What does Babylon in Revelation symbolize?
The Babylon of Revelation symbolizes the worldwide one-world system, not the ancient city, because the Old Testament says it will never be rebuilt. It represents all nations and cities knit together—Tokyo, Berlin, London, Rome, New York—as one tightly knit end-time order that will suddenly fall by God's spoken word.
Les teaches 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. Revelation's Babylon is instead the whole worldwide system now coming together as a one-world concept, where Tokyo, Berlin, London, Rome, New York, and everything else are like one tightly knit group. When Babylon falls, Les says 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 notes that people love to hear about the great new one world, and it is getting smaller, but it will suddenly evaporate. This matches the end-time picture where every island flees away, the mountains are not found, and great hail falls.