And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Her Glory and Sudden Plagues. Chap. 18 Rev 18:1-8
1. another angel ] See on Rev 14:6.
great power ] Apparently for destruction: see note on the use of the word in Rev 9:19.
the earth was lightened with his glory ] Eze 43:2, translated rather more literally than in the LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And after these things – After the vision referred to in the previous chapter.
I saw another angel come down from heaven – Different from the one that had last appeared, and therefore coming to make a new communication to him. It is not unusual in this book that different communications should be entrusted to different angels. Compare Rev 14:6, Rev 14:8-9, Rev 14:15, Rev 14:17-18.
Having great power – That is, he was one of the higher rank or order of angels.
And the earth was lightened with his glory – The usual representation respecting the heavenly beings. Compare Exo 24:16; Mat 17:2; Luk 2:9; Act 9:3. This would, of course, add greatly to the magnificence of the scene.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 18:1-8
Babylon the great is fallen.
The overthrow of wickedness
I. A glorious angel proclaims this (cf. Rev 18:1 as to this angel). Then such overthrow must be–
1. Righteous.
2. Blessed.
3. Divine. Had it been possible for men to effect this, it would have been done long since.
II. Gods people receive command.
1. To separate themselves from sin. From which we learn–
(1) That Gods people may have to dwell in the midst of sin.
(2) That though where wickedness is, they are not to be partakers of it.
(3) That they shall one day be effectually separated from it.
2. To avenge themselves upon it. Resentment and wrath are passions given us by God. Our peril and propensity is lest we turn them in a wrong direction.
III. The friends of wickedness lament.
1. Wickedness has friends. Those who find delight in it, who live deliciously in it (Rev 18:9). Those who make profit out of it. The merchants, etc. (Rev 18:11). And–
2. Their lament is loud and long. They weep, mourn, wail; say, Alas, alas cast dust on their heads, etc. (Rev 18:11; Rev 18:15-16; Rev 18:19).
3. But the lament is utterly selfish. They mourn not because of the wickedness: that does not trouble them. Nor even for Babylons sufferings. But because the hope of their gain is gone (Rev 18:19).
4. And they do not go to her help (Rev 18:15). They stand afar off for the fear of her torment. Look well at these friends, for such are they that sin and sinners call friends.
IV. All heaven, angels and saints, rejoice. When we read over the subject of their joy, we find that–
1. It is not because in this Babylon there was nothing innocent or good. There was much. Verses 22, 23 tell of what was lawful and right in any community. In the worst of men there is good. None are utterly bad. But–
2. That the main characteristic of her life was evil. And therefore her destruction was a matter of joy. She deceived all nations. She slew Gods saints. Thus–
3. Justice was done. And–
4. It was completely done. See the symbol of the angel with the millstone (Rev 18:21). Nothing like this has ever been accomplished yet, but this prophecy is a sure promise that it will be. Who shall live when the Lord doeth this? Amongst whom shall we be found? Let us now some out of her, that we be not, etc. (Rev 18:4). (S. Conway, B. A.)
Babylon
I. The description of Babylon.
1. Its corrupt character. As before the prophets were false and the spirits were unclean, and stood opposed to God; so now harlotry, fornication, drunkenness, blasphemy, abominations, luxury, persecuting, violence, sorcery, submission to the beast, warring against the Lamb, are the terms employed to describe or indicate the excessive foulness and corruption of the faithless city. This is the woman having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication. This the Babylon the great, which is become a habitation of devils, a hold of every unclean spirit and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.
2. Virulent antagonism to the good, even to the loftiest ideals of goodness. War against the Lamb; blasphemed the God of heaven; gather together unto the war of the great day of God; poured out the blood of saints and prophets; in such terms is the antipathy to all righteousness declared.
3. Occasion of all evil, seen in the corruption of life, the deceitfulness of iniquity, the loss of the blessings of righteousness, degradation in sin, to which the peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues are reduced where the harlot sitteth; and the judgments and consequent sufferings in which they are involved.
4. The widespread, universal character of the desolation caused. In every aspect this vision is great and marvellous. It is Babylon the great. The harlot sitteth upon many waters, which waters are peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues. And the woman is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth; by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen. What city is like the great city, with whose sorcery were all nations deceived? In her was found the blood of all that have been slain upon the earth. This is the universal kingdom of evil, whose sins reached unto heaven. This great kingdom shall come to an end. Such is the ever-recurring promise of this book.
II. Its destruction is complete. The harlot is made desolate and naked; hated by all over whom she sat as a queen; they shall eat her flesh, and burn her utterly with fire. Woe, woe! is pronounced against the great city, Babylon; for in one hour is thy judgment come. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. In one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God which judgeth her. The Lamb shall overcome, and thus shall they also overcome that are with Him. And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be east down, and shall be found no more at all. Then shall the kings of the earth that committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth who were made rich by her, and every shipmaster and mariner, and all that were made rich by her, weep and mourn and lament; while to heaven a sweet song of joy and thankfulness shall rise from them who with the Lamb have overcome–who are called, and chosen, and faithful. (R. Green.)
The fall of corrupt society
The fall of corrupt society is–
I. Divinely proclaimed. As there is a law of disintegration in the material universe, that so separates the hugest mountains that they ultimately disappear, so there is in the moral a law of retribution, which will ultimately break into pieces the world of corrupt society.
II. Manifestly deserved. As in the ruins of old cities, the cormorant, the screech-owl, the vulture, and other hideous creatures are found, so in this moral Babylon are found the most horrible and detestable of all existences. The utter extermination, or rather extinction, of such objects is urgently required.
III. A reason for quitting it.
1. The possibility of good men living in this moral Babylon. The depravities of our contemporaries and neighbours are no justification for our defects.
2. Good men, unless they quit this corrupt society, will be involved in its guilt and fate.
IV. A development of retribution. The ruin comes, not as a casual event, nor as a positive infliction, but as the result of the eternal law of retribution: a law silent in its operation, resistless in its force, and inevitable in its issues (Gal 6:7).
V. An overwhelming catastrophe. When full judgment comes upon a corrupt community the horrors involved not only transcend description, but even imagination. What is lost? Friendship gives way to fiendish battlings; peace gives way to furious storms; hope gives way to black despair and terrible apprehensions: liberty gives way to a crushing thraldom, to which every faculty of the soul is bound in chains of darkness. All the lights of the soul are quenched, and the whole heavens are mantled in a starless midnight. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The habitation of devils.
The habitation of demons
I. Every Babel-like city or system, is doomed to destruction, and will fall into an abyss of fearful degradation. This is the lesson of all history from the beginning of the world. We see it in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms, and of the Greek and Roman Empires. Wherever we find a nation that is supremely devoted to the things of sense, we have Babel-like adolaters, who are destined to a certain fall and degradation. Such is the appointed end of every political or religious system that ignores God and His truth, and seek after material power and prosperity as the chief objects of life. Let a nation lose her faith in God–let her drive truth, virtue, love, and righteousness from her heart and life, and what will she become? Can she become anything else than a habitation of devils? Can she become anything else but the seat and prey of demon-like passions?
II. Observe how diabolical the passions of men may become. The most terrible physical calamity that can be imagined, says one, has no terror to compare with that of fiends let loose from hell and taking possession of human hearts and hands. A ship sinking in a tempest with its hundreds of helpless passengers; a Lisbon overwhelmed by sudden earthquake; a Pompeii buried alive beneath the lava and ashes of Vesuvius are very terrible to hear of, and to think of, but they are nothing to what Paris has lately seen. Her streets have been flooded with the worst passions of which human nature, satanically inspired, is capable. Men, women, and even children, born in the same streets, neighbours all their life long, who have traded and danced and sung together, pursuing each other to death with the ferocity of tigers, and inflicting all manner of dishonour and indignity on the mangled remains of the dead–and all this in the most polished and beautiful city in the world–what can it all mean, except it be an eruption of demons from the bottomless pit?
III. We see what society has to expect from the apostles of infidelity and atheism. When men have destroyed the idea of a God in their own minds, is it not natural to think that they will enter on a career of destruction in reference to other and smaller things? If they hesitate not to destroy the idea of a God–the fountain of right and wrong–will they shrink from destroying human life or property? If the idea of a God be not a sacred idea to such persons, do you think that the idea of the value of human life or property will be a sacred idea to them? No. Society has everything to lose and nothing to gain from such apostles of atheism and infidelity. Not from them, but from other and higher sources, would we look for the salvation of men.
IV. All men are in danger of falling into a Babel-like spirit and life. For all are only too prone to put faith in the things of sense, and to forget the things that are unseen and eternal. The Babylonian spirit is not dead. Every man to some extent is a little Babel. We have faith in the powers of nature. We have faith in the sun, in the moon, in the star, in the coal, and in the seed that we cast into the ground. Do we believe also in God? Have we a real and lasting faith in Him? Have we such a faith in love, truth, virtue, and righteousness, as in the things that we see with the eye of our body and touch with our hands? (Wm. MKay.)
Come out of her.—
The influence of the apostate Babylon
When the great apostate power named Babylon comes, as hero sot forth, to utter destruction, it is seen how wide and how deep its malign influence had been. The whole fabric of the worlds commerce is shattered by its fall; for all human industries and traffic and all the markets of the world had come to be diverted from the service of God, and directed and controlled by the corrupt principles and unhallowed delights of the vast apostasy. Even though the identity of this mystic Babylon be left unfixed, the warning reaches us with no lack of distinctness and urgency. We need not wait until we can precisely define and allocate the form and system of wrong which is here denounced before we determine to hold ourselves clear of all wrong, by doing that only which is right, by acknowledging and serving God alone in all particulars and interests of our daily fife, at home and in the world. (G. S. Rowe.)
In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.–
The rule of retribution
I. This rule commends itself to our sense of justice. That those of the wicked who in this world live in affluence, and have more than heart can wish, possess abundant opportunities for intellectual and moral improvement, and means of doing good, should in future retribution fare alike with those who have none of these blessings or advantages, would be an outrage on our sense of right. Justice requires a balancing of human affairs, a kind of compensation for existing discrepancies, and this mankind will have in the great retributive future.
II. This rule answers to biblical teaching. Throughout the whole Scripture record it is taught that sinners, after they have passed through their probationary period, will be dealt with according to the mercies they have abused, the opportunities they have neglected, and the advantages they have wasted. He that knoweth his Masters will and doeth it not, etc. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime didst receive, etc.
III. This rule agrees with universal experience. Conscious contrast between a propitious past and a distressing present is and must ever be an element in mental suffering. (Homilist.)
She hath glorified herself.—
The degenerate Church
Called to prepare men for the second coming of the Lord, and to teach them to live, not for the present, but the future, she becomes herself the victim of the present. She forgets that, in the absence of the Bridegroom, her days are days of fasting. She fails to realise the fact that until her Lord comes again her state is one of widowhood. And, instead of mourning, she sits as a queen, at ease and satisfied, proud of her pomp and jewellery. (W. Milligan, D D.)
Therefore shall her plagues come.—
National ruin
Our scientific friends find yellow bricks still impressed with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, and they go back to the sarcophagus of a monarchy buried more than two thousand years ago. But is it possible that that is all that remains of Babylon? a city once five times larger than London and twelve times larger than New York? Wall three hundred and seventy-three feet high and ninety-three feet thick. Twenty-five burnished gates on each side, with streets running clear through to corresponding gates on the other side. Six hundred and twenty-five squares. More pomp and wealth and splendour and sins than could be found in any five modern cities combined. A city of palaces and temples. Great capital of the ages! But one night, while honest citizens were asleep, but all the saloons of saturnalia were in full blast, and at the kings castle they had filled the tankards for the tenth time, and reeling and guffawing and hiccoughing around the state table were the rulers of the land. General Cyrus ordered his besieging army to take shovels and spades, and they diverted the river from its usual channel into another direction, so that the forsaken bed of the river became the path on which the besieging party entered. When the morning dawned the conquerors were inside the city walls. Babylon had fallen. But do nations die? Oh, yes, there is great mortality among monarchies and republics. They are like individuals in the fact that they are born, they have a middle life, they have a decease, they have a cradle and a grave. Some of them are assassinated, some destroyed by their own hand.
1. One evil threatening the destruction of American institutions is the solidifying of the sections against each other. This country cannot exist unless it exists as one body–the national capital, the heart, sending out through all the arteries of communication warmth and life to the very extremities.
2. Another evil threatening the destruction of our American institutions is the low state of public morals. What killed Babylon of my text? What killed Phoenicia? What killed Rome? Their own depravity; and the fraud and the drunkenness, and the immorality which have destroyed other nations will destroy ours, unless a merciful God prevent. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XVIII.
A luminous angel proclaims the fall of Babylon, and the cause
of it, 1-3.
The followers of God are exhorted to come out of it, in order
to escape her approaching punishment, 4-8.
The kings of the earth lament her fate, 9, 10.
The merchants also bewail her, 11.
The articles in which she trafficked enumerated, 12-16.
She is bewailed also by shipmasters, sailors, &c., 17-19.
All heaven rejoices over her fall, and her final desolation is
foretold, 20-24.
NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII.
Verse 1. The earth was lightened with his glory.] This may refer to some extraordinary messenger of the everlasting Gospel, who, by his preaching and writings, should be the means of diffusing the light of truth and true religion over the earth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is a matter of no great moment, whether by this
angel we understand Christ, or a created angel; the description agreeth to Christ, and may agree to a created angel.
Having great power; to whom God had given power and authority to declare the ruin of Babylon.
And the earth was lightened with his glory; and he had communicated to him a great glory, suited to his splendour and greatness whose messenger he was.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Andso Vulgate andANDREAS. But A, B, Syriac,and Coptic omit “And.”
powerGreek,“authority.”
lightened“illumined.”
withGreek,“owing to.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And after these things,…. The vision of the woman on the scarlet coloured beast, and the interpretation of both by the angel:
I saw another angel; not the Lord Jesus Christ, though the several things said of this angel agree with him; nor one of the ministering spirits, though the characters of him will also suit with one of them, but rather a minister of the Gospel, or a set of Gospel ministers, who will arise a little before the downfall of Babylon, in the spiritual reign of Christ; though not the same with the angel of fire, Re 14:18 as some have thought, because of his illustrious appearance, and the loudness of his voice; but the same with the angel, or third thundering voice in Re 14:6 for not only the times of both agree, but the selfsame words are expressed by one as by the other; and this angel is distinct from him that showed John the preceding vision, and gave him the interpretation of it, and from all the seven angels that had the vials, and is described as follows: and first by the place from whence he came, John saw him
come down from heaven; denoting the suddenness of his appearance and cry; he came down at once, and cried out immediately; the subject of his cry, the destruction of Babylon, being what will be at an unawares; and also the commission and authority of the ministers signified by him, who will have their warrant from heaven to say what they will deliver; so that this likewise expresses the truth of their message, since both that and they come from heaven:
having great power; to do great work, to declare the fall of Babylon the great: or “having great authority”; being sent from the King of kings, in his name, as his ambassador, to proclaim what shortly will come to pass; an event of the greatest importance to the glory of God, the interest of Christ, and the comfort of his people:
and the earth was lightened with his glory; see Eze 43:2 by which is meant the glorious Gospel of Christ, the light of which will at this then be very great: these ministers will run to and fro the earth, and knowledge will be increased, and the earth will be filled with it: the Arabic version reads, “with the splendour of his countenance”; and the Ethiopic version, “with the splendour of his countenance, and his glory”; see Isa 60:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Fall of Babylon. | A. D. 95. |
1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. 7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
The downfall and destruction of Babylon form an event so fully determined in the counsels of God, and of such consequence to his interests and glory, that the visions and predictions concerning it are repeated. 1. Here is another angel sent from heaven, attended with great power and lustre, v. 1. He had not only light in himself, to discern the truth of his own prediction, but to inform and enlighten the world about that great event; and not only light to discern it, but power to accomplish it. 2. This angel publishes the fall of Babylon, as a thing already come to pass; and this he does with a mighty strong voice, that all might hear the cry, and might see how well this angel was pleased to be the messenger of such tidings. Here seems to be an allusion to the prediction of the fall of pagan Babylon (Isa. xxi. 9), where the word is repeated as it is here: has fallen, has fallen. Some have thought a double fall is hereby intended, first her apostasy, and then her ruin; and they think the words immediately following favour their opinion; She has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird, v. 2. But this is also borrowed from Isa. xxi. 9, and seems to describe not so much her sin of entertaining idols (which are truly called devils) as her punishment, it being a common notion that unclean spirits, as well as ominous and hateful birds, used to haunt a city or house that lay in its ruins. 3. The reason of this ruin is declared (v. 3); for, though God is not obliged to give any account of his matters, yet he is pleased to do so, especially in those dispensations of providence that are most awful and tremendous. The wickedness of Babylon had been very great; for she had not only forsaken the true God herself, and set up idols, but had with great art and industry drawn all sorts of men into the spiritual adultery, and by her wealth and luxury had retained them in her interest. 4. Fair warning is given to all that expect mercy from God, that they should not only come out of her, but be assisting in her destruction, Rev 18:4; Rev 18:5. Here observe, (1.) God may have a people even in Babylon, some who belong to the election of grace. (2.) God’s people shall be called out of Babylon, and called effectually. (3.) Those that are resolved to partake with wicked men in their sins must receive of their plagues. (4.) When the sins of a people reach up to heaven, the wrath of God will reach down to the earth. (5.) Though private revenge is forbidden, yet God will have his people act under him, when called to it, in pulling down his and their inveterate and implacable enemies, v. 6. (6.) God will proportion the punishment of sinners to the measure of their wickedness, pride, and security, v. 7. (7.) When destruction comes on a people suddenly, the surprise is a great aggravation of their misery, v. 8.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Coming down out of heaven ( ). Present active predicate participle. Not the angel of Rev 17:1; Rev 17:7; Rev 17:15 (John’s guide), but one announcing the doom of Babylon (Rome). As in Rev 10:1; Rev 20:1.
Was lightened (). First aorist passive of , old causative verb (from , light), common in N.T. as in Rev 18:1; Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5.
With his glory ( ). “By reason of ( as in Rev 8:13; Rev 16:10) his glory.” “So recently has he come from the Presence that in passing he flings a broad belt of light across the dark earth” (Swete).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Was lightened. Compare Eze 43:2.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
FINAL FORM OF APOSTATE CHRISTIANDOM AND FINAL CALL TO THEM v. 1-8
Note: see also Introduction Revelation
1) After these things I saw another angel,” (meta touta eidon allos angelon) “Following these things I recognized another angel; The great whore (harlot), Ecclesiastical Babylon, was hated, destroyed by the ten king beast empire, Rev 17:18; and the commercial center of the woman, religiously known as the cities of Babylon and Rome, were burned. Political Babylon’s destruction occurs at Armageddon.
2) “Come down from heaven,” (katabainonta ek tou ouranou) “Coming down out of heaven (itself);” This angel does not cry or speak from heaven, but comes down for immediate, or imminent judgment news upon the earth’s remaining habitants, Rev 17:1.
3) “Having great power,” (echonta eksousian megale) “Having, holding, or possessing great administrative power; This one appears to be Jesus Christ, the Son of God; The “Almighty Power”, given to him, Mat 28:18 is still his, for he was and is given power even to execute judgment, Joh 5:27; and to put sown all rule and authority, 1Co 15:24-28.
4) “And the earth was lightened with his glory,” (kai he ge ephotisthe ek tes dokes autou) “And the earth was enlightened from his glory;- His authority, might, light, and glory seem to identify this angel or (messenger) as the very Son of God himself – – if not Gabriel, the chief of the “Information Agency Corps”, of Angels serving God and heirs of salvation, Isa 43:2; Hab 3:3-4; Dan 8:16; Dan 9:21; Dan 9:27.
The “light with his glory” most likely refers to the glory of Jesus Christ himself, who is the light and glory of the world, just as the church is his light reflecting and ordained glory reflecting agency or institution, forevermore, Joh 8:12; Mat 5:15-16; Eph 3:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE FALL OF MYSTICAL BABYLON
Rev 17:1 to Rev 19:8
ONCE more it devolves upon us to present an unattractive subject, namely, Mystical Babylon. Chapters 17 and 18 are also included in the inspired picture of the last days and the judgments to come.
When Christ performed the miracle of changing water into wine, He illustrated a principle that will be found running through all Divine conduct, namely, that of keeping the best till the last.
It would be a wearisome task indeed to listen to the sounding of these trumpets, to watch the unequal warfare of righteousness, to behold the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, to look upon the out-pouring of the seven vials, to study the character of Mystical Babylon, if with the preview of these things, one came to an end. But, as the traveler is repaid for crossing the valley, by the beauties of the mountain side, and the outlook from the mountain height, so the student of Revelation will quickly forget the darkness that envelopes the whole world, under the dragons reign, when lo, that dragon is cast down, his entire following overthrown once for all, and the Son of God is seated in the place of universal power.
But, as one who studies these chapters will see, that day lies beyond the rise and fall of Babylon. I propose, therefore, four questions, touching the content of these chapters (Rev 17:1 to Rev 19:8).
What is meant by Mystical Babylon? Will ancient Babylon be rebuilt? What will be the nature of Babylons fall? And what will be some of the effects of that fall?
WHAT IS MEANT BY MYSTICAL BABYLON?
This question can best be answered by a study of the text and a comparison with other Scriptures.
The first thing that impresses one is, the figure of the fallen woman.
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
With whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns?
Every reader of the Book of Revelation must be impressed with the personnel of the great leaders in this coming conflict. On the one side, we have Godthe Father, Christthe Son, the Bride or True Churchincarnating the Spirit, angels Prophets, Apostles and saints; on the other hand we have the dragon, the antichrist, the false prophet, the fallen woman, and all evil spirits.
It is a volume of contrasts because preparation for the final conflict is rapidly making. As the dragon stands over against God; as the antichrist opposes the true Christ; as the false prophet attempts to undo all the results of faithful Prophets, so this fallen woman is the antithesis of the Faithful Spouse.
You will remember that, by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we found that bride to be nothing other than the true peopleChurch of God, who, in the process of time, is to be wedded to the Son. If that figure signified the Church, and illustrated all worship rendered in spirit and in truth, this fallen woman is an equally adequate expression of all false worship, wherever found and in whatever form. As long ago as Zachariahs time, Gods Prophets were privileged a vision of this deceiver to come. She was not only pictured in the fifth chapter of that volume, seventh verse, following, as a, woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah, but ere the Prophet concludes, he locates her in ((the land of Shinar, or of Babylon. If, years ago, one had asked me the meaning of this harlot figure, I should have answered, with a good degree of confidence, the Papacy. But, I am quite convinced that such an answer would have been incomplete, notwithstanding the eminence of certain scholars who have given it.
False worship was born when Cain brought the fruits of the ground; but even he made an offering to the Lord. It remained for Nimrod, in the plains of Shinar, to erect a shrine that disregarded God altogether, and introduced a religion which sought to dethrone the Most High, and give His seat of authority to another.
They called their endeavor, Babel or Babylon confusion. And there the woman of this text, or false worship, begins her history. From that point on, you will find God characterizing as harlotry, and whoring, inventions of men that rejected Him and worshipped at another shrine. See Psa 106:39; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Jer 11:15; Jer 13:27; Eze 16:13-15; Eze 20:29-30; Eze 23:2-8; Hos 4:18; Hos 5:1-4. Every one of these passages is in perfect line with Rev 17:1-5.
If a fallen woman is Satans agent for the downfall and destruction of enticed men, so a false worship is the surest path to sorrow and even hell, for its patron souls. Every such a false worship, from Nimrods day, has consorted with the wicked world.
Every such a worship has been pleased to receive support from the political state, or the scarlet colored beast, having seven heads and ten horns.
Every such a worship has delighted to array itself in purple and scarlet, to bedeck its altars with gold, and adorn its subjects with precious stones and pearls.
Every such a worship has feasted itself on the blood of the saints, and delighted to empty the veins of the martyrs of Jesus.
In all of these things, Papacy has had her part! She has consorted with worldliness of every form. The sale of indulgences has not been her exceptional behavior. She has ridden upon the back of every political power that she could bridle to her profit. The scarlet-colored beasts of Italy, France, Spain, the South American Republics, many Isles of the sea, have had to carry her: even Europe, England and North America have contributed their millions toward her unholy support.
She has arrayed herself in purple and scarlet, bedecked herself with gold and precious stones and pearls. And it is estimated that not less than fifty millions of martyrs have had to shed their blood to satiate her inhuman thirst.
And yet, the woman of this text is not wholly accounted for by the Roman church. Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism, Mohammedanism, and every other false ism of the ages down to the Fetishism of the Dark Continent, and Modernism of civilized countriesall of them have contributed their share to the character of this mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And wherever you find a man, or a company of men;an individual or an organization, that is attempting to dethrone God, to overturn His altars, and to end His worship, as in present-day university teaching, there you have a child of this strumpet of the centuries.
I read once Count Tolstois book entitled, What is Art, in which he quotes from an American volume, published in Chicago, by Ragner Red-beard. His subject is, The Survival of the Fittest, or The Philosophy of Power. And, Tolstoi says, The substance of his volume is to the effect that to measure goodness by the false philosophy of the Hebrew Prophets and weepful Messiahs is madness. Right is not the offspring of doctrine, but of power. All laws, commandments, or doctrines as to not doing to another what you do not wish done to you, have no inherent authority whatever, but receive it only from the club, the gallows, and the sword. A man, truly free, is under no obligation to obey any injunction, human or Divine. Obedience is the sign of the degenerate. Disobedience is the stamp of a hero. Men should not be bound by the moral rules invented by their foes. The whole world is a slippery battlefield. Ideal justice demands that the defeated should be exploited, emasculated, and scorned. The free and brave may seize the world. And, therefore, there should be eternal war for life, for land, for love, for women, for power, and for gold. The earth and its treasures is booty for the bold.
