Is the Babylon in Revelation the same as the ancient city of Babylon?
No. Revelation's Babylon is not the ancient city, because the Old Testament says it will never be rebuilt and will remain a habitation only for wild animals and birds. Rather, Revelation's Babylon is the whole worldwide system—the one-world concept—and when it falls, all the cities of the world fall in one hour by the spoken word of God.
Les explains that the Babylon in Revelation is not the ancient city because the Old Testament says it will never be rebuilt; it will always be a habitation of nothing but wild animals and birds of prey. Instead, the Babylon of Revelation is the whole worldwide system as we see it coming together today—the whole one-world concept where Tokyo, Berlin, London, Rome, New York, and everything are just like one tightly knit group. He pictures the end-time events so that when Babylon falls, it will not be just one city; all the cities of the world will in one hour fall into nothingness by the spoken word of God. He also notes that people love to hear about the great new one world, and the world is getting smaller and smaller, but it is going to suddenly evaporate.