If the City is Jerusalem, how can she be said to wield this kind of worldwide political power?  The answer is that Revelation is not a book about politics; it is a book about the Covenant.  Jerusalem did reign over the nation.

Jerusalem as Babylon

Ancient Jerusalem = Mystery Babylon

Vessels of Wrath – Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called

FROM PDF BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• 1856: P.S. Desprez, Babylon the Great Neither Rome nor Pagan
• 1866: Charles Wordsworth, Rome not Babylon in the Apocalypse
• 1960: F. Paul Peterson, St. Peter’s Tomb Discovered in Jerusalem – I have a letter from a noted scientist stating that he can tell by the writing that it was written just before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D. | 1 Peter 5:13 The church in Babylon sends you greetings.
• 2002: D. Ragan Ewing, The Identification of Babylon the Harlot in the Book Of Revelation
• 2002: D. Ragan Ewing, Evidence for Jerusalem as Babylon
• 2004: Andy Woods: The Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17-18
• 2006: G. Bugazzi, Is the Babylon of Revelation Rome or Jerusalem
• 2010: Andy Woods, A Futurist Response to the Preterist Interpretation of Babylon in Revelation

AND ALSO:

• 1997: Sheila Busby, Could JERUSALEM be Mystery Babylon the Great? – Maybe that is how the mother-child worship (thus referring to her as “Babylon”) comes to be included in her harlotries. I can’t be sure yet, but I just don’t feel comfortable with the other explanations I’ve heard.
• 2005: Chris Strevel, Rome or Jerusalem? A Comparative Analysis of the Harlot Imagery in Revelation 17 – I have endeavored to demonstrate that advocates of the Jerusalem=harlot view have a strong case to offer… This view is certainly consistent with John’s stated theme: God’s great divorce of Israel and Christ’s judgment upon her.

MAIN COLLECTION
Typically Organized by Author’s First Name

Adam Maarschalk: Josephus and the Book of Revelation – Nine Case Studies (2016)

As we look at these parallels, consider what they mean for the popular idea that John wrote Revelation around 95 AD. Some of the parallels are so striking that a person would basically have to conclude that John borrowed from the earlier writings of Josephus, and then used the language of Josephus to prophesy of a much later war

Alexander Gibb: Jerusalem was Babylon the Great, the Mystery is History (2015)

Alexander has been a Christian for 46 years. Over the past decade he has studied ‘the end times’ from a Preterist’s perspective.

Allen Baily: Clouds of Judgment and Glory (2003)

The elements of the previous dispensation must give way for a more transcending and glorious kingdom of the Son of God Himself where He now indwells His people by His Own Spirit, and walks in them and dwells in them

Augustine: Letters on Matthew 24 and “The End of the World” (400-430)

I think that the one about the weeks of Daniel in particular should be understood in terms of time that is already past. He was correct to tell the Jews that the times were completed, because their times came to an end thirty-five or forty years after he preached.

Bob Algood: Mystery Babylon, Mother of Harlots (1999)

The Arminian premillennial dispensationalist who believe in the Postponed Kingdom Theory say most of the things in Revelation have not yet been fulfilled.

Bob Allgood: Mystery Babylon Come Out of Her My People (1999)

One can see from these words that scriptural justification can be made for an application of “the great whore” to “the Jerusalem that now is”.  Nor would it be too extreme to assign the judgment of “the great whore” and “that great city” to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Titus in 70AD

Brian Abshire: Why I Believe We Are Not Living in “The Last Days” (1999)

But if the destruction of Jerusalem was about to occur, if the land was invaded and the city about to be surrounded, how much clearer could he make it? The 70 AD scenario is the only one that really does justice to John’s sense of expectancy

Carl Hagensick: The Ninth of Ab (1996)

Today the ninth day of the Jewish month Ab (July-August on our calendar) is commemorated as a national day of misfortune for Israel. It is a day of fasting.