That was the boldest putting of this doctrine that we had seen in print to that time. It far exceeds the late Senator Ingalls infamous declaration that political righteousness is an iridescent dream, and that the Ten Commandments have no place in politics. Such expressions are as common now as atheism and communism.
That is the spirit that accounts for every false shrine ever erected in the world; for every rejection of God; for every repudiation of His authority; for all antagonism to His Holy Word. That is the spirit that has animated and increased the life and power of that false faith which is represented by the text of this night, under the figure of a fallen woman, whose fornications have corrupted the earth; whose drunkenness has been shared by all of her consorts; whose gay clothing has eloquently declared her evil purpose; and whose jeweled fingers have delighted and still delight to shed the blood of saints. Write upon her forehead, Babylon. Mark the meaning of the word, confusion ! and remember where she was born, in the plains of Shinar, with Nimrod, the rebel, for her earthly father; and the dragon of the pit her spiritual ancestor, and I believe you have what is meant by the first verses of this 17th chapter of Revelation.
WILL ANCIENT BABYLON BE REBUILT?
To raise this question must strike many as strange, and may impress some as fanciful in the extreme. When, about thirty years ago, W. E. Blackstone, that great student of prophecy, suggested this to me, as the meaning of certain sentences in this seventeenth chapter, I confess it seemed then to savor of the fanciful, and I said to myself, speculative!
But up to that time, I had given little thought to the subject, and so was not fitted to form a definite opinion. Even now, I prefer, rather, to set you studying the subject, than to assert, dogmatically, my own conclusions concerning it. There are three lines of argument that look toward a possible rebuilding of Babylon, so that the city to come will fill up the measure of what these chapters have to say concerning it.
First, the argument from this Scripture. If false worship be here referred to, it began its course at Babylon. The Nimrodism of that ancient city is in a very real sense the mother of all endeavors to dethrone God, defeat His Church, snatch the world away from His Son, and turn it over to Satan! And this Scripture declares that the beast, on which this woman is to sit, which is nothing else than the political power that shall be associated with this false worship, is to be located in that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
The angel who talks with John, explains the seven heads on this wise,
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
And, there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; * *
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast, etc.
At the time John wrote, there had been five great world empires, Babylon, Persia, Assyria, Greece, and Egypt. The sixth existed then, in the Roman Empire, and when it fell, it left no successor, since the sovereignty of the single man was at an end. But according to this prophecy, the seventh is yet to come, and when he comes, the antichrist will hold that office, and enjoy that distinction for a short period, with headquarters at Babylon, which shall then be worthy of the distinction, that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
The next argument is from prophecies yet to be fulfilled. If you have Hitchcocks Analysis of the Bible, look up the word Babylon, and see what is prophesied as to the greatness of this city. It will raise a question as to whether it has ever attained, as yet, to the fullness of Divine purpose; and, when you study the prophecies of its destruction, you will be impressed with the fact that they have never been perfectly fulfilled, and a day of judgment must yet await it. Read the 137th Psalm: in Isa 13:19-21 it is said,
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.
Jeremiah also says, Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, WITHOUT AN INHABITANT
These prophecies have never been fulfilled as yet. Babylon has had her great adversities, her earnests of judgment to come; but she has never been totally depopulated. Today there are more than ten thousand inhabitants there. The assurance that she is to have another and complete fall is found in Isa 13:6, where her final judgment is set at the day of the Lord, or at the time of the Second Coming.
But to me, the most effective argument, touching Babylons being rebuilt, has to do with the citys location and the spirit of our times. These are times when a great city is solely a question of commercial advantages. Seventy-five years ago the southwest shore of Lake Michigan was a mud hole; today, in many respects, it is the most mighty metropolis of America. The explanation is easy. Chicagos location accommodates commercial interests.
It has been urged, recently, that no city in the world could compete with Babylon in this respect. The earth does not know a more fertile soil than that which sweeps away from this center. The Euphrates is one of the great waterways of the earth, leading out to oceans that lave every shore.
W. P. Andrew, many years ago, wrote a volume on The Euphrates Valley Route to India, in which he declared that commercially, historically, and politically, the Euphrates valley route must yet affect the commerce and even the destinies of our race, and become the high-way of the commercial world. Other authors have urged the same. Sir Charles Napier declared that civilization would yet return and find its headquarters at Babylon, a revived Empire.
Seiss says, touching its becoming the first city of the world, There is no spot on earth so suited to the purpose. * * There all the great mercantile organizations could unite in one common center. And there is a disposition on the part of capital to organize, more and more, and to centralize and incorporate. Recent events make it seem possible that competitor may yet be an obsolete term, and a single corporation may control the markets and determine the prices of every material product. A few more Rothchilds, Rockefellers, and Morgans and we will be ready for the beast to appear; and take his place, and begin his reign over the marts of the eartha reign in which all those who will not receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads, be they small or great, rich or poor, free or bond, will not be privileged to buy or sell.
There are those who, studying these conditions from a purely socialistic standpoint, reach the conclusion just announced, and write it out. Caesars Column is such a prophecy fifty years old.
The meaning of these modern movements is more suggestive still, because the Scriptures have anticipated them and told us what would be the end. Somewhere on the earth, there will necessarily be a chief commercial center which will have outstripped all other contestants, as Chicago has outrun the meanest Illinois village. Sometime, in the not distant future, corporate wealth with its centralizing tendency will have resolved itself into a single organization. That commercial organization and that city will dwell together. Should we be surprised to find the city located in the Euphrates valley, in Babylon, rebuilt; with the antichrist on the throne; with commerce for its animating spirit; and modernism for its religion?
Whatever may be the meaning of this Babylon, the prophecy touching her fall is full and clear, and I invite your attention to two other questions.
WHAT WILL BE THE NATURE OF HER FALL?
First of all, it will be sudden and unlooked for.
The description of her greatness is scarcely finished, when lo, John saw another angel come down from Heaven, * * And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
When God gets ready, it doesnt take Him long to whelm the mightiest city. One day in 1871, Chicago was a prosperous metropolis, with every promise of permanence; the next morning it was in ashes, and her people in sackcloth. So with San Pierre and San FranciscoSodom repeated!
It will be complete and irremediable.
Her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord Gad who judgeth her.
The prosperity of a city is no sign of its security. If its commerce countenances sin, and its mortar is laid in innocent blood, no matter how deep they dig to place its foundations, it cannot stand.
Henry Ward Beecher, some sixty years ago, speaking of the communistic movement in Paris, said, There are hundreds that sit before me who have made their pilgrimage thither, who have dwelt in its palaces, who have strolled through its galleries with delight, who have admired its cleanliness, and who have marveled at the abundance of its resources for satisfying the rarest appetites and the most exquisite taste. Here was gayety that beat with dancing foot the hours almost around the year. Was there ever any place on earth so fashioned to make men gay, and genial, and happy, as Paris? Its government, its order, art, its science, its beautythe imagination teems with these elements which belonged to it; and now it is soaked with blood. Many of its fairest structures are smouldering in ashes. Thousands and tens of thousands of festering corpses lie along its streets. Multitudes of its people are in exile. More of them are dead; and many others wish they were dead. The scenes of the hideous French Revolution are enacted again.
But Paris recovered its equinimity. When Babylon goes down in death, and mourning, and famine, and fire, she will go, never to rise again, never to know another inhabitant.
That fall will mark the beginning of the end. In time, it corresponds with the opening of the sixth vialthe visitation of the sixth plague. You remember that when the sixth angel poured out his vial, the very waters in the great Euphrates dried up. A commentator says, Terrible mortality and famine would be the natural and inevitable result of the failure of that river to a city built upon it, and so dependent on its waters. All her shipping would thus be disabled. All the fertility of her gardens and surrounding country would be turned to dust and barrenness. The exposed and stagnant filth of so great a river, together with the decaying vegetation for the space of nearly 2,000 miles, would be a source of deadly pestilence, which no skill or power of man could abate or stay. With such a plague over all the place, all helpers would fear to approach; their markets would be unsupplied, their communication with the rest of the world (already so largely emptied and desolated by the march of the kings with their armies to the scene of battle against the Lamb) would be without avail. And thus black death and helpless want would stalk through every street, and highway, and lane, and alley of the whole city, and fill all the region round about with unexampled suffering, mourning, and horror.
WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT OF HER FALL?
Three things. It will result in consternation to many. That day the antichrist will meet his defeat, or at least see the beginning of his end. We are told also that
the kings of the earth * * 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.
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
And cried * *, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
The refrain of her consorts shall be in one hour! The very suddenness of it will smite them all with a consternation equal, at least, to the sorrows for which they alike are set.
It will illustrate Gods faithfulness in judgment.
There are men who call evil good, and good evil, and expect to escape the confusion that God has promised to such philosophers. This day will undo their teaching, and visit upon them the penalty of their conduct.
But last, and best of all, will be the effect of starting the hallelujahs of the holy. For it was after these things, John says,
I heard a great voice of much people in Heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
For true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.
And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great.
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready (Rev 19:1-7).
Frederick W. Faber spake the truth when he said, True worship is something more than either the fear of God, or the love of Him; it is delight in Him. And I tell you that when Christ His Son, shall again appear on earth and shall take into His own hands the reins of power, and overthrowing iniquity, shall establish His sovereignty from sea even to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth, then, those who love Him will prove their delight by praises that will wake the whole earth, and resound through the remotest Heavens.
I think I know what Thomas Kelly meant when he wrote,
Hark! ten thousand harps and voicesSound the note of praise above;Jesus reigns, and Heaven rejoices;Jesus reigns, the God of love;See, He sits on yonder throne;Jesus rules the world alone.
Jesus, hail! whose glory brightensAll above, and gives it worth:Lord of life, Thy smile enlightens, Cheers, and charms Thy saints on earth:When we think of love like Thine, Lord, we own it love Divine.
King of glory, reign forever;Thine an everlasting crown;Nothing from Thy love shall severThose whom Thou hast made Thine own;Happy objects of Thy grace, Destined to behold Thy face.
Saviour hasten Thine Appearing;Bring, O bring the glorious day, When the awful summons hearing, Heaven and earth shall pass away: Then, with golden harps well sing, Glory, glory to our King.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
FOR the reasons given at the foot of page 553, no suggestions for exegetical or homiletical treatment are given in connection with chap. 18
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 59
Text Rev. 18:1-20
After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: 5 for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works: in the cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double. 7 How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. 8 Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, 10 standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for the one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; 12 merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; 13 and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of men. 14 And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16 saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearl! 17 for in one hour so great riches is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth any whither, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood afar off, 18 and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city? 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her.
Initial Questions Rev. 18:1-20
1.
The angel of Rev. 18:1 left the throne room of God. What does this vs. say about this angel?
2.
Is it possible that cities and nations are used, as a whole, for good or bad Rev. 18:2? Discuss the problem of the good individual and the totally corrupt society of which he is a part. If evil dominates, what happens to the good which individuals do? This thesis is of vital concern to contemporary as well as first century Christians. Reinhold Niebuhrs Moral Man and Immoral Society, is a brilliant analysis of this problem.
3.
In Rev. 18:3 we see the problem of the big nation and the little nations. Does this imagery apply in our own day?
4.
What was the economic effects of alliances with the great harlot Rev. 18:3?
5.
How is it possible to have fellowship with sin Rev. 18:4?
6.
How does God humiliate the proud city Rev. 18:7?
7.
Gods judgment is so sure and severe that it will take how long for her plagues to come Rev. 18:8?
8.
In the great power struggles between nations are all morally responsible for their actions, regardless of their attempts to justify any given action as politically expedient Rev. 18:9?
9.
In Rev. 18:10 we note sacred sarcasm against any and all who trust in their own strength (misplaced trust) Rev. 18:10. Discuss.
10.
Discuss the relationship between morals, merchants, and money Rev. 18:11.
11.
What would happen in our world, if the things were no longer of value Rev. 18:12? Would nations give their wealth to escape a nuclear holocaust? Would the money mongers exchange their wealth for their safety?
12.
How can we make merchandise of the souls of men Rev. 18:13?
13.
How did the merchants respond to the destruction of the great city Rev. 18:15?
14.
How long did it take God to make desolate the great city Rev. 18:16?
15.
How were the great merchant ships affected by the destruction of the great city Rev. 18:19?
16.
Has God vindicated His people by His judgments Rev. 18:20?
The Doom of Babylon
Chapter Rev. 18:1-24
John gives us the announcement of the collapse of Babylon in this chapter.
Rev. 18:1
John saw another angel coming down out of heaven. The heavenly messenger proclaims the ruin of Babylon (Rev. 18:1-8). John uses a series of quotations in this section of The Revelation from Jer. 25:15; Jer. 25:27; Jer. 50:8; Jer. 50:39; Jer. 51:8; Isa. 21:9; Isa. 47:7-8; Isa. 48:20; Psa. 137:8. The fall of Babylon has effected the economy of the world. The merchants, the kings of the earth, and the seafaring people are mourning over their economic catastrophe. The imagery of the laments come directly from Ezekiel, chapters 2627.
The angel came directly from the throne room of God because the earth was lightened with his glory. The entire populated earth was to hear the announcement of doom.
Rev. 18:2
The angel cried Fallen fallen (epesen) is Babylon the great, and became a dwelling place of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and having been hated bird,. . . . The mighty city has become so corrupt that evil spirits make it their home. The luxury of Rome provided the seed of immorality!
Rev. 18:3
The kings and nations of the earth shared the guilt of decadent Rome. — And the merchants of the earth became rich (the English word, waxed, of the 1901 translation comes from the German word wachsen to grow or increase) from power of her luxury (strnous is a late Greek word for arrogance which stems from luxury).
Rev. 18:4
The angel hurls down the challenge for the Christians to Come forth, my people, out of her, that (hina purpose clause) you do not share (the Greek word is to have fellowship with) in her sins, and that you do not receive of her plagues. Gods judgment is coming. May the people of God be in but not of the world when His trumpet sounds to assemble mankind in the valley of judgment. Jer. 51:6; Jer. 51:45; Isa. 48:20, and 2Co. 6:14-18 issues the same command to come out! This is one of the greatest paradoxes of the Christian life how to witness to a lost world, and yet not become tainted with her sins. One thing is certain, the Church cannot be a ghetto institution and carry out the great final commission of our Lord.
Rev. 18:5
Their iniquities have reached heaven. Gods universe is still a moral universe, and whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.
Rev. 18:6
The double recompense was a vital part of the Levitical law (see Exo. 22:4; Exo. 22:7). The Spirit of vengeance has already been manifested in The Rev. 6:10How long O Master, the holy and true, doest thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? The divine justice demands that the evil city (the entire Empire) be rewarded for her iniquity. The voice that John heard said, Give back (apodate 2nd aor. imp. mood signifies a command to return double as she gave to you) to her as indeed she gave back, and double (imp. mood command again) double unto her double according to her works; in the cup in which she mixed mix (again imper. mood) to her double. There will be a pay day some day! Evil shall not always prosper nor prevail. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. The verse implies that the persecuted Christians are to retaliate. Each major verb is in the imperative or command mood. In the historical situation, the Christians were in no condition to retaliate; therefore, in the plan of God Christians alone shall prevail, and mercy, justice, and righteousness shall run down the hills of the new Jerusalem as mighty waters. One of the central problems of a Christian World-view is the phenomenon of evil. How can God be both just and justifier of the alien sinner? How can God be both Holy and all-powerful and permit evil to persist? How can the Christian God permit His people to be persecuted and slain? Does this verse speak of the O.T. lex talionis? (See also The Sermon on The Mount Mat. 5:38-48). Does this verse imply that the great harlot is to receive twice as much punishment as she deserves? The phrase kata ta erga auts (according to her works) clearly shows that the harlot receives just the amount that she deserves!
Rev. 18:7
Swetes words are very appropriateLet her share of misery be proportionate to her arrogant self glorification. (Swete, op cit., p. 230). The great harlot is humiliated by her loss of wealth and status. (Our age is not the only age which has been burdened by The Status Seekers). Their wealth and social status is now replaced by torment and sorrow. Because (hoti or causal or force shows the ultimate cause of her torment and sorrow) in her heart she continually says, because (hoti again the cause) I sit a queen, and I am not a widow, and shall by no means (ou m the double negative is an idiom for absolutely not) see sorrow. This is manifestly a belligerent, arrogant attitude. The self-image of the great harlot made her ready for the visitation of Gods judgment. There is no fall like the fall which comes when one thinks he is on top! This is true of individuals or nations, or empires, or civilizations (see Arnold Toynbees History for his analysis of the fall of the great world civilizations). All the great civilizations, including Rome, fell at the height of their power. Why? Their moral decadence destroyed the ethical foundations of her society. Societies have been built on reason (Platos rationalistically oriented Republic); law (Roman civilization contributed concepts of Law which are still inseparably bound to the 20th century, western civilization); religion (Jewish civilization and Roman Catholic Europe, up to the modern era of Newton, Galileo, Descartes, Leibniz, et al.) Religion had been used for over one thousand years as a foundation of society; yet, it contributed to the collapse of Medieval Europe. The 1955 Harvard Report on Education claimed that Western civilization would never again utilize Christianity as the foundation for our social structure. This may be true, but no one could seriously claim that Biblical Christianity has ever been used as the foundation for human civilization. Here we have the insoluable paradox between humanly engineered society and the Kingdom of God! What place does human effort really play in the working out of Gods purpose in the universe? (See W. A. Beardslee, Human Achievement and Divine Vocation in Message of Paul: Studies in Biblical Theology, Alec R. Allenson, Inc., 635 East Odgen Ave., Naperville, Illinois.)
Rev. 18:8
Jesus warned those of us who fail to lay up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt. This is exactly the situation we find in this verse. The great harlot was not building for eternity, but rather, for the pleasures available only for a season. Moses understood this problem very well. A person cannot serve both God and Man. Gods spirit enabled Moses to serve the living God, even at the expense of earthly possessionsWhen he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter; choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christs greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked unto the recompense of reward (Heb. 11:24-26). The fall of Babylon was inevitable, because of the power and purpose of the living God. John heard the voice out of heaven sayTherefore (dia touto transitional preposition) in one day her plagues will come, death, and sorrow, and famine, and she will be burned down (utterly consumed) with fire; because (hoti causal force the cause of death, famine, and destruction by fire) the Lord God is strong (and not in text) the one who judged her. (krinos 1st aor. participle, the fact is asserted that the judgment is over.) How long can the strongest stand in the presence of the living God, when they are enthralled with evil? Gods messenger stated that the mighty Roman Empire would last one day (en mia hmera). The proud, arrogant harlot thought that she would be able to stand against her strongest enemy, but she forgot to consider the greatest of all of her enemies the Holy, Righteous God! She thought that no one could call her to give an account, but the all-mighty is the one who judged her. She was unprepared for that summons!
Rev. 18:9
This verse begins a section which extends to Rev. 18:20. Those who repeatedly committed fornication with the great harlot lament kings, merchants, and navigators. This is followed by the scene of rejoicing in heaven. The kings of the earth will weep and wail over herwhen all the petty kings of the earth see that the giant harlot is fallen, they will express their loss with intensive crying, and wailing or agonized mourning. The source of their income and immoral pleasure lies in debris heaps. This will be their immediate responsewhenever they see the smoke of her burning,if this is the response of the men of international influence, how will the lesser persons respond? The rulers of the earth have yielded to her temptations; and have enjoyed the prestige of her wealth. What do these men deserve when they stand in judgment?
Rev. 18:10
The destruction is so extensive that the ruins of her can be seen by thosestanding from afar because of the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, Woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city! Because in one hour came (lthen 2nd aor. ind. it came in a single, final act) your judgment. Note the paradox between the descriptive phrases the strong city, and the great (megal great both with respect to power and size or extent of control of the nations of the earth) and the fact that it only took God one hour to judge her. This imagery shows the greatness of God. What men think is great and powerful will be absolutely powerless, when God comes in judgment. It took centuries to build the mighty Roman Empire and God leveled her cities, wealth, prestige in one hour. Can America learn anything from this pronouncement by the voice out of heaven?
Rev. 18:11
Beginning in this verse through Rev. 18:14, Rome is pictured as the great commercial city controlling the economy of the world. (Check Rev. 13:17And that no man should be able to buy or to sell save he that hath the mark,—) This implies an absolute control of commerce or international trade. Does the Gospel of Christ have anything to say to the economic systems of our day? Does redemption in Christ contribute anything to the political and economic situation of our own day? The preceding two verses mentioned the response of the rulers of the world to the fall of Babylon. Now in this verse the heavenly messenger describes the merchants of the earth. John uses imagery taken from Ezekiel chapters 2627, where he describes the fall of Tyre. The merchants weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargo anymore. The merchants were not particularly grieved because of the fall of Babylon, the great harlot, but because their income was cut off.
Rev. 18:12-13
What were the cargos of the merchants? They were the status symbols of the first century. Our contemporary status symbols, at least for middle class society, are new homes and automobiles. The cargoes which came from all over the world were things which only a very wealthy culture could afford. Note Rev. 17:4, and notice again the apparel of the great harlot. The things by which she sought power and security were all perishable. Paul warns us not to be conformed to this world (Rom. 12:1 f). The glamorous fashions of this world will not avail us anything on the day of judgment. All men will be leveled before the throne of God; wealth, social status, education, prestige will not aid their possessors in that hour of Gods righteous indignation. I heard Billy Graham telling of his personal audience with the queen of the Netherlands. After a short while, Billy began talking to this head of a royal house about Jesus Christ. Suddenly, she got stiff and reared back and saidMr. Graham, do you mean that I must repent too? He replied, yes, your majesty, you must repent too! This will be the plight of us allnone shall escape, for there is no hiding place from the wrath of the Lamb. Read the items listed in the cargo, but pay special attention to the last two items in the listand bodies (smaton slaves but men were so cheap, that they were listed as nothing but bodies merchants of men were called Body-merchants), and the souls of men. How cheap are bodies and souls of men in view of Calvary? The moral degradation of the great city becomes most apparent when we see that that which is in the image of God can be purchased in the market place. (See also Col. 2:8 f; 2Pe. 2:3 on the theme of Using People). When human life becomes a commodity everything else is lost! For further study on these two verses find out where these cargo items came from and note how universal was Romes control and significance. Rome was the biggest thing that man had built on the earth but it is now fallen! How small this giant had become in one hour.
Rev. 18:14
What is the relationship of mans spiritual needs and things? The 20th century finds mankind locked in a bitter struggle between a materialistically oriented, atheistic communism and the so-called Christian West. The hideous truth is that we are just as materialistically oriented as the communist world ever dared to be. And the fruit which your soul lusts (epithumias basic immoral desire means to want more than anything else in the world. It is used in a good, positive sense by Paul in 1Ti. 3:1, when speaking of Elders desiring their office more than anything else in the world) after-departed (or went away) from you, and all the sumptuous things and the bright things (glittering things) perished from you, and shall find no more at all (kai ouketi ou me means will absolutely never be found again).
Rev. 18:15
The merchants wail, because their priceless cargos suddenly become worthless! The things that thrilled them had been destroyed in one hour. Their lust for luxury has now turned into weeping and sorrowing.
Rev. 18:16-19
These verses recount the words and haunting memories which dashed through their minds as they watched from afar. They just cannot bring themselves to accept the fate of the filth of Rome because in one hour (hra hour is the shortest period of time used in the Bible) such great wealth was made desolate (rmoth 1st aor. passive voice indicative in a single act God made the wealth and its supposed security desolate!) The angel next presents four groups of people(1) Shipmasters, (2) The ships passengers, (3) Sailors, and (4) Tradersas a group who stood from afar. Through their stunned gaze they were mutteringwhat (city not in text) is like unto this great city! The vastness of her influence is seen in the assertion that By which all the ones having ships in the sea were rich from her worth (costliness); The great harlot was the only city in the world who could afford to consume the luxurious cargos mentioned in Rev. 18:12-13; Rev. 18:16.
Rev. 18:20
God has sealed the downfall of Babylon and heaven is commanded to rejoice Because God has judged your judgment on her. The eternal city is eternal no more!
Discussion Questions
See Rev. 18:21-24.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Tomlinsons Comments
CHAPTER XVIII
BABYLON IS FALLEN
Text (Rev. 18:1-24)
1 After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fahen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: 5 for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works: in the cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double. 7 How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. 8 Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, 10 standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; 12 merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; 13 and cinamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of men. 14 And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16 saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearl! 17 for in one hour so great riches is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth any whither, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood afar off, 18 and cried as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city? 19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her.
21 And a strong angel took up a stone as it were a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcey were all the nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.
Rev. 18:1 And after these things.
After the descriptions given us in the seventeenth chapter to reveal to us the identity of that great city of Spiritual Babylon, or papal Rome which rules over the kings of earth, we now come to the consideration of her downfall.
I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. (Rev. 18:1)
The introduction of such a mighty angel at this juncture emphasizes the importance of the subject matter of this vision before us. This is another angel than one of the seven angels which had the seven vials who talked with John in the seventeenth chapter.
To this present angel was given great power or authority because of the world-shattering events introduced in this chapter. The earth was lightened with his glory, because he came with a revelation of great enlightenment concerning the final destruction of that great city Babylon which had darkened the earth doctrinally, spiritually, politically and economically.
Rev. 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Here this angel repeats a former angelic pronouncement recorded in (Rev. 14:8), Babylon is fallen is fallen. By referring back to that setting we find that this first pronouncement falls into the time of the seventh vial, because in the pouring out of his seventh plague great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. (Rev. 16:19)
The repetition of this announcement of Babylons fall calls our attention to the importance of this climactic event of historys consummation. Again the emphasis becomes apparent in the double declaration is fallen is fallen.
When Joseph explained to Pharaoh why his dream was doubled, he said: And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established, and God will shortly bring it to pass. (Gen. 41:32)
For the same evident reason the word fallen is repeated twice, even doubled unto us twice,one double in Rev. 14:8 and the second double in Rev. 18:2.
