan 8:13-25). Seventy sevens [490 years] are decreed for your people and for Jerusalem to put an end to the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to cover crookedness, and to bring in everlasting righteousness [from a starting point till the final atonement at the end of the 490 years], and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Set-apart [place]. From the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Ruler is seven sevens [49 years] and sixty-two sevens [434 years] Jerusalem shall be built again, with streets and a wall, but in times of affliction. And after the sixty-two sevens [434 years] the Messiah will be killed. And the people of a coming ruler [general Titus] shall destroy Jerusalem and the Temple [70 AD]; the end of it is with a flood and wastes are decreed, and fighting until the end [135 AD]. And he prevail/strengthen a covenant with great ones for one seven. In the middle of the seven he shall cause an end to slaughtering and meal offering. And on the overspreading of abominations shall be that which causes desolation, even until the complete end and that which is determined is poured out on that which causes desolation (Dan 9:24-27).
The eagle, whom you saw come up from the sea, is the kingdom which was seen in the vision of your brother Daniel (see Dan 7:3-7). But it was not expounded to him, therefore now I declare it to you. There shall rise up a kingdom upon earth, and it shall be feared above all the kingdoms that were before it. In the same shall twelve kings reign, one after another: the second shall begin to reign, and shall have more time than any of the twelve. After the time of that kingdom shall arise great strivings, and it shall stand in peril of failing: nevertheless it shall not then fall, but shall be restored again to his beginning. In that kingdom shall arise eight kings, whose times shall be easy, and their years swift and two of them shall perish. When the middle time begins to approach: four kings shall be kept until their end begins to approach: but two shall be kept unto the end. In the last days of the kingdom the Most High shall raise up three kingdoms, and shall subdue many others to them, and they shall have the dominion of the earth with much oppression, above all those that were before them: therefore they are called the heads of the eagle for these are that shall accomplish his wickedness, and that shall finish its last end. The greater of the three kings shall die upon his bed, with pain. And the two that remain shall be slain with the sword. For the sword of the one shall devour the other: but at the last shall he fall through the sword himself. These are they, whom the Highest hath kept unto their end: this is the small kingdom and full of trouble. (2Es 12:11-30)
There shall be a time of distress, such as never was since there was a nation, until that time. At that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth wake up [resurrected], some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches, everlasting abhorrence. And those who have insight shall shine like the brightness of the expanse, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, hide the words, and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall diligently search, and knowledge shall increase. “How long until the end of these wonders?” It would be for a time, times, and half a time. And when they have ended scattering the power of the set-apart people, then all these shall be completed. What is the latter end of these matters? From the time the Temple service is taken away, and the abomination is set up, is 1,290 days. Blessed is he who is waiting earnestly, and comes to 1,335 days. But you, go your way till the end and rest, and arise to your lot at the end of the days. (Dan 12:1-13)
As seen from the comparison table in Appendix A, Daniel’s prophecy deals with four world empires: two of them, Babylon and Persia, were in existence at the time of Daniel’s writing and two were still to come: Greece and Rome. Unlike Apostle Yochanan, Daniel reveals in greater details the prophecy surrounding these four empires, because his message was more concerned about the exile in Babylon and the coming of the Anointed One, while Yochanan, whose focal point was the return of the Messiah, is more concerned with the end time, to which Part III of this study is entirely dedicated.
This is not to say that Daniel had not been given any prophecy about the last and greatest empire; on the contrary, but his prophecy is more to bridge Yochanan’s account than to develop a prophecy of its own.
On the other hand, Ezra bridges the gap in Daniel’s prophecy regarding the last kingdom which was seen in Daniel’s vision, but it was not expounded to him for one reason or the other. That is why Ezra’s vision fills the gap in Daniel’s prophecy, but also the same can be said regarding bridging Yochanan’s.
Giving different pieces of the puzzle to different prophets is not to puzzle us: it has been so done for a reason. However, the scholar’s challenge is to put the pieces together and draw the right conclusions.
Yochanan’s vision of the last eighth empire: the ten-horned beast
As already stated, the focal point of Daniel’s vision is the coming of the Anointed One about whom Mosheh had spoken, while Yochanan’s revelation is about His return; Baruch and Ezra’s are to bridge these prophecies.
And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast covered with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup filled with abominations and the filthiness of her whoring, and upon her forehead a name written, a secret: Babylon The Great, the mother of the whores and the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the set-apart ones, and with the blood of the witnesses of Yeshua. And having seen her, I marveled – greatly marveled! … The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits, and are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is [the sixth], and the other [the seventh] is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eight, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast [the eighth king]. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast [the eighth king]. Rev 17:3-13
Rev 17:3-13 speak of eight world empires which have one thing in common namely that they all ruled over the Promised Land. Five of them at the time of writing of Revelation had already been destroyed; one was in existence, that was Rome, and one was yet to come in the future. Below are the eight empires given in order of their reigns:
1. Egyptian Empire. Fallen. Around 3100 B.C., Narmer (also known as Menes) was the first Egyptian pharaoh to conquer and rule over Upper and Lower Egypt. Various pharaohs reigned in a unified Egypt for twenty-one successive dynasties until around 1100 B.C. when Upper and Lower Egypt split. Assyrians conquered Egypt in 669 B.C.
