The Tower of Babel that ancient humanity built in defiance of God’s command stands as a prophetic type of the spiritual Babylon that will unite the world’s nations and religions under papal authority in the last days. Understanding this connection reveals how biblical prophecy speaks not only to history but to our present day. The name Babylon connects Genesis with Revelation, linking the builders’ rebellion at Shinar to the end-time confederation that will enforce the mark of the beast upon all who dwell on Earth.

After the flood had cleansed the Earth of its corrupt inhabitants, God determined to repopulate the planet with Noah’s descendants (Gen. 9:1, 7). Yet the same moral degeneracy that existed before the flood quickly revealed itself in Noah’s family (Gen. 6:5–6; 9:20–22). For a time they all dwelt together in the mountains near the ark and they shared a common language (Gen. 11:1), but as they increased in number, rebellion against God’s requirements surfaced and many separated from the obedient. As they journeyed westward, “they found a plain in the land of Shinar” near the Euphrates River (verse 2), and they chose to make their home on that beautiful landscape.

At Shinar, the leaders of the rebellion inspired the people to build a city and a massive tower using bricks and mortar, which they fabricated from the land. This great endeavor was designed to keep the people together, a design that was in opposition to the direct command of God (Gen. 11:3–4). The builders sought to create a kingdom that would eventually encompass the world and place it under the control of a few powerful leaders. Because many likely believed natural processes caused the flood, the top of the tower was meant to reach a greater height than the flood waters had previously risen. They were attempting to save themselves from another flood.

Looking upon the prideful work of the builders, the Lord brought their efforts to an abrupt end when He confounded their languages (Gen. 11:5–7). The Tower’s rapid construction and increasing size made it difficult for the workers at the top to speak directly with those providing materials from the ground. Therefore, communication must have required relay points along the tower. After the languages were confounded, the messages communicated from one relay to the other reached the ground with an entirely different meaning, resulting in confusion and strife. The work ceased, and the Lord “scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth” (verse 8). In the end, the Lord’s purpose to scatter humanity around the world was fulfilled.

After describing how the Lord confounded the languages and scattered the people, Scripture reveals the city’s name—a name that would echo through prophetic history: “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth” (Gen. 11:9). The Hebrew name translated as “Babel” in the King James Version is the same name used for the ancient city of “Babylon,” which is mentioned about 250 times in the Old Testament. This linguistic connection is not incidental; this name is also used in apocalyptic prophecies when speaking of end-time events, establishing Babel as a prophetic type of the latter-day confederation that will oppose God’s people.

This prophetic understanding of Babylon extends into the New Testament, where apostolic writers employed the name symbolically to refer to powers opposing God’s kingdom. The Apostle Peter used the word Babylon in 1 Pet. 5:13, and the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary says of Peter’s usage: “Early Christians often used the cryptic title ‘Babylon’ when speaking of the Roman capital.”[1]  The Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary also says of Peter’s usage: “In 1 Peter 5:13 ‘Babylon’ probably refers to the city of Rome.”[2]  As other Christians did, the Apostle Peter called the Roman capital “Babylon.” Peter wrote to Christians “scattered throughout” the Roman Empire and referred to the Roman capital using the code word “Babylon” (1 Pet. 1:1; 5:13). This spiritual interpretation of Babylon as the city of Rome is generally accepted, and the Revelation builds on this view when referring to “that great city Babylon” (Rev. 18:10; cf. Rev. 14:8; 16:19; 17:18).

This apostolic precedent for interpreting Babylon symbolically laid the foundation for centuries of prophetic interpretation. As the Christian church developed and later splintered during the Reformation, the identity of mystical Babylon became a matter of intense theological debate. Although some Catholic scholars accept that “Babylon” in Revelation refers to pagan Rome, Protestant scholars of the past have applied it to papal Rome.[3] In 1843, Charles Fitch, a Great Second Advent preacher, further interpreted spiritual Babylon based on the second angel’s message and other passages that speak of Babylon’s fall (Rev. 14:8; 18:2).[4] Although many at that time taught that papal Rome was Babylon, he classified those Protestant churches that opposed the message of Christ’s soon coming as fallen and part of spiritual Babylon, which includes papal Rome. Babylon is thus understood as a confusion of religions. The Millerites widely proclaimed this message in the summer of 1844.[5]

This nineteenth-century understanding of Babylon as a confederation of apostate religious powers found its foundation in Revelation’s prophecies of the last days. While mystical Babylon’s breakup occurs when the seventh plague falls, the sixth plague identifies its three divisions by referencing “the great river Euphrates” where mystical Babylon symbolically sits (Rev. 17:1–5, 15):

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. (Rev. 16:12–13, emphasis mine)

The three powers comprising mystical Babylon are well known: First, the dragon with its seven heads and ten horns represents secular, atheistic, and spiritualistic powers that Satan has used to oppose God’s church throughout time (Rev. 12). Second, the sea beast represents papal Rome as it unites with the European nations to persecute God’s people (Rev. 13:1–10; 17). Third, the false prophet—another term for Revelation’s earth beast with lamblike horns—symbolizes the Protestant churches as they mingle with the United States government to destroy God’s remnant (Rev. 13:11–17; 19:20).

When John saw the woman riding the sea-beast in Revelation 17, he called her, “MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS” (Rev. 17:1–7). In prophecy, a woman symbolizes a church (Jer. 6:2; 2 Cor. 11:2). Specifically, a pure woman represents Christ’s church (Eph. 5:22–23; Rev. 12), while a harlot woman depicts a corrupt church (Hos. 1:2; Ezek. 16:26, 28). The beast represents the harlot church’s union with Europe’s governments and nations, which Revelation depicts as the beast’s seven heads and ten horns (Exod. 18:25; Num. 10:4; Ps. 110:6; Rev. 17:12). However, as noted above, the three divisions of that great city Babylon all come together at the end of time in a worldwide union controlled by the harlot, papal Rome: “and the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18).

These prophetic descriptions of a worldwide union under papal control naturally raise the question: How could such a confederation actually form in our modern world? The only way the nations and religions of Earth can be governed by papal Rome is if there is a platform to which all governments and religions unite. Today, that platform appears to be the United Nations. Powerful men are building for themselves a Tower of Babel in which a few elite people will have power over the rest of the Earth. This activity is happening before us. The papacy is now in high standing and holds great influence before the UN.[6]

Just as the builders of Genesis sought to create a unified world government that would defy God’s express command to scatter and fill the Earth, so today we are witnessing the construction of another Tower of Babel—not of brick and mortar, but of political and religious alliances orchestrated through international institutions. This three-fold confederation of dragon, beast, and false prophet is drawing near, preparing to enforce universal worship contrary to God’s law. Those who understand these prophecies must prepare themselves for the coming crisis, remaining faithful to God’s commandments even as the confusion of Babylon reaches its peek. The Lord who once confounded the languages at Shinar will again intervene, breaking apart mystical Babylon and vindicating His faithful remnant who refuse the mark of the beast.

1. Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary: The Holy Bible with exegetical and expository comment, vol. 7 (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1978), 1 Peter 5:13, s.v. “Babylon.”2

2. Ronald R. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 149.3

3. H. Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation from the Standpoint of Prophecy, (Rapidan, VA: Hartland Publications, 1995), 87.4

4. Charles Fitch, Come Out of Her, My People, (Rochester, NY: J. V. Himes, 1843).5

5. Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy between Christ and Satan (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press, 1911), 389, para. 2. 

6. Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, “The Status of the Holy See at the United Nations,” Holy See Mission, accessed January 3, 2026, https://holyseemission.org/contents/mission/mission-%0A55e37172a07413.52517830.php.