Charles Kassel: The Fall of the Temple: A Study of Dogma (1905)

In no historic occurrence, perhaps, has the Christian world discovered so plainly the hand of Providence as in that tragic spectacle which has appealed so strongly to the imaginations of theologians — the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple

Chris Strevel: Rome or Jerusalem? A Comparative Analysis of the Harlot Imagery in Revelation 17 (2005)

I have endeavored to demonstrate that advocates of the Jerusalem=harlot view have a strong case to offer… This view is certainly consistent with John’s stated theme: God’s great divorce of Israel and Christ’s judgment upon her.

Chuck Missler: Resolving the Olivet Discourse (2005)

The preterists insist that this passage — and the Book of Revelation — has been already fulfilled, and much of it is dismissed by them as simply allegorical. Yet even those who embrace a dispensational view have difficulty reconciling many of the Olivet Discourse passages.

Chuck Schussman: When Was The Book of Revelation Written? (2016)

Most arguments for the date of Revelation only look strong to the one making them. This is true whether one supports an early or a late date.

D. Ragan Ewing: The Identification Of Babylon The Harlot In The Book Of Revelation (2002)

Given thoughtful investigation, none of the objections raised decisively precludes Jerusalem as the harlot of the Apocalypse. The burden of proof still lies on the cumulative evidence that can be used to support this interpretation.

Daniel Morias: Jesus, the Son of Man, was LITERALLY Seen in the Clouds in A.D. 66 (2015)

The following may seem unbelievable.  However, all information below is taken from unbiased historical records and is easily verifiable.  Sources are also listed at the bottom of the page.

David Smith: Reporter ventures out to Pella to find evidence of first century church (2008)

Jpost on Pella: A revelation came to Christians reminding them of Jesus’ words: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded,

David Timm: Olivet Discourse Comparison (2003)

This is where the living Christians were raptured to heaven or gathered spiritually in the Holy of Holies. This also refers to the gathering of the elect out of hades.

DeMar and Chilton: 2 Peter 3 – The Passing Away of Heaven and Earth (2010)

They scoffed at the claims made by Jesus that the temple would be destroyed and Jesus Himself would be the one to make it happen before their generation passed away. Since more than 30 years had passed since Jesus made this prediction, and the temple was still standing with no indication that it would be destroyed in less than a decade, they began to mock the words of Jesus.

Don Preston: Babylon The Great of Revelation

The coming of Jesus as foretold in Revelation was at hand (Revelation 22:6, 10-12, 20). The coming of Jesus as foretold in Revelation was to come at the end of the millennium. Therefore, the end of the millennium was at hand.

Don Preston: Every Eye Shall See Him 

     When attempting to explain that Jesus returned at the fall of the Old World of Judaism in 70 AD (SOC), one of the first objections offered is Revelation 1:7

Duncan McKenzie: Babylon was not First-Century Jerusalem (2004)

While equating Jerusalem with Babylon is essentially correct, it does need some refinement.

Duncan McKenzie: The Covenant Judgments of Revelation (2006)

This pattern of Israel’s covenant punishments, four sets of punishments, each having a sevenfold fulfillment, provides the structure the plagues and punishments found in the book of Revelation.

Duncan McKenzie: The Merchandise of Babylon (2006)

Why are we being bored with this listing of the merchandise of Babylon? What exactly is the purpose of giving us the details of these materials and products?Why are we being bored with this listing of the merchandise of Babylon? What exactly is the purpose of giving us the details of these materials and products?

 

Eric Fugett: Matthew 24: Before the Second Coming of Jesus (2004)

In actuality, the abomination was twofold. Cestius surrounding Jerusalem in 66 CE does equate with Antiochus doing the same in thing 167 BCE.

Ernest L. Martin: The Seven Hills of Jerusalem (2000)

Those “seven hills” are easy to identify. If one starts with the Mount of Olives just to the east of the main City of Jerusalem (but still reckoned to be located within the environs of Jerusalem), there are three summits to that Mount of Olives.