2. Assyrian Empire. Fallen. The Assyrians came from Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq. Their reign lasted until 625 B.C. before it began its decline. During their reign, they controlled all of the Fertile Crescent, including Egypt, before the revolt of the Babylonians.
3. Babylon. Fallen. Babylon was located in Mesopotamia within modern day Iraq. Nabopolassar, father of Nebuchadnezzar, overthrew the authority of Assyria in the year 612 B.C.
4. Persian Empire. Fallen. Under the rule of Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, Persia became the largest and most powerful empire in history up to that point. Persia fell to the Greeks when Greece invaded and conquered, after which it collapsed and disintegrated in 330 B.C.
5. Greek Empire. Fallen. Alexander III of Macedon ascended the throne in 336 BC after his father Philip II was assassinated.
These are the five that “have fallen.” At the time the Revelation was written these five empires were in existence no more.
6. Roman Empire. One is. This empire was the one “that is” or was in existence at the time the Revelation was penned. The five hundred year old Republic of Rome completed its transition to “empire” at the time of the first emperor, Augustus. Roman expansion intensified under Julius Caesar, the first one to be appointed perpetual dictator, and reached its zenith under Emperor Trajan. In 395 AD the Roman Empire was divided into two portions; East and West: the Byzantine Empire and Rome fell to invading Visigoths. At that point the capital was simply moved to Constantinople. Byzantine continued as an empire for another thousand years, and finally fell in 1453 AD to the invading Seventh Empire.
7. Ottoman Empire. Has not yet come. At the time of writing this empire would not have been on the scene, not until 1453 AD when the eastern leg of Rome was conquered by the Ottomans. It existed until the end of the First World War in 1913. If Rome with its two legs was the sixth empire, and the so-called Revived Roman Empire is the eighth, then the Ottoman Empire must be the seventh.
8. [?]. That was, and is not, is also the eighth. This empire is the one that “was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the pit” meaning it will be reborn out of all previous empires, not out of the Roman Empire only, because as of the time of writing all other five empires ceased to exist, but Rome did not; Rome has never been destroyed. Also, it goes on to say that that empire “is not” meaning it was not Rome itself, and it also says “and is about to come” meaning it will exist in the future. All three conditions (“was, and is not, and is about to come”) can be met only, if that empire would emerge from the past and it will exist in the future.
And another sign was seen in the heaven: and see, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads. And his tail draws a third of the stars of the heaven and throws them to the earth. … And there came to be fighting in the heaven: Mika’el and his messengers fought against the dragon. And the dragon and his messengers fought, but they were not strong enough, nor was a place found for them in the heaven any longer. And the great dragon was thrown out, that serpent of old, called the devil and satan, who leads all the world astray. He was thrown to the earth, and his messengers were thrown out with him. Rev 12:3-9
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads names of blasphemy. … And I saw one of his heads, as having been slain to death, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the earth marveled after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon who gave authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to fight with him?” And he was given a mouth speaking great matters and blasphemies, and he was given authority to do so forty-two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against Elohim, to blaspheme His Name, and His Tent, and those dwelling in the heaven. And it was given to him to fight with the set-apart ones and to overcome them. And authority was given to him over every tribe and tongue and nation. (Rev 13:1-7)
Some interpretations of the texts above suggest that the seven heads are the seven hills on which Rome was built, therefore, they continue, the beast in Revelation is Rome and by extension the Roman Catholicism. Rome was indeed established on seven hills and each hill was originally named by the Etruscans. There were settlements on six of these, but the seventh hill was a boggy, swampy place, where the soil was loose. The Etruscans buried their dead there for centuries. Because the graves were shallow, dogs would often go there to dig up and feed on the dead bodies!
The Etruscans named this hill Vaticanus, meaning habitation of dogs. Later, the Roman Emperor Caligula (one of the most perverted and evil emperors) drained this site, and held enormously popular carnivals (Latin for flesh raising). The obelisk of Caligula stands today in the center of the chariot wheel design in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican. The Vatican stands on the same hill where the Etruscans buried their dead. The tunnels beneath the Vatican have entire walls made of human bones in certain places.
