Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His plan is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple. (Jeremiah 51:11)
Twice in two chapters, the LORD declares that He will take vengeance
against Babylon for the sake of His temple. (See 50:28) This Babylon
intoxicated "all the earth ... The nations have drunk of her wine; therefore
the nations are going mad" (51:7).
Just as God brought judgment on historical Babylon for the
sake of His physical temple, He will also exact vengeance on “Babylon the great,”
the ungodly world system, for the sake of His spiritual temple, the Church.
(See Rev. 18)
Compare this passage in Jeremiah with Revelation 14:8 and
18:2-3 --
And another angel, a second one, followed, saying,
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations
drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. (Revelation 14:8)
And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying,
"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of
demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and
hateful bird. "For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion
of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality
with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her
sensuality. (Revelation 18:2-3)
The connection between historical, physical Babylon and the diabolical world system designated "Babylon" in Revelation is unmistakable. This system harkens back to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel, where arrogant, sinful mankind set out to make themselves "god," all powerful. This world system, of which Satan is god (2 Cor. 4:4), exalts man as supreme.
Man's proper role is to be the temple of God, but Satan has corrupted
God's temple, as he did the temple in Jerusalem, which was a figure of the
spiritual temple. God will destroy "Babylon" for the sake of His
temple -- the Church, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. (1
Corinthians 3:16-17; Ephesians 2:21-22; 1 Peter 2:5).