Eusebius: The Martyrdom of James, who was Called the Brother of the Lord

These things happened to the Jews to avenge James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus, that is called the Christ.

Gary DeMar: Beware of End-Time Prophets who Keep Crying Prophetic Wolf (2018)

Jesus is answering a question put to Him by the Pharisees about the coming of the kingdom of God. To their surprise, Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is in your midst”, implying the kingdom was linked to the first coming of Jesus.

Gary DeMar: Biblical Minimalism and “The History of Preterism” (2003)

Ice and LaHaye get off on the wrong foot in their analysis of preterism. The historical argument is a death blow, or to use Mark Hitchcock’s metaphor from his chapter on the dating of Revelation, “A Stake in the Heart” to their brand of futurism.

Greg Bahnsen: Another Look at Chilton’s Days of Vengeance (1988)

I cannot recommend my friend David’s commentary on Revelation.

Greg Kiser: Here is why I believe… Peter was referring to Jerusalem as Babylon in 1 Peter 5:13 (2001)

Fourteen years after his conversion, Paul again returns to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. Peter is there again and even named as a “pillar” in the church at Jerusalem

H.L. Nigro: Response to the Preterist Position as Outlined by Sproul (2001)

The gospel was not preached to all nations at the time Jerusalem was destroyed. It had been preached only to the known world.

J. Marcellus Kik: The Appearance of the Sign (1971)

Many commentators cannot see how this was fulfilled before the year 70 A. D. Yet the New Testament itself reveals that this prophecy was fulfilled, and for those who regard the New Testament as authoritative, this should be convincing enough.

James Jordan: The Abomination of Desolation (1988)

Those who ignore the Idumean invasion of the Temple cannot deal with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 24 that the abomination of desolation stood in the holy place.

James Stuart Russell: Old Jerusalem is the City Identified with “Mystery Babylon” (1878)

The well-known commentator, John David Michaelis, shrewdly conjectured that Babylon is identical with Jerusalem. Speaking of the place from which the First Epistle of Peter was written, he says:

James Swann: Charles Spurgeon, Full-Preterism, and Figurative Language

Those involved with Preterism appear to look for anything written by anybody in regard to A.D. 70 and the fall of Jerusalem (simply skim through the pages at the Preterist Archive).

Jarrod Drawbaugh, Reflections of a Former Full Preterist: Part 1 – The Book of Revelation (2018)

By this point it was apparent that A.D. 70 was a far more significant event and played a far more significant role in scripture than I had realized. Previously obscure passages were coming to light, and with it the Bible was coming alive in a whole new and exciting way.

Jesus Contradicts the “Preterism” of His Day and Ours (2011)

Isn’t it therefore ironic that Jesus’ prophecy concerning the abomination of desolation is exactly the passage that overturns preterist ideas in our own day too? You see, the prophecy of Christ, that the abomination of desolation was to be yet future remains unfulfilled.

John Reilly: Book Review: Beyond the End Times (1999)

The fact is that the sack of Jerusalem by the Romans just was not big enough to be the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation, or even of the Olivet Discourse. To try to limit the “end times” to that single event smacks of the complacent surmise by Tacitus that the whole of Jewish messianic prophecy was fulfilled by the ascension of Vespasian to the imperial title in Rome.

Joseph Balyeat: Babylon, The Great City of Revelation (1991)

He readily admits that this took place in A.D.70 (p.119), yet, he cannot bring himself to conclude that this was also the Second Coming. Balyeat insists that this is yet to come “at the end of history, a ‘coming’ that will be visible across the whole sky — from East to West.” Isn’t this what Jesus said would happen in A.D.70?

Josephus Parallels? Revelation 16:21 and Wars of the Jews 5:6:3

“And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.”

Josephus Parallels? Revelation 16:18 and Wars of the Jews 4:4:5

And there were noises and thundering and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth.