However, the context of Rev 17:8-13 witnesses that “the seven hills” are not hills at all, but seven kings or empires, as it is written: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and are seven kings. The eighth empire by all means is distinct from the other seven but it is also of them, not one of them. Or, in other words, the seven heads are the past seven empires existed before the coming of the last (eighth) empire.
However, what do the ten horns represent? In Zec 1:18-19 the mediating messenger interprets the four horns to the prophet as the four horns which have scattered Yehudah. In Amo 6:13 we also see that a horn is a symbol of power, therefore the four horns symbolize the powers of the world.
And I lifted up my eyes and looked, and saw four horns. And I said to the messenger who was speaking to me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Yehudah, Israel, and Yerushalayim.” (Zec 1:18-19)
you who are rejoicing over a matter of naught, who say, “Have we not taken horns for ourselves by our own strength?” (Amo 6:13)
By the same analogy, the ten horns in Rev 17:12-13 are the ten kings of the last world power, which we will see later on in Part II of this study, are the ten economic and political unions (treaties) in existence today, and the ten crowns are the ten authorities of these ten kingdoms.
Since the ten horns of the dragon are ten contemporary kingdoms springing out of the eighth and last empire of this world, they voluntarily unite and conspire into one political body called the ten-horned beast, as the prophecy of Rev 17:13 says, “They have one mind, and they shall give their power and authority to the beast.”
These ten horns are contemporary and not successive, because a beast has its horns when they appear together. And it must be so much more in this beast because the seven past kingdoms which were successive have a different representation, being signified each by its own crown on the head. For as one crown on one head is made the emblem of the government of the dragon, so the ten crowns on one head must, according to the same analogy, signify ten contemporary kingdoms in one. In other words, the ten-horned beast is the corporate body, the shell, of the ten kingdoms which comprise it.
These ten kingdoms give their power and authority to the beast voluntarily, because it is said that they have one mind in order to fulfill the beast’s will. These kingdoms, thus conspiring into one political body are the very ten-horned beast because the horns of the beast are used to signify the number of particular kingdoms of which the unified kingdom is comprised.
The ten horns in giving their kingdoms to the beast do not give away their kingdoms from themselves to another king, but each gives its kingdom to the political body compounded of them all and by this their kingdoms become one kingdom of the beast without ceasing to be their own.
Therefore, the ten kingdoms comprised the eighth empire in Rev 17:3-13 and the beast representing them is not a separate entity aside of the ten, i.e., an eleventh kingdom, but their political body, the shell, the unifier. Therefore, the ten-horned beast, as we will see below, is nothing less than the ten economical and political unions existent today and is also the political body of the eighth and last empire on the earth.
And since both prophecies Rev 17:8-13 and Dan 7:23-25 speak of the same ten-horned beast, thus complementing each other to be not two separate but one prophecy. And since Dan 7:24 speaks of ten horns and another that shall arise after them, and Rev 17:12 speaks of ten horns which receive authority with the beast, it would be logical to deduce by the same analogy that “the eleventh horn” in Daniel is not a separate horn, but of the ten namely the beast in Revelation.
In other words, “the eleventh” horn in Daniel is the political body, the beast in Revelation which receives authority with the ten. Later on, we will identify precisely the eleventh horn in the prophecy.
The ten-horned beast as the New World Order
Also, Daniel speaks of “the fourth empire” while Yochanan calls it “the eighth” but they both speak of the same last empire that will emerge on the global scene, viewed from different perspectives and time. And the rules and regulations which the beast, the political body establishes are the mechanism by which this empire will control the world for forty-two months, namely that beast is the New World Order (NWO).
The prophecy in Rev 17:12 says that the ten unions complying with the New World Order have not yet received a reign, but authority to reign for one hour, meaning each of these unions is not an actual country but a union. What is the prophetic meaning behind the phrase “for one hour” the present author does not know, except that one prophetic hour is forty-two years? (For more information on calculating the prophetic time see article “What time is it now on the Creator’s clock?“)
And indeed, some of these ten unions are very loosely created and have received their authority by implementing and enforcing rules and regulations as if the unions have a reign. Their reign will be for forty-two years during which, however, they will have one goal namely to enact the laws and regulations of the New World Order (NWO).
Although the ten horns denote ten kingdoms, yet they will not continue to be ten to the end of the allotted time, three and half year or the forty-two months, but to be reduced to four principal kingdoms as in the prophecy in 2Esras.
In other words, the dragon (satan), after having being thrown onto the earth, gives his dominion over the world empires, past and present, namely to the beast (the New World Order), for three and half years. With the “unleashing” of the dragon the tribulation period or Ya’akov’s troubles, as the Scripture describes it, will begin. Thus, from that moment on the ten-horned beast (the ten unions implementing the NWO) has all the power the dragon has given it.
What is intriguing, however, is that the dragon, which initially had seven crowns (authorities), gives them to the beast, but the beast receives ten crowns (authorities). This, the present author, does not know what it means.