The importance of all this is readily seen when we realize that all the activities of men, all their religious or business enterprises, eventuate in that condition of a godless civilization as typified by the literal Babylon of antiquity and the spiritual Babylon symbolized under that name in Revelation.
The confusion that obtains in religion, education, economics, finance, industry, government, politics and moralityall is traced back to that great city that rules over the Kings of the earth the Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth. This Babylon we have proved by the testimony of Scripture and History alike to be the religio-political hierarchal system known to the world as the papacy and the apostate church.
With a false church dominating the world, it follows, as naturally as daylight comes after dark, that men would have false conceptions of right and wrong in the moral, spiritual, intellectual, financial, economic and political realms of activity.
Our present state of civilization is the harvest. Rome sowed the wind and the closing period of this age is reaping the whirlwind.
The angel describes this present age of which the world is so blindly proud, as a habitation of devils, a hold for every foul spirit, a cage for every unclean and hateful bird.
Of course to the spiritually deluded and the worldling this all sounds absurd. They point to the grandeur of the Roman church, her multitudes of earnest devotees, her pronouncements on peace, her denunciation of intellectual evils, etc. This generation boasts of its material accomplishments in the way of scientific research and inventive genius, but they do not see all this through Gods eyes.
Surely, the world, in its evaluation of things, needs to hark back to the declaration God made to Samuel who was trying to select a king to be anointed. Samuel was one of the noblest men of history, yet even this fine man illustrates how far wrong a good man can be in property evaluation. Hear Gods council to him:
And the Lord said to Samuel; Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature: because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. (1Sa. 16:7)
This twice repeated expression is fallen is fallen describes a twin falling action. Babylon, as a system of false teaching and worship in an apostate church, and, Babylon as a system of commercialism resulting from a scriptural departure in doctrine and practice, falls.
Twin falls are thus portrayed. Both Mother and child, both spiritual and carnal, both cause and effect are included in this repeated expression, is fallen is fallen.
And the reason by both fall together is given in the very next verse:
Rev. 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Then John hears a call for Gods people to come out of this Babylonish nightmare: Rev. 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues.
This call to come out of this spiritual Babylon, producer of all the evils of our present civilization, is not the first time such a call has been heard. The call to flee from either physical or spiritual Babylon has been issued seven times in all the scriptures. The call occurs five times in the Old Testament. They are: (Isa. 48:20; Isa. 52:4-11) (Jer. 50:8-9; Jer. 51:6; Jer. 51:8) (Zec. 2:6-7)
In the New Testament there are two calls. Although in the first of the two the name Babylon is not actually mentioned, but is implied by the confusion caused by the mixing of believers and unbelievers. The two instances are: (2Co. 6:17-18) (Rev. 18:4)
The seven-fold, or fullest possible measure of calling, for the people of God to flee this great Babylon is impressive indeed.
However, we should recall that whereas God brought His people out of Egypt in a body, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, in the case of this call to flee Babylon is an individual one. Again his people were forced to flee out of Egypt, but here only those who have a mind to come out may do so.
It will not be a mass evacuation, but rather an individual and voluntary leave of this world-wide institution of confusion and apostacy.
Rev. 18:5 Regardless of mans human judgment her sins are enormous, for we read: For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
While the promise to the obedient believer is Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more (Hebrew Rev. 8:12), the sins of Babylon are remembered and unforgiven by God, because we read:
Rev. 18:6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Contemptuous flaunting and defiance of the word of God is the essence of the sin of Babylon. If Revelation did not here declare it so plainly we would know it applied to our age in which we live.
Romes disregard for the Scriptures and the authority of Christs word has caused the world to hate what they know as the church. They have falsely and mistakenly judged the church of Christ by what they have beheld in the Catholic church. The result has been that men have turned away from Gods word, the church and drifted into utter indifference, agnosticism, skepticism, free-thinking and out right infidelity. We live, as a result of Babylons heaven reaching sins, in this age of humanism.
Gods principle of judgment is that every individual, as well as every institution, is to be rewarded according to his or its work. What is sown must be harvested. This Thyatira church as given space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. (Rev. 2:21)
He further adds, Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds. (Rev. 2:22)
But an added measure of punishment is revealed here. Babylon, or Rome shall be rewarded double.
Not only was she and still is unrepentant, but she is the most arrogant institution in all the world. Hear the angel describe her haughty attitude: How much hath she glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her.
Rev. 18:7 This recalls the case of the rich man and Lazarus: There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, but at the end, in hell a far different scene is presented: But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. (Luk. 16:19; Luk. 16:25)
Likewise, she who lived deliciously shall be meted out torment and sorrow.
But her boasting continues: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
What a strange statement of the angel concerning Babylonthe papal church! The holy word of God, says Christ is the bridegroom and the repentant baptized believers are his bride. But inform a member of this apostate church of his condition and he will immediately declare, the Roman Catholic church is the only and true church. It is the voice of the apostacy crying I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
And as for this ungodly and unregenerate civilization she has produced, if you tell them of the impending danger of living in sin until Christ comes, they if not in substance, at least in their actions will reply, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation (2Pe. 3:4). But Christ said of these last days,
As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Even so shall it be when the Son of man is revealed. (Luk. 17:26-27; Luk. 17:30)
So shall the plagues of Babylon come suddenly:
Rev. 18:7 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord who judgeth her.
Mans disbelief that God will punish, notwithstanding, God will destroy her suddenly.
Like the saints under the fifth seal the true saints of this day, cry out, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
I know all who have perused the contents of this book are crying out, How long? When will Babylon fall? In answer will say that such time has never been revealed. There is the highest authority for such a reply, even Christ himself:
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father. (Mat. 24:36)
Christ continued after this declaration But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. (Mat. 24:37)
So even the angel who here announced the suddenness of Babylons destruction knew not the hour, so could not tell us when the destruction shall be.
Rev. 18:9-11 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.
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
The follows an enumeration of the articles in which they made traffic.
Rev. 18:12-13 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble.
And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves and souls of men.
In this lamentation over the sudden fall of Babylon, the merchants of earth and kings of earth join in their voices.
Probably not until God himself reveals all things to us will we begin to realize how this spiritual Babylon has her hand in business and politicsas symbolized by the lament of merchants and kings.
For a book of such brevity as the apocalypse to devote so much space and divulge so many articles of traffic as here confronts us, it must be that the angel wanted to make plain to a startled world how vast are the ramifications of Romes activities in all the affairs of men.
The whole world is conscious of the political activities of this apostate church which maintains embassies and sends ambassadors to almost every nation on earth, but it may come as a complete surprise to learn of her commercial activities.
But the last statement of these verses is the most startlinga revelation of her traffic in the slaves and souls of men. Literally, the word slaves should read, bodies. Thus the Greek reads.
Here it is that men and women barter their souls and bodies. There are multitudes of Esaus who will barter their spiritual birthright for a mess of this worlds pottage.
How pertinent are Christs words about the conditions of the near approach of His return.
For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Mat. 16:26-27)
The spiritual Babylon has with business made traffic of the bodies and souls of men. And when we recall the masses for the dead which are said by the priesthood of Papal Rome, in which the devotees pay to have their loved ones prayed out of Purgatory, surely there has been a long and lively traffic in the souls of men.
But the things for which Babylon longed are gone forever at the time of her fall.
Rev. 18:14-19 And the fruits that thy soul lusteth after are departed from thee, and all the things that were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shall find them no more at all.
The merchants of these things which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls!
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate!
Thus we see merchants, kings and shipmaster with their sailors lamenting the fall of Babylon. In other words, business, politics and transportation were under the denomination of and blessed by a false religious system that fostered their respective ungodly world-systems.
And three times we hear the cry, Alas, alas! Once it comes from the kings of the earth, or the political realm; once it is uttered by the merchants, or the commercial realm; and once from the shipmasters and sailor, or the transportation realm, It is a triple voice, each part of which is double. It is that evil number six complete.
The repeated Alas, alas! is striking. The word is the same as that of the angel in Rev. 8:13, when he cried, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound.
The casting of dust on the head is a symbolic act of one who thus expresses his utter hopelessness and despair. Because of the sin of Achan which brought defeat to Israel we read:
And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell on the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. (Jos. 7:6)
Again this recurrence of the word woe or alas (Rev. 18:10; Rev. 18:16; Rev. 18:19) helps us to identify the time of the fall of Babylon as being in the period of the third and last woe. (Rev. 11:14)
We have had symbolized to us the suddenness of Babylons downfall in the expressions: in one day Rev. 18:8, in one hour Rev. 18:17; Rev. 18:19. Now we are informed as to the violence of the downfall.
Rev. 18:20 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more.
This symbolic action of the mighty angel as portrayed in this verse is an intensified picture of a typical act which Jeremiah commanded Seraiah to perform when he came to that Babylon on antiquity:
And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, when thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words, . . . and it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of Euphrates. And thou shalt say. Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her. (Jer. 51:61; Jer. 51:63-64)
Thus we see that the destruction of ancient Babylon was typical of the destruction of spiritual Babylon.
Thus we see that the fall of mysterious Babylon, that Romish church; that great Harlot woman; the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth; is one of the, if not the most outstanding and marvelous events of all time. More is said about Babylon in the Scriptures than any other great religious and secular occurrence.
But the rejoicings of heaven, and those whose affections are set on things above and not on things on the earth (Col. 3:2), are now set forth in exact contrast with the lamentations of the kings, merchants and shipmasters and all their peoples they represent.
Rev. 18:21 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
While earth rings with the chorus of lamentation, disappointment and despair, a grand jubilation fills the heaven. While the world cries, Woe, woe over the fall of this religio-political system, the citizens of heaven pour out of their mighty halleluiahs.
The angel then announces:
Rev. 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be herd no more at all in thee.
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
It will be an event unbelievable to the world. The world has become so accustomed to seeing the Roman church, her priesthood and religious processions and pronouncements played up with such righteousness in the press, magazines and periodicals; propagated in the movies, on the radio and television screen; eulogized in song, poetry and story; kowtowed to by politician, merchant, transportation interests, advertisers, rulers and common citizens that the fall of such a church with such suddenness and violence will be shock that will shake the whole earth.
And it will be the immediate act of God. No earthy power or agency could bring to an end an institution so hoary with age and deeply intrenched in every activity of man.
And to think that all of this could have been avoided! If there had been the New Testament church, with Christ as head and supreme authority upon the earth since Pentecost there would have been no spiritual Babylon to confuse the world religiously, corrupt political governments, compromise truth and morals, and finally to condemn the world to eternal destruction and damnation.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) And after these things . . .Or, better, After these things (omit and) I saw another angel coming down, having great power (or, authorityentrusted to him for the work against Babylon); and the earth was illumined by (literally, out of) his glory. The light which shines from the heavenly messenger shines like day upon the tawdry splendour of Babylon, and shows that what was admired was but worthless and corrupt. In his brief, but rousing call, he proclaims it to be so.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 18
THE DOOM OF ROME ( Rev 18:1-3 ) 18:1-3 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority and the earth was lit up by his glory. He cried with a loud voice saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling-place of demons, and a stronghold of every unclean spirit, and a stronghold of every unclean and hated bird, because the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich with the wealth of her wantonness.”
In this chapter we have a form of prophetic literature common in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. This is what is called “A Doom Song,” the doom song of the city of Rome.
We quote certain Old Testament parallels. In Isa 13:19-22 we have the doom song of ancient Babylon:
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendour and pride of
the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God
overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all
generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherds will
make their flocks lie down there. But wild beasts will lie down
there, and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there
ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance. Hyenas will
cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time
is close at hand and its days will not be prolonged.
In Isa 34:11-15 we have the doom song of Edom:
But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the
raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion
over it, and the plummet of chaos over its nobles…. Thorns
shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its
fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for
ostriches. And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, the satyr
shall cry to his fellow; yea, there shall the night hag alight,
and find for herself a resting place. There shall the owl nest
and lay and hatch and gather her young in her shadow; yea, there
shall the kites be gathered, each one with her mate.
Jer 50:39 and Jer 51:37 are part of doom songs of Babylon:
Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and
ostriches shall dwell in her; she shall be peopled no more for
ever, nor inhabited for all generations. And Babylon shall become
a heap of ruins, the haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing
without inhabitant.
In Zep 2:13-15 we have the doom song of Nineveh:
And he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the
desert. Herds shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts
of the field; the vulture and the hedgehog shall lodge in her
capitals; the owl shall hoot in the window, the raven croak on
the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare. This is the
exultant city that dwelt secure, that said to herself, “I am and
there is none else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for
wild beasts! Every one who passes by her hisses and shakes his
fist.
In spite of their grim foretelling of ruin these passages are all great poetry of passion. It may be that here we are far from the Christian doctrine of forgiveness; but we are very close to the beating of the human heart.
In our passage the angel charged with the message of doom comes with the very light of God upon him. No doubt John was thinking of Eze 43:1-2: “He brought me to the gate, the gate facing east; and behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east; and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with his glory.” H. B. Swete writes of this angel: “So recently he has come from the Presence that in passing he brings a broad belt of light across the dark earth.”
So certain is John of the doom of Rome, that he speaks of it as if it had already happened.
We note one other point. Surely the most dramatic part of the picture is the demons haunting the ruins. The pagan gods banished from their reign disconsolately haunt the ruins of the temples where once their power had been supreme.
COME YE OUT! ( Rev 18:4-5 ) 18:4-5 I heard another voice from heaven saying: “Come out, my people, from her, lest you become partners in her sins, and lest you share in her plagues, because her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God has remembered her unrighteous deeds.”
The Christians are bidden come out of Rome before the day of destruction comes, lest, sharing in her sins, they also share in her doom. H. B. Swete says that this call to come out rings through Hebrew history. God is always calling upon his people to cut their connection with sin and to stand with him and for him.
It was the call which came to Abraham: “Now the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country, and your kindred, and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you” ( Gen 12:1). It was the call that came to Lot, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: “Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city” ( Gen 19:12-14). It was the call that came to Moses in the days of the wickedness of Korah, Dathan and Abiram: “Get away from about the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram…. Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men” ( Num 16:23-26). “Go forth from Babylon,” said Isaiah, “flee from Chaldea” ( Isa 48:20). “Flee from the midst of Babylon,” said Jeremiah, “and go out of the land of the Chaldeans” ( Jer 50:8). “Flee from the midst of Babylon, let every man save his life” ( Jer 51:6). “Go out of the midst of her people. Let every man save his life from the fierce anger of the Lord” ( Jer 51:45). It is a cry which finds its echo in the New Testament. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Do not be mismated with unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial?” ( 2Co 6:14-15). “Do not participate in another man’s sins; keep yourself pure” ( 1Ti 5:22).
Swete well points out that this cry and challenge do not involve a coming out at a definite moment. They imply a certain “aloofness of spirit maintained in the very heart of the world’s traffic.” They describe the essential apartness of the Christian from the world. The commonest word for the Christian in the New Testament is the Greek hagios ( G40) , whose basic meaning is different. The Christian is not conformed to the world but transformed from the world ( Rom 12:2). It is not a question of retiring from the world; it is a question of living differently within the world.
THE DOOM OF PRIDE ( Rev 18:6-8 ) 18:6-8 Repay her in the coin with which she paid others; and repay her double for her deeds. Mix her a double draught in the cup in which she mixed her draughts. In proportion to her boasting and her wantonness give her torture and grief, for she says in her heart: “I sit a queen: I am not a widow; grief is something that I will never see.” Because of this her plagues will come upon her in one day–pestilence and grief and famine and she will be burned with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is strong.
This passage speaks in terms of punishment. But the instruction to exact vengeance on Rome is not an instruction to men; it is an instruction to the angel, the divine instrument of justice. Vengeance belongs to God, and to God alone. We have here two truths which we must remember.
(i) There is in life a law by which a man sows that which he reaps. Even in the Sermon on the Mount we find an expression of that law: “The measure you give will be the measure you get” ( Mat 7:2). The double punishment and the double reward come from the fact that frequently in Jewish law anyone responsible for loss or damage had to repay it twice over ( Exo 22:4; Exo 22:7; Exo 22:9). “O daughter of Babylon, you devastator!” says the Psalmist, “happy shall he be who requites you with what you have done to us” ( Psa 137:8). “Requite her according to her deeds,” says Jeremiah of Babylon, “Do to her according to all that she has done; for she has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel” ( Jer 50:29). There is no getting away from the fact that punishment follows sin, especially if that sin has involved the cruel treatment of fellowmen.
(ii) We meet here the stern truth that all pride will one day be humiliated. Rome’s supreme sin has been pride. It is in Old Testament terms that John speaks. He reproduces the ancient judgment on Babylon:
You said, “I shall be mistress for ever,” so that you did not lay
these things to heart or remember their end. Now therefore hear
this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your
heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit
as a widow or know the loss of children”: These two things
shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children
and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of
your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
Nothing rouses such condemnation as pride, Isaiah speaks grimly: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet the Lord will smite with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion” ( Isa 3:16-17). Tyre is condemned because she has said: “I am perfect in beauty” ( Eze 27:3).
There is a sin which the Greek called hubris ( G5196) , which is that arrogance, that comes to feel that it has no need of God. The punishment for that sin is ultimate humiliation.
THE LAMENT OF THE KINGS ( Rev 18:9-10 ) 18:9-10 The kings of the earth, who committed fornication with her and who shared in her wantonness, will weep and lament over her, when they will see the smoke of her burning, while they stand afar off because of the fear of her torture, while they say: “Alas! Alas! for the city that seemed so strong, for Babylon the strong city! for in one hour your judgment is come.”
In the rest of this chapter we have the dirges for Rome; the dirge sung by the kings ( Rev 18:9-10), the dirge sung by the merchants ( Rev 18:11-16), the dirge sung by the shipmasters and the sailors ( Rev 18:17-19). Again and again we hear of the greatness, the wealth and the wanton luxury of Rome.
We may well ask whether John’s indictment is justified or whether he is merely a fanatic shouting doom without any real justification. If we wish to find an account of the luxury and the wantonness of Rome we will find it in such books as Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, by Samuel Dill, Roman Life and Manners, by Ludwig Friedlander, and especially in the Satires of Juvenal, the Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius, and the works of Tacitus, themselves Romans and themselves appalled by the things about which they wrote. These books show that nothing John could say of Rome could be an exaggeration.
There is a saying in the Talmud that ten measures of wealth came down into the world and that Rome received nine and all the rest of the world only one. One famous scholar said that in modern times we are babes in the matter of enjoyment compared with the ancient world; and another remarked that our most extravagant luxury is poverty compared with the prodigal magnificence of ancient Rome.
In that ancient world there was a kind of desperate competition in ostentation. It was said of Caligula that “he strove, most of all to realize what men deemed impossible,” and it was said that “the desire of the incredible” was the great characteristic of Nero. Dill says: “The senator who paid too low a rent, or rode along the Appian or Flaminian Way with too scanty a train, became a marked man and immediately lost caste.”
In this first century the world was pouring its riches into the lap of Rome. As Dill has it: “The long peace, the safety of the seas, and the freedom of trade, had made Rome the entrepot for the peculiar products and delicacies of every land from the British Channel to the Ganges.” Pliny talks of a meal in which in one dish India was laid under contribution, in another Egypt, Cyrene, Crete and so forth. Juvenal speaks of the seas peopled with great keels and of greed luring ships on expeditions to every land. Aristides has a purple passage on the way in which things flowed into Rome. “Merchandise is brought from every land and sea, everything that every season begets, and every country produces, the products of rivers and lakes, the arts of the Greeks and the barbarians, so that, if anyone were to wish to see all these things, he would either have to visit the whole inhabited world to see them–or to visit Rome; so many great ships arrive from all over the world at every hour, at every season, that Rome is like some common factory of the world, for you may see such great cargoes from the Indies, or, if you wish, from the blessed Arabias, that you might well conjecture that the trees there have been stripped naked; clothing from Babylon, ornaments from the barbarian lands, everything flows to Rome; merchandise, cargoes, the products of the land, the emptying of the mines, the product of every art that is and has been, everything that is begotten and everything that grows. If there is anything you cannot see at Rome, then it is a thing which does not exist and which never existed.”
The money possessed and the money spent was colossal. One of Nero’s freedman could regard a man with a fortune of 652,000 British pounds as a pauper. Apicius squandered a fortune of 1,000,000 British pounds in refined debauchery, and committed suicide when he had only 100,000 British pounds left because he could not live on such a pittance. In one day Caligula squandered the revenues of three provinces amounting to 100,000 British pounds and in a single year scattered broadcast in prodigal profusion 20,000,000 British pounds. Nero declared that the only use of money was to squander it, and in a very few years he squandered 18,000,000 British pounds. At one banquet of his the Egyptian roses alone cost 35,000 British pounds.
Let the Roman historian Suetonius describe his emperors, and remember that this is not a Christian preacher but a pagan historian. Of Caligula he writes: “In reckless extravagance he outdid the prodigals of all times in ingenuity, inventing a new sort of baths and unnatural varieties of food and feasts; for he would bathe in hot or cold perfumed oils, drink pearls of great price dissolved in vinegar, and set before his guests loaves and meats of gold.” He even built galleys whose sterns were studded with pearls. Of Nero Suetonius tells us that he compelled people to set before him banquets costing 20,000 British pounds. “He never wore the same garment twice. He played at dice for 2,000 British pounds per point. He fished with a golden net drawn by cords woven of purple and scarlet threads. It is said that he never made a journey with less than a thousand carriages, with his mules shod with silver.”
Drinking pearls dissolved in vinegar was a common ostentation. Cleopatra is said to have dissolved and drunk a pearl worth 80,000 British pounds. Valerius Maximus at a feast set a pearl to drink before every guest, and he himself, Horace tells, swallowed the pearl from Metalla’s ear-ring dissolved in wine that he might be able to say that he had swallowed a million sesterces at a gulp.
It was an age of extraordinary gluttony. Dishes of peacocks’ brains and nightingales’ tongues were set before the guests at banquets. Vitellius, who was emperor for less than a year, succeeded in spending 7,000,000 British pounds mainly on food. Suetonius tells of his favourite dish: “In this he mingled the livers of pike, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes, and the milk of lampreys, brought by his captains and triremes from the whole empire from Parthia to the Spanish strait.” Petronius describes the scenes at Trimalchio’s banquet: “One course represented the twelve signs of the zodiac…. Another dish was a large boar, with baskets of sweetmeats hanging from its tusks. A huge bearded hunter pierced its side with a hunting knife, and forthwith from the wound there issued a flight of thrushes which were dexterously captured in nets as they flew about the room. Towards the end of the meal the guests were startled by strange sounds in the ceiling and a quaking of the whole apartment. As they raised their eyes the ceiling suddenly opened, and a great circular tray descended, with a figure of Priapus, bearing all sorts of fruit and bon-bons.”
In the time when John was writing a kind of insanity of wanton extravagance, to which it is very difficult to find any parallel in history, had invaded Rome.
(1) THE LAMENT OF THE MERCHANTS ( Rev 18:11-16 )
18:11-16 And the merchants of the earth will weep and lament over her, for no one buys their cargo any more, the cargo of gold and of silver and of precious stones and of pearls, of fine linen and of purple and of silk and of scarlet, all kinds of thyine wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, and of bronze and of iron and of marble, and cinnamon and perfume and incense, and myrrh, and frankincense and wine and oil, and fine flour, and wheat and cattle and sheep, horses and chariots and slaves, the souls of men.
The ripe fruit your soul desired has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendours have perished, never again to be found. The merchants who dealt in these wares, who grew wealthy from their trade with her, shall stand afar off because of the fear of her torture, weeping and grieving. “Alas! Alas!” they shall say, “for the great city, for the city which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, the city which was decked with gold and with precious stones and with pearls, for in one hour so much wealth is desolated!”
The lament of the kings and the merchants should be read along with the lament over Tyre in Eze 26:1-21; Eze 27:1-36 for they have many features in common.
The lament of the merchants is purely selfish. All their sorrow is that the market from which they drew so much wealth is gone. It is significant that both the kings and the merchants stand afar off and watch. They stretch out no hand to help Rome in her last agony; they were never bound to her in love; their only bond was the luxury she desired and the trade it brought to them.
We will learn still more of the luxury of Rome, if we look in detail at some of the items in the cargoes which came to Rome.
At the time during which John was writing there was in Rome a passion for silver dishes. Silver came mainly from Carthagena in Spain, where 40,000 men toiled in the silver mines. Dishes, bowls, jugs, fruitbaskets, statuettes, whole dinner services, were made of solid silver. Lucius Crassus had wrought silver dishes which had cost 50 British pounds for each pound of silver in them. Even a fighting general like Pompeius Paullinus carried with him on his campaigns wrought silver dishes which weighed 12,000 pounds, the greater part of which fell into the hands of the Germans, spoils of war. Pliny tells us that women would bathe only in silver baths, soldiers had swords with silver hilts and scabbards with silver chains, even poor women had silver anklets and the very slaves had silver mirrors. At the Saturnalia, the festival which fell at the same time as the Christian Christmas, and at which gifts were given, often the gifts were little silver spoons and the like, and the wealthier the giver the more ostentatious was the gift. Rome was a city of silver.
It was an age which passionately loved precious stones and pearls. It was largely through the conquests of Alexander the Great that precious stones came to the west. Pliny said that the fascination of a gem was that the majestic might of nature presented itself in a limited space.
The order of preference in stones set diamonds first, emeralds–mainly from Scythia–second, beryls and opals, which were used for women’s ornaments, third, and the sardonyx, which was used for seal-rings, fourth.
One of the strangest of ancient beliefs was that precious stones had medicinal qualities. The amethyst was said to be a cure for drunkenness; it is wine-red in colour and the word amethyst was derived–so it was said–from a which means not and methuskein ( G3182) which means to make drunk. The jasper, or bloodstone, was held to be a cure for haemorrhage. The green jasper was said to bring fertility. The diamond was held to neutralise poison and to cure delirium, and amber worn on the neck was a cure for fever and for other troubles.