Josephus Parallels? Revelation 16:19 and Wars of the Jews 5:1:1

Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath

Josephus, Wars, Book 6, Chapter 5, Section 3

before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.

JP Holding: Review of Robert Eisenman’s “James the Brother of Jesus”

As for the New Testament, it was written very late – and used the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the works of Josephus (dated c. 90 AD) as sources. It is a far less reliable source than the Pseudoclementine Recognitions, which was a source for the NT

Julius Scott: Did Jerusalem Christians Flee to Pella? (1998)

This paper summarizes the major arguments in the discussion and evaluates them against a restudy of the evidence presently available. It concludes that the ancient writers are more likely than modern doubters to be essentially correct.

Julius Scott: The Effects of the Fall of Jerusalem on Christianity (1983)

Jewish Christians groups were more closely tied to the national institutions of Judaism, than we should expect the 70 C.E. catastrophe to impact them more severely than others.

Ken Gentry: As Lightning Comes From the East (2001)

The specter of A.D. 70 haunts the New Testament record (being frequently and vigorously prophesied). Its occurrence dramatically impacts first-century history (being one of its more datable and catastrophic events).

Kermit Zarley: Did Jesus Wrongly Predict He Would Return within a Generation? (2017)

That abomination of desolation is probably an idol. It certainly did not happen during the subsequent forty years until the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. Since Jerusalem has never had a temple since then, this prophecy has remained unfulfilled to this day.

Kittim as Rome Study Archive

The next line, however, begins, “Its interpretation concerns the Kittim….” The modern theory had already been propounded by interpretation by the ancient community two thousand years earlier!

Larry T. Smith: The Abomination of Desolation (2002)

most of Revelation, which was given in biblical imagery, is John’s detailed account of the Matthew and Luke’s Mount Olivet Discourse, which describes Jesus’ 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem.

Lee Levine: The Temple Destroyed; The Synagogue Takes a Turn (2007)

To understand the evolution of the synagogue in Roman-occupied Palestine, we interviewed Lee I. Levine, professor of Jewish History and Archaeology at Hebrew University and author of The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years.

Matthew 24:15 Study Archive

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel

 

Michael Bull: Cosmic Language, or, Ethnic Cleansing as Mercy (2012)

In representative terms, the people of God are no longer the Land but the heavenly Sea. The Church herself is the oncoming storm.

Michael Bull: Rescuing Revelation (2017)

The event commonly referred to as Jesus’ ‘second coming’ is history. He came ‘without delay’ in 70AD, just as He said He would. He now rules the nations with a rod of iron, but the final judgment is yet to come.

Michael Fenemore: The Abomination of Desolation Set Up: A.D. 66 (2011)

What Matthew refers to as the “abomination of desolation,” Luke calls “armies.” What Matthew refers to as the “holy place,” Luke calls “Jerusalem.” We know Matthew and Luke are writing about the same event because both references are from their accounts of the Olivet Discourse, and both were the sign to “flee.”

Michael Krall: A Look at Who Babylon is in the Book of Revelation (2005)

Who persecuted the Apostles? Since that was a first century office can it be the Roman Catholic Church? Were they around to persecute the apostles?

Michael Shover: Luke 21:20-21 – The Flight to Pella (2018 Audio)

This our Lord indicated in Matthew 24:13 when He said, ‘he that endures to the end shall be saved.’  The end that He had spoken of was the end of Jerusalem.

Milton Terry: Apocalyptic Elements in Hebrew Song (1883)

It borders on folly to ask, in the study of such a psalm, when and where God actually bent down the visible heaven and made a pathway of clouds on which David or anyone else saw him descend. But we do see, in all such emo­tional word-pictures, how vividly the Hebrew poets apprehended the presence of God in human experience, and also in the phenomena of the natural world.

Milton Terry: The Apocalypse of the Gospels (1898)

The teaching of Jesus concerning “the end of the age,” and the Son of man coming in the clouds,” appears to have been given in the latter days of his ministry, in connection with the overthrow of the Jewish temple at Jerusalem.