United Nations: the façade of the New World Order
Unlike the seven past empires, the eighth aka Revived Roman Empire by many scholars is indeed a global empire: geographically, economically, financially, and militarily. This is the last empire of the world which will be in existence at the return of the Messiah. We may ask the question as to what entity can possibly fulfill all prerequisites of a political body that will become the last empire of this world.
Only one entity today can possibly fit into this description of global empire and that is the United Nations. The United Nations is a union of all earthly kingdoms, i.e. the member-countries. We will see in the next chapters that all countries in the world, without exceptions, are members of the United Nations. All members of the World Organization but one (Israel) are also members, in one form or the other of the ten economic and political unions comprising the United Nations.
Thus, with certainty we may say that the United Nations is the global empire the prophecies are referring to since (1) it is a global union, (2) it has ten unions, (3) it has played, is playing, and will play a repressive role in the world affairs, and the last but not least (4) is the last global organization (it is reasonable to assume that there will be no other) in the world.
The prophecy continues to say that the ten kings have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. This could possibly mean that these ten kings, which the present author believes are the ten political unions (treaties) in existence today, are not actual kingdoms but still have power as if they are kingdoms. And indeed, the ten treaties, as we will see below, are exactly that: political, economic, and even military bodies without kingdom.
In order to better understand the future of the World Organization, we need to look at first its past. The predecessor of the United Nations, the League of the Nations was created after the end of the Great War (WWI) with the “only” purpose to prevent another great war which it did not. It existed from 1920 to 1946 and until its dissolution following World War II.
Until that moment the world had not seen such a globalization of the peoples although many empires had tried to unify it; the Roman Empire being one of them. Bear in mind that the United Nations is the eighth kingdom and that the United Nations was created when the Ottoman Empire (the seventh empire) ceased to exist with the end of WWI. Bear in mind also that U.S. was the initiator of the UN’s creation which in return will help us understand the reason why it was created in the first place.
Gradually, the United Nations (after the failure to prevent WWII and other regional wars afterwards) turned into an economic, financial, multicultural, “human rights”, and even military (the United Nations has its own troops at its disposal) organization. This is why the present author believes that the United Nations is the very fulfillment of the prophecy: “And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a reign, but receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour” in Rev 17:12.
Hence, we see (a) it is a union of ten economic and political unions which alone constitute the whole world (we will study this in the next chapters), (b) it does not possess its own reign because it is not a country, but authority of reign; in other words the United Nations is the political body of the ten-horned beast.
On the other hand, the United Nations does not possess the real power to govern the world, that is why the present author calls it “the shell”. Later on in this study, we will see who actually rules the world affairs and uses the United Nations as a shell, a smoke screen, to conceal its own interests.
Historically, out of the United Nations ten regional “empires” came into existence in order to form what is now known as “globalization”. One of the main bricks of this global organization is the European Union (E.U.); it is the first economic, financial, and military treaty created after the image of the United Nations. It is not coincidental that the E.U. was the first to be created from what was once the Roman Empire in order to fulfill the term Revived Roman Empire.
But E.U. is not the eighth empire itself but the precursor of it, or the model which the other regional treaties follow suit. The European Union is also the head of gold (so to speak) of the United Nations as much as Babylon was the head of gold of the image Daniel saw:
This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. … You, O sovereign, are a sovereign of sovereigns [Babylon]. … You are the head of gold. And after you rises up another reign lower than yours [Persia], and another third reign of bronze that rules over all the earth [Greece]. And the fourth reign is as strong as iron, because iron crushes and shatters all [Rome]. … Yet, as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the reign is to be divided [Rome and Byzantium]. But some of the strength of the iron is to be in it, because you saw the iron mixed with muddy clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the reign is partly strong and partly brittle. And as you saw iron mixed with muddy clay, they are mixing themselves with the seed of men, but they are not clinging to each other, even as iron does not mix with clay. (Dan 2:31-43)
Yochanan continues, And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast covered with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. It will be intriguing to know that in the modern-day image of the European Union, Europe is shown as a woman riding a red beast with ten stars representing the original ten European countries around her head. This emblem of the European Union came straight from the Greek mythology according to which the Greek god Zeus reincarnated himself as a bull and abducted Evropa/Europa, a Phoenician woman of high lineage, who became the first queen of Crete.
Europa and the bull. Terracotta group from Athens, 480–460 BC.
The account of the four empires in Dan 2:31-45 reveals two layers of prophecy. The Sages expound that the phrase that they will mingle with the seed of men in Dan 2:43, speaking of the four empires, means that they will intermarry with the other nations, but they will not be at peace and truly cleave to them wholeheartedly, and their laws will differ from the laws of the other nations.