Of all stones the Romans loved pearls more than any other. As we have seen, they were drunk dissolved in wine. A certain Struma Nonius had a ring with an opal in it as big as a filbert worth 21,250 British pounds, but that pales into insignificance compared with the pearl which Julius Caesar gave Servilia and which cost 65,250 pounds. Pliny tells of seeing Lollia Paulina, one of Caligula’s wives, at a betrothal feast, wearing an ornament of emeralds and pearls, covering head, hair, ears, neck and fingers, which was worth 425,000 British pounds.
(2) THE LAMENT OF THE MERCHANTS ( Rev 18:11-16 continued) Fine linen came mainly from Egypt. It was the clothing of priests and kings. It was very expensive; a priest’s robe, for instance, would cost between 40 and 50 British pounds.
Purple came mainly from Phoenicia. The very word Phoenicia is probably derived from phoinos, which means blood-red, and the Phoenicians may have been known as “the purple men,” because they dealt in purple. Ancient purple was much redder than modern purple. It was the royal colour and the garment of wealth. The purple dye came from a shellfish called murex. Only one drop came from each animal; and the shell had to be opened as soon as the shellfish died, for the purple came from a little vein which dried up almost immediately after death. A pound of double-dyed purple wool cost almost 50 British pounds, and a short purple coat more than 100 pounds. Pliny tells us that at this time there was in Rome “a frantic passion for purple.”
Silk may now be a commonplace, but in the Rome of the Revelation it was almost beyond price, for it had to be imported from far-off China. So costly was it that a pound of silk was sold for a pound weight of gold. Under Tiberius a law was passed against the use of solid gold vessels for the serving of meals and “against men disgracing themselves with silken garments” (Tacitus: Annals 2: 23).
Scarlet, like purple, was a much sought after dye. When we are thinking of these fabrics we may note that another of Rome’s ostentatious furnishings was Babylonian coverlets for banqueting couches. Such coverlets often cost as much as 7,000 British pounds, and Nero possessed coverlets for his couches which had cost more than 43,000 British pounds each.
The most interesting of the woods mentioned in this passage is thyine. In Latin it was called citrus wood; its botanical name is thuia articulate. Coming from North Africa, from the Atlas region, it was sweet-smelling and beautifully grained. It was used especially for table tops. But, since the citrus tree is seldom very large, trees large enough to provide table tops were very scarce. Tables made of thyine wood could cost anything from 4,000 to 15,000 British pounds. Seneca, Nero’s prime minister, was said to have three hundred of such thyine tables with marble legs.
Ivory was much used for decorative purposes, especially by those who wished to make an ostentatious display. It was used in sculpture, for statues, for swordhilts, for inlaying furniture, for ceremonial chairs, for doors, and even for household furniture. Juvenal talks of the wealthy man: “Nowadays a rich man takes no pleasure in his dinner–his turbot and his venison have no taste, his unguents and his roses seem to smell rotten–unless the broad slabs of his dinner table rest upon a ramping, gaping leopard of solid ivory.”
Statuettes of Corinthian brass or bronze were world famous and fabulously expensive. Iron came from the Black Sea and from Spain. For long marble had been used in Babylon for building, but not in Rome. Augustus, however, could boast he had found Rome of brick and left it of marble. In the end there was actually an office called the ratio marmorum whose task was to search the world for fine marbles with which to decorate the buildings of Rome.
Cinnamon was a luxury article coming from India and from near Zanzibar, and in Rome it commanded a price of about 65 British pounds per pound (of weight).
Spice is here misleading. The Greek is amomon ( G299) ; Wycliff translated simply “amome”. Amomon was a sweet-smelling balsam, particularly used as a dressing for the hair and as an oil for funeral rites.
In the Old Testament incense had altogether a religious use as an accompaniment of sacrifice in the Temple. According to Exo 30:34-38 the Temple incense was made of stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense, which are all perfumed gums or balsams. According to the Talmud seven further ingredients were added–myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, costus, mace and cinnamon. In Rome incense was used as a perfume with which to greet guests and to scent the room after meals.
In the ancient world wine was universally drunk, but drunkenness was regarded as a grave disgrace. Wine was usually highly diluted, in the proportion of two parts of wine to five parts of water. The grapes were pressed and the juice extracted. Some of it was used just as it was as an unfermented drink. Some of it was boiled to a jelly, and the jelly used to give body and flavour to poor wines. The rest was poured into great jars, which were left to ferment for nine days, then closed, and opened monthly to check the progress of the wine. Even slaves had abundant wine as part of their daily ration, since it was no more than 2 1/2 pence per gallon.
Myrrh was the gum resin of a shrub which grew mainly in Yemen and in North Africa. It was medically used as an astringent, a stimulant, and an antiseptic. It was also used as a perfume and as an anodyne by women in the time of their purification, and for the embalming of bodies.
Frankincense was a gum resin produced by a tree of the genus Boswellia. An incision was made in the tree and a strip of bark removed from below it. The resin then exuded from the tree like milk. In about ten or twelve weeks it coagulated into lumps in which it was sold. It was used for perfume for the body, for the sweetening and flavouring of wine, for oil for lamps and for sacrificial incense.
The chariots here mentioned–the word is rede–were not racing or military chariots. They were four-wheeled private chariots, and the aristocrats of Roman wealth often had them silver-plated.
The list closes with the mention of slaves and the souls of men. The word used for slave is soma ( G4983) , which literally means a body. The slave market was called the somatemporos, literally the place where bodies are sold. The idea is that the slave was sold body and soul into the possession of his master.
It is almost impossible for us to understand how much Roman civilization was based on slavery. There were some 60,000,000 slaves in the empire. It was no unusual thing for a man to have four hundred slaves. “Use your slaves like the limbs of your body,” says a Roman writer, “each for its own end.” There were, of course, slaves to do the menial work; and each particular service had its slave. We read of torch-bearers, lantern-bearers, sedan-chair carriers, street attendants, keepers of the outdoor garments. There were slaves who were secretaries, slaves to read aloud, and even slaves to do the necessary research for a man writing a book or a treatise. The slaves even did a man’s thinking for him. There were slaves called nomenclatores whose duty it was to remind a man of the names of his clients and dependants! “We remember by means of others,” says a Roman writer. There were even slaves to remind a man to eat and to go to bed! “Men were too weary even to know that they were hungry.” There were slaves to go in front of their master and to return the greetings of friends, which the master was too tired or too disdainful to return himself. A certain ignorant man, unable to learn or remember anything, got himself a set of slaves. One memorized Homer, one Hesiod, others the lyric poets. Their duty was to stand behind him as he dined and to prompt him with suitable quotations. He paid 1,000 British pounds for each of them. Some slaves were beautiful youths, “the flower of Asia,” who simply stood around the room at banquets to delight the eye. Some were cup-bearers. Some were Alexandrians, who were trained in pert and often obscene repartee. The guests often chose to wipe their soiled hands on the hair of the slaves. Such beautiful boy slaves cost at least 1,000 or 2,000 British pounds. Some slaves were freaks–dwarfs, giants, cretins, hermaphrodites. There was actually a market in freaks–“men without shanks, with short arms, with three eyes, with pointed heads.” Sometimes dwarfs were artificially produced for sale.
It is a grim picture of men being used body and soul for the service and entertainment of others.
This was the world for which the merchants were grieving, the lost markets and the lost money which they were bewailing. This was the Rome whose end John was threatening. And he was right–for a society built on luxury, on wantonness, on pride, on callousness to human life and personality is necessarily doomed, even from the human point of view.
THE LAMENT OF THE SHIPMASTERS ( Rev 18:17-19 ) 18:17-19 And every shipmaster and everyone who sails the sea, and sailors who gain their living from the sea, stood afar off and cried, when they saw the smoke of her burning. “What city was like the great city!” they said, and they flung dust upon their heads, and cried weeping and lamenting: “Alas! Alas! for the great city, in which all who had ships on the sea grew rich from her wealth, because in one hour she has been desolated.”
First, the kings uttered their lament over Rome; then, the merchants; and now, the shipmasters. John was taking his picture from Ezekiel’s picture of the fall of Tyre, from which so much of this chapter comes. “At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes, and down from their ships come all that handle the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the shore and wail aloud over you, and cry bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes.” ( Eze 27:28-30).
Rome, of course, was not upon the sea coast, but its port was Ostia, and, as we have seen, the merchandise of the world flowed into the port of Rome.
It is little wonder that the shipmasters and the sailors will lament, for all the trade which brought so much wealth will be gone.
There is something almost pathetic in these laments. In every case the lament is not for Rome but for themselves. It is one of the laws of life that, if a man places all his happiness in material things, he misses the greatest things of all–love and friendship with his fellowmen.
JOY AMIDST LAMENTING ( Rev 18:20 ) 18:20 Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you dedicated ones of God, and you apostles, and you prophets, because God has given judgment for you against her.
Amidst all the lamenting comes the voice of joy, the voice of those who are glad to see the vengeance of God upon his enemies and their persecutors.
This is a note which we find more than once in Scripture. “Praise his people, O you nations; for he avenges the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his people” ( Deu 32:43). Jeremiah says of the doom of ancient Babylon; “Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, says the Lord” ( Jer 51:48).
We are here very far from praying for those who despitefully use us. But two things have to be remembered. However we may feel about this voice of vengeance, it is none the less the voice of faith. These men had utter confidence that no man on God’s side could ultimately be on the losing side.
Second, there is little personal bitterness here. The people to be destroyed are not so much personal enemies as the enemies of God.
At the same time this is not the more excellent way which Jesus taught. When Abraham Lincoln was told that he was too lenient with his opponents and that his duty was to destroy his enemies, he answered: “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” The real Christian attitude is to seek to destroy enmity, not by force, but by the power of that love which won the victory of the Cross.
THE FINAL DESOLATION ( Rev 18:21-24 ) 18:21-24 And a strong angel lifted a stone like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea. “Thus,” he said, “with a rush Babylon the great city will be cast down, and will never again be found. The sound of harpers and minstrels and flute-players and trumpeters will never again be heard in you. No craftsman of any craft will ever again be found in you. No more will the sound of the mill be heard in you. No more will the light of the lamp shine in you. No more will the voice of the bridegroom and the bride be heard in you; for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and because all nations were lead astray by your sorcery, and because in her was found the blood of the prophets and of God’s dedicated ones and of all who have been slain upon the earth.”
The picture is of the final desolation of Rome.
It begins with a symbolic action. A strong angel takes a great millstone and hurls it into the sea which closes over it as if it had never been. So will Rome be obliterated. John was taking his picture from the destruction of ancient Babylon. The word of God came to Jeremiah: “When you finish reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: and say, Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the evil that I am bringing upon her” ( Jer 51:63-64). In later days Strabo, the Greek geographer, was to say that ancient Babylon was so completely obliterated that no one would ever have dared to say that the desert where she stood was once a great city.
Never again will there be any sound of rejoicing. The doom of Ezekiel against Tyre reads: “And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more” ( Eze 26:13). The harpers and the minstrels played and sang on joyous occasions; the flute was used at festivals and at funerals; the trumpet sounded at the games and at the concerts; but now all music was to be silenced.
Never again will there be the sound of a craftsman plying his trade.
Never again will the sound of domestic activity be heard. Grinding was done by the women at home with two great circular stones one on the top of the other. The corn was put into a hole in the uppermost stone; it was ground between the two stones and emerged through the lower stone. The creak of stone on stone, which could be heard any day at any house door, will never again be heard.
Never again will there be light on the streets or in the houses.
Never again will there be any sound of wedding rejoicing for even love will die. Jeremiah uses the same pictures: “I will banish from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones, and the light of the lamp” ( Jer 25:10; compare Jer 7:34; Jer 16:9).
Rome is to become a terrible silent desolation.
And this punishment will come for certain definite reasons.
It will come because she worshipped wealth and luxury and lived wantonly, and found no pleasure except in material things.
It will come because she led men astray with her sorceries. Nahum called Nineveh “graceful and of deadly charms” ( Nah 3:14). Rome flirted with the evil powers to make an evil world.
It will come because she was blood guilty. “Woe to the bloody city!” said Ezekiel of Tyre ( Eze 24:6). Within Rome the martyrs perished and persecution went out from her all over the earth.
Before we begin to study the last four chapters of the Revelation in detail, it will be well to set out their general programme of events.
They begin with a universal rejoicing at the destruction of Babylon, the power of Rome ( Rev 19:1-10). There follows a description of the emergence of a white horse and on it him who is Faithful and True ( Rev 19:11-18). Next comes the assembling of hostile powers against the conquering Christ ( Rev 19:19); then the defeat of the opposing forces, the casting of the beast and of the false prophet into the lake of fire, and the slaughter of the rest ( Rev 19:20-21).
Rev 20:1-15 opens with the binding of the devil in the abyss for a period of a thousand years ( Rev 20:1-3). There follows the resurrection of the martyrs to reign with Christ for a thousand years, although the rest of the dead are not yet resurrected ( Rev 20:4-6). At the end of the thousand years Satan is again loosed for a brief space; there is final conflict with the enemies of Christ who are destroyed with fire from heaven while Satan is cast for ever into the lake of fire and brimstone ( Rev 20:7-10). Then comes the general resurrection and the general judgment ( Rev 20:11-14); and finally the description of the new heaven and the new earth to take the place of the things which have passed away ( Rev 21:1-27; Rev 22:1-5).
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
a. An announcing angel proclaims the past downfall and prospective permanent desolation of Babylon, Rev 18:1-3 .
After these things After John’s return from his visit to the wilderness to obtain a view of the harlot; see last chapter. He returns, as appears by Rev 19:4, to the temple, the scene of chapter iv, where are the throne, the elders, and the “four beasts.”
Earth was lightened with his glory A beautiful image. So luminous was his person that the earth was made luminous around him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4. Song of triumph over the accomplished destruction of Babylon, Rev 18:1-24.
1. And After the full completion of the account both of Babylon’s fall and the harlot’s destiny, our seer finds the moment for giving the triumphal rejoicing upon the victory separately over each. This entire chapter is occupied with the triumph over the capital; nearly half of the next chapter over the harlot.
The fact that most of the verbs after Rev 18:3 are in the future has beguiled the commentators into the idea that “the great city” is not demolished in chapter 16. Thus Alford says, “The seer does not see the act of destruction,” which is in itself antecedently a very improbable supposition, and contradicted by the whole narrative of that chapter, as our notes, perhaps, have shown. These interpreters overlook the dramatic character of this paean; the frequent preterites that remind us that the event is really past; the numerous instances in which the future tense really describes the long future desolation and woe consequent upon the past downfall; and that in a large share of the chapter the futures are uttered from the standpoint of the ancient prophets, and are simply the triumphant applications of the maledictions upon old Tyre and Babylon to Babylon the new.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
IV. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Rev 7:1 to Rev 20:10.
Of the trumpets, the first four are mundane, or earthly; each of the four blasts draws down a judgment upon some creational point, as earth, sea, fountains and rivers; firmamental luminaries. It is the sins of men that draw down these bolts of wrath, rendering every point of creation hostile to our peace. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” (Gen 3:17,) is the key-note. This sad status of humanity has existed through all past ages; but it is here represented to form a base from which the history of the renovation commences.
The first four the earthly trumpets are each brief as well as terrible; the spiritual, the fifth and sixth, expand into wider dimensions and rise to more spiritual interests; while the seventh trumpet rolls forth its series of events, through all the future scenes of retribution and redemption to the judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘After these things I saw another angel coming down out of Heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened with his glory.’
Another great angel is seen as involved with the fulfilling of God’s final purposes. Note that none of these angels are ever named apart from Michael, who is named because he is the angel prince of Israel (Rev 12:7). While prominent, they maintain an anonymous position for they seek no glory for themselves. They are all equally God’s servants and none will seek to obtain prominence over another. (How different we are today). So effective is the presence of this angel that earth itself indirectly perceives his presence by a ‘lighting up’ with his glory.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Destruction of Babylon the Great (chapter 18).
The Fall of Babylon the Great ( Rev 18:1-8
We now have in more detail an explanation of the mystery of the prostitute. The connections between Revelation 18 and Jeremiah 50, 51 stress that the essential nature of the prostitute parallels Babylon. Compare Jer 51:25 with Rev 18:8, Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45 with Rev 18:4; Jer 51:9 with Rev 18:5; Jer 17:18; Jer 50:15; Jer 50:29; Jer 51:24-49 with Rev 18:6; Jer 51:8 with Rev 18:2; Jer 51:63-64 with Rev 18:21. She shares the essential nature and destiny of Babylon. Of all the nations that will drink of the cup of God’s wrath, Babylon will be the last (Jer 25:26). (Sheshach is a cypher for Babel).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Fall of Babylon Rev 18:1-24 describes the fall of Babylon.
Rev 18:8 “and she shall be utterly burned with fire” Comments – The great city of Rome, referred to as Babylon by the early Church, was almost entirely burned to the ground in A.D. 64. Philip Schaff writes, “This fearful catastrophe must have been before the mind of St. John in the Apocalypse when he wrote his funeral dirge of the downfall of imperial Rome (Revelation 18).” [117]
[117] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955), 380.
Rev 18:20 Comments – The apostles and prophets were given the duty of delivering the New and Old Testaments to the children of God. The books of the Old Testament were delivered through the office of the prophets, and the books of the New Testament were written with apostolic authority. The apostles are here listed before the prophets because this office now takes primacy in New Testament Church. The apostles and prophets spoke of this great event when God takes vengeance upon the wicked, who have persecuted God’s people over the centuries.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Babylon and Its Fall Rev 17:1 to Rev 19:10 describes Babylon, its rebellion against God (Rev 17:1-18), its fall (Rev 18:1-24), and praise unto God for its destruction (Rev 19:1-10). The fact that the Tribulation Period marks the end of the Times of the Gentiles, a period in which Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome raised empires that ruled the known world, suggests that the fall of Babylon in Rev 17:1 to Rev 19:10 essentially marks the end of human rule upon earth. Jesus will return to earth at this time and set up His earthly kingdom, ruling from the holy city of Jerusalem. Whether biblical scholars interpret Babylon in the book of Revelation to symbolize the Roman Empire or to literary mean the city of Babylon, the fact is that the world’s system of rule that began with Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome ends at this time, ushering in a new era of God’s plan of redemption for mankind.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Babylon as an Earthly Institution Rev 17:1-18
2. The Fall of Babylon Rev 18:1-24
3. Heaven’s Praises for Babylon’s Fall Rev 19:1-10
The Personification of the City Called Babylon In Rev 17:1-18 John the apostle introduces a figurative character of a woman, a harlot, whom he calls Babylon, and later describes as the great city. The most popular interpretation of this passage is to identify the city as Rome, whom John personifies in this passage of Scripture as the “mother of harlots.” One of the strongest argues in support of the city of Rome is the description of her sitting upon seven hills (Rev 17:9). The city of Rome has been popularly known as the city of seven hills since antiquity, as seen in Classical literature, with Virgin and Propertius using very similar language to John the apostle in personifying the city of Rome with her enthronement and pomp among the nations.
The Latin scholar Varro (116-27 B.C.) writes, “Where Rome now is, was called the Septimontium [Seven Hills] from the same number of hills which the City afterwards embraced within its walls.” ( On the Latin Language 5.41) [106]
[106] Virro, On the Latin Language, vol. 1, trans. Roland G. Kent, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1938), 39.
The Latin poet Virgil (70-19 B.C.) writes, “thus Rome became of all things the fairest, and with a single city’s wall enclosed her seven hills.” ( Georgics 2:535) [107] He also personifies the city of Rome much like John the apostle, writing, “Lo! under his auspices, my son, that glorious Rome shall bound her empire by earth, her pride by heaven, and with a single city’s wall shall enclose her seven hills, blest in her brood of men: even as the Berecyntian Mother, turret-crowned, rides in her car through the Phrygian cities, glad in her offspring of gods, and clasping a hundred of her children’s children, all denizens of heaven, all tenants of the heights above.” ( Aeneid 6.783) [108]
[107] Virgil, vol. 1, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1938), 153.
[108] Virgil, vol. 1, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1938), 561.
The Latin poet Horace (65-8 B.D.) writes, “To the Immortal Gods a hymn to raise Who in the seven-hilled City take delight.” ( The Secular Hymn 5) [109]
[109] The Works of Horace, vol. 2, trans. Theodore Martin (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1881), 97.
The Latin poet Propertius (50-45 to 15 B.C.) personifies the city of Rome, using a number of similar statements to John the apostle, writing, “No day shall ever free thee of this stain, O RomeThe city high-throned on the seven hills, the queen of all the world, was terrified by a woman’s might and feared her threats! What boots it now to have broken the axes of Tarquin, whose proud life brands him with the name of ‘proud,’ if we must needs endure a woman’s tyranny? Rome, take thy triumph and, saved from doom, implore long life for Augustus. Yet didst thou fly, O queen, to the wandering streams of timorous Nile!” (3.11.36, 46-52) [110]
[110] Proterius, trans. H. E. Butler, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1916), 215-217.
The Latin poet Ovid (43 B.C. to A.D 17) writes, “but Rome, that gazes about from her seven hills upon the whole world, Rome, the place of empire and the gods.” ( Tristia 1.5.69) [111]
[111] Ovid: Tristia, Ex Ponto, trans. Arthur Leslie Wheeler, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1939), 33.
The Latin historian Pliny (A.D. 23-79) writes, “Romulus left Rome possessing three or, to accept the statement of the authorities putting the number highest, four gates. The area surrounded by its walls at the time of the principate and censorship of the Vespasians, in the 826th year of its foundation, measured 13 miles and 200 yards in circumference, embracing seven hills.” ( Natural History 3.66-67) [112]
[112] Pliny, Natural History, vol. 2, trans. H. Rackham, in The Loeb Classical Library, eds. T. E. Page, E. Capps, and W. H. D. Rouse (London: William Heinemann, 1961), 51.
The Latin poet Juvenal (late 1 st or early 2 nd c. A.D.) writes, “Juv. Fear not: you will never want a pathic friend, These hills standing and safe : from every where to them There come together, in chariots and ships…” ( Satires 9.130-132) [113]
[113] Juvenal and Persius, vol. 1, trans. M. Madan (Oxford: J. Vincent, 1839), 305.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Fall and Destruction of Anti-Christ’s Kingdom.
The angel’s announcement:
v. 1. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
v. 2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
v. 3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. This entire paragraph reminds one of chap. 14:6-7, where an angel was pictured as lying in mid-heaven: After these things I saw another angel descending out of heaven having great power, and the earth was lit up by his glory. The reference is undoubtedly to Luther and his co-workers in the great work of the Reformation. The Gospel which they once more proclaimed was not their own, but was the message of God from heaven, and therefore was full of power. Nor was this movement one that was done in secret, but the preaching and the writing of these men of God was done before the whole world, and gave true spiritual light to all men that accepted the pure doctrine of salvation.
The specific message of the angel on this occasion is recorded by the prophet: And He cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, and has become the habitation of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a hold of every unclean and loathsome bird; for of the wine of the wrath of her fornication all nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the power of her luxury. That was the effect of the preaching of the pure Gospel upon the kingdom of Anti-Christ, especially on the Pope and his hierarchy. Spiritually the empire of the Pope has been cast down; his show of spirituality has been taken from him, his magic is no longer as effective as formerly. To all believers that do hot willfully close their eyes the true nature of the Roman Church as such has been revealed. Since the Church of the Pope has officially rejected the preaching of the pure Gospel and declared her unwavering devotion to the fundamental errors that crept into the Church in the Middle Ages, since that time the Church of the Pope as such has hardened her heart, has become obdurate against all true reform. It has become the habitation of devils, of unclean spirits, and of loathsome birds, as the prophets describe the condition of all anti-Christian bodies, Isa 13:21-22; Isa 34:14; Jer 50:39; Jer 51:8-38. And that is a just punishment of God upon the kingdom of Anti-Christ, for the deliberate guilt of this Church as such is such as cannot be adequately expressed. She has done more to spread the anti-Christian doctrine of works than any other organization in the world, trying especially to obtain influence with the great and powerful in the world, to lead them into the ways of idolatry and to make them her willing servants. And so far as the merchants of the earth are concerned, including many of her own high officials, the luxury and pomp of this Church have brought them untold wealth. The very name of God, which the Church of the Pope piously used, was and is made a bait for the unwary, and the wrath of the zealous God is aroused to the utmost pitch.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Rev 18:1
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven; after [omitting “and”] coming down, etc. The usual form of introduction to a new vision (cf. Rev 4:1; Rev 7:1, etc.). The “mystery” of the beast and the harlot having been declared, the angel now describes the doom in store for them. The angel is from heaven, as carrying the news of the judgment which is sent from heaven (cf. Rev 10:1; Rev 19:6, Rev 19:15, Rev 19:17; Rev 15:1, etc.). Having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. The great “authority” refers to the judgment which follows, which, however, is not acted out before the seer, but only described. The last clause records the visible manifestation of the great power (cf. the description in Eze 43:2).
Rev 18:2
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying; and he cried with a strong voice, saying. This “strong voice” is characteristic of the heavenly utterances (cf. Rev 7:2; Rev 14:7, etc.). Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. The event, though future, is described as past, being predetermined in the counsels of God. The words here are a reproduction of Isa 21:9. And is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; a habitation a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird. “Devils” (Greek, ), inferior evil spirits. The three phrases express the same idea, viz. the loathsome and hateful state to which Babylon is reduced. The language is derived from the prophets (cf. Isa 13:21, Isa 13:22; Isa 34:11-15; Jer 1:1-19 :39; Jer 51:37). A hold (Greek, , “a strong place”); the natural and fitting stronghold of the devils, rather than a place to which they are involuntarily confined.
