CHAPTER 18
Revelation 18:1-2
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
The emphasis in the previous chapter was on the woman who was seen riding on the back of the beast which represented the apostate world religious system (Religious Babylon) which has given its power to the Antichrist. This chapter focuses on the Commercial system which is Babylon the Great City, the symbolic name for the final form of world government. John is given a preview of the decline of the Antichrist and his government (Commercial Babylon) and its fall will be the result of the supernatural judgments poured out by an angry God. This One World Government and its elite rulers will crumble and collapse under God’s Judgment at the end of the Tribulation period.
Here John sees an Angel coming down from Heaven with great power and the radiance of his presence illuminates the earth. The commentator Swete says,’ So recently has he come from the very presence of God that in passing he flings a broad belt of light across this darkened earth.’ When anyone has been in the Lord’s Presence it is impossible to hide it. This was similar to the time when Moses came down from the mountain after his meeting with God; the people could not look at his face because of its radiance. The great light that will illuminate the whole earth in this final controversy is the revelation of the perfection and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It invites men to behold Him and come out of the darkness into His glorious radiant light but they steadfastly refused to come into His marvelous light
John 3:19-20
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
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Revelation 18:2
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 hateful bird.
The message the Angel brings is that the mighty Commercial City of Babylon, a world system of doing business. It is a world system that the whole world has paid homage to, and now it is crumbling, falling apart. He repeats it twice as a lament or requiem to someone or something that is dying. This mighty city has become a habitation of unclean, evil spirits and demons. Do we not see a rise in the dark side of the supernatural in our world today? The movies and books are full of this and the public is swallowing it. The fruits of Babylon’s achievements are becoming her downfall, pride, greed, arrogance, her technology and excessive wealth and her fixation on idolatry, these she has in abundance. Money and misplaced trust are at the core of its philosophy of life.
Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the intoxicating wine of her adulteries. The rulers of the earth have also committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from her excessive luxuries."
The nations of the world had aligned themselves with the Antichrist and his world system and have been an active partner in all he has done by submitting to him and surrendering their authority to him and there is no limit to their greed for the wealth and luxuries they seek. Pay day has arrived; they will reap what they have sown and pay the consequences.
Revelation 18:4-5
4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ”Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached up to heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness.
This is a call to those who have made the choice to follow the Lord instead of the Antichrist. It is a call to separate themselves from this world system (Babylon), a materialistic society that has many lures and is a constant temptation to all the unwary. From the words spoken by this other voice coming from Heaven we can safely surmise that it is the voice of the Lord, “Come out of her My People.” The voice says that He remembers all her iniquities, her idolatry, her wickedness and warns of the judgments to come.
Revelation 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.
This same voice is speaking to those who will carry out the judgment of Babylon, it is telling them to render, to pay her back for all she has done in the past. God will see to it that this great Commercial System and those who control it will receive their just due. She will be repaid double according to her own works, from her own cup of wickedness she will drink. As a dictatorship she has done what all dictators in the past have done, committing the sin of self-indulgence, living the life of luxury while the rest of the world suffers. She was filled with pride, glorifying herself as a queen, bragging that she would not suffer as a widow and would know no sorrow. This is an example of self-deception, she was not able to see the hand writing on the wall, her destruction and suffering will come upon her in a day, it will be sudden and complete and she will be consumed by fire brought down by the Hand of God.
Hebrews 12:28-29
28 so worship God acceptably with reverenceand awe,
29 for our "God is a consuming fire."
Revelation 18:9-10
9 "When the kings (rulers) 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!'
The gravy train has come to a halt, the free ride is over for these rulers of the earth who lived sumptuously and grew wealthy because of their relationship with the Antichrist and his world government. They now stand at a safe distance, terrified at the destruction they are witnessing and lamenting over losing their meal ticket; this is a new spin on the old adage, ‘A fool and his money are soon parted,’ to, ‘A fool and his friends are soon parted.’
Revelation 18:11-14
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 their cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; of cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and the 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.
From the rulers to the merchants, the ones who made the commerce possible for the elite to have lived as sumptuously as they did. We are given a long list of all the merchandise that these men dealt in and it is plain to see that these are all the luxuries of life, not the necessities. We also see that their weeping and moaning is strictly self-centered, rooted in self-interest because no one is buying their merchandise anymore. The riches they were able to amass came at the expense of others, the bodies and souls of men. Those who enjoyed the luxurious living at the expense of others in this Commercial Babylon will find that their riches and splendor are no more to be found and the price they will pay for their association with this protégé of Satan will be eternal torment in the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 18:15-16
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!
Just as the rulers, the merchants also, terrorized at what is happening, will stand at a safe distance as they witness the torment and destruction of this great city and will lament over the lose of all they had amassed for themselves. Always thinking of themselves and giving no thought to the consequences of their actions and of their complete disregard of the God who created all they possessed and refusing the most precious treasure of all – God’s Love.
Revelation 18:17-19
17 For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.' Every shipmaster and all who travel by ship, sailors, and all who trade on the sea, stood at a distance
18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying ,'What is like this great city?'
19 They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.'
Like the others, all those who sailed the seas and plied their trade on ships, stood at a safe distance and lamented the loss of their livelihood. They moaned and groaned because the source of their wealth was being destroyed before their very eyes and again it is an example of pure selfishness. They were bemoaning the losing of the means by which they obtained their wealth, their meal ticket, not the destruction of the city.
Revelation 18:20
Rejoice over her, O Heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostle and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.'"
What a contrast to all the wailing and moaning, a call to rejoice, which seems strange when you think of what is actually happening. Knowing that God takes no joy in the death of sinners we have to conclude that this call to rejoice is for justice not judgment. It is God fulfilling His promise to the martyred Saints that He would avenge them. We could call this a righteous resolution to all that has transpired in the past.
Revelation 18:21
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.
This mighty Angel is demonstrating how the great city of Babylon will come to its end, a violent end. As a great stone thrown into the sea would immediately sink to the bottom, such will be the fate of the great city of Babylon. God’s people need fear none of this if they have been true to Him and have not let the material pleasures of this world rob them of their faith.
Jeremiah 51:62-64
62 'O LORD, you have said you will destroy this place, so that neither man nor animal will live in it; it will be desolate forever.'
63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates.
64 Then say, 'So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.'"
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Revelation 18:22-24
22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No work man 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."
The rulers of the nations, the merchants of the world, the men who sailed the seas, all these stood at a safe distance and watched this Great City of Babylon burn. It is now desolate and powerless; all of its political, commercial and industrial might has come to an end. The great men of the earth are brought down, men who were deceived by her greatness and were drawn to her and addicted to her by what she offered them, wealth and power.
No more will music be heard in her halls, theaters and homes, no craftsmen of any kind will be found to do any work, the sound of industry has ceased forever, the joyous laughter and voices of the brides and bridegrooms will be heard no more, all life has gone from of her. All the sights and sounds of this once vibrant city have ceased never to be heard again. This great judgment has been brought about because her persecution of the Saints and the Prophets and because their blood flowed in her streets. This judgment was not for just one city but for the entire One World System that was responsible for all those who were killed because of their faithfulness to their Lord. Almighty God takes the death and persecution of His Saints personally, what is done to the least of them is done to Him and He has responded in His wrath.
Psalm 116:15
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.
This chapter began with a solemn statement, ‘God has remembered her iniquities (her injustice, her wickednes),’ Then John begins to describe the tragic fate of the Great City Babylon. The path of compromise she trod and the sin that at first seemed so vast and inviting to the multitudes who sold their souls for her wealth and power, has at last led to her down-fall and destruction.
Romans 12:19
For it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