The First Layer of prophecy:
1. Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar; “head of gold”.
2. Persia under various kings; “chest and arms of silver”.
3. Greece under Alexander the Great; “belly and thighs of bronze”.
4. Rome; the “legs of iron.” Rome was divided into Eastern and Western Roman empires, the two legs of King Nebuchadnezzar’s image.
The Second Layer of prophecy:
1. “First Reich, “Holy Roman Empire” or the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.”
2. “Second Reich”: Germany of Otto von Bismarck
3. “Third Reich”: Germany of Adolf Hitler.
4. “Fourth Reich”: the world governance still to come.
Insert: After the apparent “fall” of the Roman empire when the Germanic warlord Odoacer “wounded” it in 476 AD (it fell, but it did not die; it was just “wounded”), the title of Emperor, was resurrected on Christmas Day in 800 AD when Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish/German ruler Charlemagne emperor of the western leg of the Roman empire, thus Rome was “healed.” Two days earlier, Charlemagne had Leo restored to the papacy, after Leo had been deposed for adultery, perjury and simony, among other things. The Germanic Charlemagne brought about the temporary revival of the title of emperor in 800. Pope John XII crowned the German king Otto I in 962. Here is the moment to say that Rome has never been conquered and destroyed. It transformed itself from inside out into the Holy Roman Empire and then metamorphosed into consequent empires or Reichs.
The ten political and economic unions
Likewise, the eighth empire (it will be more appropriate to call it world governance) is a logical transmutation of the Holy Roman Empire that led to the creation of the regional treaties as we know them today, according to the likeness of the E.U. And these regional treaties are:
1. Union of South American Nations, UNASUR
2. Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, CCASG
3. Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty, ANZUS
4. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, SAARC
5. Middle East Union, MEU
6. African Union, AU
7. Eurasian Economic Union , EAEU
8. ASEAN+Japan, China, and South Korea
9. North American Union, NAU
Together with the E.U. they make the total number of ten treaties which are the ten horns or the ten kingdoms of this world governance (Dan 7:23-25, Rev 17:9-13).
The Two Babylons, or one Babylon: Babylon the Great?
As already stated, Daniel and Yochanan speak of another king, the eleventh, that will arise out of the ten. Yochanan calls this king “the beast” which in the context of Revelation 17 is the ten-horned beast the harlot is riding. But also, Yochanan continues to say that a great whore (whom he calls Babylon the Great) is sitting on many waters meaning on many people and nations (Rev 17:1 and Rev 17:15); the woman, Babylon the Great is that great city that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:18).
The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and crowds, and nations, and tongues. (Rev 17:15)
However, we should ask the question: Who or rather what is the “harlot” that is riding the beast in this prophecy? “The harlot” Babylon the Great (in the context of Revelation 17) is seen by the present author not as a country but as a system, ideology, that corrupts peoples and governments.
Yochanan continues to say that “the ten horns” (that is the world) will hate her and even destroy her (Rev 17:16):
And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these shall hate the whore, and lay her waste and naked, and eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Why would the world want to destroy “the harlot” Babylon the Great? But before we find out what “the harlot” is, let us see what “the harlot” is not.
The understanding of the present author is that Babylon the Great the mother of all whores in Revelation 17 is not the Babylon the Great in Revelation 18, and much less modern-day country Iraq (as some have concluded), although they are called by the same name.
Babylon in the Book of Revelation is a code name for corruption and whoring, but in these two chapters Babylon the Great is used to denote two different things. In Revelation 17, Babylon the Great is a system of rules and regulations, and also ideology that corrupts. In contrast in Revelation 18, Babylon the Great is a country that is corrupted by this system.
The clue that leads to this notion that the two Babylons in Revelation 17 and 18 are two different things is that in Chapter 17 Babylon the Great is hated by the world governments, but in Chapter 18, Babylon the Great is loved by the world and even mourned when it is destroyed (Rev 18:11).
Also, the former Babylon the Great is destroyed by the governments and the latter is destroyed by Elohim, the reason why they wept and mourned for it (Rev 18:20). Therefore, we may conclude that the two Babylons are two different entities, although they are called by the same code name: Babylon the Great.
There is a hidden message that will help us understand the prophecy, which YHVH has used in Jer 25:26 and Jer 51:41, called an Atbash.
Insert: The Atbash code is when a Hebrew word using the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in their forward numerical position (in ABC fashion) is substituted by the same numbered Hebrew letters in a backward arrangement (in a reverse XYZ fashion). For instance, it can be done in English by substituting the first letter A with the last letter Z, second letter B with Y, third letter C with X, etc. The keys to the breaking of the Bible Code include four methods of letter substitution: atbash (aleph for tav), atbach (aleph for het), previous (beth for aleph), and next (gimmel for beth).