Nathan DuBois: Remember Pella (2005)

I can think of no more encouraging phrase to say to one of my brothers or sisters than to “remember Pella

Pella Flight Tradition Study Archive

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains

Pete Stoller: Renewed Creation: Preterism and 2 Peter 3 (2007)

All of the discussion above hinges on an understanding of ‘the day of the Lord’ in 2 Peter being about the end of history judgment rather than AD70 judgment.

Peter Leithart: Decreation in Jeremiah 4 (2010)

Jeremiah is using this image to convey the idea of a dramatic decreation: God is going to unmake the world. This kind of catastrophic language is often used when talking about the death of a king or the fall of a city.

Peter the Rock Study Archive

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.

 

Prophetic Interpretations of Constantine’s Labarum Coin

This remarkable event (the Edict of Milan) was regarded by Christians of that time, and by Constantine himself, as the fulfillment of the very prophecy before us. (Revelation 20:2)

 

Revelation 17:10 Study Archive

And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space

 

Ronald Clark: Preaching Fulfilled Apocalyptic to a Skeptical Generation (1998)

The enduring attraction of apocalyptic prophecy is its promise that human existence and history have a purpose and that an imminent golden age will soon put an end to evil and justice.

SGF Brandon: The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church (1951)

A Study of the Consequences of the Jewish Catastrophe in the Year 70

Sheila Busby: Could JERUSALEM be Mystery Babylon the Great? (1997)

Maybe that is how the mother-child worship (thus referring to her as “Babylon”) comes to be included in her harlotries. I can’t be sure yet, but I just don’t feel comfortable with the other explanations I’ve heard.

Steve Sabz: Armies of Angels in the Clouds (2014)

The Old Testament’s description of the Lord’s angelic forces is eerily similar to that of Josephus’ and Tacitus’ account of what happened in 66 AD

Terry Siverd: Identifying Babylon in the New Testament

Peter was an apostle to the circumcision. He resided in Jerusalem but undertook to write to Jewish Christians who had been scattered (driven away from Jerusalem). He wrote in the shadow of Jerusalem’s fall in A.D. 70. He wrote admonitions in the language of covenant wrath.

The Amillennial Preterism of Clement of Alexandria [A.D. 162]

Clement did hold to a future advent of Christ, and like many throughout history, supposed that it would be within his own lifetime. Thus, while Dispensationalists like Thomas Ice use the “immanence” argument to support a “pre-trib” rapture, the only real conclusion that we can draw from this statement is that Clement was wrong.

The New Testament Epistle of James (-0047-48)

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

Tisha B’Av Study Archive

On the “ninth of Ab” it was decreed concerning our fathers, that they should not enter into the land (of Canaan), the first and second temple were destroyed,  Tisha B’av may have been our 9/11, but out of this painful crucible, we will eventually emerge stronger and more robust than ever before

Pseudo-Sybilline Oracles (AD 150)
“He seized the divinely built Temple and burned the citizens and peoples who went into it, men whom I rightly praised.

For on his appearance the whole creation was shaken and kings perished, and those in whom sovereignty remained destroyed a great city and righteous people. . . . (5: 150-154 OTP 1:396.)

For murder and terrors are in store for all men because of the great city and righteous people which is preserved throughout everything which Providence held in special place. . (5:225-227; OTP 1:398.)

But now a certain insignificant and impious king has gone up, cast it down, and left it in ruins with a great horde and illustrious men. He himself perished at immortal hands when he left the land, and no such sign has yet been performed among men that others should think to sack a great city” (5:408-413; OTP 1:403.)

