That Great City

 

Ten times in the entire Bible

That great city you will find:

Three times in the book of Jonah

And in Revelation, seven times.

 

On each occasion in Jonah

It refers to the city of Nineveh

However, in the Revelation account,

It has caused quite a bother.

 

The opinions and views vary

And there is much speculation

But what does the Word itself say?

Can we know for certain?

 

Revelation 14:8

 

Babylon is fallen, is fallen,

That great city,

Because she made all nations drink

Of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

 

Babylon was the first empire

As noted in the book of Daniel

So, this Babylon here mentioned

Must be a different people.

 

Let’s go to another reference

And see if that will assist,

It’s on to the next scriptural text

That we do not want to miss.

 

Revelation 17 is critically important;

I have found it to be so,

Verse number 18 is another clue

So off to verse 18 we go.

 

Revelation 17:18

 

And the woman that was seen

Is that great city it seems,

Hence, she is Babylon and the whore,

Let’s see what more we can glean.

 

The hour of trial

Upon that great city has come,

We can read a detailed description

In the 18th chapter of Revelation.

 

For in one hour

So great riches is come to nought,

This is the judgment on that great city

Now desolate and distraught.

 

Revelation 18:24

 

Let’s not miss verse 24

For in it there is great worth:

In her was the blood of prophets and saints

And all them slain on the earth.

 

Do bear this in mind

For we shall visit it again,

Don’t lose the trend of thought now,

Continue to hold strain.

 

What is the identity of that great city

So steep in vice and immorality:

That Great Harlot of Revelation

That reveled in spiritual idolatry?

 

Revelation 11:18

 

Not only is it Babylon and the whore

But note there is another appellation,

You will find it chapter 11

Of the book of Revelation.

 

Also called Sodom and Egypt

Where also our Lord was crucified!

That that great city was Jerusalem

Cannot not now be denied.

 

Whatever one may argue

Or, however confused one may be,

Here we have an explicit statement

Regarding that city’s identity.

 

Let us therefore go

To Matthew chapter 23

And note what the Lord himself said

About that great city.

 

Seven woes on its religious leaders

That sat in Moses’ seat,

Read chapter 23

I must of necessity repeat.

 

Hypocrites, the Lord calls them,

Yes, these Pharisees and Scribes

And if that were not enough,

He also called them blind guides.

 

They built tombs of the prophets

And garnished the sepulchers of the righteous

And in the coming days

Would crucify the Lord Jesus.

 

They were the children of them

That killed the prophets that came,

They were no different from their fathers

Thus, upon them these woes rained.

 

Jesus held them just as guilty

As their fathers before them:

Ye serpents and generation of vipers, he calls them:

These religious leaders of Jerusalem.

 

Upon them therefore

All the righteous blood accrued

From that of Abel to the son of Barachias

Whom they personally slew.

 

 

 

Jesus lamented over Jerusalem

That killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent,

And given all his entreaties

They still refused to repent.

 

Thus, their house was to be left desolate

And this is to be underscored

For the judgment on that generation

Is detailed in Matthew 24.

  

But there is not all doom and gloom

Regarding that great city

For in Revelation chapter 21

There is its transforming beauty.

 

Here is the new Jerusalem

That John saw coming down:

No longer the old earthly Jerusalem

But that from heaven bound.

 

It is that great city, the holy Jerusalem,

That the apostle John did see

And it followed the judgment of the old

That was all together earthly.

 

Hebrews 11:10

 

We are citizens of that great city

Whose builder and maker is God

And this is the wonderful message of Pentecost

That 1^st century apostles spread abroad.

 

We are seated in heavenly places

And we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ,

We are already a new creation-

Thanks to our Saviour’s sacrifice.

 

But we yet look for that great city

Though now it is an inner possession:

The crowning glory of the born-again

And our eternal salvation.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2022