In Jer 25:26 we read that “Sheshach” shall be the last of the nations to receive Elohim’s judgment. What nation is “Sheshach” because there is none by that name? Sheshach is actually Bavel (Babylon) in Atbash. By substituting the letters for Bavel in their normal forward numerical positions with Hebrew letters in the same backward numerical positions, we arrive at Sheshach.
Another Atbash, again linked to Babylon, is found in Jer 51:1. We read in Jewish Publication Society Bible (JPS),
Thus saith the LORD: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind.
Leb-kamai is Casdim (Chaldeans) according to cipher of Atbash. Casdim is another name for Babylonians. Interestingly, Leb-kamai translates into in the midst of them that rise up. Therefore, Jer 51:1 reads thus,
Thus said Yehovah, Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up, a destroying wind.
And since the Creator has already used His code in the Book of Jeremiah, He must have used it in the similar manner to hide the true identity of Babylon (Bavel) in the Book of Revelation, too.
The harlot Babylon the Great
So, what is Babylon the Great in Revelation 17 that (1) rides the eighth empire, (2) sits on many people and nations, (3) adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, (4) having sovereignty over the governments of the earth, (5) corrupts, (6) drunk with the blood of the set-apart ones, and (7) is hated and finally terminated?
What is this separate and self-contained entity that can possibly satisfy all these seven attributes? Apparently, this “Babylon the Great” is something that is trans-national and does not recognize international borders and thus ruling over sovereign national governments.
In order to correctly uncover the identity of Babylon the Great, a key attribute is given to us and it is: “adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup”. There is one possible contender for Babylon the Great and the Harlot of the harlots and this is, as these clues speak of themselves, … a monetary system.
In support of this, let us read what Mayer Amschel Rothschild, one of the richest man in the world, stated. He said, “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws.”
And indeed, the world financial and monetary system (represented by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, IMF) unsurprisingly was created with the creation of the United Nations which, let us not forget, was created by the U.S. initiative.
Therefore, if we return to the attributes of Babylon the Great in Revelation 17 and decode the prophecy, we will find out that: (1) money rides (governs) the countries, true, (2) rules over many people, true, (3) gold and silver were the gold standard and are still the foundation of the modern-day financial system, true, (4) financial crises cause civil unrests that bring down governments, also true, (5) money corrupts and more money corrupts even more, true, and (7) this monetary system based on gold, silver, and paper banknotes will be abandoned and eventually terminated, it is being fulfilled as we are reading. The explanation of (6) is following below.
Its termination, as a matter of fact, had already begun when the World Bank and IMF gradually abandoned the gold standard and replaced it with paper money and they have now started replacing the paper bills as an itemized statement of money owed with electronic transactions, so that one day a new legal tender will be introduced. This new legal tender is called “bancor”, which eventually will replace the old monetary system. But what is bancor?
Bancor is a supranational currency conceptualized in the years 1940-42 and which the United Kingdom proposed to introduce after the Second World War. This newly created supranational currency would then be used in international trade as a unit of account within a multilateral clearing system – the International Clearing Union which also had to be founded.
Bancor was proposed as an explanation for the ineffectiveness of the existing monetary policy to stem the depression, as well as a non-monetary interpretation of the depression, and finally an alternative to a monetary policy for meeting the depression. It is believed that in times of heavy unemployment, interest rates could not be lowered by monetary policies. The ability for wealth to move between countries seeking the highest interest rate frustrated the money mongers. By closer government control of international trade and the movement of wealth, this policy would be more effective in stimulating individual economies.
It is also believed that bancor would not be an international currency. It would rather be a unit of account used to track international flows of wealth. And this is the core point: gold could be exchanged for bancors, but bancors could not be exchanged for gold. In other words, and this is very important to understand, bancor will gradually suck the real money: gold and silver, until it will make an end of it. Also, the individuals could not hold or trade in bancor.
So, without the real money (gold and silver) and paper bills, the individuals will need to use something else instead in order to buy or sell goods; bear this in mind when we return to Revelation. All international trade would be valued and cleared in bancor to make bancor a global means of commerce.
Initially the bancor was not accepted by the financial elite; the time was not ready for bancor or put it this way: the world was not ready for bancor. The world needed to be pre-conditioned in order (when the right time comes) to accept bancor. To start implementing the plan of the New World Order (NWO), a system of pegged exchange rates tied to physical gold in a system managed by the World Bank and IMF was adopted as a first step.
In practice, this new monetary system after the WWII implicitly established the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency convertible to gold at a fixed price on demand by other governments; and that was the second step. The dollar was established as a world currency for political, economical, and even military reasons since the U.S. was the only country in the world that profited from WWII and thence emerges as the only super power on the world stage. Thus, the U.S. economy was artificially put on “steroids” in order to make America the super power of the 20th century; and that was by design, as well, until U.S. has fulfilled its role in the global plan of dominance.
