In order to understand Mystery Babylon we have to go back to the beginning, almost all the way back.  Why did Cain murder his brother, Abel?  He was jealous.  Why?  Because God accepted Abel’s sacrifice of a lamb, but not Cain’s of the fruit of the earth.  Obviously Cain and Abel shared differing views regarding the correct way to worship God.  Cain’s attack upon Abel was a declaration of religious war.  Thereafter the world has always witnessed this war of false religion against true religion.  True religion bows its head and gets slaughtered while false religion takes true religion’s head to Herod.  This is the way it has always been and always will be until Christ finally establishes his Kingdom, so we need to understand it.

As we study Mystery Babylon we should also consider that there are only two ways in the world, God’s way and the way of mammon, the narrow way and the broad way.  Similarly, there are only two cities, Old Jerusalem and New Jerusalem.  And, of course, there exist only two religions, false religion and true religion.  “You go too far!” many will say.  But no, consider the following Scriptures:

    Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. (Jeremiah 51:49)

Have all the slain of all the earth fallen for ancient Babylon?  No.  So this is speaking of Mystery Babylon referred to in Revelation 17-18.  Then, who is “Israel” here?  Similarly the name Israel here does not refer to the ancient nation of Israel that was captured by ancient Babylon around 600 B.C.   Jeremiah refers instead to God’s name for his overcomers.  Look at the following verse which describes God renaming Jacob as Israel.  This is also the first reference to the name Israel in the entire Bible.

And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.  (Genesis 32:28 KJV)

According to Strong’s Concordance the word Israel here means, “he will rule as God.”   God tells Jacob that he has power with God and men and that he has “prevailed.”  This is the definition of an overcomer, of one who consents to being made into the image of Elohim, of one who becomes elohim, a son of God. 

Thus we see that Jeremiah’s prophecy concerns an entity called Babylon which slays God’s overcomers collectively known as Israel.  But, Jeremiah’s word is not the only one that reveals this truth.  Consider John’s prophecy:

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. (Revelation 18:23-24 KJV)

Here John tells us as well that the blood of all God’s prophets and saints, that is, all his overcomers, are found within Mystery Babylon.  But, even more than that, the blood of every single person slain in the entire world is found in her.  Ah, a mystery indeed…