The Two Babylons - Steps to Life

May 24 – 30, 2026

Key Text

“Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.” Revelation 18:6

Study Help: Education, 175–178; The Great Controversy, 570–573, 580, 581

Introduction

“It [Babylon] has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her.” The Great Controversy, 604

Sunday

1 A UNIVERSAL KINGDOM

1.a. What was the extent of ancient Babylon’s dominion? Daniel 2:37, 38; 4:20–22

Note: “All unexpectedly a new world power, the Babylonian Empire, was rising to the eastward and swiftly overshadowing all other nations.” Prophets and Kings, 422

1.b. How vast is the dominion of modern Babylon? Revelation 17:5; 13:3

Note: “The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.” The Great Controversy, 580

Monday

2 PROUD, CRUEL, OPPRESSIVE

2.a. What is written about the character of the ancient Babylonian conquerors and rulers? 2 Chronicles 36:17–20; Daniel 4:30. What lesson does the history of nations teach?

Note: “Prophecy has traced the rise and fall of the world’s great empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test, each failed, its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied by another.

“While the nations rejected God’s principles, and in this rejection wrought their own ruin, it was still manifest that the divine, overruling purpose was working through all their movements.” Education, 177

“Instead of being a protector of men, Babylon became a proud and cruel oppressor.” Ibid., 176

2.b. How is the character of modern Babylon depicted? Revelation 17:6; 18:24

Note: “Let none deceive themselves. The papacy that Protestants are now so ready to honor is the same that ruled the world in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up, at the peril of their lives, to expose her iniquity. She possesses the same pride and arrogant assumption that lorded it over kings and princes, and claimed the prerogatives of God. Her spirit is no less cruel and despotic now than when she crushed out human liberty and slew the saints of the Most High.” The Great Controversy, 571

“By perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.

“The Roman Catholic Church, uniting the forms of paganism and Christianity, and, like paganism, misrepresenting the character of God, had resorted to practices no less cruel and revolting. In the days of Rome’s supremacy, there were instruments of torture to compel assent to her doctrines. There was the stake for those who would not concede to her claims. There were massacres on a scale that will never be known until revealed in the judgment. Dignitaries of the church studied, under Satan their master, to invent means to cause the greatest possible torture and not end the life of the victim. In many cases, the infernal process was repeated to the utmost limit of human endurance, until nature gave up the struggle, and the sufferer hailed death as a sweet release. Such was the fate of Rome’s opponents.” Ibid., 569

Tuesday

3 INTOXICATING THE NATIONS

3.a. What influence did the doctrines of ancient Babylon exert upon other nations? Jeremiah 51:7. Who were her wise men, and what was the basis of their spiritualistic doctrines and practices? Isaiah 47:12, 13

Note: “Nearly all forms of ancient sorcery and witchcraft were founded upon a belief in communion with the dead. Those who practiced the arts of necromancy claimed to have intercourse with departed spirits, and to obtain through them a knowledge of future events. This custom of consulting the dead is referred to in the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead? Isaiah 8:19.

“This same belief in communion with the dead formed the cornerstone of heathen idolatry. The gods of the heathen were believed to be the deified spirits of departed heroes. Thus, the religion of the heathen was a worship of the dead.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 684 [Author’s italics.]

3.b. What is the symbolic “wine” with which modern Babylon has inebriated the world? Revelation 17:2–4

Note: “The great sin charged against Babylon is that she ‘made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication’ (Revelation 14:8). This cup of intoxication which she presents to the world represents the false doctrines that she has accepted as the result of her unlawful connection with the great ones of the earth. Friendship with the world corrupts her faith, and in her turn, she exerts a corrupting influence upon the world by teaching doctrines which are opposed to the plainest statements of Holy Writ.” The Great Controversy, 388

“Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.” Ibid, 588

Wednesday

4 AMBITIOUS ASPIRATIONS

4.a. What was the ambition of ancient Babylon? Isaiah 47:7. Yet, what was God’s declaration, and why? Isaiah 47:5; 13:18–22

Note: “Had the rulers of Babylon—that richest of all earthly kingdoms—kept always before them the fear of Jehovah, they would have been given wisdom and power which would have bound them to Him and kept them strong. But they made God their refuge only when harassed and perplexed. At such times, failing to find help in their great men, they sought it from men like Daniel—men who they knew honored the living God and were honored by Him. To these men they appealed to unravel the mysteries of Providence; for though the rulers of proud Babylon were men of the highest intellect, they had separated themselves so far from God by transgression that they could not understand the revelations and the warnings given them concerning the future.

“In the history of nations, the student of God’s word may behold the literal fulfillment of divine prophecy. Babylon, shattered and broken at last, passed away because in prosperity its rulers had regarded themselves as independent of God, and had ascribed the glory of their kingdom to human achievement.” Prophets and Kings, 501, 502

“ ‘The broad walls of Babylon’ became ‘utterly broken, and her high gates … burned with fire’ (Jeremiah 51:58). Thus did Jehovah of hosts ‘cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease,’ and lay low ‘the haughtiness of the terrible.’ Thus did ‘Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency,’ become as Sodom and Gomorrah—a place forever accursed.” Ibid., 532, 533

4.b. What is the political “dream” of modern Babylon? Revelation 18:7, last part. To what extent will this dream briefly be realized?

Note: “The so-called Christian world is to be the theater of great and decisive actions. Men in authority will enact laws controlling the conscience, after the example of the papacy. Babylon will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Every nation will be involved.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, 949

Thursday

5 FINAL REWARD: DESTRUCTION

5.a. How did prophecy accurately foresee the final reward that was reserved for ancient Babylon? Jeremiah 51:8, 25, 29, 43

Note: “From the rise and fall of nations as made plain in the books of Daniel and the Revelation, we need to learn how worthless is mere outward and worldly glory. Babylon, with all its power and magnificence, the like of which our world has never since beheld—power and magnificence which to the people of that day seemed so stable and enduring—how completely has it passed away! As ‘the flower of the grass,’ it has perished. James 1:10” Prophets and Kings, 548

5.b. What does prophecy say about the final destruction of modern Babylon? Revelation 17:16; 18:8, 15–21. Why will God destroy her? Revelation 18:5, 6

Note: “ ‘The merchants of the earth,’ that have ‘waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies,’ ‘shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.’ Such are the judgments that fall upon Babylon in the day of the visitation of God’s wrath. She has filled up the measure of her iniquity; her time has come; she is ripe for destruction.” The Great Controversy, 653

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

How extensive is the influence of modern Babylon?
Compare the characteristics of ancient and modern Babylon.
Name some major aspects of Babylonian “wine.”
How was prophecy fulfilled in the case of ancient Babylon?
What would God have us remember about modern Babylon?