However, when the time came, the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2006-2008 erupted and the proposal to introduce bancor has been revived, as the only “good” solution to the problem.
In a speech delivered in March 2009 entitled Reform the International Monetary System (heed the word “reform”), the governor of the People’s Bank of China (the second economical and financial super power next to the U.S.) called the bancor approach “farsighted” and proposed the adoption of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) as a global reserve currency which was a response to the financial crisis.
China, a country with large holdings of U.S. dollar foreign exchange reserves, voiced its displeasure at the current international monetary system where the U.S. dollar is the world currency, promoting measures that would allow the SDR to “fully satisfy the member countries’ demand for a reserve currency”. He argued that a national currency (the U.S. dollar) was unsuitable as a global reserve currency because of the difficulty faced by reserve currency issuers in trying to simultaneously achieve their domestic monetary policy goals and meet other countries’ demand for reserve currency. In addition to it, the bad U.S. economy contributed to the problem.
The promoted SDRs are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by IMF. SDRs are not money; instead they represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged. Created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of the U.S. dollar, the value of a SDR is defined by a weighted currency basket of four major currencies: the U.S. dollar, the Euro, the British pound, and the Japanese yen. In recent times, the term SPEDRI is being increasingly used as a more common abbreviation for Special Drawing Rights. There is an increasing speculation and evidence that the SPEDRI has the potential to replace the weak U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
To further elaborate on the harlot, Babylon the Great, we may need to consider the prophecy in Isa 23:15-18 where a similar “whore” commits whoring with all the reigns of the earth:
And in that day it shall be that Tsor is forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one sovereign. At the end of seventy years it shall be to Tsor as in the song of the whore: “Take a lyre, go about the city, you forgotten whore; make sweet playing, sing many songs, so that you might be remembered.” And at the end of seventy years it shall be that Yehovah visits Tsor. And she shall return to her hire and commit whoring with all the reigns of the earth on the face of the soil. And her goods and her hire shall be set apart for Yehovah, not treasured nor laid up, for her gain is for those who dwell before Yehovah, to eat sufficiently, and for a choice covering.
The circumstances of this prophecy seem to allude to Babylon the Great in Revelation in a second layer of the prophecy concerning Tsor. Tsor is (here called a whore) said to commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world. It may not be coincidental that this is the exact description of the Whore Babylon the Great and not to or to some degree with the ancient city of Tsor since its dealing with other nations was only in matters of trade and merchandise. Nor does the expression commit whoring with all the reigns of the earth on the face of the soil, agree so well to that city as to Babylon the Great in Revelation.
Secondly, the seventy years of desolation do not seem to accommodate to the ancient city of Tsor. Nebuchadnezzar took the city after a siege of thirteen years, during the time of Yehudah’s captivity. The desolation was entire. The city was destroyed not only for seventy years but forever (as was prophesied in Ezekiel 26, where, the present author believes, the prophecy refers to the city of Tsor). After the ruin of Tsor, not far from this city, there was another city called by the same name, but this one was not laid desolate and flourished until the reign of Alexander the Great who utterly destroyed it.
Thirdly, seventy years are said to be according to the days of one king. But what king of Yehudah in Isaiah’s days had reigned seventy years? None. Moreover, the friendly relation existed between Israel and Phoenicia, for example, the friendly alliance into which King David and King Shlomo had entered with the king of Tsor (2Sa 5:11, 1Ki 5:15) and also the fact that no king of Israel or Yehudah had ever made war on Phoenicia. However, if we allude it to Babylon the Great in Revelation, we may see the foreknowledge of Elohim.
As already said, bancor was conceptualized as a supranational currency in the years 1940-42 and its “revival” as a global reserve currency in a response to the financial crisis of 2006-2010 was proposed thereafter. So, that would make seventy years for the forgotten Tsor (Bancor) to return to her hire and commit whoring with all the reigns of the earth on the face of the soil. In other words, it seems that Tsor is a coded name for bancor and this is the best understanding of the present author regarding otherwise the obscured prophecy of Tsor.
Fourthly, where it is said that Tsor’s merchandise and her hire shall be set apart for the Lord, the present author does not know what it means, and it is yet to be deciphered. Until then, we may want to consider Rashi’s comments on Isa 23:18 in which he explains what “set-apart to YHVH” means: The righteous are destined to plunder her (Tsor) when the king Messiah comes. This, we may say, gives more understanding as to what Tsor could be.
