The extent of the Soviet Union before it fell"Mystery Babylon" from whose wine "all the nations are drunk" represents great nations: U.S.A., Iraq, Soviet Union, the former British Empire on which "the sun never sets," the now dismantled Ottoman Empire, the Ancient Roman Empire
By the Greek word "polis" of Rev. 17:18 which is translated as "city," God means any united society of people. For, there is a type of city called a megapolis which contains many different states, as there are types of cities called a decapolis ("ten cities"), pentapolis ("five cities"), etc.
B. Soviet Union: which was along with the U.S.A. one of the two "world superpowers" during the 20th Century
"Babylon has fallen! has fallen!" (Rev. 14) Notice this appears before the fall of Babylon in Rev. 17-18 which implies that "Mystery Babylon" fell before the fall described in those 2 chapters, and the phrase "has fallen" appears twice, which implies that "Mystery Babylon" has fallen more than once. The Bible supports this insofar as many cities described as "great cities" like Nineveh & Calah which are former capitals of the Ancient Assyrian Empire fit the description of "Mystery Babylon" and fell many centuries ago.
The extent of the Soviet Union before it fell
C. Iraq, or the city of Baghdad, is yet another "Mystery Babylon," and its current destruction is God's warning that Revelation 17-18 will indeed be fulfilled and Jesus' Second Coming is soon to come, just as the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11 in NYC Babylon was, as I show on this page (Amos 3:6: shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?)! Resemblances betwen Iraq/Baghdad & "Mystery Babylon the Great":
1. ancient Babylon is located in Iraq, about 55 miles south of Baghdad!
2. There are 10 "kings" (the leaders of the 10 coalition forces) which invaded Iraq! This is a fulfillment of 17:12,16: "And THE TEN HORNS which thou sawest are ten kings...And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate." The number of invading forces could have been 3, or 8, or 15, or many other numbers, but there were only 10 which invaded! No coincidence!
3. Ancient Babylon, the extremely wealthy city where The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were, imported the items of Revelation 18 before it was made desolate. Furthermore, Modern Babylon (Iraq) might become like Ancient Babylon in this respect.
4. According to the CIA, Iraq exports 1.5 million barrels of oil per day! Rev. 17:2: the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine [i.e. oil] of her fornication.
# of oil reserves imported
The following argument makes clear that "wine" can symbolize "oil":
-BLOOD SYMBOLIZES THE LIFE-GIVING HOLY SPIRIT: "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5) "Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh." (Deut. 12:23) "there are three that bear witness [that Jesus is the Son of God] in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." (1 John 5:8)
-WINE SYMBOLIZES BLOOD: Matt. 26:28-29: this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
-BUT BLOOD SYMBOLIZES THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH CLEANSES FROM SIN: Rev. 1:5: Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. 1 Cor. 6:11: ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
-AND OIL TOO SYMBOLIZES THE HOLY SPIRIT: Psalms 45:7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings...
-THEREFORE, OIL & WINE ARE BOTH SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. After all, both the Holy Spirit & wine have strong influence over a person's actions. The connection between oil & wine is made clearer by the fact that in the approximately 50-60 times "wine" & "oil" are found in a list in the Bible, they apparently always appear next to each other!
5. The "king" of Iraq & Baghdad, Saddam ("powerful commander") Hussein ("beautiful one"), strongly resembles even in name Satan "the king of Babylon" (Isaiah 14:14) & the Antichrist: A witness testified Wednesday at Saddam Hussein's trial that the deposed leader's regime killed and tortured people by administering electric shocks and ripping off their skin after pouring molten plastic on it...
He had a 30-foot statue erected of him, as did the types of the Antichrist King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who erected a 60-cubit tall statue (Daniel 3) & the Roman Emperors, which by its size alone demands awe although God wishes for Himself "alone" to be exalted (Isaiah 2:12-14)