Alexander Campbell (1841)
“Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which is [mystically] spiritually called Sodom and Egypt; also, the city where our Lord was crucified, [Jerusalem].” (“The Coming of the Lord – No. VII,” Millennial Harbinger 5, July 1841; p. 322)

Dr. Hodge
‘The essence of idolatry was profanation of God: of this the Jews were in a high degree guilty. They had made His house a den of thieves.’ (Quoted in The Parousia)

Dr. Lange
“Jeremiah predicts (Jer. 31:36-40) that the city should in future times extend beyond the north wall (the second wall) and inclose Gibeat Gareb, or the Leper’s Hill, and Gibeat Goath, or the Hill of Death (of roaring, groaning). The position of Gareb can correspond only with Under Bezetha, and the position of Goath only with Upper Bezetha where Golgotha rose. Both of these elevations were inclosed by Agrippa, as parts of the new city, and lay inside the third wall. From the context we learn that Gareb and Goath were unclean places, but, being measured in with the holy city, became sanctified. That the Goath hill of Jeremiah is identical with the Golgotha of the Evangelists, is more than probable. The wall of Agrippa was built around Bezetha by Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great” (Lange on Matt. 27:33).

James M. MacDonald (1870)
“And when we open the book itself, and find inscribed on its very pages evidence that at the time it was written Jewish  enemies were still arrogant and active, and the city in which our Lord was crucified, and the temple and the altar in it were still standing, we need no date from early antiquity, not even from the hand of the author himself, to inform us that he wrote before the great historical event and prophetic epoch, the destruction of Jerusalem.” (Life and Writings of John, p. 171-172)

Johann Philip Schabalie (1635)
“How could God be merciful towards such a city?  A city that would not reform, but accumulated sin upon sin until they had filled their cup of iniquity.  W.S. Thus I hear that all things conspired to the destruction of Jerusalem.” (The Wandering Soul, p. 410)

“And because this city was the cause of the shedding of the innocent blood, she was suddenly visited with judgments — as sudden as the coming of lightning. (The destruction of Jerusalem was sudden.  In a very short time, not less than eleven hundred thousand perished.  See Josephus, de Bell, Ind. lib. 6, c. 9, § 3. – trans.” (Wandering Soul, p. 401)

“In order that God might show that he was determined utterly to destroy Jerusalem; and to that end, he gave them several signs, to warn each one in the city of the coming destruction.” (Soul, p. 411)

“O! how these surpass all other calamities that ever befell Jerusalem.  S.C. Are you speaking of Jerusalem?  Yes, that ever befell all the world besides ; for the greatest sins that ever were committed were perpetrated here, in this city.” (p. 444)

David Chilton (1987)
“It is perhaps this verse, more than any other, which has confused expositors into supposing, against all other evidence, that the Harlot is Rome.  If the City is Jerusalem, how can she be said to wield this kind of worldwide political power?  The answer is that Revelation is not a book about politics; it is a book about the Covenant.  Jerusalem did reign over the nation.” (Days of Vengeance, p. 442)

Adam Clarke (1837)
(On Revelation 1:7) “By this the Jewish People are most evidently intended, and therefore the whole verse may be understood as predicting the destruction of the Jews; and is a presumptive proof that the Apocalypse was written before the final overthrow of the Jewish state.” (6:971.)

Johann Herder
“Rome was not in the circle of the prophet’s vision, nor is Rome in coincidence with the symbols and metaphors; but the resemblance to Jerusalem is as perfect as the case can be supposed to furnish” (Commentary on the Book of Revelation, p. 153).

“The seven heads of the Beast are said to be seven mountains; assuming the woman to be a city founded upon seven mountains.  Such was the situation of Jerusalem.” (Comm., Herder, p. 156)

