Babylon as a literal city is mentioned in the fulfillment of many things which must be after the Rapture. Revelation 18: 1-24

In Ezekiel 38 and 39 all those nations that ally with Babylon will go to take a spoil and destroy completely the nation of Israel, but God Himself will destroy all but 1/6^th of Islam.

I definitely know it won't be anywhere in the USA because literal Babylon has a long history of evil and riches etc.. It was never totally destroyed...it just kind of fizzled away as those who ruled it died or failed in battle. Literal Babylon has to be the one in Iraq. The crumbling remains of the tower of Babel are still there. It was the beginning of rebellion against God right after Noah's flood. The first rulers were Nimrod and his wife Semiramis.

So far this is my take on it. We may be here for the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 which will get rid of any power Persia (Iran) and some other Islamic nations have. I am figuring the USA will be so busy with its own problems by then we won't be ABLE to come to Israel's rescue. God wants that job for HIMSELF.

After that Iraq will have the majority of the oil sales. It will rebuild Babylon and it will become a great commercial center. WE MIGHT be here for some of that, but we will be gone before Antichrist comes to power. His first headquarters will be in Babylon for the first 31/2 years and he will rule from Jerusalem after that and desecrate the newly rebuilt Jewish temple. Do you see why the majority of the Islamic nations must be out of the way first? That's where Ezekiel 38 and 39 come in. The more I talk about it and think about it the clearer the picture is getting to me.

I am putting no limits on when the rapture will occur. It has always been that it could happen any time. It just has to happen before the tribulation starts.

Isa 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isa 13:20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

Isa 13:21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

Isa 13:22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Jer 50:29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

Jer 50:30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD.

Jer 50:31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GOD of hosts: for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee.

Jer 50:32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

Jer 50:33 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.

Jer 50:34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

Isa 14:2 The nations among whom they lived will actually escort them back home, and then Israel will pay them back by making slaves of them, men and women alike, possessing them as slaves in GOD's country, capturing those who had captured them, ruling over those who had abused them.

Isa 14:3 When GOD has given you time to recover from the abuse and trouble and harsh servitude that you had to endure,

Isa 14:4 you can amuse yourselves by taking up this satire, a taunt against the king of Babylon: Can you believe it? The tyrant is gone! The tyranny is over!

Isa 14:5 GOD has broken the rule of the wicked, the power of the bully-rulers

Isa 14:6 That crushed many people. A relentless rain of cruel outrage Established a violent rule of anger rife with torture and persecution.

Isa 14:7 And now it's over, the whole earth quietly at rest. Burst into song! Make the rafters ring!

Isa 14:8 Ponderosa pine trees are happy, giant Lebanon cedars are relieved, saying, "Since you've been cut down, there's no one around to cut us down."

Isa 14:9 And the underworld dead are all excited, preparing to welcome you when you come. Getting ready to greet you are the ghostly dead, all the famous names of earth. All the buried kings of the nations will stand up on their thrones

Isa 14:10 With well-prepared speeches, royal invitations to death: "Now you are as nothing as we are! Make yourselves at home with us dead folks!"

Isa 14:11 This is where your pomp and fine music led you, Babylon, to your underworld private chambers, A king-size mattress of maggots for repose and a quilt of crawling worms for warmth.

Isa 14:12 What a comedown this, O Babylon! Daystar! Son of Dawn! Flat on your face in the underworld mud, you, famous for flattening nations!

Isa 14:13 You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven. I'll set my throne over the stars of God. I'll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.

Isa 14:14 I'll climb to the top of the clouds. I'll take over as King of the Universe!"

Isa 14:15 But you didn't make it, did you? Instead of climbing up, you came down-- Down with the underground dead, down to the abyss of the Pit.

Isa 14:16 People will stare and muse: "Can this be the one Who terrorized earth and its kingdoms,

Isa 14:17 turned earth to a moonscape, Wasted its cities, shut up his prisoners to a living death?"

Isa 14:18 Other kings get a decent burial, honored with eulogies and placed in a tomb.

Isa 14:19 But you're dumped in a ditch unburied, like a stray dog or cat, Covered with rotting bodies, murdered and indigent corpses. Your dead body desecrated, mutilated—

Isa 14:20 no state funeral for you! You've left your land in ruins, left a legacy of massacre. The progeny of your evil life will never be named. Oblivion! We have not left a legacy of massacre, but I think we all know who has.