Babylon the Great and the mark of the beast that kills
However, there is something that does not fully fit into the above description of what Babylon the Great in Revelation 17 is, at least at first glance. Yochanan saw Babylon the Great drunk with the blood of the set-apart ones, this is (6) attribute yet to be explained:
And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the set-apart ones, and with the blood of the witnesses of Yeshua. And having seen her, I marveled – greatly marveled! (Rev 17:6)
First, notice that Yochanan was greatly marveled when he saw “the mystery woman.” And why should he not? If he had seen an unknown country or even the modern-day Iraq, as some suggest, he would not have marveled so much. He would have been very familiar with the imaginary of whatever that country would have been. He would not have had any problems to describe even the vastest empire, if he had seen such a thing; after all he lived in the days of Rome: the largest and strongest empire known in his days.
But he saw something that he did not have a clue what it was, which would explain his marveling and lack of words to describe it. Most likely he saw Babylon the Great as a global financial system, a network of bank institutions, clearing houses, etc. in an image of some kind. That was something he was not able to comprehend and describe and therefore he marveled.
But what is more marveling for us, however, is how this global financial and monetary system existing today could kill those who are set-apart ones in Yeshua the Messiah. And we may marvel even more than Yochanan did. But, let the Scripture explain itself.
And there was given to him [the two-horned beast] to give spirit to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause to be killed as many as would not worship the image of the beast. And he causes all, both small and great, and rich and poor, and free and slave, to be given a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads, and that no one should be able to buy or sell except he that has the mark of the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is the wisdom! He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (Rev 13:15-18)
Later on in Part II of this work, we will spend a greater deal of study who or rather what the beasts are, the image of the beast, and its mark, but it is sufficient for now to inquire into the matter of the mark of the beast without which no one should be able to buy or sell. And this is the key phrase that would unlock the mystery of the Great Whore Babylon the Great Yochanan marveled on.
Could it be possible that somehow this mark of the beast, without which no one should be able to buy or sell, and the Great Whore Babylon the Great, the monetary system, are somehow related? Yes, it could and we will see below how they are actually related.
Another key phrase to unlock the mystery is the phrase “be killed as many as would not worship the image of the beast.” This phrase parallels with the phrase “with the blood of the set-apart ones, and with the blood of the witnesses of Yeshua” in the description of Babylon the Great in Rev 17:6. Therefore, those who will not worship the image of the beast will be killed.
And indeed, the set-apart one in Yeshua should not by any means receive the mark of the beast or the number of his name, and worship its image.
We will see later on in the following chapters that the image of the beast and the global financial elite and the mark are indeed related.
We need to know, however, that they are not one and the same: bancor is a unit used to track international flows capital, or in other words it is a global means of commerce; nor are SRDs the mark of the beast either, because rather they are a weighted currency basket. Simply put, bancor and SRDs are rules and regulations of the World Bank and IMF and since private individuals cannot possess them but only the governments, therefore, bancor and SRDs themselves cannot be the mark of the ten-horned beast. However, bancor and SRDs can well facilitate and introduce the mark of the beast which mark is nothing else but a monetary tool.
On the other hand, the mark of the beast is something physical since it can be put on one’s arm or forehead thus serving as a carrier of monetary assets much like a credit card or rather a smart card nowadays. Also, this mark of the beast, unlike the bancor and SRDs, will be used by virtually everyone to do daily business, not just the governments.
The old system must go, the new system to come in
The point of the matter is that the old world as we know it today with its old monetary system will no longer stay, because it does not fit into the concept of the New World Order of the World Governance which, let us not forget, is the ten-horned beast. Babylon the Great has already fulfilled its role to establish the globalization of the world economy, financial, and political system whose face is the United Nations and now it is unwanted.
And if the old monetary system must go, its vehicle, the U.S. dollar being the vehicle of the current monetary system, must go, too. As a matter of fact, the replacement of the U.S. dollar with something else has already begun. More and more countries today refuse to use the dollar as a monetary means in their financial transactions, for one reason or the other, and seek or have already started replacing it with the E.U.’s Euros or other currency.
For a possible scenario of the fall of the current economic and financial system, refer to the present author’s article “The Beast Wounded to Death but Resurrected Two shall be Kept to the End.“
Therefore, if this interpretation of the present author is correct then this “mystery woman” Babylon the Great, who is sitting on the ten-horned beast, the ten economical and political unions, is a monetary system represented by the U.S.A. and by its offspring: the World Bank, IMF, and U.S. dollar.
Bear in mind also that Rev 17:18 calls this “whore” a great city. The largest and most influential stock exchange in the financial world is not other but the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, Manhattan, Wall Street.
In conclusion, Babylon the Great the mother of the whores adorn with gold in Revelation 17 and Babylon the Great the whore in Revelation 18 are two different “Babylons” although they are called by the same name: Babylon the Great. The Babylon Yochanan saw riding the ten-horned beast is the corrupted monetary system of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
But what is Babylon the Great, the great city, that will fall? Is this Babylon the same as the Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51?