Apocalypse Explained, Vol. 6

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This idolatry is depicted also in the same,

By the statute decreed by Darius the Mede, that no one should ask a petition from any god or from any man, but from the king; and that whosoever should ask anything from god or from man within thirty days should be cast into a den of lions (vi. 7–9).

By this “Babel (or Babylon)” is depicted in respect to dominion over holy things, and the assumption of Divine power; and the destruction of such is depicted by the fact that all who persuaded Darius to make that statute were cast into the den of lions and devoured. [10.] Babylon is depicted also in Daniel,

By the fact that Belshazzar the king, his nobles, his wives, and his concubines, drank wine out of the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had brought from the temple of Jerusalem, and at the same time praised their gods of gold and silver, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, and then the writing on the wall appeared to him; after which the king was slain that same night (v. 1 to the end).

This represented and thus signified the profanation of the holy things of the church by those who are of Babylon, and who extend their dominion even unto heaven; for it is said,

“Thou hast lifted up thyself above the Lord of the heavens, when they brought the vessels of His house before thee” (verse 23).

From these passages in Daniel it can be seen that “Babylon (or Babel)” means in the Word the love of dominion over the entire globe, likewise over heaven and over the Lord Himself; and that the church of the Lord gradually becomes a Babylon; and that as it becomes a Babylon so it is devastated in respect to all good of love and all truth of faith; and that this is its end, that is, it is no longer a church; and when it is no longer a church it is reckoned among the idolatrous nations, except those in it who worship the Lord, regard the Word as holy, and accept instruction from it.

[d.] [11.] “Babel (or Babylon)” is depicted also in Isaiah:

“Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will again choose Israel, that He may set them in their own land. . . . It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow . . . that thou shalt declare this parable concerning the king of Babylon, . . . How hath the exactor ceased, the lust of gold ceased. Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers,” therefore “the whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they have broken forth into singing. Even the oaks rejoice on account of thee, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down no feller hath come upon us. Hell beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it hath stirred up Rephaim a term for the spirits of the dead for thee, all the mighty of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also