Isa 14:21 Get a place ready to slaughter the sons of the wicked and wipe out their father's line. Unthinkable that they should own a square foot of land or desecrate the face of the world with their cities!

Isa 14:22 "I will confront them"--Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies-- "and strip Babylon of name and survivors, children and grandchildren. Some of this is outlined in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Isa 14:23 " GOD's Decree. "I'll make it a worthless swamp and give it as a prize to the hedgehog. And then I'll bulldoze it out of existence." Decree of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies.

Rev 14:8 A second Angel followed, calling out, "Ruined, ruined, Great Babylon ruined! She made all the nations drunk on the wine of her whoring!"

By this time all should see where Babylon really is. Hillah now sits where the original city of Babylon was. Many times the whole country of Persia (now Iran and Iraq) has been referred to as Babylon. … not New York or Boston or Los Angeles or Miami.

It has been reported that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. They hate Israel and they hate America. They have vowed to destroy both. We are referred to as infidels.

Iraq, U.N. undertake project to restore city, transform it into center for cultural tourism.

BABYLON, Iraq -- In this ancient city, it is hard to tell what are ruins and what is just ruined.

Crumbling brick buildings, some 2,500 years old, look like smashed sand castles at the beach. Famous sites, like the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, are swallowed up by river reeds. Signs of military occupation are everywhere, including trenches, bullet casings, shiny coils of razor wire and blast walls stamped, "This side Scud protection."

Babylon, the mud-brick city with the million-dollar name, has paid the price of war. It has been ransacked, looted, torn up, paved over, neglected and roughly occupied. Archaeologists said American soldiers even used soil thick with priceless artifacts to stuff sandbags.

But Iraqi leaders and U.N. officials are not giving up. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon and turn it into a cultural center and possibly even an Iraqi theme park. No one is saying this is going to happen any time soon, but what makes the project even conceivable is that the area around Babylon is one of the safest in Iraq -- a beacon of civilization, once again, in a land of chaos.

Ancient Babylon, celebrated as a fount of law, writing and urban living, sits just outside the modern-day city of Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Hilla is neither haunted by Sunni insurgents nor overwhelmed by Shiite militias, and though it has a mix of Shiites and Sunnis, it has not been afflicted by the sectarian violence that has paralyzed so many other parts of Iraq. Factories are churning, Iraqi security forces are patrolling and the streets pulsate with life -- children bounding to school, crowds wading into markets, taxis gliding by.

Emad Lafta al-Bayati, Hilla's mayor, has big plans for Babylon. "I want restaurants, gift shops, long parking lots," he said. God willing, he added, maybe even a Holiday Inn.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is pumping millions of dollars into protecting and restoring Babylon and a handful of other ancient ruins in Iraq. UNESCO has even printed up a snazzy brochure, with Babylon listed as the premier destination, to hand out to wealthy donors.

"Cultural tourism could become Iraq's second-biggest industry, after oil," said Philippe Delanghe, a U.N. official helping with the project. But before Iraq becomes the next Egypt, he said wryly, "a few little things have to happen."

One of those, of course, is better security. The American military still maintains bases near Babylon, but next month, in a sign of how relatively stable the area has become, most troops will pull out and head north to Baghdad, where they are needed more.

Many Iraqis said it was about time. Occupying forces have been blamed for much of Babylon's recent demise.

Donny George, head of Iraq's board of antiquities, said Polish troops dug trenches through an ancient temple and American contractors paved over ruins to make a helicopter landing pad.

"How are we supposed to get rid of the helipad now?" George asked. "With jackhammers? Can you imagine taking a jackhammer to the remains of one of the most important cities in the history of mankind? I mean, come on, this is Babylon."

Babylon. Its name has had a magical ring since Hammurabi, the Babylonian king who ruled from 1792 to 1750 B.C. and is credited with handing down one of the first sets of codified law.

After Hammurabi, the city flourished again under King Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled from around 605 to 562 B.C. and is best known for the hanging gardens he supposedly built for his wife.

Babylon, Iraq

Babylon, the legendary city, is indeed, the most famous ancient city in the whole World. It was the capital of ten Mesopotamian dynasties starting with the dynasty of King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC); the 6th king of the 1st dynasty; reaching prominence as the capital city of the great kingdom of Babylonia. The last dynasty at which Babylon achieved its zenith, is well known particularly of its 2nd king, Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 BC), to whom most of Babylon's existing buildings belongs.