John David Michaelis
“If I could only find a single authority for calling Jerusalem by the name of Babylon, I would rather follow Cappellus and Harduin who take Jerusalem to have been the place; which was also, according to Cyril of Alexandria, meant by Isaiah when he is speaking of Babylon. For the contents of this Epistle are not so well suited to any time as to that soon after the Council of Jerusalem, whilst Peter continued in that city.  It is not impossible that St. Peter might call Jerusalem by the name of Babylon after she had begun to persecute the Church; and the expression of the elected church at Babylon seems to imply a paradox which would be removed had Jerusalem itself been named. It is therefore not improbable that St. Peter might in an epistle make use of this figurative and opprobrious name to signify Jerusalem. . . . Add to this that St. Peter sends a salutation from Mark, and this Mark, who was also called John, was returned to Jerusalem, not long before the said Council (Acts 13:13) All circumstances thus concurring, and it being never more necessary to the Gentile converts that they should ‘stand in the true grace of God,’ it appears to me, whilst I am writing, probable in the highest degree, that this Epistle was written at Jerusalem soon after the Council, i.e., in the year of Christ 49. . . . I am the less influenced by the testimony of the ancients to the contrary, as the matter depends not upon the historical question, whether St. Peter ever was at Rome, but upon the critical question, whether he calls Rome by the name of Babylon?”

“The First Epistle of St. Peter was written at Jerusalem at the time of the first council” (See Introd. Lect. to the “Sacred Books of the New Testament,”  by J. D. Michaelis, § 148).

James Stuart Russell
A sketch-plan of ancient Jerusalem, showing Mount Gareb and Mount Goath is given in “Palestine Explored,” by the Rev. James Neil, M.A., formerly incumbent of Christ Church, Jerusalem. Mr. Neil enumerates the seven hills on which the city was built, Mount Zion, Mount Ophel, Mount Moriah, Mount Bezetha, Mount Acra, Mount Gareb, and Mount Goath.”  (The Parousia, afterword.)

Milton S. Terry (1898)
“There is only one city that comes to mind at this specific statement, and that answers perfectly to the description of this verse.  Jesus himself said to his disciples “that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed (Matt. xvi, 21; xx, 18; Mark x, 33; Luke xviii, 31).” (Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 371)

“One chief trouble with those interpreters who try to explain away this obvious reference to Jerusalem is that they consider it impossible to identify this “great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,” with “the holy city” of verse 2.  These, they insist, cannot be the same.  But others will incline to think that half the ingenuity employed on their own visionary expositions of the place where the Lord was crucified might have shown them that, in strict accord with Old Testament usage, both designations suit Jerusalem.  How is it that Isaiah could call this same Jerusalem a “faithful city” and a “harlot” in one breath?  The answer is very simple: Once ‘righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers (Isa. i, 21).” (ibid., p. 372)

C. Vanderwaal (1978)
“The more we study these connections and interpretations, the more things come together.  Revelation 17 and 18 are not talking about a heathen city or empire; they are talking about Israel, the covenant people who killed the prophets (I Kings 19:10; Lam. 4:13).

Jesus Christ spoke the same language to the rabbis in Matthew 23:29ff, calling them “sons of those who murdered the prophets” (v. 31).  “Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.. that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth (vs. 32,35).  The “earth” referred to can better read as a reference to the land of the covenant people.

The same theme appears at the end of Revelation 18: “In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,” and of all to doubt that this blood of prophets and saints was shed by the covenant people?  Didn’t Jesus Himself point out that no prophet dies outside Jerusalem? (Luke 13:33).

Yet, interpreters insist on reading Revelation 18:24 apart from the Old Testament and the words of Jesus recorded in the “gospels.”  We are told that the killing of prophets and saints is a reference to what Rome or some anti-Christian world power will do.

L.A. Vos has pointed out that there are words of Jesus behind certain passages in the book of Revelation, and that these words can help us with the interpretation of Revelation.. This is hardly a reason for surprise, for the Apocalypse is a “revelation of Jesus Christ,” a revelation in which more of His words are recorded.  We hear echoes of Matthew 23-24 in the book of Revelation.”  (Hal Lindsey and Biblical Prophecy; St. Catharines, Canada: Paideia Press; pp. 135-136)