Rev 18:3
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. “The wine” is omitted in A, C, but it is inserted in , B, and retained in the Revised Version. “The wrath” is omitted (cf. the expression in Rev 14:8 and Rev 17:2). And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. (On the figure employed, as well as the identical language, see Rev 17:2.) And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. The “abundance” (Greek, , which Vitringa renders by copia, referring to Job 31:25; Eze 28:4, LXX.). “Delicacies.” (Greek, , occurs in the New Testament only here, and as a verb in Rev 18:7, Rev 18:9, and (compounded) in 1Ti 5:11. It signifies overweening pride and insolence and wantonness, arising from superfluity of wealth and gifts. Cf. the warning to the Church of Laodicea (Rev 3:17).
Rev 18:4
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying. Probably the voice of another angel in succession to the one mentioned in Rev 18:1. Another angel takes up the theme, because the message is now directly addressed to Christians. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. The angel says, “my people,” because he is representing God. These words, resembling Isa 48:20; Isa 52:1-15 :l; Jer 1:8; and especially Jer 51:6 (cf. also Jer 51:8), 45, recall also the warning of our Lord in Mat 24:16 (cf. also Gen 19:22, “I cannot do anything till thou be come thither”). Since the harlot, who is identical with Babylon, is representative of the faithless part of the Church of God, these words form a direct warning to Christians. The departure which is commanded is not necessarily a literal, visible one; but the command implies a dissociation from, and condemnation of, the works of Babylon. Lot’s wife literally departed from Sodom, but was overtaken with punishment, because her heart was not dissevered from the wickedness of the city.
Rev 18:5
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. That is, the accumulation of sin is so great as to reach up to the heaven. Exactly the description of the judgment of Babylon given in Jer 51:9, “Forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.” The last part of the verse is a repetition of Rev 16:19.
Rev 18:6
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. “You” is omitted in all the best manuscripts. The second “unto her,” though supported by P, Syriac, Coptic, is omitted in , A, B, C, etc.: Render to her as she also rendered, and double the doubled things according to her works, etc. The description of God’s judgment is still founded on the denunciations against Babylon in Jeremiah (see Jer 1:5 -29; Jer 51:24; Jer 16:18; cf. also Isa 61:7; Zec 9:12; and the legal retribution ordered in Exo 22:4-7). The cup which she hath filled is that containing “the wine of her fornication (cf. verse 3); she is now to receive a double measure of the cup of God’s wrath (cf. verse 3).
Rev 18:7
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her. (For “lived deliciously,” see on “delicacies,” Rev 18:3.) The words are a re-echo and expansion of those in Rev 18:6 (cf. Luk 16:25). For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow; because she saith, etc.; and contact with the succeeding verse. The prophetical writers still supply the imagery (cf. Isa 47:8, “I shall not sit as a widow;” see also Lam 1:1).
Rev 18:8
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. This is the retribution for her boasting in Rev 18:7 (cf. Isa 47:9, “These two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day,” etc.). Alford says, “death, for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance” (cf. Rev 18:3). The description is not to be taken literally, but is typical of a sudden and overwhelming reverse, viz. that which will occur at the last judgment day (cf. the words of our Lord in Mat 24:37-42). Some writers see here an allusion to the second, third, and fourth seals (see Rev 6:1-17.). And she shall he utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Who judged her; is found in , A, B, C, P, and others. This is the fulfilment of the predicted punishment of the harlot (Rev 17:16). The last clause replies, as it were, to the boast in Rev 18:7, “I sit as a queen,” etc.
Rev 18:9
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; and the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and revelled with her, shall weep and wait over her, when they see, etc. It is noteworthy that this sentence is in the future tense; that in Rev 18:11 in the present; that in Rev 18:17, Rev 18:18 in the past. (On “committed fornication,” see Rev 18:3; Rev 14:4,Rev 14:8; Rev 16:14; Rev 17:2. On “lived deliciously,” see Rev 17:3, Rev 17:7.) “Lament” is the same word used in Rev 1:7, “All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” Cf. the description of the fall of Tyre (Eze 26:16). (On “smoke,” see on Rev 9:2.)
Rev 18:10
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying. Unconsciously acting upon the command in Rev 18:4, “Come out of her … that ye receive not of her plagues.” Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come; Woe, woe, the great city. In one hour (cf. Rev 18:8). Some writers understand the “one hour” to refer to the space of time during which the kings rule (see Rev 17:12); but a comparison with Rev 18:8 leads to the conclusion that the meaning is “suddenly;” the contrast in a short time between the two positions of Babylon enhancing the fearfulness of the visitation.
Rev 18:11
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her. Weep and mourn; the historical present (see on Rev 18:9). The kings have been mentioned; the merchants and next the seamen are referred to, showing the wide distribution of “Babylon,” and forbidding the application to a single state or city. The description which follows is analogous to that in Eze 27:1-36.; Isa 23:1-18. For no man buyeth their merchandise any more; their cargo. We are naturally reminded of the action of the second beast in forbidding to buy and sell (Rev 13:17). Alford here recognizes the difficulty in applying the prophecy to Rome, either pagan or papal, and adds, “I leave this difficulty unsolved … The details of this mercantile lamentation far more nearly suit London than Rome.” (See the interpretation given of the harlot and Babylon on Rev 17:1.)
Rev 18:12
The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet. (On “precious stone” and” linen,” see on Rev 15:6.) Such was the attire of the harlot (Rev 17:4). Writers have endeavoured to classify in various ways the articles mentioned, in order to obtain some signification from the numbers used. Thus Hengstenberg sees four hard and then four soft articles mentioned, and he reminds us that the number four is symbolical of the world: but this does not carry him beyond Rev 18:12. The articles enumerated seem naturally to fall into six classes (from which we can gather no information, unless we look upon six as typifying the world, as in Rev 13:18). First, articles of personal adornment; second, articles used for furniture, etc.; third, objects of sensual gratificationsmell, etc.; fourth, articles of food; fifth, animate possessions; sixth, souls of men. These certainly seem to be arranged in a kind of progressive order of importance. All the articles mentioned in the text above were of the highest value. Purple and scarlet (see Rev 17:3) were the prerogative of kings; silk was so scarce, that its use was forbidden in the reign of Tiberius. And all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and every ivory vessel, and every vessel, etc. Thyine wood is “that of the Thuya articulata, Desfont., the Callitris quadrivalvis of present botanists. This tree was much prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans, on account of the beauty of its wood for various ornamental purposes. By the Romans the tree was called citrus, the wood citrum. It is a native of Barbary, and grows to the height of fifteen to twenty-five feet” (Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible ‘). In this passage the accusative case is used; the preceding nouns are in the genitive.
Rev 18:13
And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense; and cinnamon, and amomon, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense. These constitute the third class (see on Rev 18:12). Cinnamon, an Indian tree, was in use in the Levitical ritual (Exo 30:23). It is referred to as a perfume in Pro 7:17. Amomon, which is omitted in the Textus Receptus, is found in , A, C. P, etc. It is rendered in the Revised Version by “spice.” Its use was similar to that of cinnamon. Its seeds are used under the name “cardamoms.” And wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat. These form the fourth class (see on Pro 7:12; cf. Le Pro 2:1, Pro 2:2). And beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves; and cattle, etc. The word rendered “slaves” is , “bodies,” i.e. slaves. At the word “horses” the nouns are again placed in the genitive (see on Pro 7:12). These form the fifth class (see on Pro 7:12). “Chariots,” , is not the word used in Rev 9:9. It is a word probably of Gaulish origin. And souls of men. The accusative again. Not in the ordinary acceptation of the word “souls,” but rather “lives of men,” as the Revised Version margin; that is, “living men.” It is probable that the two expressions, “bodies” (vide supra) and “souls of men,” refer to two classes of slaves.
Rev 18:14
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all; all things that were dainty and splendid are perished from thee, and [men] shall find, etc. The Textus Receptus reads , “are gone,” as in 1; is found in , 7, and about twelve other cursives; is supported by A, R, C, P, and others, besides many versions and Fathers. This verse, containing a direct address to Babylon. has been thought by Vitringa and others to be misplaced; but this is unnecessary (cf. the similar circumstance in Rev 18:21-24).
Rev 18:15
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her (cf. Rev 18:11), shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment. The future tense is now used (see on Rev 18:9); cf. Rev 18:10, where the same thing is related of’ the kings. Weeping and wailing (cf. Rev 18:9, where, however, we have , “wail,” instead of, as here, , “mourn:” cf. also Rev 18:11).
Rev 18:16
And saying, Alas, alas that great city! Most authorities omit “and.” Woe, woe, the great city! (nominative case); exactly as in Rev 18:10. That was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. She that was clothed, etc. Decked; “gilded,” as in the Revised Version margin, as in Rev 17:4. The identity of description of the woman and Babylon is another proof of the essentially identical nature of the two (see on Rev 17:1; cf. also Rev 17:12).
Rev 18:17
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought; because () in one hour was made desolate that so great wealth. This is given as the reason of the “Woe, woe!” of Rev 18:16, and is to be connected with the preceding clauses. (On “one hour,” see Rev 18:10, where the same reason is given as in this verse.) And every shipmaster; pilot; found only here and in Act 27:11. And all the company in ships; and every one who saileth to a place. Such is probably the correct text, though there are several small variations. The Authorized Version has little support. The Revised Version renders, And every one that saileth anywhither. And sailors, and as many as trade by sea; as many as work the sea; i.e. gain their living by means of the sea. Thus are enumerated all who are connected with the sea in any capacity (cf. Eze 27:27). Stood afar off. Like the kings (Act 27:10) and the merchants (Act 27:15), and doubtless for the same reason; viz. to avoid being overwhelmed in the destruction of the city.
Rev 18:18
And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying. The same description as in Rev 18:9 (which see). What city is like unto this great city! (cf. Eze 27:32, “And lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?”).
Rev 18:19
And they cast dust on their heads. This continues the description as given in Eze 27:30, “Shall cast up dust upon their heads.” And cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city! Weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe! etc.; an exact repetition of Eze 27:15, Eze 27:16. Wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness. Like the merchants, the men here described regret the loss of their wealth (cf. Eze 27:11, Eze 27:15, Eze 27:16). So in Eze 27:33, “When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.” For in one hour is she made desolate. Exactly as in Eze 27:17; and similarly to Eze 27:10.
Rev 18:20
Rejoice over her, thou heaven. These words are best understood as being uttered by the writer, as in Rev 12:12 (see on Rev 12:10). And ye holy apostles and prophets; and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets, is read in , A, B, P, etc., and adopted by the Revisers. The Authorized Version reading is found in C, 1, 17. Not only the heavenly inhabitants are to rejoice, but also those on earth who have been persecuted by her, as mentioned in verse 24. The time is again described which has been already referred to in former parts of the book, and especially in Rev 11:18. Some authors have held this verse to prove that the writer of the Apocalypse was not the Apostle John; either because
(1) he speaks as if he were not an apostle, or
(2) because they assume that all the apostles are here referred to, and that they are in heaven.
There is no ground for either presumption:
(1) A rhapsodical utterance of this nature cannot be interpreted literally;
(2) the word “apostles” cannot be limited to the twelve;
(3) as Dusterdieck justly observes, one might as well argue that the writer was not a prophet.
By the “prophets “are primarily intended, perhaps, the Christian prophets (cf. Eph 3:5); but if Babylon is typical of the hostile world power, and the harlot of the faithless, worldly portion of God’s Church, as we have seen them to be, the words are applicable to the Church of God in all ages. For God hath avenged you on her; for God hath judged your judgment on her. The answer to the prayer of the martyrs in Rev 6:10. The words, “your judgment,” probably mean “that judgment which is her due for her treatment of you,” as in the Authorized Version. Hengstenberg gives “the doom which she pronounced upon you.” Wordsworth, laying stress upon , “out of,” makes the words mean, “He has taken your cause out of her hands into his own.”
Rev 18:21
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a groat millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying; add one strong angel (cf. the “mighty voice” in Rev 18:2; also Rev 10:1, and elsewhere). The adjective, of course, refers to the mightiness of the deed wrought (cf. Jer 51:61-64, “Thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; and thou shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise,” etc.). The sea may be typical of the nations of the earth (see Rev 13:1). Thus with violence shall that groat city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all; Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, etc. (Revised Version). Alford translates “with a rush;” is peculiar to this passage. The complete nature of this extinction is indicated by the frequency of the words, “no more at all,” in Rev 18:21-23.
Rev 18:22
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; harpers and minstrels and flute players, etc. (Revised Version). Cf. the description of the desolation of Tyre in Eze 26:13 and Isa 24:8. And no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee. “Every craft” is omitted in , A. (On the last phrase, see on Isa 24:21.) And the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. This passage, together with the following verse, is founded on Jer 25:10.
Rev 18:23
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; of a lamp (cf. Jer 25:10, “I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle”). For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; were the princes. The cause of this overthrow is thus again stated. It is a repetition of the idea in Rev 18:7, Rev 18:15, Rev 18:19, “I sit a queen;” “The merchants which were made rich by her;” “That great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea” (cf. Isa 23:8, “Whose merchants were princes;” also Eze 27:20-22). For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. The judgment is the result of the non-repentance of Rev 9:21.
Rev 18:24
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. At first sight it seems difficult to understand that these words are spoken not only of Babylon, but of the faithless portion of the Church, symbolized by the harlot. But we must remember
(1) that he who is guilty in respect of one commandment, is guilty of the whole Law;
(2) similar words are addressed by Jeremiah to Judah (Jer 2:34): “Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents” (see on Rev 17:1). Auberlen remarks, “Wherever true, faithful Christians are neglected and oppressed by the rulers of the Church, from avowed or secret antipathy to God’s truth; where a false theology and science robs youth of its faith; where a pastor neglects, and keeps at a distance, the true living Christians in his flock, on account of the signum crucis which they bear; wherever we refuse or are ashamed to bear the reproach of Jesus Christ, our heavenly Master, even as he bore it, there we commit murder against the saints of God.”
Here is concluded the pronouncement of the judgment of Babylon; which may be said to answer the prayer in Rev 6:10; and which forms the conclusion of the revelation commencing at Rev 17:1-18.
HOMILETICS
Rev 18:9-24
Lamentations over the fall of Babylon.
In our previous study of “Babylon the great,” we had occasion to remark that there were three forms under which a great Babylon might be recognized.
1. In that worldwide spirit of alienation from God which has corrupted every form of human life everywhere.
2. In any Church which, allying itself with the world power, fornicates therewith, and puts itself on the throne instead of God.
3. Most manifestly of all in the papal Church, where every form of spiritual harlotry is seen at its very worst. Mr. Porter remarks, “Zion is the place where God dwells with men; great Babylon, the place where the priest sits in the seat of God.” We would rather say, “Zion is where God dwells with men; Babylon the great is where any x, any unclean spirit, commercial or religious, sets aside the will of God, and so comes between men and their Maker.” This harlot is seated on seven mountainswhich are seven kings or kingdomswhich are seven heads of the beast. The world’s might and energy are “beheld concentrated under this mystic number sevenin the one symbol of the beast; and this, it is important to bear in mind, is not merely Rome, nor the Roman empire, but a general symbol of secular anti-Christian power.” If we thus see spirit rather than form referred to under this varied symbolism, we shall perceive at once the reason why some parts of these chapters apply rather to a huge commercial power and other parts to a huge ecclesiastical one; and hence the difficulty which is so frankly and clearly stated by Dean Alford will no longer be felt. As the writer in the ‘Speaker’s Commentary’ remarks, “The whole passage points not to any single city, at any one single period, but, to the world city throughout all time;” and, we would add, not only to a religious but to a commercial harlotry; to any and every attraction by which the spirit of man is seduced from allegiance to God.
I. THE SAME SPIRIT OF ALIENATION FROM GOD, WHICH ASSUMES A RELIGIOUS FORM, ALSO PRESENTS ITSELF IN A COMMERCIAL ASPECT, ALL THE WORLD OVER. It is just as possible to put “business” between man and God as it is to put a priest between man and God. So far as we can read this Apocalyptic word, the commercial will survive the downfall of the papal Babylon. For (Rev 17:17) we are told that when the kings of the earth have ceases their amours with the papacy, they will “give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be fulfilled;” as if there would be even a more determined manifestation of carnal world force after the death or, at any rate, during the decline of the papacy. Certainly it is that these are the two lines along which history is moving at this hour. The papacy as a whole is on the decline. The world is opening up more and more to commercial interchange; and it is just as clear that the commerce of the world, in the godlessness which so largely pervades it, is Babylon the great on the secular side, as that papal Rome is Babylon the great on its ecclesiastical side. And just as easily as we could draw out a ground plan in outline of a papal Babylon from the details in Rev 17:1-18., so can we draw out a ground plan of the commercial Babylon from the details supplied in Rev 18:1-24. Ten features.
1. Seated on many waters.
2. A dominant power: “ruling over the kings of the earth.”
3. Proud and boastful: “I sit as a queen.”
4. Serenely secure: “I shall see no mourning.”
5. Self-sufficient: “I am no widow.”
6. Luxurious living in “wantonness.”
7. Intoxicated, and intoxicating others, with her splendour.
8. Carrying on an international merchandise.
9. Engaged in shipping.
10. Exporting or importing in sevenfold variety:
(1) precious metals;
(2) costly attire;
(3) materials for furniture;
(4) spices;
(5) food;
(6) cattle, sheep, etc.;
(7) bodies and souls of men.
Could there be a more precise description of the commercial world spirit, which is at work among all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tonguesa spirit of which this England of ours in her world wide transactions is the chief manifestation at this moment? So that, as Dean Alford ominously remarks, some parts of the description rather suit London than Rome. Commercially, indeed, we have done with any avowed traffic in the bodies of men. But that in the sight of God many of the accepted maxims of some men of business involve a fearful trifling with consciences and souls, is not open to question. It is well known that almost every variety of export and import named here is ours. Our shipping interests are far larger than those of any other nation on the face of the earth. Our gross tonnage through the Suez Canal alone shows this. Our merchandise touches every shore. The splendour and renown of our name and fame intoxicates many and many a merchant. Luxury, self sufficiency, pride, godlessness,these are to a grievous extent our bane and our poison. And who would venture to dispute the fact that, from sheer love of greed and gold, thousands on thousands will play fast and loose with truth and principle, and the right and God, and will say, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us”? And the fearful fact ought to be recognized and acknowledged, that even the hatred which some entertain of the priestly yoke arises from a refusal to wear any yoke at all. “Our tongues are our own; who is Lord over us?” So men speak. This evil is certainly so huge that it is nothing less than a “Babylon the great.”
II. THIS BABYLON IS DOOMED. The means and methods of Babylon’s fall have been indicated in the preceding homily (q.v.). They are fourfold.
1. Divine overruling.
2. Human desertion.
3. Heavy judgments.
4. Retribution and desolation.
III. THE FALL OF BABYLON WILL CALL FROM MANY A BITTER LAMENTATION. There are three sources from which the lament will come.
1. From kings, as they see the great city which was the glory of their empire reduced and brought low.
2. From merchants, whose sources of wealth are dried up, so that “no one buyeth their merchandise any more.”
3. From men of the sea, who gained their living by trading from port to port, because there is no longer any principal mart with which to trade. And clearly this is such a lamentation as godless men would make. We read in Rev 16:21 that when the destruction came men blasphemed God because of the hail. In strict accordance therewith is the spirit of the wail over Babylon’s fall It is not that God has not been glorified. It is not that her busy life has been used for purposes most utterly selfish and often vile, for the lamentation over the ruin is just as selfish as their commerce itself has been (Rev 16:11). Their cargoes no one buys any more! Surely, nothing could bespeak the degradation of man when in apostasy from God, more than such a lamentation as this. It all centres in self. They have made their commerce their god. Ah! earthly souls will be earthly still, even under the ruin of all they hold most dear. Here we see sketched before us menmen made for God, to enjoy him, to love him, and to obey himclad in sackcloth; and why? Because they have not honoured their God? Ah, no! But because no one buys their cargo.! It is as if an orphan child should centre all his grief on a lost farthing, and think nothing of his disobedience to his lost parents. Nor can we fail to detect in this lament a note of bitterness against God. They see that the great Power they have been ignoring is working against them, and that they are bankrupt for eternity. Terrible beyond expression must it be for a man who has lived for earth, to find the world for which he lived departing forever. How bare and forlorn and desolate must he feel! The harpers, and singers, and pipers, and trumpeters are forever still; the sound of hammer and anvil is heard no more; the whirl of the mill has ceased; the sheen of the silver, the glitter of the gold, the light of the lamp, have vanished away; the voice of gladness, and of the bridegroom and the bride, are hushed; and the man is left alone. His gods are gone, and he is confronted with the God whom he neglected, to findalas! too latethat his whole life has been a mistake. He has loved and served the creature more than the Creator, and now, instead of finding his joy in God when every earthly joy is gone, his only look out is a vista of bankruptcy and of irreparable woe. All his dignity has disappeared, and is reduced to a moan and groan that no one buys his cargo!
IV. THIS PICTURE OF GODLESS AND HOPELESS LAMENTATION OUGHT NOT TO BE STUDIED IN VAIN.
1. We should first of all learn that the hold of God on all that we have and are is absolute. We are but tenants at will. The proud and conceited talk as if the world were ours”My river is my own, and I have made it for myself”is an abomination to the Lord. God has never waived his rights in entrusting to us his loans. Let merchants, stockbrokers, bankers, bondholders, traders, learn this lesson. In our great city it is too often forgotten. At any moment God may bring all our possessions to nought; and he will do that at his own time, not waiting for ours.
2. It may well yield us matter for lamentation that the use of so much earthly capital is a perverted one. Many of God’s gifts are put in alliance with overreaching, corruption, and fraud. In themselves they are not to be despised. “Every creature of God is good,” etc. But when things of wealth and beauty become the instruments of apostasy, it is sad indeed. And the more so when we add to all this the thought that Divine gifts misused do, in so being misused, deceive and ruin the souls of men, and in proportion to the joy which their right and proper use would have brought is the treasured up woe which their abuse will certainly ensure.
3. Let us learn to look at whatever is beautiful and costly and artistic as precious in the truest sense, only as it is allied to or in harmony with righteousness. Beauty and wealth are only of genuine value when employed in accordance with God’s will and Word.
4. Let us take care that, so far as we are concerned, we have no share in this heart apostasy of Babylon the great, even in the commercial world. The voice cries now, “Come out of her, my people” (cf. Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 1:8; Jer 51:6, Jer 51:45; 2Co 6:14-17). If we would not share her plagues, we must not share her sins. “Come ye out from,” etc. For in this London of ours Babylon the great and the New Jerusalem are side by side. There are those who are in Babylon the great, the slaves of godless gain or godless pleasure. There are those who belong to the new and eternal city, the New Jerusalem, who grave on the bells of the horses, “Holiness to the Lord,” and whose daily toil is being sanctified for him. And oh! it is worth a struggle to be living even now in that city of God, into which no foe can enter and which no convulsion can for a moment disturb. It may cost something to renounce all fellowship with Babylon. But it is worth infinitely more than it costs. Yea, to be right is so transcendently great, that the question of cost should scarce be deemed worth a thought. Better die with Christ than reign with Caesar. Let us dare to be singular. By the gewgaws of this Babylonian harlotry many are attracted. So be it not with us. A nobler aim be ours, even to “seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God;” and when our communion with this earth is sundered, we shall find our home in the New Jerusalem. Hence we may “go forth of Babylon with a voice of singing,” and may “utter it even to the ends of the earth The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.”
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Rev 18:1-24
The overthrow of wickedness.
This, in symbolic form, is the real subject of this chapter. Wickedness shall be utterly and forever destroyed.
I. A GLORIOUS ANGEL PROCLAIMS THIS. (Cf. Rev 18:1 as to this angel.) Then such overthrow must be:
1. Righteous.
2. Blessed.
3. Divine.
Had it been possible for men to affect this, it would have been done long since.
II. GOD‘S PEOPLE RECEIVE COMMAND.
1. To separate themselves from sin. From which we learn:
(1) That God’s people may have to dwell in the midst of sin.
(2) That though where wickedness is, they are not to be partakers of it.
(3) That they shall one day be effectually separated from it.
2. To avenge themselves upon it. Resentment and wrath are passions given us by God. Our peril and propensity is lest we turn them in a wrong direction. We do so when we use them for private revenge. This is what our Lord forbids. But against the forces of sin they may, they should, be used. This the command here.
III. THE FRIENDS OF WICKEDNESS LAMENT.
1. Wickedness has friends. Those who find delight in it, who “live deliciously” in it (Rev 18:9). Those who make profit out of it. The merchants, etc. (Rev 18:11). And:
2. Their lament is loud and long. They weep, mourn, wail; say, “Alas, alas!” cast dust on their heads, etc. (Rev 18:11, Rev 18:15, Rev 18:16, Rev 18:19).
3. But the lament is utterly selfish. They mourn not because of the wickedness; that does not trouble them. Nor even for Babylon’s sufferings. But because the hope of their gain is gone (Rev 18:19).
4. And they do not go to her help (Rev 18:15). They stand afar off for the fear of her torment. Look well at these friends, for such are they that sin and sinners call friends. “There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother,” but such Babylon never gets.
IV. ALL HEAVEN, ANGELS AND SAINTS, REJOICE. When we read over the subject of their joy, we find that:
1. It is not because in this Babylon there was noticing innocent or good. There was much. Rev 18:22, Rev 18:23 tell of what was lawful and right in any community. In the worst of men there is good. None are utterly bad. But:
2. That the main characteristic of her life was evil. And, therefore, her destruction was a matter of joy. She deceived all nations. She slew God’s saints. Thus:
3. Justice was done. And:
4. It was completely done. See the symbol of the angel with the millstone (Rev 18:21). Nothing like this has ever been accomplished yet, but this prophecy is a sure promise that it will be. “Who shall live when the Lord doeth this?” Amongst whom shall we be found? Let us now “come out of her, that we be not,” etc. (Rev 18:4).S.C.
Rev 18:4
The fall of Babylon.
