Thoughts on Revelation 18

Today's reading: Deuteronomy 16; Revelation 18 

This is purely an idle thought, but what if Babylon in Revelation 18 is the internet?

Now let me say, before I go any further, that I have no idea if this idea would hold any water beyond this chapter, and there are things in this chapter that make it seem like it’s maybe not the case, but the thought struck me as I was reading it and I thought I might as well throw it out there and see what people think.

It’s also worth noting that we don’t really have any idea what John is seeing. John could be being shown a vision of the actual future, or he could be seeing a figurative display that represents the events in question, or maybe some combination. We are never told what exactly he is seeing in that regard. So when we read all of these judgements against Babylon, in some ways it does seem very literal, but in other ways, some of the pieces simply wouldn’t make sense in the modern day, like merchants being upset about their myrrh and frankincense trade…

So with all that in mind, as I was reading Revelation 18, I started wondering if this could be a literal city today. Back in it’s heyday Babylon was a center of civilization, religion, trade, and everything else, so as a symbol, it makes complete sense, but there is really no one place like that anymore; instead that kind of thing is spread around the world. But the internet does kind of fill the biblical role of Babylon in a number of ways.

When we first encounter Babylon in the biblical story it is the gathering of all people, speaking one language, and in their pride determining to build a tower to heaven. And what is the internet but a place where people of every language, culture, country, etc. can come together, share and develop ideas, and ultimately be a greater whole than any one group could be individually? Further, as I mentioned above, Babylon became a hub for the development and spread of civilization, religion, trade, and everything else, and doesn’t the internet fill that role today? And just like in Babylon, with so much wealth, influence, and power, great things could have been, and we’re, accomplished, but it also brought about great evil and destruction, doesn’t the internet fit that bill as well?

What else would all the governments of the world more lament the destruction of than the internet? What else would the merchants of the world more lament the destruction of than the internet? I have a hard time imagining judgements against any single city being anywhere near this impactful on globalized systems and economies like we have today, but I could very easily see the distraught hand-wringing we see from those on the outside witnessing the destruction in this chapter if we were talking about the destruction of the internet in some significant way.

Like I said, I don’t know if this would fully work everywhere, but it does seem to fit in a broad sense at least.

What do ya’ll think?