Babylon was renowned for its high, well-fortified walls and for the magnificence of its temples and palaces. Its famous Hanging Gardens, built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytas, were one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Amytas was a Medes and her home was in mountainous country, so the King reputedly had the Hanging Gardens built to allay her homesickness.

Nowadays, its ruins covers about 30² km lying on the east bank of Euphrates 90 km south of Baghdad and about 10 km north of Hilla. The most important of the standing monuments of Babylon today are the Summer and Winter Palaces of King Nebuchadnezzar II, the Ziggurat attached to it, the Street of Processions, the Lion of Babylon, and the famous Ishtar Gate.

In Akkadian times, around 2350 BC, Babylon was a small village, which in 5 or 6 centuries had grown in size and importance, mostly during the reign of the 3rd Dynasty, until it rose like a city meteor to deal the coup de grace to Sumerian authority in Mesopotamia under Amorite kings. Babylon itself became a major city-state, as the capital of the great Amorite soldier, the famous king, law-giver and social reformer King Hammurabi, with a code of common law, and a king with genuine concern for the well-being of his subjects- an unusual feature in those times.

Detail of relief-brick lion from facade of the throne room of King Nebuchadnezzar King Hummurabi, the famous king and law-giver

Hammurabi's lasting monument is the Code. It was inscribed on eight-foot steles, like the eight-foot black diorite stela, pillaged from Babylon by an Elamite King and found in 1901 by French archaeologists in Susa, the ancient Elamite capital (to the east of modern Amara). The French transported it to the Louvre where you can see it and read, in Babylonian cuneiform writing, the 3000 lines of the Code.

In the next thousand years or so it witnessed the growth of other Mesopotamian cities which surpassed it in power and influence until, in the 2nd Chaldean Kingdom (625-538 BC) it flourished again as the capital of a mighty and prosperous country. King Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt it in accordance with a new plan that took special care of its fortifications, and Babylon thus became the largest and loveliest city of its time.

As he was pursuing his conquests, Alexander the Great stopped for a time in Babylon and had intended to rebuild. He later returned only to die in it in 322 BC. Seleucus Nicator I, one of his commanders and successors, built Seleucia, south of Baghdad, whereupon Babylon lost its political significance.

Penetrated by the Euphrates from north to south, Babylon was surrounded by a moat and a double wall: the outer wall was 16 km long, the inner, 8 km. Straight, wide streets intercrossed, all paved with bricks and bitumen. The most important was the Street of Processions, which passed through Ishtar's Gate and ended in the Stepped Tower. The remains of this street with its bituminous paving are still there to be seen today.

Nebuchadnezzar's Southern Palace (190 x 300 m) is situated on the west side of this major street, made up of five courtyards each surrounded by halls and a diversity of chambers, one of which is the throne room (52 x 25 m). The Hanging Gardens, the remains of which are still visible nowadays, were part of this palace.

Ruins of the Hanging Gardens

To the east of the Street of Processions lies Nin Makh's Temple, reconstructed recently. To the north are the remains of the Main Palace, where the Lion of Babylon is. It should be noted that many remains lie under the accumulations of later buildings, as the place continued to be inhabited, or have been so submerged by the Euphrates that it is almost impossible to retrieve it.

On the way to Babylon, on the right hand side, is the amphitheater, which dates back to the time of Alexander the Great, who for some years made Babylon the capital of his empire.

Ishtar Gate, in a depression a little short way off the Street of Processions, still has some of its old wall decorations of bulls, symbol of Adad, god of storms, and dragons, symbol of Marduk, the chief god. The dragon here is a composite animal with the physical attributes of snake, lion and eagle. These brick relieves are not glazed, as the beautiful glazed-brick panels figuring bulls, and dragons and lions (symbol of Ishtar) which decorated the Gate, the Palace and the Street of Processions were all taken, prior to World War I, to Berlin by the German expedition which excavated Babylon then. Along the Street, on the left a brick column is seen, which may have had a statue standing on it.

The Lion of Babylon

The Lion of Babylon, large and splendidly carved in basalt, reminds us again that the lion was the symbol of the goddess Ishtar. In the sculpture, the lion's back has marks indicating that it was meant for a precious saddle upon which the goddess Ishtar would stand.