“Come out of her, my people.” This is not the sole similar warning which Scripture contains. Cf. the warning to Lot to come out of Sodom; the warning to Israel to come away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, etc.; the warning to God’s people (Jer 51:45) to come away from Babylon, the old literal Babylon: “My people, go ye out of her, and deliver ye every man his soul.” And now we have the same warning concerning the Babylon told of in this chapter. Inquire, therefore
I. WHAT CITY OR COMMUNITY IS MEANT? And we reply:
1. Not ancient Babylon. For we have here not history, but prophecy, Nor did the ancient Babylon answer in all respects to the description here given. It was never a mercantile city.
2. Nor, exclusively, the Rome of St. John’s day. For, again, the resemblance is lacking in many important particulars, though unquestionably present in others. And although there was a destruction of Rome, more than one such, during the awful days of Nero and the wild anarchy of his immediate successorsand, no doubt, these facts formed the groundwork of the description here givenstill, what happened then does by no means fill up the language used here. And the large space given to the mercantile and maritime greatness of this city has never been applicable to Rome.
3. Nor the Rome destroyed by the Goths. When she fell she had long ceased to be “drunk with the blood of God’s saints.” Nor was she then the great city of the world. Constantinople had taken that place.
4. Nor papal Rome. She oftentimes in her history presents a hideous resemblance to the city told of here. This feature and that are frightfully like. But nothing but the blindest bigotry can assert that St. John would have drawn the picture he has if papal Rome had been in his mind.
5. Nor is it London; though, if there be any city in the world that answers to the Babylon of St. John, London is, far and away, that city. For where, more than in London, will you find a city that doth more glorify itself (verse 7); or spends more in wanton luxury; or that is more self confident, thinking, if not saying, “I am a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow”? Or where is there a city that has wider connections with the whole world, so that all the merchants of the earth look to her; for she it is who more than any other is the buyer of their goods? And what city has a vaster multitude of bodies and souls (verse 13) given up and enslaved to minister to her luxury, her lust, her wealth? Is she not “clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls,” because she is possessed of “so great riches”? And see the forest of masts in her river and docks; and the throng of shipmasters and sailors and them that trade by sea. And if “the beast” meant, as it did, the ungodly world spirit, embodied now here, now there, but which always and everywhere, though in varied form, “makes war with the Lamb,” and is essentially antichristian,if such beast sustained the Babylon of this chapter, what else sustains the metropolis of our land? But though all this may well cause much searching of heart to ourselves, we do not for a moment think that Babylon is London. No; that Babylon is:
6. Every nation, city, community, or person who shall become in God’s sight what Babylon, was. Be like Babylon, and you are Babylon. Her doom is yours, and her final fate yours also. For the law of God is, “Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the vultures,” etc. (Mat 24:28). For this is
II. THE LAW THAT THEY EXEMPLIFY. Our Lord had been telling of Divine judgments coming, and his disciples had wanted to know to whom he referred, and when, and where. And our Lord’s answer is the declaration of this law. And, like so many of our Lord’s sayings, it is vividly symbolic in form. It appeals to the imagination and uses it that the mind may be more impressed. Often had his hearers seen such incident as that told of in this law. “For in the lands of the East, when a wild beast falls in the desert, or a beast of burden on the highway, there is for a time no stir in the heavens. But far above human ken the vulture is floating, poised on his wings and looking downward. His eye soon detects the motionless thing, for he hunts by an eyesight unequalled in power among all living things, and like a stone he drops through miles of air. Others floating in the same upper region see their brother’s descent, and know its meaning. One dark speck after another grows swiftly upon the horizon, and in a few moments fifty vultures are around the carrion. Now, this illustrates, and with astonishing point and sharpness, the suddenness, the usefulness, and the necessity, of judgment. There is no delay if utter corruption has set in. Inevitable, swift, unerring, as the vultures’ descent on the carcase, is the judgment coming of the Son of man to corrupt communities and to corrupt men” (S. Brooke). Given the body, the bird will not be far off. The city told of here was such a carcase, and the vulture swoop is what the chapter describes. And there have been, are, and will be, many fulfilments of this law. Sodom and Gomorrah; the Canaanites; the first fall of Jerusalem; Babylon; Persia; Jerusalem’s second and last fall; Rome by the Goths; papal Rome at the Reformation; the French Revolution; etc.;all these and many others reveal the working of the same law. But no doubt Rome was most of all in St. John’s mind, and of her fall his thoughts were full.
“Rome shall perishwrite that word
In the blood that she hath spilt;
Perish, hopeless and abhorred,
Deep in ruin as in guilt.”
And it is as true of individuals as of communities. See that blear-eyed, ragged, shivering, and every way disreputable looking wretch, that is reeling out of the ginshop, and as he staggers along poisoning the air with his foul breath and yet fouler wordswhat a wreck the man is! Health gone and character; home, and friends, and livelihood, and all that made life worth having; and life itself going likewise. The vultures of judgment have plucked him well nigh bare, and they are at their deadly work still. Go into the wards of hospitals, the cells of prisons, the asylums for lunatics, in convict yards, or mounting the steps of the scaffold on which they are to die,in all such places you may see wretched men and women in whom is fulfilled the law, of the operation of which this chapter tells. Note, therefore
III. THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF THE “COMING OUT” HERE COMMANDED. And:
1. As to the first of these, how may we come out, etc.?
(1) Sometimes we must literally do this. As Lot from Sodom; as the Christians from Jerusalem; as Paul did from the synagogues. But very often we cannot leave where we are. Then we must obey this word by seeing to it
(2) “that we be not partakers of her sins.” Come out professedly and avowedly in confession of Christ. Come out from the company, the pleasures, the habits, of the ungodly place in which your lot may be cast. And especially
(3) come out unto Christ (cf. Heb 13:13, “Let us go forth therefore unto him”). Consecration to him will be a real obedience to this word.
2. And this is needful. How little we fear the judgments of God on sin! We do not see the vultures, and therefore think the carcase will be let alone. If it be some present, seen, peril that, threatens the lives of men, how eager then are we to warn and save! A short while ago the Marjelen See, that is formed by the melting of one part of the great Aletsch Glacier, suddenly burst through its icy barriers. The whole volume of waters began pouring down beneath the glacier, along the rapid descent of its sloping floor, towards the edge of the gorge over which they would plunge in leap after leap down to the Rhone valley far beneath. A village lies at the foot of the gorge where the glacier stream pours itself into the Rhone. That village was now in awful peril. The people who lived near the See telegraphed instantlyfor the hotel hard by had a telegraph stationto the village the tidings of what had occurred, that they might, if possible, escape. Happily the Rhone was very low and shallow at the time, and so the immense rush of waters that suddenly poured in was able to get away without much damage accruing to the people on its banks. That peril was believed in, and endeavour made to save those exposed to it. But the judgment of God against sinful nations and peoplewho realizes or fully believes that? Who flees from the wrath to come? And yet, if there be one atom of truth in God’s Word, and in all history, that wrath will come on every sinful soul. God give us to really believe this!S.C.
Rev 18:21
“No more.”
Six times over does this word recur, and always concerning the same fact. That fact, therefore, must be notable, and is intended to be noticed by us. Of what, then, is it thus repeatedly said, it is “no more”? A glance at this chapter shows that “the great city Babylon” is spoken of, and that accursed city meant heathen Rome to the mind of St. John. But full well we know that even when Rome pagan gave way to Rome papal, evil and sin, bloody persecution and cruel wrong, did not disappear. Therefore we take Babylon to mean far more than any Rome, or any city that is or has been on the face of the earth; we take it as telling of the whole kingdom of evilthat mighty empire, that hoary sinner against God and man. Though St. John meant Rome, his words tell of far more than Rome. And we, coming so far further down in the world’s history, are able and glad to read in them this fuller meaning which we believe to have been in the Divine mind, though not in that of his servant. Let Babylon stand, then, for the city where Satan’s seat isthe whole kingdom and dominion of the devil, and let us listen to the six times repeated stroke of the word “no more,” which in our text and two following verses may be heard. The city is to be “no more,” and her music “no more,” and her trade “no more,” and her food supplies “no more,” and her lamp lit feasts “no more,” and her marriage festivals “no more.” Thus, by the utter desolation of a great city, such as that which came on Babylon, is set forth the fact of the final and complete overthrow of that kingdom of evil of which Babylon was the ancient type, and Rome, in St. John’s day, the embodiment. Such utter overthrow is
I. SIGNIFIED BY SYMBOL. See the mighty angel lifting aloft the huge and ponderous millstone and then hurling it, with all his force, into the depths of the sea. There, buried out of sight, sunk down into the bed of ocean, it shall never more be seen. Such is the symbol. One that seemed little likely of fulfilment when it was given, and even now, oftentimes, seems as if it never would be fulfilled.
II. VERIFIED BY FACT. Babylon had fallen, in spite of all its greatness, and heathen Rome was hastening to her fall. And other such Babylons have risen, and wrought their evil, and rioted in their sin, and, like her, have fallen. Therefore we may he assured that the last and greatest of them all will also one day be “no more.”
III. LONGED FOR BY THE OPPRESSED. “How long, O Lord, how long, dost thou not avenge?”such has been the cry of the oppressed for weary ages. “Thy kingdom come,” is the cry we put up day by day.
IV. PROMISED IN THE GOSPEL. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” said Jesus, “because he hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor,” etc. (Luk 4:1-44.). And this is the gospel, that the kingdom of evil shall be “no more.” It is present with us now, we know, in all its forms. But it is not always so to be. Ere the glad tidings were proclaimed, good men, sore perplexed and troubled, pondered much and sadly over the mystery of evil. They could not understand how God could let it be. Nor do we fully understand even now. But this much we know, that it is but for a time. And faith is able to grasp the promise of the gospel, and to “rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.”
V. REJOICED IN BY SAINTS. The joy of all heaven because of this overthrow of evil is told of in the next chapter. Their Alleluias ascend unceasingly, for that God hath judged the accursed city and established his own reign.
VI. CREDIBLE TO REASON. The evidence for the Divine existence and the Divine characteras holy, just, wise, and goodbecomes more convincing the more it is considered, notwithstanding the existence of a kingdom of evil. Doubtless that kingdom is a great stumbling block to both reason and faith, but it is not an insurmountable one. But were it not for the truth we are considering now, that all this accursed rule of evil shall one day be “no more,” we do not see how faith in God could live. For that faith necessitates as its corollary that evil should terminate and be “no more.” Reason reiterates her conviction that if God be, evil must one day be “no more.”
VII. ACCOMPLISHED BY CHRIST. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested.” “I saw,” he says, “Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” “The prince of this world is judged.” There was that, however imperfectly we may understand it, in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which effected the virtual overthrow of evil. Satan received his death stroke; he is no longer what he was. We know and confess that in some aspects of life it seems very hard to believe this. But when we consider what the power of our blessed Lord and Master has already done; how the might of his meekness, the love of his sacrifice, the attraction of his cross, have already subdued so many hearts and triumphed over so many foes,then faith revives, and we can believe that, as he said, “the prince of this world is judged.” Lord, we believe; but help our unbelief.S.C.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Rev 18:1-8
The fall of corrupt society.
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven,” etc. Regarding, as I do, this book as a record of visions which its author had in Patmos, at a period when the most stupendous events were occurring around him, the only practical use that can be made of them is to illustrate and impress those moral principles that are trite to man as man, the world over and the ages through. It appears absurd and useless, and an utter waste of labour, to attempt (which most expositors have done and are doing) an interpretation of a dream containing, as it generally does, objects that are grotesque, unnatural, and monstrous. Albeit it is most rational and practically valuable to employ it to set forth and impress the eternal realities of the spirit world. Our subject is the final fall of corrupt society. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” (Rev 18:2). Babylon here represents society. it is a city. It is not the private residence of an individual, isolated from all others, but congeries of houses for the dwelling of a community. Because man is a gregarious animal and sympathetic, he lives, for the most part, in communities. A community may be as small as a family, as vast as a city, or as wide as an empire. It may be barbaric or civilized, civil or religious, or a combination of both. But Babylon not only represents society, but corrupt society. The moral character of the population was an outrage on all the laws of true morality and genuine religion. Human society was not only corrupt in Babylon, but it is corrupt in all its sections throughout the world. What an old Hebrew writer says of the Jewish nation, is true, more or less, of all society. “From the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no soundness… but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores.” Morally, all society is Babylonianized. In this Babylonthis corrupt society even as it exists here in Christendomwe have all the evils and the vices that were found in pagan Rome. The distinction between pagan Rome and papal Rome is purely fictitious. What cardinal sins find you in the former that were not embodied in the history of the latter? “Is fallen, is fallen:” what in the history of Divine truth will be in fact and form millions of ages hence is now in spirit and reality. Hence “Babylon is fallen.” The following remarks are suggested concerning the fall of Babylon, this fall of corrupt society.
I. IT IS DIVINELY PROCLAIMED. Who proclaims it? A Divine angel, a minister from the Eternal. “After these things I saw another angel come [coming] down from [out of] heaven, having great power [authority]; and the earth was lightened with his glory” (Rev 18:1). “After these things.” After the stupendous events recorded in former visions, this mighty angel, clad with authority and corruscating in splendour, comes down from the eternal heavens of reality, and proclaims with a loud voice this fall of moral Babylon. The ultimate fall of all that is morally corrupt in human communities is not a matter of speculation and mere probability; it is absolutely inevitable. Wrong cannot stand forever; though, like the colossal image in Daniel, it may be constructed of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and be associated with the splendours of empire, yet its “feet are of clay,” and it must sooner or later tumble to pieces. Head of gold, but feet of clay! It is not a fixed star in the immeasurable expanse of space, but a mere meteor, brilliant and swift for a moment, then black and still forever. As there is a law of disintegration in the material universe, that so separates the hugest mountains that they ultimately disappear, so there is in the moral a law of retribution, which will ultimately break into pieces the world of corrupt society. Babylon must fail.
II. IT IS MANIFESTLY DESERVED. The description here given reveals such a condition of moral foulness and wickedness as not only to merit but to demand this doom. “Is become the [a] habitation of devils, and the [a] hold of every foul [unclean] spirit, and a cage [a hold] of every unclean and hateful bird (verse 2). As in the ruins of old cities, the cormorant, the screech owl, the vulture, and other hideous creatures are found, so in this moral Babylon are found the most horrible and detestable of all existences. The utter extermination, or rather extinction, of such objects is urgently required. But this is not all. Mark its appalling wickedness. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication [For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen], and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through [by] the abundance [power] of her delicacies [wantonness]” (verse 3). “Reference here is not,” says an expositor, “made to earthly but to spiritual waresindulgences, idolatries, superstitions, and worldly compromises.” Does not such a corrupt society, such a moral Babylon, justly deserve this miserable ending? “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” The seeds of ruin lie in every evil principle, and are found in the moral heart of men. These seeds must break into fruits of rankling poison sooner or later.
III. IT IS A REASON FOR QUITTING IT. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people [Come forth, my people, out of her], that ye be not partakers [have no fellowship] of [with] her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (verse 4). As the house is falling, let the tenants quit and save their lives; the city is about breaking into flames, therefore escape to the mountains. This voice from heaven suggests:
1. The possibility of good men, living in this corrupt societythis moral Babylon. “Come out of her, my people.” Good men are found living and working in the midst of a “wicked and perverse generation.” There were a few men in corrupt Sardis who “walked with God.” The depravities of our contemporaries and neighbours are no justification for our defects. They should rather warn us against the wrong, and stimulate us to the right.
2. That good men, unless they quit this corrupt society, will be involved in its guilt and fate. “That ye be not partakers of her sins.” The exodus here demanded is not, of course, bodily, but spiritual; not from places, but from principles; not from persons, but from characters; from the corrupt spirit of places and persons. “Come out from among them, anti be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” Unless you do so you will be tainted with their impurity and afflicted with their plagues.
IV. IT IS A DEVELOPMENT OF RETRIBUTION. “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities, Reward her [render unto her] even as she rewarded you [rendered], and double unto her double [the double] according to her works” (verses 5, 6). “The idea is of a great heap firmly fastened, and towering, like another Babel, as far as heaven. The idea is more than that of the cry of sin reaching heaven, as in the case of Sodom (Gen 18:20, Gen 18:21); the sins themselves, many and imperial, have touched the face of heaven. God hath remembered her. Sometimes the oppressed have thought that God hath forgotten the voice of the enemy; but the long suffering of the Lord is salvation. The same voice which bids the people of God come forth summons the agents of vengeance. Many Old Testament parallels will suggest themselves (Jer 51:18; Psa 79:12; Psa 137:8; Isa 40:2). The ‘double’ must not be taken to mean ‘double her sins.’ Her sins are themselves called double, and her judgment is according to her sins. She is double stained in wickedness, and the law of retribution fiercely works in her. The cup of her luxuriousness becomes the cup of vengeance. The flowery path has led to the broad gate and the great fire (Bishop of Ripen). The ruin comes, then, not as a casual event, nor as a positive infliction, but as the result of the eternal law of retribution: a law silent in its operations, resistless in its force, and inevitable in its issues. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” This law of moral causation links sin to misery as indissolubly as attraction links planets to the sun. “As you stood some stormy day upon a sea cliff, and marked the giant billow rise from the deep to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its course, and hurl it back to the depths of ocean? Did you ever stand beneath the leaden, lowering cloud, and mark the lightning’s leap as it shot and flashed, dazzling athwart the gloom, and think that you could grasp the bolt, and change its path? Still more foolish and vain his thought, who fancies that he can arrest or turn aside the purpose of God, saying, ‘What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?’ ‘Let us break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords from us.’ Break his bands asunder! How he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh!”
V. IT INVOLVES AN OVERWHELMING CATASTROPHE. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day [in one day shall her plagues], death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth [which judged] her” (verse 8). “She thought herself strong,” says a modern expositor. “She forgot the strength of the Almighty. Her plagues were fourfold, as though from every quarter her trouble came. Death, for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance; and fire, the punishment of her fornication.” When full judgment comes upon a corrupt community, the horrors involved not only transcend description, but even imagination. What is lost? Friendship gives way to fiendish battlings; peace gives way to furious storms; hope gives way to black despair and terrible apprehensions; liberty gives way to a crushing thraldom, in which every faculty of the soul is bound in chains of darkness. All the lights of the soul are quenched, and the whole heavens are mantled in a starless midnight.
CONCLUSION. Mark well, brother, and study deeply the final fall of corrupt society. Every corrupt soul is in truth a moral Babylon that “is fallen, is fallen.” “Fallen” from whither? From some local height? From some Himalayan apex to a fathomless dungeon, or from some worldly pinnacle? From a mansion to a cot, from a princeling to a pauper? Such falls are not vital. Change of place does not necessarily affect the highest interests of the soul. “The mind is its own place.” Nor change of circumstances. In truth, a descension from the highest affluence to the lowest indigence may conduce to its true elevation. The fall is from virtue to vice, from truth to error, from liberty to thraldom, from sunshine to midnight, from the Divine to the devilish. What more terrible sentence can be pronounced on a soul than “It is fallen, it is fallen”? Will it continue to fall forever? Is there no hand to arrest the descent, and to lift it to the heights from whence it has fallen? “The hand of mercy is not shortened, that it cannot save.” On the pages of ecclesiastical history, of sacred biography, and of our own memory, we read of souls that have fallen low, but have been raised again. They have been able to appropriate the language of an old Hebrew writer, and say, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
“Thy mercy, Lord, is like the morning sun,
Whose beams undo what sable night hath done;
Or, like a stream, the current of whose course,
Restrained awhile, runs with a swifter three.
Oh! let me glow beneath those sacred beams,
And bathe me in those silver streams.
To thee alone my sorrows shall appeal
Hath earth a wound too hard for Heaven to heal?
(Quarles.)
D.T.
Rev 18:7
The rule of retribution
“How much so much,” etc. The subject here suggested is man’s future retribution ruled by his present condition. “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much… sorrow give her.” This, stripped of all historical and metaphorical allusions, means the present circumstances of the sinner shall rule his future suffering. I offer three remarks on this subject.
I. THIS RULE COMMENDS ITSELF TO OUR SENSE OF JUSTICE. That those of the wicked who in this world live in affluence, and have more than heart can wish, possess abundant opportunities for intellectual and moral improvement and means of doing good, should in future retribution fare alike with those who have none of these blessings or advantages, would be an outrage on our sense of right. Justice requires a balancing of human affairsa kind of compensation for existing discrepancies, and this mankind will have in the great retributive future.
II. THIS RULE ANSWERS TO BIBLICAL TEACHING. Throughout the whole Scripture record it is taught that sinners, after they have passed through their probationary period, will be dealt with according to the mercies they have abused, the opportunities they have neglected, and the advantages they have wasted. “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not,” etc.; “Son, remember thou in thy lifetime didst receive,” etc.
III. THIS RULE AGREES WITH UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE, Conscious contrast between a propitious past and a distressing present is, and must ever be, an element in mental suffering. There are two paupers equal, I will suppose, in age, capacity, sensibility, and character. The hovels they live in and the means of their sustenance are also equal; but the one is intensely wretched, and the other is comparatively happy. Why this? The wretched man has come down into that hovel from the home of opulence and luxury, and the other has never had a better home. Thus the contrast gives a misery to the one which the other cannot experience. So it must be in the future; the sinner who goes into retribution from mansions, colleges, and churches will, by the law of contrast, find a more terrible hell than the poor creature who has fallen into it from ignorance and pauperism. Far more terrible, methinks, will be the hell of the aristocracy than the hell of the struggling and starving millions. “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her.” Worldly advantages are not always transitory, but often permanently injurious. “Though the sinner’s excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish forever.”D.T.
Rev 18:9-24
The fall of the corrupt in human life.
“And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her,” etc. All along through my remarks on the Apocalyptic visions of this book I have not only discarded any attempt at a literal interpretation, but have affirmed that, as a rule, such interpretations of dreams or visions can seldom, if ever, from the nature of the case, be correct; and more especially so with the visions and dreams recorded in this book. The objects seen, the voices heard, the acts performed, are so incongruous with the course of nature and the concurrent experience of mankind, that the attempt at a literal exposition would seem to be the height of absurdity. Anyhow, though it has been tried a thousand times, and is still being tried, all the results are utterly unsatisfactory to the unprejudiced and unsophisticated intellect and conscience of mankind. Common sense repudiates all such interpretations. Using, however, such visions and dreams as the great redeeming Teacher of mankind used the blooming lily, the fruitful vine, the toiling fishermen, the flowing river, the booming sea, and the beaming heavensviz. to suggest and illustrate the eternal realities of the supersensuous realmis to use them not only legitimately, but usefully in the highest degree. Still proceeding on this principle, we may perhaps get out of the strange scenes here recorded some things that may quicken our intellect, encourage our conscience, and inspire our hope. The subject here isThe fall of the corrupt in human life. The corrupt thing is here symbolized by Babylon. “Babylon is fallen.” If Babylon here be understood to mean the old cry of whose infamous history we have all read, the language used is historically true, for it had fallen to ruins five hundred years before this, and had become “the habitation of devils, and every foul thing.” If, as some say, it means pagan Rome, it is not true, for that is as strong and numerically influentialif not more sonow as it ever has been. Take Babylon as standing for wrong everywhere throughout society, and the expression is not true. Moral Babylon in the aggregate still lives and works on this planet. Albeit, regarding it as an event perpetually occurring, it is true enough. Wrong, including all that is morally evil in human thought, feeling, and action, is constantly failing. It has been falling from Adam to Christ, and from Christ to this hour. Such stupendous events were occurring in connection with it in the days of John, that he might well have dreamt that he heard some angel say, “Babylon is fallen.” The false and the wrong everywhere are constantly falling, and must continue to do so. Do not, then, understand that the whole of corrupt society on this earth will in some distant day in the mighty aggregate be at once clearly swept from the face of the earth. There is no reason to believe this. The idea is contrary to the analogy of nature, where all things move gradually. Wrong has a very slow death. If we use the word “falling” for “is fallen,” it will give us a universal truthviz, that moral Babylon, the corrupt in society, is falling. I stand upon the brow of some firm and lofty mountain, and I say, “This mountain is falling;” and I say truly, for there is not a moment in its existence when it is not crumbling into the atoms that made it up, for the great physical law of disintegration will never cease operating upon it, until it shall “become a plain.” “The mountains falling cometh to nought,” etc. Or I stand by the trunk of some huge tree, and I say, “This tree is falling.” And I speak truth, for the great law of vegetable decay is working in it, and will one day bring it down into the dust. So with the wrong thing in human life. Though it stand as a huge mountain filling the horizon of humanity, it will, by the eternal law of moral disintegration, be one day brought down. Or though it stand as some huge tree whose branches spread over the race, and under whose shadows mighty populations live, the invincible and unalterable law of moral retribution will rot it clean away. The record here given of this highly symbolic vision suggests its influence upon two classes of mind. It excites
I. THE LAMENTATION OF THE BAD Who are the men who feel distressed at the fall of the wrong thingthe moral Babylon? We find at least two classes in these verses.
1. The ruling class. “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously [wantonly] with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her [weep and wail over her], when they shall see [look upon] the smoke of her burning” (verse 9). Throughout the human race the world over, we find a class of men who are the chiefs, the masters, the kings, who control and determine the destinies of others.
2. The mercantile class. “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn,” etc. (verses 11-17). The mercantile principle is an instinct Divine and beneficent. Its operations are not limited to shops, storerooms, markets, exchanges, or land; it extends to the ocean. “And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors [every one that saileth anywhither, and mariners],” etc. (verse 17). The ships of commerce are found ploughing every sea and lying in every port. The principle is found working among savage hordes as well as amongst civilized men. But whilst the principle is right enough, and transcendently beneficent when rightly directed, it has, like all other instincts of our nature, been sadly perverted. It is perverted when it is directed not to the good of the commonwealth, but to the gratification and aggrandizement of self. Hence the enormous private fortunes on the one hand, and the starving destitution of millions on the other. Now, this morally wrong thing, this every man for himself, is a principle that has been so much criticized, not only by political and moral philosophers, but by the thinking men in all conditions of life, that it is getting weak, beginning to fall, and must ultimately be destroyed. When the grand altruistic truth of Christly socialism becomes realized by the masses, “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth,” then this every-man-for-himself principle will fall, and with its fall what will become of the enormous possessions which they have obtained merely by working for themselves? No wonder they are distressed at the prospect. Every day this wrong thing is gradually falling, and the best men everywhere are becoming altruistic. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.” How they struggle to arrest this wrong principle in its fall, to buttress it up; but it is the fiat of eternal justice that it should fall and rise no more.
