It goes without saying one of the great controversies in the bible for centuries has been “Mystery Babylon the Great”. Webster’s Dictionary defines a mystery as “A religious truth that man can know by revelation alone and cannot fully understand”. Dictionary.com states “Anything that is kept a secret or remains unexplained or unknown.” Cambridge Dictionary states “Something strange or unknown which as of yet has not been explained or understood” .
There are twenty two references in the Bible for the word “Mystery” and five for the word “Mysteries”. All of them are found in the New Testament. The main ones are the “Mystery of the Kingdom of God.” “The Mystery of His Will” . “The Mystery of Iniquity.” And “The Mystery of Faith.”
Using a general composite of the above definitions we can safely state that all of the “Mysteries” within the word of God are an unknown or unexplained secret until such time as they are revealed by the Lord Himself.
There have been many brilliant men of God over the Centuries. They have read and re-read the scriptures, studying them often day and night, writing many books on the subject of prophecy and yet not coming to the same conclusion. Time is a MAJOR factor in prophecy. Until the proper time comes the “mystery is not revealed”. However this does not stop mankind from exploring the subject and “taking a stab” at what it means and it shouldn’t. And this is no problem as long as they state “This is my opinion” and don’t try to give it off as being God’s special revelation to him or her.
Look at the Book of Daniel for example. Daniel is told “But thou O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
Can’t it safely be stated that the scripture is saying the things that Daniel has been shown are not going to be revealed until the end of the world as we know it? Further isn’t it stating in that final day there will be an increase in knowledge and people will be traveling all over the place? Today is known as the “Information Age” we have more knowledge and information today than the rest of history put together. And travel, why you can fly around the world if you choose to, in a day no less!
I like to use this example when explaining the revelation of God in His own time. Say you are driving down a highway you have never driven down before. In fact you have no idea where you are. You can see down the road and there is a large mountain looming ahead. It appears to be right in the center of the Highway and you have no idea how you are going to get over it. Until you get closer then you can see that in fact the highway turns slowly to the left and goes around the mountain not over it! Further down the road you can look back and see the mountain behind you. What was at one point unexplainable is now easily understood.
That explains, in part, why so many great men of God in times past have “missed the mark” when writing about the fulfillment of prophecy. They were at a point in history where they were looking head on as it were at the mountain. They took their best shot based upon what they knew, saw and believed. How could they know what lay ahead? The future often takes major unexpected turns, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the taking down of the Berlin wall. Therefore these men of God should not be faulted for what now appears to be faulty conclusions.
I believe the ones who should be faulted are the individuals who relay upon past scholars and writers findings. Basing their own conclusions on others findings rather than searching the scriptures in view of the knowledge of our current day and age. The Bible admonishes us “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.
In Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary we find this statement recorded regarding the identity of “Mystery Babylon the Great”.“1.) She is named from her place of residence Babylon the great. But, that we might not take it for the old Babylon literally so called, we are told there is a mystery in the name; it is some other great city resembling the old Babylon. (2.) She is named from her infamous way and practice; not only a harlot, but a mother of harlots, breeding up harlots, and nursing and training them up to idolatry, and all sorts of lewdness and wickedness the parent and nurse of all false religion and filthy conversation.”
B.W. Johnson’s New Testament Commentary advised that whereas the Bride of Christ is the True Church, Mystery Babylon is the False Church.
In 1951 R. Ludwigson wrote a book published by Zondervan titled “A Survey of Bible Prophecy” . In it he states “1. Mystery Babylon describes symbolically a great centralized system of wickedness in the end time. 2 Mystery Babylon refers to the old literal city of Babylon on the Euphrates, which will be restored as the world’s leading city of commerce and iniquity in the end time”.
Ralph Woodrow in 1966 wrote a book titled “Babylon Mystery Religion” with the 12th printing in 1977 . He refers to the “true church” then states “It is evident then that the church system here described is a counterfeit system. A defiled and fallen church” as he refers to Mystery Babylon.
Grant R Jeffrey is more well known to most of us. In his book “Messiah” he advocates many books have been written over the years that confirmed a future rebuilding of Babylon