23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

Now I know this is a lot of Scripture and makes these messages very long. But no message about the mystery Babylon could be complete of clear without this Scripture in Matthew 23.

Jesus was speaking to the religious Pharisees of His day, that law group of Israel. He called them serpents and vipers. He told them they are guilty of all the righteous blood shed upon this earth. He also told them, Your HOUSE is left unto you DESOLATE.

Now this clearly identifies that law nation of Israel as Babylon. proof? Sure.

Re 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; 18:23 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. 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Now here the Word calls Babylon a city of merchants. This means they ‘bought and sold�?the things of God. This is the mark of the beast. Remember that Jude called them ‘beasts�? Sure, here it is. Beasts; serpents; vipers; it is spiritual terminology.

But here in Revelation 18, they are told the same thing as Jesus told Jerusalem of old. You are the ones who are guilty of all the righteous blood ever shed on this earth.

So if they are not one and the same, how could two different cities be guilty of killing all the righteous people?

Then how are they the same ones? Simple. When Jesus closed off that OT group of law Israelites and started His Church, then old Jerusalem stepped right up and started their own church. It is clearly taught about their evil in Joel one. Read how those four worms ate down Jesus�?vine and barked it clean bare. See they then started killing all the NT prophets and saints which Jesus told them in Matt. 23 that he would send THEM and THEY would kill them.

So then the killers of these Christians all down through the church age was that same old Jerusalem. It is the mystery Babylon.

By: Jo Smith