We need to explore multiple levels to answer this question.
Babylon in the Old Testament was the capital city of the Babylonian empire. This city (and its civilization) was full of arrogance because it assumed that the Babylonian people were self-sufficient, did not need God, could solve all life’s problems themselves (and so was an extension of its ancient namesake, Babel, Genesis 11:1–3). Nebuchadnezzar epitomized this arrogance and self-sufficiency when he one day looked down over his city from his palace roof, saying, Is not this great Babylon, whom I have built by my mighty power … for the glory of my majesty?
(Daniel 4:30).
In Revelation 17 John saw the great prostitute
with a name tattooed on her forehead: Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes
(Revelation 17:5). This woman has attributed to herself the anti-God, self-sufficient spirit of the ancient city/civilization/empire of Babylon (and Babel). As a prostitute
she uses the glamour of Babylon’s arrogance and self-sufficiency to entice the people of the world to join her in her anti-God idolatry. Instead of people (including Christians) seeking all good from the Creator/Redeemer alone, she would entice people to seek their sense of well being in created things.
In Revelation 17 the term Babylon
stood for any city, civilization, or state celebrating independence from God and its own self-sufficiency in the face of life’s problems. In reality, this was any/every (major) city in John’s day, and indeed the Roman Empire itself. In our day, similarly, virtually any/every concentration of people organized in city or state or civilization displays the characteristics of Babel/Babylon and preaches the delusional lie that happiness can be found in earthly things (e.g., health, power, riches, freedom, work, marriage).
2 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.