I first encountered Joel Richardson and his ideas when I was gifted a copy of his book Antichrist: Islam's Awaited Messiah. That was a long time ago, and he has since revised that book and released it under a different title (The Islamic AntiChrist) as well as writing numerous other books on end time prophecy and understanding the Book of Revelation. One of the these books is Mystery Babylon: Unlocking the Bible's Greatest Prophetic Mystery, where he attempts to identify "the great whore" or "great harlot", also referred to as "mystery Babylon" in Revelation 17. His book goes over various proposed identities before explaining why he believes it will be an Arabian city, although not necessarily Mecca or Medina.
In this video, he explores the theory that Mystery Babylon is Rome, delving into the topic in greater detail and with more discussion than in his book. So, if you are interested in the topic, this is a good video.
If you remember from your study of Revelation 17, an angel shows John the judgment of "the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." Rev. 17:1-2. The woman is arrayed in scarlet and purple, perched upon a scarlet beast with seven heads and 10 crowns, decked with precious metals and jewels and pearls, and "having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication". Rev. 17:3-4. The whore is described as being "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus". Rev. 17:6. Later, we are told that "in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." Rev. 18:24. And on her head is inscribed "Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth." Rev. 17:5.
So, from this description, we learn that the whore has seduced the kings of the Earth, she has made the inhabitants senseless and irrational with her sins, and she rides upon the beast, symbolizing that she believes that she is in control of it. And, in fact, we are later told that "the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Rev. 17:18.
The seven heads are described later in the chapter as being seven kingdoms or empires ("mountains"). Rev. 17:9. The angel also revealed that there were 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." Rev. 17:10. One may presume that these kings are associated with the seven heads (i.e., kingdoms and empires) and represent five ancient empires that warred against God, an empire in the time of John (presumably the Roman Empire), and an empire that would be in the future relative to John's time period (which Richardson believes to be one or more the Muslim empires that tried to stomp out Christianity). And then we are told that "the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition." Rev. 17:11. This beast is, of course, the AntiChrist.
Along with the seven heads, the chapter also indicates that there are 10 horns which we are told are 10 kings that will rule for a short time with the AntiChrist. Significant to our discussion here, these ten kings "shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." Rev. 17:16. And, in fact, as we read in chapter 18, Mystery Babylon will be utterly consumed by fire. Rev. 18:8. "And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come." Rev. 18:9-10.
So the reason that some people (and probably a majority of evangelicals) believe Mystery Babylon to be Rome is because they believe that Mystery Babylon is the Roman Catholic Church and that some future pope will be the Anti-Christ. Richardson goes into great detail why this is wrong. To understand why this is incorrect, you have to understand why Rome is even advanced as a theory. Basically, it comes down to three reasons: (i) the harlot is described as being clothed in scarlet and purple and, as Richardson concedes, Catholic bishops, arch-bishops, and cardinals, when decked out in their finest, like to wear scarlet and purple; (ii) the Harlot is described as sitting on a beast which heads are described as seven mountains (or hills in some translations), and Rome has traditionally been described as the city of seven hills; and (iii) Protestants like to paint the Catholics as boogeymen because of the whole history of religious wars between Protestants and Catholics.
Richardson debunks each of these points: (i) Catholic religious leaders wear lots of different colors and the colors are representative of sin and power, not the uniforms of a particular entity; (ii) Rome actually sits on 10 hills, not seven, and besides the "mountains" or "hills" are not literal hills, but the seven great kingdoms or empires; and (iii) there is a lot of blame to go around and, besides, the Catholic Church has done a lot to defend Christianity and continues to be a great force for defending Christianity. (In fact, my own observations are that conservative Catholics are probably one of the staunchest opponents to the current "woke" craziness, which is probably why the FBI labeled them as enemies of the state).
Richardson also notes that Rome and the Catholic Church do not meet other criteria: they are not a religion that deny Christ, although the Anti-Christ's religion will do so; Rome is not located in a desert, which is apparently another criteria; and Rome and the Catholic Church currently lack the power and influence ascribed to the Harlot, and what power and influence it has continues to wane.
Of course, as you could have guessed from the title of a couple of his books, Richardson believes that the religion of the Anti-Christ is Islam, and further notes that the allies of the Anti-Christ, whenever they are named, are all nations in North Africa or the Middle-East, that surround Israel. And, as we know from Ezekiel 38 and 39, these nations will ultimately attack Israel, which will only be saved by God's power in order to preserve God's reputation. See Ezekiel 38:16.
While I agree with Richardson that Rome and the Catholic Church are not Mystery Babylon, he does make some assumptions that I believe are wrong. The greatest is that he presumes that Mystery Babylon is part of or represents an anti-Christian religious system that is shared with the Anti-Christ; and because the Anti-Christ is or will be a Muslim, Mystery Babylon must also be Islamic and located in a Muslim country. I don't see anything that justifies this assumption: although Mystery Babylon is responsible for the persecution and death of saints and prophets, this doesn't mean that it is motivated in its hatred by religion (at least as that term is commonly used); and there is nothing to indicate that the ideology or religion of the Harlot is the same as that of the Anti-Christ, and, in fact, that the Anti-Christ's followers turn against the Harlot suggests the opposite.
Overall, though, this is a good video for anyone interested in eschatology.
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