II. THE JUBILATION OF THE GOOD. “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets,” etc. (verse 20). Whilst those who have a vested interest in the maintenance of the wrong thingwhose pomp, and wealth, and luxurious sensualities, and gilded pageantries would have never existed but for the Babylonian spirit that permeates social lifehowl in anguish at the fall of wrong, there are others transported with rapture as they see it giving way. Who are these? Unfallen angels, saints, and holy intelligences throughout the empire of God. “Thou heaven, and ye holy apostles [ye saints] and prophets.” Heaven knows what is going on on earth, and is thrilled with delight at the sight of even “one sinner that repenteth.” The change of governments, the fluctuation of markets, the revolution of empiressuch things as these awaken the deepest concern of the ignorant and erring sons of men. But they wake no ripple on the deep translucent river of celestial minds. Whereas every fraction of wrong which they see falling into ruin from this huge Babylon gives them a new thrill of delight. Why should these peers in the spiritual universe thus exult at the fail of wrong?
1. Because the fall is just. Evil has no right to exist; it is an abnormal thing. The father of lies is a usurper in the universe. All the wrong systems, theoretical and practical, in every department of human life, political, commercial, ecclesiastic, he has built up on falsehood and deception; and their destruction is an act of eternal justice. God speed the right! This is the instinctive prayer of all consciences.
2. Because the fall is beneficent. The giving way of the wrong thing in society is as the breaking up of the dense cloud that darkens the whole heavens of man, the bringing down of fertilizing showers on the earth, and brightening the sky into sunny azure. It is the uprooting of those thorns and thistles and noxious weeds that have turned the paradise of our being into a howling wilderness. What benevolent nature could fail to exult in such an event as this? “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets.”
3. Because the fall is complete. “And a mighty [strong] angel took up a stone like a [as it were a] great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence [a mighty fall] shall that great city Babylon [Babylon the great city] be thrown [cast] down, and shall be found no more at all,” etc. (verses 21-23). All this imposing symbolical description suggests the enormous curses associated with moral Babylonianism, and the strong reason for jubilation at its final fall. The fall of moral evil, even in part or whole, in the individual soul, in small or large communities, is not a temporary event. Destroyed once, it is destroyed forever. “It shall be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” It is “cast into the sea.” What does the mighty “millstone” suggest? What was the “little stone” in Daniel’s vision cut out of the rock without hands, and which became a great mountain? This, I trowthe gospel, which is the “power of God,”this is the only instrument that can hurl Babylon into the depths of the sea.D.T.
Rev 18:21
Moral evil symbolized.
“And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea,” etc. In these words we have a symbolization of moral evil.
I. A SYMBOLIZATION OF ITS NATURE. Babylon is a symbol. Not unfrequently is moral evil in the aggregate represented by some one object. Sometimes by the “old man,” that is, the unrenewed, depraved man; he is the embodiment of all the elements of sin. Sometimes by the “world,” that is, the moral evil embodied in the world. “He that loveth the world,” etc., that is, the moral evil embodied in the world. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream it is represented as a colossal image, representing the wealth and power of empire, the pride of the idolatry, the wickedness of all kingdoms. Here in these words it is represented by the great city Babylon. Babylon stands here as the grand symbol of moral evil. If you want to see sin, or moral evil, in all its hideous aspects, in all its infernal operations, in all its damning consequences, study the great city of Babylon. In this city you will find not only the evils of the Roman Catholic Church, but of all Churches, of all institutions, of all countries and climes, ay, of all human hearts. The great city Babylon is in every unreserved soul. Here is
II. A SYMBOLIZATION OF ITS OVERTHROW. “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” The moral evil of the world is to be destroyed; it is not to exist forever. The various figures used to symbolize it are set forth as objects for utter destruction. The world is to be “overcome,” as Christ overcame it. The old man, which is corrupt, is to be “crucified with his affections and lusts.” The great image is to be shivered to pieces by the “stone,” the symbol of Divine truth; and here the great city Babylon is represented as being thrown like a great millstone “into the sea.” Two remarks are suggested concerning its overthrow.
1. It is to be overthrown by superhuman agency. “A mighty angel,” a messenger from heaven. Was not Christ a mighty Messenger sent from heaven for this purpose? Yes; he came to “destroy the works of the devil.” It is said that good alone can overcome evil. True, but it must be good in a supernatural form; and in this form the gospel brings us the good.
2. It is to be overthrown in such a way as never to appear again. Babylon is thrown like a great millstone into the sea. “And shall be found no more at all.” As Pharaoh sank like lead in the mighty waters, and rose no more to life, so shall moral evil like a mighty millstone fall into the fathomless abysses of eternal ruin. “Shall be found no more at all.” No less than six times are these words repeated. Some one has said that they toll like a funeral knell. I would rather say that they chime like a triumphant peal. Thank God, mighty and wide as is the dominion of evil in the world, I am prone to believe that it will not endure forever. All the holy prayers in the universe cry for its ruin. All holy agencies work for it, and omnipotence is pledged to its overthrow.D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rev 18:1. In the former chapter, the angel interpreter has given us a key to the meaning of the prophesy, which describes this third and most lasting period, wherein the saints were to suffer for their faith and constancy; that they might expect a time of temptation and suffering; that they might be more careful through grace to confirm their faith and patience, and encourage each other to perseverance. This chapter represents another angel sent from heaven, to reveal the sure judgments of God on these enemies of the pure Christian religion; to foretel their sure destruction, and that in as eminent a manner as God ever appeared to punish Babylon and Tyre, the ancient enemies of true religion. This part of the prophesyis very fit and proper for the general design of it; to caution good Christians against the corruption of the times in which they live; and to give them consolation in all their sufferings through confidence in the protection of God, and through hope of deliverance in a proper time, and of a glorious reward in the end.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 18:1-8. I saw another angel, &c. After the account of the state and condition of spiritual Babylon, here follows a description of her fall and destruction, in the same sublime and figurative style as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have foretold the fall of Babylon and Tyre, the types and emblems of this spiritual Babylon. A mighty and glorious angel descends from heaven, and proclaims (as in chap. Rev 14:8.) the fall of Babylon,and,togetherwithherpunishment,thecrimeswhichdeservedit; her idolatry and wickedness. It is farther added, that after her fall she shall be made a scene of desolation, and become the habitation of hateful birds and beasts of prey; as the prophet also predicted concerning ancient Babylon, Isa 13:21 . Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there,and satyrs shall dance there: where the word which we render satyrs, the Septuagint translate demons, or devils. But if this fall of Babylon was effected by Totilas king of the Ostrogoths, as Grotius affirms; or by Alaric king of the Visigoths, as the bishop of Meaux contends; how can Rome be said ever since to have been the habitation of devils, &c. unless they will allow the popes and cardinals to merit these appellations? The word rendered delicacies, Rev 18:3. (,) seems to signify such luxury of diet as cherishes wantonness, and disposes to acts of unchastity; and may well represent the manner in which the Roman clergy have pampered themselves, and the effects it has produced; as well as the idolatries which have been established and maintained to support that luxury. Another voice is also heard from heaven, (Rev 18:4.) exhorting all Christians to forsake the communion of so corrupt a church, lest they should be partakers of her sins, and of her plagues; and at the same time denouncing that her punishment should be great and extraordinary, in proportion to her crimes. But was there any such necessity for forsaking the church of Rome in the days of Alaric, or Totilas, before she had yet degenerated again into idolatry? Or what were then her notorious crimes, deserving of such exemplary punishment, unless Rome Christian was to suffer for the sins of Rome Pagan? She saith in her heart, (Rev 18:7.) like ancient Babylon, Isa 47:7-8 . I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow; but notwithstanding, she shall be utterly burned with fire, &c. Rev 18:8. These expressions can imply no less than a total destruction by fire; but Rome has never yet been totally destroyed by fire: the most that Alaric and Totilas did, was burning some parts of the city; but if only some parts of the city were burnt, it was not an event important enough to be ascribed to the Lord God particularly, and to be considered as a strong exertion of his judgment.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 18:1-3 . . , . . . The distinguishes this angel which can be neither Christ, [3914] nor the Holy Ghost, [3915] nor Luther [3916] from the one mentioned last. [3917] Beng. improperly refers the also to , as though this angel, coming from heaven, were contrasted with the one mentioned in Rev 10:1 ; but there, as here, the . is an attributive determination to the idea of the subject . .
. The visible sign of this great plenitude of power is described immediately afterwards: . , without any more specific statement as to in what way this has come to manifestation. [3918] But for the exceedingly important proclamation which is announced in Rev 18:2 sqq., an exalted angel is prepared, who, with the brilliancy of his heavenly glory, shines forth over the whole earth (Rev 18:2 : . ), [3919] and cries with such a mighty voice that his message resounds throughout the whole earth, [3920] as far as the dominion of the city that has incurred the judgment extends.
, cf. Rev 14:8 .
. In the sense of Isa 13:22 ; Isa 34:14 sqq., and Bar 4:35 , it is rendered clear, that the stately city shall be entirely desolated. On the . . , . . ., cf. Jer 50:39 ; Zep 2:14 ; Psa 102:7 . Even in respect to the description (Rev 18:2 ), the allegorical exposition has been attempted; even Ebrard understands the “birds” spiritually.
The expression signifies that the desolated is one received involuntarily, a prison. [3921]
, . . . Declaration of the guilt of sin as the foundation of the judgment. [3922]
, . . . Not only is the sin of godless, gluttonous, and arrogant wantonness punished, [3923] but at the same time the contrast is marked between the complete desolation and the former wantonness which had within reach such means that the merchants of the whole earth were thereby enriched. [3924] The . . does not mean “because of the abundance of luxury,” [3925] also not “because of their great wantonness,” [3926] but refers to the wantonness exercised with respect to the vast resources of the state. [3927]
[3914] Calov., Hengstenb.
[3915] Coccejus, Vitr.
[3916] Nicolai, etc. Cf. Calov.
[3917] Rev 17:1 ; Rev 17:7 ; Rev 17:15 .
[3918] Cf. Rev 10:1 , Rev 1:14 sqq.
[3919] Cf. Rev 5:2 .
[3920] Rev 18:2 : . . Cf. Rev 5:2 .
[3921] Rev 2:10 , Rev 20:7 ; Beng., Hengstenb.
[3922] Cf. Rev 14:8 , Rev 17:2 .
[3923] Cf. Rev 18:7 ; Rev 18:9 .
[3924] Cf. Rev 18:11 ; Rev 18:23 .
[3925] Ewald.
[3926] De Wette, Hengstenb.
[3927] Cf. also Andr., Grot., Vitr.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
B.EARTH-PICTURE OF THE FALL OF BABYLON.
Rev 18:1-24.
1And [om. And]1 After these things I saw another angel come down [descending] from [ins. the] heaven, having great power [authority]; and the earth was lightened2 [lighted up] with his glory. And he cried mightily [om. mightily] with [in] a strong voice,2 saying, [ins. Fallen, fallen is] Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen [om. is fallen, is fallen], and is become the [a] habitation of devils [demons], and the [a] hold () of every foul [unclean] spirit, and a cage [hold] of everyunclean and hateful [hated] bird. 3For all nations have drunk of [or fallen by]3 the wine4 of the wrath [anger or rage]5 of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have [om. have] committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed [became] rich through the abundance [from the power or influence()] of her delicacies [luxury]. 4And I heard another voice from [ins. the] heaven, saying, Come [ins. forth] out6 of her, my people, that ye be not partakersof [partake not in] her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5For her sins have reached [heaped together]7 unto [ins. the] heaven, and God hath remembered6 her iniquities. Reward [Render unto] her even [om. even] as [ins. also] she rewarded [rendered] you [om. you]8, and double unto her [om. unto herins. the]9 double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled [or mingled10], fill to [ormingle10 for] her double. 7How much she hath [om. hath] glorified herself [herself], and lived deliciously [luxuriated], so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart [ins. that]11, I sit a queen, and am no widow [a widow Iam not], and shall see no sorrow [sorrow I shall not see]. 8Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning [sorrow], and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth [judged]12 9her. And [ins. there shall weep and wail over her] the kings of the earth, who [ins. with her] have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her [om. with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her], when they shall [om. shall] see the smoke of her burning, 10standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas [Woe], alas [woe], that [the] great city [,] Babylon, that mighty [the strong] city! for in one hour is [om. is] thy judgmentcome [came]. 11And the merchants of the earth shall [om. shall]13 weep and mourn 12[sorrow] over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise [lading] any more: The [om. The]14 merchandise [lading] of gold, and [ins. of] silver, and [ins. of] precious stones [stone], and of pearls, and [ins. of] fine linen, and [ins. of] purple, and [ins. of] silk, and [ins. of] scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory [every ivory article], and all manner vessels [every article] of most 13precious wood, and of brass, and [ins. of] iron, and [ins. of] marble, and cinnamon, ins. and amomum,]15 and odors [incense ()], and ointments [ointment], and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts [cattle], and sheep, and [ins. of] horses, and [ins. of] chariots, and [ins. of] slaves [bodies ()],14and souls () of men. And the [thy]16 fruits [fruit-time ()]17 that thy soul lusted after are [om. that thy soul lusted after areins. of the desire of the16 soul is] departed from thee, and all [ins. the fat] things [ins. and the bright things] which were dainty and goodly [om. which were dainty and goodly] are [have] departed from thee, and thou shalt [they18 shall] find them no [never, never] moreat all.19 15The merchants of these things, which were made [who became] rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing [sorrowing],16And [om. And]20 saying, Alas [Woe], alas [woe], that [the] great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked [gilded] with gold,17and precious stones [stone], and pearls [pearl]! For [Because] in one hour [ins. was made desolate] so great riches [wealth] is come to nought [om. is come to nought]. And every shipmaster [pilot], and all the company in ships [every one sailing in the region (or any whither],21 and sailors, and as many as trade by [ply the] sea,stood afar off, 18and cried when they saw [or seeing] the smoke of her burning, saying,What city is [om. is] like unto this, the great city! 19And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing [sorrowing], saying, Alas [Woe], alas [woe], that [the] great city, wherein were made [became] rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is [was] she made desolate.20Rejoice over her, thou [O] heaven, and ye holy [om. ye holyins. the saints, and the] apostles and [ins. the] prophets; for God hath avenged you [om. hath avenged youins. judged your judgment]22 on her.21And a [or one] mighty [strong] angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it [om. it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall [ins. be cast] that great city [om. that great city] Babylon [ins., the great city] be thrown down [om. be thrown22 down], and shall be found no more at all.23 And the [a] voice of harpers, and [ins. of] musicians [or singers], and of pipers, and [ins. of] trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no [any] craftsman [artisan], of [ins. any art] whatsoever craft he be [om. whatsoever craft he be], shall be found any [no] more [ins. at all] in thee; and 23the [a] sound [voice] of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the [a] light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the [a] voice of the [om. the] bridegroom and of the [om. the] bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth;24 for by thy sorceries [sorcery] were all [ins. the] nations deceived [seduced or misled ()]. 24And in her was found the [om. the] blood25 of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were [have been] slain upon the earth.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
SYNOPTICAL VIEW.
With the vision of the heavenly counsel of judgment upon Babylon and the ideal judgment itself, is conjoined the proleptical representation of the actual judgment as taking place on the earth. Hence, together with the unity of the two sections, we must also recognize the contrast between these two pictures of Babylon. In the light of Heaven, Babylon appears as a Woman, who, in the pomp of false magnificence and beauty, has lapsed into the extreme of hideousness; a Harlot,drunken with bloodthe blood of the saints; bearing still the golden cup of holy consecration, but riding upon the blood-colored Beast of Antichristianity, the organ of the abyss. In her earthly self-sufficiency and in the lament of the earth on her account (Revelation 18), she is a Queen, to whom the kings of the earth have paid homage, who has been magnified by the rich, the merchants, and the sea-farers, glorified by the artisans, and marvelled at, in her splendor, possessions and enjoyment, by the inhabitants of the earth.
A strong Angel, who descends from Heaven to earth, comes upon her. His strength is signalized by the fact that the earth is lighted up by his glory. There is but one enlightenment for the earthviz., the light of the gospel; but there is a distinction between the stage of apostolic embassage, that of reformatory confession, dogma and cultus, and this spiritual day-light of evangelic truthappropriated by all good spirits,which, in Divine-human beauty, in Christian humanity, finally, as in one instant, extends from land to land, and illumines the fallen Woman in all her hate-fulness, thus executing upon her the ideal judgment and denouncing (Rev 18:2-3) the first real judgment, which appears as a self-judgment of the great Babylon in her internal relations. The ideal judgment is the heavenly proclamation of her fall, loudly promulgated through the earth. Fallen! fallen! is the judicial cry of Heaven. The fall agrees in greatness with the height which she claimed as Babylon the Great (see Isaiah 14).
First Fundamental Form of the Actual Judgment. Revelation of the Inner Judgment of the Fallen Church [Rev 18:2-3].
She has become a habitation or dwelling-place of demons;does not this, considered in the light of Heaven, signify a sort of Hell on earth? A watch-tower [hold] of all manner of unclean spirits;does not this mean a concentration of the most diverse evil motives and egoistical characters? A coop or poultry-yard [hold] of all unclean and hated birds;does not this mean a gathering-place of all volatile minds, intent upon the prey of earthly profits? (See Mat 13:32.) The Spirit of prophecy has indicated a firm and exclusive organization by a three-fold term: a fixed habitation, a watch-tower, a secure receptacle for birds.26 It is true that , in both instances of its occurrence, may be significant of a prison; this term would not here have been applicable to the demons. The cause of this destruction of Babylon is the wine of the anger [or rage] of her fornication, i. e., the riotous enthusiasm of her anger [rage] or fanaticism in favor of her idolatries, her deifications of all sorts. Of this wine she has given to all nations to drink, and has intoxicated them more or less, instead of truly sobering them for the milk of the Gospel and wholesome nourishment, in accordance with the reiterated instructions of the Apostles Peter and Paul (1Pe 1:13; 1Pe 4:7; 1Pe 5:8; 1Co 15:34; 1Th 5:6; 1Th 5:8; 1Ti 3:2; 1Ti 3:11; Tit 2:2; 2Ti 2:26). In distinction from this popular fanaticism, the kings of the earth, with the political consciousness of refined worldly-mindedness, have committed fornication with herhave deified her, permitted themselves to be deified by her, and shared all manner of other deifications with her.27 Another pernicious effect is that the merchants, i. e., those speculators of earth who are bent upon mammon, have become rich through her luxury. The very one who should equalize earthly relations by the spirit of Christian brotherliness [i. e., the Church], has, by self-deification and the deification of earthly powers, brought to a culmination that false pomp and love of magnificence by which the normal distinction of rich and poor has been perverted into unnatural and pernicious extremes of luxury and pauperism. The poisoning of popular life, of politics, of social ordinancessuch is the three-fold and yet unitous effect of her three principal sins: [1] the presentation of the wine of anger [or rage (see Notes 5, p. 318; and 16, p. 274).E. R. C.]; [2] seduction to fornication; [3] luxurious external show.
Second Judgment. Social Judgment of Separation between the People of God and the City of Babylon (Rev 18:4-5).
This separation is brought about by the command of a voice from the Heaven. Whilst the Angel who descended from Heaven has executed the judgment of the Spirit of truth, this voice comes from the height of Heaven, and, as appears from the context, from the judgment-throne of God Himself. The exode of the people of God from fellowship with Babylon, not only brings her internal judgment to view, but also serves as an introduction to the external judgment, because it is itself the dynamical social judgment. Thus must Noah go forth from the antediluvian race that had incurred the judgment of God; thus Lot must depart from Sodom; thus Israel, from Egypt; thus the primitive Christians, from fallen Jerusalem; and so on. This exode, which includes within itself the abrogation of all relations of religious fellowship, is demanded by truth, by righteousness, by fidelity to the Lord. Thus believers execute the minor ban in just reaction against the great ban, and the Church finally goes forth from the Church, in order that it may continue to be the Church (Heb 13:13).28 The conservation of human relations of duty will come out all the more clearly, the more the religious and moral errors of a false humanism are discarded in pure and strict freedom of spirit. This exode also becomes necessary, however, for the self-preservation of believing souls, as is declared by the warning: That ye partake not in her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. How easily an accompliceship in guilt originates through implication in the sins of others, the Old Testament has typically demonstrated in the institution of the sin-offering (Leviticus 5), as well as in many historical occurrences (Joshua 7.). The modern worlds sensorium for these mysterious relations of guilt is much enfeebled. Even an entrance into the heritage of the heaviest ancient blood-debts is performed by many with as little misgiving as if they were stepping into a childs room pervaded with the breath of innocence, or even into a temple of pure spirit, pervaded with spirit-breath. The judgment of God, however, must be executed, because the sins of the City do not simply cry unto Heaven, like the sins of Sodom (Genesis 18), but they have become interlinked with each other and tower up upon each other even to Heaven, until they have become a demonic offence against the very Throne of God. Hence, God has become mindful of her iniquitiesnot simply of the last and newest, but of the entire series of them. The culmination of these iniquities hashumanly speakingagain made present to Him the whole history of their development, and with these words, the conclusion of His refraining long-suffering and the dawn of His infliction of judgment are expressed. At the basis of the expression in our passage lies a reference to the history of Sodom, the more obviously since here, also, a fiery judgment is at hand.
Third Judgment. The Recompense of Babylon (Rev 18:6-8).
The command to execute the judgment of retribution is not, like the preceding words, addressed to the people of God, as has been supposed in accordance with the reading of minuscules: as she rewarded [rendered to] you.29 But neither is the command addressed to the Angels of the plagues, as Bleek supposes, for this retribution is, according to Rev 17:16, to be executed by the Ten Horns and the Beast. The same judgment which, in the chapter cited, is spoken of as to be accomplished by them, is mentioned here, again, in Rev 18:8. The address is to those to whom she has presented the cup (Mat 7:6). De Wette with justice remarks: A challenge to the executioners of the penal judgment. has at its second occurrence the meaning of the Hebrew . It shall be done to her as she has done to others. This is the law of historic retribution which runs through the whole of the Sacred Writings (see Rev 13:10). It shall, moreover, be recompensed double to her. As repentance has a double value in proportion to the punishment which preceded it (Isa 40:2), so the guilt which is heaped up for the Day of Wrath has, similarly, a double value in reference to the succeeding punishment. So, in particular, the cup of the wine of anger is to be filled double for her. At the time of judgment, negative fanaticism falls, with double fury, upon the guilt of positive fanaticism.But not simply the torments which she has inflicted upon men are to be recompensed to her, but also her self-glorification and arrogant ostentation are to be punished, in a corresponding degree, with torment and sorrow. The heavenly voice also gives the ground of this severe sentence. For, even now in the hour of judgment, she, hardened and without a foreboding of approaching ill, gives utterance in her heart to her false security thus: I sit [Lange: am enthroned as] a queen, and a widow I am not (comp. Luk 18:3;not the Church that misses her heavenly Christ on earth), and sorrow I shall not see. This obduracy is the motive which doubles her guilt and punishment. Therefore, also, shall her plagues come in one dayi. e., she does not gradually sink into ruin, but she plunges into it in one grand historic catastrophe. The plagues branch out into the number of the world, the worldly number of completeness, four: Death, mourning [sorrow], hunger, fire. Death, doubtless, should not be interpreted as the death of her children (Dsterdieck), but as a presentiment of ruin which now comes over her. With this death, her egoistic lamentations correspond, amid which, again, her hunger after world-empire is augmented to fury, whilst the fire of judgment is already coming upon her. These plagues now attack her with inevitable certitude, for God has already commenced to judge her ( ), and He is mighty in His judgments, which He executes through the medium of mighty earthly powers.
Hereupon the heavenly voice denounces a simultaneous judgment upon those classes which have mingled with Great Babylon and involved themselves in her guilt; representing them as mourners over the fallen one (Rev 18:9-20).
The unitous idea of these lamentations lies in the premise that the mock-holy City has her sympathies, her roots, in the worldliness of the world, especially the great world; that she has, however, brought this world, which it was her duty to convert to God, itself to the brink of perdition. For she has made self-deification, the titanic glorification of her own dignity and authority, the centre of all corruption. She has thereby induced the kings or potentates of the earth to push their authority also to a degree exceeding a right human measure, to exchange reciprocal deifications with her and either in pride to compete with her, or to make fellowship with her. Thus have been formed the spheres of a morbid luxury, far exceeding the measure of morality, and as the merchants of the earth, or the organs of this luxury, have attained to a colossal and morbid greatness, so, likewise, have their riches reached a corresponding grandeur. Even wholesale trade, in the most extensive sense of the term, or supermarine intercourse of the world with the world, has been drawn into this great vortex of feverish worldliness. Thus the most thorough men of the world, far and wide, have lived and sinned with Great Babylon, and are most profoundly shaken and discomfited by her fall. But they care not to share her lot with her; they are faithless to her in her hour of need. The kings stand afar off for the fear of her torment (Rev 18:10). The merchants stand afar off for the fear of her torment (Rev 18:15). The sea-farers and marine traders stand afar off and cry (Rev 18:17). Doubtless, together with the ideas of their participation in her guilt, their grief, and their cowardly desertion of their mistress, there is likewise expressed the fact that Great Babylon is involved in a tremendous conflagration, which illuminates the whole earth, which admits of no remedy, which none dare approach, which, however, is visible from the remotest spotsso far, at least, as its pillar of smoke is concernedholding all spectators spellbound with fear and amazement. It might be queried: why the great detailedness of the description, especially of articles of luxury (Rev 18:12-14)? Here we encounter the same masterly skill of the prophetic spirit which is displayed by Isaiah in his portrayal of the luxury of the Hebrew women (Isaiah 3). For the worldly mind, this very detail of articles of pomp and pleasure is of supreme importance; the prophecy, therefore, ironically enters into this mode of viewthe more, since for Babylon every particle of her pleasure becomes a particle of torment. It is, further, characteristic that the kings shall weep and passionately and loudly lament () over the fall of Babylon, yet shall hold themselves aloof even at the ascending of the smoke from the beginning conflagration. That which caused them to become worshippers of the City, were the greatness and (magic) power of it. The merchants of the earth weep also; their sorrow, however, takes the form of mourning for the loss which has assailed them. Together with the greatness of the City, its magnificence and wealth have dazzled them. The sea-farers express their mourning for Babylon most passionately, in accordance with their life on the water; they were enchained by the incomparableness of the City and the great gain which it brought them.
