<p>18:2 <i>And he cried with a mighty voice, saying: Fallen Fallen is Babylon the great, and has become a habitation of demons, a refuge of every unclean spirit, and a refuge of every unclean and hateful bird</i>- The Babylon section in Revelation is full of allusion to the Old Testament. &quot;Babylon&quot; can be understood as referring to Judaism, to Israel, to the oppressors of God's people under the Roman Empire, and to a latter day Babylon which is the capital of the beast system, and which I suggest refers to radical Islam dominating the earth / land promised to Abraham. The commentary seeks to bring out these various applications. Babylon has not yet &quot;fallen&quot; because those within her are urged to come out from within her (:4); her fall is announced in order that she might repent, according to Jer. 51:8: &quot;Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take her balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed&quot;. But from God's perspective, she had already fallen. The later call to quit Babylon (:4) is made because she refuses this amazingly gracious invitation to repent: &quot;We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: therefore forsake her&quot; (Jer. 51:9). &quot;Great Babylon&quot; refers specifically to the city of Babylon, which I suggested on 16:19 refers to Jerusalem as the capital of the beast, and place of leadership of the woman known as Babylon, the charismatic leader of the beast system, antiChrist.</p><p>There is the assumption by many that all the O.T. prophecies about &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo; were fulfilled in the overrunning of Babylon by the Medes. However, there are many details of those prophecies which didn&rsquo;t have a total fulfilment. It could be argued from this that there must be a literal rebuilding of Babylon and the complete fulfilment of the judgment prophecies against her. However, there are plenty of connections between Babylon and Jerusalem (see on 16:19), and this is the &quot;great city&quot; which shall be judged, where also our Lord was crucified.</p><p>The Old Testament judgments upon Babylon were that she would become inhabited by wild, unclean animals: &quot;Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein...&nbsp; a dwelling place for jackals&quot; (Jer. 50:39; 51:37). These animals were thought to be connected with unclean spirits and demons. Because Babylon had become a cage and &quot;hold&quot; AV or prison for demons and unclean spirits and birds, so she would be punished by being inhabited by wild animals thought to be demon possessed. The Greek terms translated &quot;refuge&quot; in NEV carry the ideas of a prison and cage. Babylon will not let its people out once they are in; and that is what has happened in many cities overrun by the jihadists. A similar idea is used of how the latter day antiChrist, Gog, the chief prince, will be a &quot;guard&quot; s.w. &quot;prison&quot; to a group of ten nations who seek to attack and desolate Israel (Ez. 38:7). This is just what Babylon does.</p>