THE JUDGMENT OF BABYLON
Revelation 18:1 - 19:5
The fall of Babylon - 18:1-3
1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. 3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
An angel with great authority announces the fall of Babylon the Great (the prostitute).
The reason for Babylon’s fall is the sin of the city in corrupting others. She had become the home for demons (the place where Satan dwells).
The nations are seduced by her wealth, prosperity, and luxurious lifestyle.
A call to leave the city - 18:4-5
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
The visible church is admonished to come out from among her, have no fellowship with her, do not partake in her sin or they will face God’s judgment as well.
Compromise with the world is fatal. God’s people must, while being good citizens in the community in which they live must separate themselves from the sinful living and allurements of that community.
In a vivid figure John depicts the sins of the city as heaped in a pile that reaches heaven. Babylon’s sins have been piling up along with God’s wrath against them.
From the standpoint of the persecuted church it might seem that evil men were getting away with their sins. From the standpoint of heaven it is plain that God is not mocked; the great city is going to reap what she has sown.
Judgment on the city - 18:6-8
6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. 7 Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.' 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
The voice calls for the city to be destroyed completely. Vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay! You have sown to the flesh, you will reap destruction. She will be paid back double for what she has done.
Babylon’s destruction will be swift (in one day), all inclusive and massive (it will overtake her), leading to death, mourning and famine. Together these plagues mean disaster for the city.
Like wicked Sodom and Gomorrah, she will be consumed by fire. This destruction is a display of the mighty hand of the Lord God who judges the unrighteous.
A lament over the city’s fall - 18:9-19
9 When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come! 11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more--12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men. 14 They will say, The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.' 15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out: Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!' Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, Was there ever a city like this great city? 19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
John proceeds to bring out the total destruction of the great city by picturing the lamentation of those who had cause to mourn her passing, the kings, the merchants, those whose trade was on the sea.
Contemporary Rome formed a magnificent pattern for John’s Babylon (as does the United States). Rome was the center of the world’s trade and during the first century engaged in unparalleled flamboyance and excessiveness. It illustrates how at the end judgment the whole world may depend on trade with one great nation.
Woe! Woe!, O great city. Babylon is characterized as great. But John wants believers to see that no might can stand against that of the Lord God. And this is intensified, as her judgment is seen coming in one hour! It is overwhelming.
All the nations that had secured their livelihood from the commerce and wealth of the great city mourned her passing. But, they stand at a distance. No one stretches out a hand to help. The great city has brought profit to many but affection to none.
The destruction of the city - 18:20-24
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.'" 21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. 23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.
From the forces of evil, attention switches to the righteous. First, there is a call to rejoicing on the part of the righteous, then an emphatic statement of the complete overthrow of the city, and finally a brief statement of the justification for this overthrow.
It was Almighty God with whom believers were obeying and following. And though it meant their suffering and persecution now at the hands of wicked men they were sure of ultimate victory and vindication.
The throwing of a great stone into the sea is a symbolic action like many recorded in the prophets. It recalls Jeremiah’s action in having a stone attached to a book cast into the Euphrates, thus symbolizing the destruction of Babylon
Jeremiah 51:63-64 And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you will tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, and say, ‘Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again because of the disaster that I am going to bring upon her.
Here it points to the complete and violent destruction of the city.
Never to be found again; never be heard in you again; no workman of any trade will ever be found in you again; the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; the voice of the bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again are emphatic expressions for the complete and final annihilation of the city by God.
In this city was found the blood of God’s people, specified as prophets and saints. To this is added all who have been killed on the earth. This is another indication that we must take “the great city” symbolically. There is no city on earth of which this can be said. Babylon is clearly a symbol for all earthly cities.
A thanksgiving for the judgment of Babylon - 19:1-5
1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2 for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants. 3 And again they shouted: Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.
4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: Amen, Hallelujah! 5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!
The passage on the judgment of Babylon concludes with a mighty thanksgiving in heaven at the conclusion of God’s judgment.
The song ascribes to God salvation and glory and power. Babylon is described as the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries, and heaven rejoices accordingly at her overthrow.
We must see in this our own temptation to be corrupted by the world. The world likes a complacent, tolerant church, and so it is always ready to lure professing believers into committing spiritual adultery with it.
The truth is that the visible church has often committed adultery with false doctrine, false gospels, and false principles and deceitful practices and shaped the church to the fashions of the times.
The great prostitute is judged. The moral law of God can no more be broken without consequences than the law of gravity. The great prostitute corrupted the earth. But she did more. She shed the blood of God’s servants. She had to be called to account.