“Judah deserves to be called the “faithless one.”  When we consider the fact that the prophets repeatedly speak of forsaking the covenant as harlotry and adultery (Is. 1:21; Ezek. 16:22; Hos. 1-3), the pattern in Revelation falls into place.  Revelation 17 carries on the line of Jeremiah 4:30 by speaking within the framework of the covenant.  Thus the subject is not “Rome” but “Judah.” (Ibid., p. 134)

Foy Wallace (1966)
“(the prophecies of Revelation 18) do not fit Rome, nor any other city than Jerusalem;  where the prophets, apostles and saints were slain.  The usual interpretation to bring the apocalypse down through the ages to stage again the historical pageantry of the Roman empire, in the effort to find a future fulfillment, takes all the force out of the words of Christ in Matthew 23 and 24, and robs the apocalypse of its immediate message.  The apostate Jerusalem was the object of the visions of Revelation.” (ibid., p. 383)

“There was no basis for a symbol or an analogy in which Rome could have been depicted as having become a harlot, for Rome never stood in the spiritual relation to God as a faithful city, turned to harlotry.  The harlot was a city once faithful to God, and only Jerusalem can fulfill the symbolic descriptions.” (ibid., p. 364)

G.R. Beasley-Murray (1993)
“Observe that in Rev. 11:8 Jerusalem is named ‘spiritually’ as Sodom.” (Jesus and the Last Days; p. 417)

J. W. Roberts
“The great city is that one where the witnesses’ Lord was crucified, that is, Jerusalem.” (The Revelation of John, p. 21)

Sarno
“Because the province of Judaea was such an infinitesimal sector of the sprawling Roman empire, and because its people so conscientiously avoided assimilation into the dynamic yeast of the new western civilization, the military and political histories which have come down to us from these distant times scarcely mention the Jews at all.

If ever, they are passed off as a troublesome but relatively insignificant minority occupying a strange and ancient city at the brink of a distant desert. Their Messianic prophecies were considered so mystic and arcane by philosophers and so unrealistic by politicians that none but the most curious bothered to record the ripple which their religious unrest made in the stream of contemporary events.” 1

“The overwhelming influence in the first century of the Christian era was the Roman empire. At the time of Jesus the Romans controlled southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The legions and navies of the empire had made the Mediterranean a Roman lake.” (Sarno, The Cruel Caesars, Their Impact on the Early Church, Preface, x, 3.)

N. Turner (1967)
“Its reference here to Jerusalem raises the question whether it should be interpreted of Rome in the rest of the book.  If so, we must accept the expedient that this section is from a different source, one which equated the great city with Jerusalem (as Dr. Charles).  However, there is something to be said for the identification with Jerusalem throughout Rev., one must not too easily assume that the book is directed against Rome rather than the Jews.” (“Revelation,” in Peake’s Commentary on the Bible; p. 1051)

H.A. Whittaker (1973)
“In A.D. 66, the well supported early date for the writing of Revelation, Jerusalem also was a city which ‘had a kingdom over the kings of the Land.’ Indeed, not only was Jerusalem a city with special authority over the various tetrarchies adjoining Judaea, but also the temple had an amazing degree of authority over Jewish communities in all parts of the Roman empire.” (Revelation  – A Biblical Approach, page 214).

“Babylon is Jerusalem” (Revelation, p. 209, H.A.W.)

“The influence of Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire was amazing. Every city of any size had its colony of Jews, and through the synagogue these all gave allegiance to Jerusalem, making direct annual payments to the temple and accepting the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin” (Revelation, page 210, H.A.W.).

 The Seven Hills of Jerusalem

“Babylon” as Rome

Steven J. Frierson (2001)
“Many scholars conclude that the connection between Rome and Babylon is that both destroyed the temple of Israel’s god: Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem resulted in the obliteration of Israel’s first temple in 586 BCE, and Rome’s siege of Jerusalem brought an end to the second temple in 70 CE. So John could denounce Rome because of its attack on the Jerusalem temple. This would, in turn, require a date after 70 CE for John’s Apocalypse.”  (Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John : Reading Revelation in the Ruins, p. 138)