Jeremiah Chapter 51 verse 7

"Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine therefore the nations are mad"(mad as in insane). This passage immediately brings to mind Rev:17:1&2 - "Come hither, I will show unto thee 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".
So we see that her wine is the wine of fornication, both physical and spiritual (to commit physical fornication we must commit it spiritually first. This is why Jesus said if we lust in our hearts we've committed adultery already for our bodies will only do what our hearts tell them to. All sin begins in the heart and then manifests in the body). Whatever is in our hearts will show up in our flesh. If we have a pure heart, we will have clean hands, and vice versa.
Ultimately, all nations and peoples end up serving the Lord's purposes, including Babylon. He uses the fornication of following after other god's, of committing spiritual whoredoms to his advantage - the golden cup in the Lord's hand is similar to the one found in Rev:17:4 - "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls (she sure looked good outwardly, as does Religion!), having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornications". As she has poured out her abominations on the world, which gladly drank of them, so shall she be poured out by the Lord, giving the world in the end what they've craved all along, abominations and fornications resulting in eternal damnations. Truly she sits on many waters, meaning all nations have committed fornication with her. Truly they are all mad (insane) for it is insanity to refuse our loving God and follow Satan and his ways instead. All who choose sin are followers of Satan, the originator of sin, which is rebellion against God, against his way, which is Holiness. Remember, all things work together for our good. God is always in control., He hardened Pharoah's heart to serve his purposes, "He (God) put in their hearts to fulfill his (Satan's) will and to agree and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled" (Rev"17:17). With Pharoah, God futher hardened a heart that was already hard towards him. He will do the same in our day by hardening hearts that are already hardened to him "for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate" (Rom:8:29). God knows ahead of time all who will come to him in true repentance and all who will not, so knowing this why shouldn't he use this knowledge to his advantage?