Babylon is Judged

Revelation 18:1-8

¹After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.

²And 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.

³ For all nations have drunk

the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,

and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,

and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

“Come out of her, my people,

lest you take part in her sins,

lest you share in her plagues;

⁵for her sins are heaped high as heaven,

and God has remembered her iniquities.

⁶Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,

and repay her double for her deeds;

mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.

⁷As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,

so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,

since in her heart she says,

‘I sit as a queen,

I am no widow,

and mourning I shall never see.’

⁸For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,

death and mourning and famine,

and she will be burned up with fire;

for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

If you’re still hanging in there with our study of Revelation, good for you! At this point it is almost painful and we’re learning first hand why Revelation is often neglected. It’s tough. But the rewards are real and we are actually coming to the “heaven” part.

Now that we have been introduced to and thoroughly disgusted by “The Harlot” (the Beast of the Sea from chapter 13), who together with the Beast of the Earth are known as Babylon (and Rome) we hear that she about to be ended by God. “Another angel” comes from heaven to declare God’s message to the people regarding Babylon. This angel is most likely the same “mighty angel” we saw in chapter 10.

“As the angel’s announcement comforted John and his initial hearers with regard to Rome, so also does it comfort Christians throughout the era from Christ’s ascension up to his return at the end of the present world. Though a ‘Babylon’ will always exist to afflict Christians in this life, they know the certainty of her overthrow.”

Brighton, L. A. ©1999. Revelation (p. 465). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.

Even in the end the Harlot boasts. She is a “queen” and “will never mourn”. Her arrogance even includes her emotions. She will never mourn. But God’s judgment is coming and she will be consumed by fire. We need not fear because God had already won the war.