To the south of the Street of Processions is a major temple, the Esagila "The Lofty House", leading on to the site of the Stepped Tower of Babylon, which had seven levels rising to a height of 91 meters, on a square base also 91 meters square. The Street runs straight until the bridge across the Euphrates, which rested on bastions 9 meters thick each.

Another temple in the area is Nabushcari, recently dug up with painted murals, the largest temple of its time. And, as you cross the railway line to the city, you will see a rise, which originally was 18 m high with a palace built on it, which archaeologists call the summer palace of Nebuchadnezzar. In the upper parts of the back walls are ventilation apertures, which served the inner rooms and halls of the palace.

1. Will never be inhabited again. Isaiah 13:20; Jeremiah 50:39-40; 51:29, 37, 43.

Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. This verse is the key. We just haven’t been in existence long enough to be guilty of these things and we have been the most Christian of all the nations until just recently. We have not been guilty of the blood of the saints or prophets.

1. Refers to religious fornication and idolatry. Isaiah 23:17; 57:3-7; Jeremiah 3:2-9. Literal fornication must also be understood in some of these.

Rev 18:24 The only thing left of Babylon is blood-- the blood of saints and prophets, the murdered and the martyred.

Rev 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Rev 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Mystery Babylon sits on 7 hills and is guilty of the blood of the saints for thousands of years. Catholic Rome financed all the crusades that killed millions of Jews.

The Roman Empire itself slaughtered Christians in the arena as entertainment while people shouted and clapped their approval.

The Roman Catholic Church tortured and slaughtered Christians and Jews in the Spanish inquisition. Spain was under the direct religious rule of Rome.

1. Destroyed because of homosexuals: Genesis 19:1-28. Gen 19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the earth,

Gen 19:2 and said, "My lords, turn aside, I pray you, to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise up early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the street."

Gen 19:3 But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Gen 19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house;

Gen 19:5 and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them."

Gen 19:8 Behold, I have two daughters who have not known man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."

Gen 19:9 But they said, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came to sojourn, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.

Gen 19:10 But the men put forth their hands and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.

Gen 19:11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves groping for the door.

Gen 19:12 Then the men said to Lot, "Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place;

Gen 19:13 for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."

Gen 19:14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

Gen 19:15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."

Gen 19:16 But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him forth and set him outside the city.

Gen 19:17 And when they had brought them forth, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed."

Gen 19:19 behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me, and I die.

Gen 19:20 Behold, yonder city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there--is it not a little one?--and my life will be saved!"

Gen 19:21 He said to him, "Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

Gen 19:22 Make haste, escape there; for I can do nothing till you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zo'ar.

Gen 19:24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomor'rah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Gen 19:25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Gen 19:26 But Lot's wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Gen 19:27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD;

Gen 19:28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomor'rah and toward all the land of the valley, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

All may not agree with this comparison, but the evacuation or rapture of the saints will be much like this. We will be taken out just before God brings the time of Jacob’s Trouble or the Tribulation to the Earth.

See also: Deuteronomy 29:23; Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 49:18; 50:40; Lamentations 4:6; Amos 4:11; 2 Peter 2:6: Jude 7.

2Pe 2:6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor'rah to ashes HE condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly;

2Pe 2:7 and if HE rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked

2Pe 2:8 (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds),

Jud 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomor'rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

God must judge sin. God did not rain fire and brimstone upon the whole land of Palestine, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah, but the land was desolate for many centuries. The cities were destroyed because of sex perversion, which is an abomination to HIM and caused God to act in anger and wrath to rid the area of such corruption as an example to others.

The U.S. has stuck its very finger in God’s eye by legalizing homosexual marriage. If we aren’t judged God will need to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Below are the Scriptures that show the other terrible sins this nation is guilty of. These are the things God hates.

Deu 19:13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

Gen 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.

Pro 6:16 There are six things which the LORD hates, seven which are an abomination to him:

Pro 6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,

Pro 6:19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers.

Think of the millions of babies aborted since Roe vs. Wade. There can be no more innocent blood than that of the unborn.

Whether that judgment comes through earthquakes, storms, volcanoes or tsunamis or even a nuclear attack it will be the hand of God. Literally billions of people will perish during the Tribulation. This country will be struggling to survive all these disasters and will no longer be a world power. No wonder we are never directly referred to in Scripture.