The first lament is that of the kings of the earth; not the kings as such, but those rulers who, by the aid of the Hierarchy, have despotically governed, and, to enable them thus to do, have worked into the hands of the Hierarchy, being, therefore, bearers of a reciprocal deification.
The heavenly voice describes the lament of the merchants most comprehensively. The splendor of the merchandise of the City is expatiated upon, as consisting of: (1) Precious things [metals, jewels] and splendid stuffs; (2) Costly material (fragrant citron [thyine-] wood) and costly vessels of precious stuffs of all sorts; (3) Spices, ointments, incense; (4) Delicious articles of enjoyment and nourishment; (5) Articles of a princely household, from draught-cattle and flocks of sheep to the souls of slavesor slavish souls, which are the permanent fundamental condition of every Babylonish power. It might be thought strange that after all this, mention is made of delicious fruit,30 and that here the enumeration passes into the form of an address to Babylon itself; but in this region the smallest thing is in many respects the greatest, and, moreover, a special category of gastronomical delicacies is in pointthose, particularly, which belong to a princely dessert. Whilst the kings designated the great disaster of one hour, the catastrophe, as a judgment upon Babylon, the merchants lament that in one hour the great wealth of luxury in which Babylon arrayed herself, is destroyed.
Still more openly do the sea-farers express their egoistical interest in their cry of woe and lamentation for Great Babylon.
After this fore-description of the special judgments which, with the fall of Babylon, come upon her companions, the judgment upon Babylon herself is represented in a symbolic act.
The heavenly voice replies to all the unworthy lamentations of earth with a cry of exultation. All those who long ago pronounced the spiritual sentence of Babylons lost state, without its appearing that their sentence was of any value in the actual world, are exhorted to rejoice. Now their sentence is ratified by the judgment of God. For such is the meaning of the passage; reference is not again had to the false judgment which they have previously experienced from Babylon, for how would such a reference be applicable to Heaven? Babylon has been judged from of old: 1. By the Heaven in general, the whole ideal world of God; 2. By the Saints, and 3. By the Apostlesnay, 4. Even before them, by the Prophets of the Old Covenant.
Next follows the symbolic representation of the final consummation of the judgment. A strong Angel takes up a stone, like a great millstone, and casts it into the sea, making this act, the violent casting of the stone, the great whirlpool occasioned by it, and the precipitate sinking of the stone, a symbol of the imminent, sudden and violent reprobation of Babylon. The Angel, because he is a fore-runner of the close Parousia of Christ, is conceived of as a personal being (see Rev 19:9-10); his action, however, is thoroughly symbolical. The allegorical symbol gains in expressiveness, it becomes typical, if we consider that the sea denotes the life of the nations, that the millstone is already familiar as the instrument of punishment for offence given (Mat 18:6), that, finally, the proclamation of the strong Angel, in connection with his action, is expressive of the surest certainty of the Spirit of God in His Church. The judgment upon Babylon superinduces a great agitation in the sea of nations. This agitation is occasioned by a great stone of stumbling or most flagrant offence given by Babylon to the world, in particular to the little ones;31 and it is the Angel of the Christian faith who has in this world awakened the consciousness of the life of the nations in respect of this offence, as is expressed by the fore-runner of Christ from the other world, one, in angelic form, of the glorified ones who shall appear with Christ. The City, as Great Babylon, is destroyed; as a ruin, as a desert place, she continues, for a memorial of terror. Hence the Angel describes her imminent desolation, not simply in order to intimate that her own destruction is illustrated by the destruction of her glory. This has been previously declared. The design is, rather, to sketch the desolation of the ruin of this spiritual Babylon in negative traits, even as Isaiah depicted the desolation of the ancient Asiatic Babylon in positive traits. No musical sound from any festivity can be heard any more in the deathly stillness of Babylon. Not a single artist of any art can be found any more in the desert of her ruins. No sound of a mill betrays a trace of business or domestic life; no light of a candle occasions the inference of life or of a social circle; with the voice of bridegroom and bride, every festal presage of a future laden with new life has vanished. And now again, to conclude the picture, the grounds for the judgment are laid before usviz.: Babylons double guilt. On the one hand, she has fully corrupted the corrupt world. For the great of the earth, the possessors of power, were her merchants, i. e., the agents and abettors of her affairs ( is the predicate, according to Eichhorn; see also Ebrard). Note well the distinction. The (Rev 18:3) have become rich through the Woman; the have become the , i. e., of the Woman. [See Text. and Gram., Note 24, Rev 18:23.E. R. C.] Her love of magnificence has driven luxury to its acme, and converted the dealers in it into great lords; it is still worse, however, that she has made the great of the earth agents of her interests. It was her fault that the merchants32 could in many cases become barons and princesthat the princes could in many cases become merchants [Krmer], e. g., of indulgences, hierarchical stocks, and the like. Thus she has instituted a reciprocal action between egoistical mammon-service and egoistical power. The nations have been led astray by her sorceries of all sorts. Thus she has seduced the world in its great and little ones. Of the kernel of the Church, howeverthe Prophets and Saintsnot the living images, but the bloody traces of martyrdom, were found in her. The Angel, truly, seems to conclude his accusation in a very hyperbolical manner. Is the blood of all who have been slain on earth to be placed to the account of Babylon? We might say: Undoubtedly it is, inasmuch as, at the day of reckoning, Babylon forms the centre of all human guilt and blood-guiltiness. The choice of the verb, however, constitutes a very important item for consideration. , the verb in question, denotes; at least in a predominant degree, slaying from a religious point of view; here, therefore, are indicated the slain upon the earth who have been slain as sacrifices to fanaticism in general, and especially in the religious wars and religious criminal courts of earth. The centre of these specific crimes is Babylon; it is manifest, however, that Babylon is not here intended simply as a local centre, for the like blood-guiltinesses make their appearance sporadically all over Christendomthough, indeed, always as fanatical radii, having a fanatical centre.33
[ABSTRACT OR VIEWS, ETC.]
By the American Editor.
[Elliott: (See on pp. 281, 296.) The section extends to the close of Rev 19:4. In it we haveI. Rev 18:1. An angelic proclamation of the approaching destruction of Babylon;a proclamation, (1) similar to that of Rev 14:8, but with additional circumstances (Rev 18:3); (2) anticipative, but as immediately preceding the catastrophe. II. A warning voice to Christs true servants to come out of her; which implies that (1) there would be some of the holy seed in the mystic Babylon, (2) their danger of participation in her destruction would be imminent. III. A vivid description of the catastrophe, in which are depicted: 1. Its nature, (1) unexpected (she sits a queen, etc.); (2) instantaneous (in an hour); (3) total (all life destroyed); (4) by eternal (superhuman?) fire (Rev 19:3): 2. The lamentations over the fall,(1) of the kings who committed fornication with her; (2) of the merchants, etc., who were enriched by her. IV. The reasons for the judgment,(1) her deception of all nations; (2) her persecution of the saints. V. The heavenly song of praise over the destruction,(1) twice by the heavenly host, Hallelujah (Rev 19:1-3); (2) once (and it is the last act related of them) by the Elders and Living-beings, AmenHallelujah (Rev 19:4).From this passage the following conclusions, as to the probable progress of fast-coming future events, may be drawn thatI. The destruction of Rome, the mystic Babylon (comprehending not only the City and the Ecclesiastical State; but, probably, the political tri-partition adhering to it, Rev 16:19), shall, very soon after the tri-partition, and unexpectedly, be effected by an earthquake and volcanic fire.34 II. Immediately before this event there will be a diffusion of great religious light, and a sounding forth of strong appeals on the character and imminent doom of both Rome and the Popedom, alike in the Church and in the world. III. The Jews will probably at, or just after, the catastrophe, be converted (indicated by the Hebrew Hallelujahthis being the first introduction of a word from that language in praise). IV. Down to the time figured by this chorus (a song represented as being in Heaven), no translation of the living saints or resurrection of the departed will have taken place.
Barnes: This chapter is a still further explanatory episode designed to show the effect of the pouring out of the seventh Vial (Rev 16:17-21) upon the Antichristian power; the description is that of a rich merchant-city reduced to desolation, and is but carrying out the general idea under a different form. We have(1) the angelic descent and proclamation, Rev 18:1-3; (2) a warning to the people of God to be partakers neither of her sins nor plagues, accompanied by a description of the latter, Rev 18:4-8; (3) lamentation over her fallby those who had been, (a) connected with her, (b) corrupted by her, (c) profited by her, Rev 18:9-19; (4) rejoicing over her fall, Rev 18:20; (5) the final (and total) destruction, Rev 18:21-24. (Whilst this writer regards the Papacy, and not the city of Rome, as the object specially contemplated by the prophecy, he thinks it possible that there may be a literal fulfillment of the prophecy burned with fire, Rev 18:8, in the destruction of the city as in order to the destruction of the power; for quotations tending to support this view, see the preceding foot-note. For special comments, see Explanations in Detail in loc.)
Stuart: In his Introduction to Revelation 17, this commentator remarks: Before any attack was made upon the Kingdom of the Beast, an Angel proclaimed the fall of great Babylon (i. e., persecuting and pagan Rome), Rev 14:8. This, however, was only in general terms. But now the seventh Vial has been poured out, and the city has been shaken to its very foundation, and thus a ruinous state of things has already commenced, Rev 16:17-21. Final and utter extinction, however, still remains to be achieved. Accordingly an Angel next appears, and not only renews the proclamation of the fall of Babylon, but describes this in such terms as necessarily to imply its utter ruin.35
Wordsworth: Fuller description of the future fall of the Mystical Babylon. It is to be carefully observed that though Babylon falls, the Beast still remains. Therefore, the fall of Papal Rome will not be the destruction of the Papacy.
Alford: Chaps. Rev 18:1 to Rev 19:10 relate to the Destruction of Babylon. I. Announcement of the destruction (Rev 18:1-3). II. Warning to Gods people to leave her on account of the greatness of her crimes and coming judgments (48). III. Lamentations over her on the part of those who were enriched by her, by (1) the kings of the earth (9, 10); (2) the merchants (1116); (3) the shipmasters, etc. (1719). IV. The calling of the heavens and Gods holy ones to rejoice over her (20). V. Symbolic proclamation of Babylons ruin (2124).
Lord: The Angel of Rev 18:1 symbolizes a body of men who shall with resistless light unveil the Apostate character of Babylon (i. e., the nationalized hierarchies, see pp. 310 sq.). The fall of Babylon is her dejection from her nationalized position; it is to be (1) in consequence of her idolatry, Rev 18:3; (2) followed by (a) her becoming the resort of the most detestable of (human) beings, Rev 18:2, (b) another proclamation by another body of men calling upon those true Christians who remain in her to come out of her, Rev 18:4; (3) effected (a) violently, Rev 18:21; (b) by the multitude, and not by the kings and great men who are to mourn over it, Rev 18:9-19. The fall is to be distinguished from the punishment (plagues); the latter is speedily and suddenly to follow the former, Rev 18:4-6. The destruction is to be entire, Rev 18:21-24.
Glasgow: Rev 18:1 introduces an account of what accompanies or follows close upon the full effusion of the seventh Vial. The Angel of Rev 18:1 is the Holy Ghost, who announces the coming fall of Babylon, i. e., the Roman State; the voice of Rev 18:4 is that of Christ. By the kings of Rev 18:9-10, the traffickers of Rev 18:11-16, the mariners of Rev 18:17-19, are indicated the three parts into which the City is divided (Rev 16:19); as ancient Babylon exists now only in the palace of her kings, the temple of Belus, and the tower of Nimrod, so over the fall of the mystic city are heard the wailings of superstitious rulers in the palace, of trafficking priests of simony in their cathedrals, and of far-travelled colonizers and missionaries, propagators of her errors.
Auberlen: The judgment on the Harlot (i. e., Babylonthe apostate Church) is described more minutely in its various aspects (Rev 18:1; Rev 19:5), first by an Angel having great authority; then by another voice from Heaven (Rev 18:4-20); after this, thirdly, by a strong Angel (2124); and this is succeeded by great voices of much people in heaven (Rev 19:1-5), who praise God for, the judgment executed.E. R. C.]
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL.
According to Dsterdieck, the judgment upon Babylon is still imminent at the close of Revelation 18 (note the future ), whilst in Rev 19:1 sqq., it is rejoiced over as actually accomplished. The judgment itself, therefore, [the act of judgment], would not be found in the description. As an external scene, it is, indeed, not to be portrayed. What, however, appertains to a judgment? Is not the heavenly sentence itself the ideal judgment (Rev 18:2-3)? Is not the separation of the people of God from Babylon, which must ensue directly upon the heavenly command, the decisive dynamical judgment (Rev 18:4-5)? Next follows the historic recompense; first for Babylon herself (Rev 18:6-7). And this is presupposed as an accomplished fact in the lamentation in which all her companions appear as sharers in the stroke which has fallen upon herself, (Rev 18:9-19). The rejoicing of Heaven and all the saints (Rev 18:20) clearly expresses the accomplishment of the judgment, and the symbolical act and speech of the Angel (Rev 18:21-24) are but declarative of the perfect reprobation of Babylon, together with its consequences, her guilt being once more solemnly affirmed. Thus is the judgment executed in four main acts. According to Hengstenberg, the Seer here describes what has already taken place. Exegesis, with him, steers backwards; it, probably, already sights the Millennial Kingdomand this it is anxious to avoid, as though it were a rocky wall.
Rev 18:1. Another Angel.A symbolic angelic form, suggestive of Michael, not precisely Christ (Calov., Hengst.), for the Parousia is not to come until after this. The Holy Ghost (Vitringa), however, is no angel of external events, and Luthers embassage did at least not bring Babylon with violence to her fall. Historically defined, Christianity, in a new, glorious, and therefore mightily efficacious phase of development, must be understood by the Angel. Hence alone is his glory to be explained, which lights up the whole earth. A couple of wretched and disorderly negations can, of course, not be intended by this.
Rev 18:2. Fallen, fallen.A certain future, which shall some day become both present and past. The cry of Rev 14:8 is reflected here; that, however, applied to the universal Babylon. In the first place, doubtless, the complete spiritual fall of Babylon is intended, as is manifest from the context: and is become, etc. But along with the complete spiritual fall, her historic fall is also decided. According to Dsterdieck, indeed, the words: a habitation of demons, etc., already denote external desolation, like the description Isa 13:22. Similarly Hengstenberg, vol. 2, p. 268. Dsterd. even regards it as singular that Ebrard should yet understand the birds spiritually. A nave yet! According to Bengel, the unclean spirits are departed souls, and this passage very clearly treats of such spirits as, when they appear to the living, are called ghosts. The reverend divine would, however, surely not transfer Babylon to Wurtemberg! According to Hengstenberg, [also Stuart and Alford,E. R. C.], the denotes a prisonthus: a prison of unclean spirits and unclean birds. The expression, however, when used with reference to a fallen city, is applicable neither to spirits nor to birds. The law of their essential character banishes them thither. To the desert of pagan Rome? This would be the worst that could possibly be affirmed of Christian Rome! In respect of the birds, Hengstenberg cites Psa 102:6; Isa 13:21-22; Isaiah 34 [11, 13] 14 [15]; Jer 50:39; Zep 2:14.
Rev 18:3. For of the wine, etc.This is the offence which is judged primarily by a falling under the dominion of demonic powers. Babylon has offended against three classes of menthe nations, the kings, and a middle class, the merchants of the earth. We must again distinguish these merchants of the earth from the specific merchants whom the Woman has raised up for herself from the great of the earth (Rev 18:23, see Syn. View). If we examine the arrangements of the Seer, we shall find that he has a more general and a more special arrangement. The more general one distinguishes between the kings, or the mighty of the earth, and the nations. The Woman has seduced the former to the fornication of world-deification, and intoxicated the latter with the rage-wine of fanaticism, according to Rev 17:2; Rev 18:23. The more special arrangement inserts a third class, the merchants of the earth, a transition-form between the kings and the nations, in which the money-agents can become money-princes, and the princes agents of the Woman. But again, the class of mercantile people is, in our chapter, sub-divided into two classes, viz.: [1] the eminent merchants, who, as immediate servants of the Woman, participate in her luxury, and [2] the ordinary trades people of the world, here designated by sea-farers, whose interests are likewise, in a more general sense, involved in the luxury of the Woman. It was clear to the Seer that the super-human exaggeration of magnificence, the pomp of world-seeking in the heart of mankind, in the very place whence the forces of world-renunciation, simplicity and simple culture, should go forth, would place the whole organism of worldly life in a condition of morbid bloatedness, and feverishly egoistic agitation. [See Note 16 on chap. 14, p. 274.E. R. C.]
From the power (or influence) [Lange: mighty operation], etc.According to Dsterdieck (with Grot, et al.), refers to the vast wealth [gewaltige Vermgen] of the City, employed in the service of luxury. This would, undoubtedly, be more applicable to pagan than to Christian Rome. Be it well remembered, however, that the world kingdom did not become rich through the world city, but vice vers. It is also better, from philological considerations, to regard as the mighty operation of that central luxury. The interpretation: On account of her powerful luxuriousness (De Wette), really involves an obliteration . [, copia, as Vitringa, who remarks, alluditur ad Hebram voce , cujus hc significationis vis est. Job 31:5; Eze 28:4. We have in Jos.: Antt. III. 2. 4. Alford.E. R. C.]
Rev 18:4. Another voice from the Heaven.It is noteworthy that the voice from Heaven, speaking from Rev 18:4-20, is interposed between the two mighty Angels of Rev 18:1 and Rev 18:21. In the two Angels, we behold the denouncer and the executioner of Gods judgment upon Babylon, as that judgment appears on earth; in the voice from Heaven, we find the cry of the Church Triumphantthe Church not simply in the other World, but also in this world,addressed to the Church of God on earth. For whilst there is, in the Church on earth, in respect of its individual members, a constant wavering between premature separation from Babylon (by which name even the evangelical Church is designated by sectarian spirits) and a tardy tarrying in the communion of a true Babylon, aggravated by manifold fanatical lapses into the captivitas Babylonica, there resides in the heavenly Church the true sense for the determining of the hour of need when the general exode from Babylon before the judgment shall be as necessary as the exode of the Christians of Johns time from Jerusalem to Pella. Too early a departure is opposed to humility and love; too late a departure is hostile to faith and fidelity; both acts, that of precipitancy and that of undue delay, are a fanatical opposition to the truth. According to Bengel, the voice from Heaven is the voice of God or Christ, against which Dsterdieck judiciously remarks that such an origin does not accord with the descriptive tone of its discourse. Mediately, of course, every angelic and every heavenly voice is to be referred to God and Christ.
Come forth out of her, my people.This can refer only to the complete rupture of religious and churchly fellowship. If we regard the words as having reference to an external departure of the Christians from Rome, all Christian Rome would be a contravention of the heavenly voice. [In Isa. (Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11) the circumstances differed, in that being a joyful exodus, this a cautionary one:36 and thus the warning is brought nearer to that one which our Lord commands in Mat 24:16, and the cognate warnings in the O. T., viz., that of Lot to come out of Sodom, Gen 19:15-22, when her destruction impended, and that of the people of Israel to get them up from the tents of Dathan and Abiram, Num 16:23-26. In Jer. (Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:9; Jer 51:45) we have the same circumstance of Babylons impending destruction combined with the warning; and from those places probably, especially Jer 51:45, the words here are taken. The inference has been justly made from them (Elliott IV., pp. 44 sq.), that there shall be even to the last, saints of God in the midst of Rome; and that there will be danger of their being, through a lingering fondness for her, partakers of her coming judgment. Alford.E. R. C.] See Jer 51:6; Jer 51:9; Jer 51:45.
That ye partake not in her sins.See Gen 19:15. This fellowship of sins is to be understood in a peculiar sense as a fellowship in guilta view which Dsterdieck combats, but which finds its sufficient explanation in the distinction between the Biblical ideas of sin (Snde) and guilt [Schuld=reatus].37 A fellowship of sins, in the narrower sense (Luthardt), is as little intended as a fellowship in punishment for sins (Dsterd.) is exclusively meant. A guiltless participation in punishment would certainly be akin to propitiatory suffering. Fellowship with the sinner, however, on an equal moral footing, without the re-action of discipline, chastisement, excommunication, is fellowship in his guilt. Hence the are not simply strokes; they are deserved [verschuldete] strokes (see Joshua 7; Num 16:21-24).
[It is implied here that by remaining in Babylon they would lend their sanction to its sins by their presence, and would, in all probability, become contaminated by the influence around them. Barnes.E. R. C.]
Rev 18:5. For her sins have heaped together unto the Heaven.See Syn. View.
Rev 18:6-7. Render unto her.See Syn. View. Address to those injured by Babylon, as such. [Should we not rather, with Alford, regard these words as addressed to the executioners of judgment?E. R. C.] With the double measure, the qualitative retribution is expressed in quantitative form. See Syn. View. Comp. Isa 40:2. The expressions , , , are, therefore, not simply rhetorical. The consummation of her punishment is furnished with a three-fold motive, being the punishment (1) Of her evil deeds against the suffering party generally; (2) Of the cup, in particularby which we are here to understand the cup of bitterness; (3) Of her self-glorification and pride, which involved a like measure of humiliation and oppression for the sufferers. For she saith in her heart.Even now; so unforebodingly secure is she in face of the signs of the times. A queen.Isa 47:7. And a widow I am not.A widow in the more general sense, as one deserted. See Isa 47:8-9. Neither is she a bride or a wife any more, but a polyandria. Sorrow I shall not see.Sorrow, particularly, for her many daughters (which, of course, are not the cities and peoples subject to pagan Rome). Thus she also regards herself as elevated above the universal law of earthly vicissitude, elevated above historic dooms.
[These expressions, in addition to reasons presented in Add. Comm. on Rev 17:18, and Add. Note, p. 317, identify the objective of Babylon with that of the Harlot. As in Revelation 17, where the main figure was the Harlot, a portion of the symbolization was drawn from the City,so here, where the main figure is Babylon, a portion of the symbolization is taken from the Woman.38E. R. C.]
Rev 18:8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day.Precisely therefore (). In antithesis to her pride. Death.Since death can not come upon her twice, and since the death of her children is expressed by sorrow or mourning [Rev 18:7], the term doubtless embraces the death-doom in general, coming upon her primarily as a presentiment of ruin, and then developing into mourning, hunger, and fiery death. In one dayin one great catastrophe (see Isa 47:9).[Without succession through a protracted periodall-together.E. R. C.] For strong.The whole omnipotence of God opposes itself in judgment to the haughtiness of Babylon, and this judgment has already begun (). The whole Providence of God executes the judgment of the Lord, for it is as such that God has primarily to do with Babylon.
Rev 18:9-10. And there shall weep and wail over her.In Rev 18:9-20 [19] are presented the three laments over Babylon, in which the three classes associated in her guilt appear, in antithesis to the people of God, as sharers in the stroke which has fallen upon her. They represent the peripheries of the judgment, forming about its centre. Comp. Ezekiel 26, 27. The kings of the earth.Dsterdieck rightly discards the view of Hengstenberg, who finds in the , a reference to double to her double. Highly significant is the kings standing afar Off: they will not be burned up with her, for their friendship with Babylon was based upon egoism. They must, however, together with her, be afflicted by the stroke which has descended upon her. Their lamentation is expressive of two thingson the one hand, that they have been dazzled by the grandeur and power of Babylon, and on the other, that they are aware of her guilt, for they speak of her judgment, although they do not come to the penitent consciousness that they have committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her.
[Standing afar off.The general sentiment here is that in the final ruin of Papal Rome the kings and governments that had sustained her, and had been sustained by her, would see the source of their power taken away, but that they would not, or could not, attempt her rescue. There have been not a few indications already that this will ultimately occur, and that the Papal power will be left to fall without any attempt on the part of those governments which have been so long in alliance with it, to sustain or restore it. Barnes.E. R. C.]
Rev 18:11. And the merchants of the earth.Second lamentation. Here, egoism is more plainly visible. They weep and sorrow because no one will buy their merchandise any more. The vividness of the description is also augmented by the picturesque present: they weep, etc., and no less, by the circumstantiality with which their merchandise, the entire exposition of their secularized industry, is described (see Syn. View). No one buyeth their lading any more.That is, the fall of Babylon is accompanied by a thorough contempt for all splendor and luxury; it ushers in the fashion of simplicity.
Rev 18:12-16. The wares are arranged in order (see Syn. View). The alternation of accusatives and genitives dependent on , prevailing till the close of Rev 18:13, may serve as explanatory of the dubious construction found in Rev 14:4 (Dsterd.). The fact that the vision draws the picture of these articles of luxury from the view of antiquityof ancient Rome for instanceproves nothing for the import of Babylon. On the individual articles comp. the Lexicons. Special consideration, as less known, is demanded by the , , . The distinction, and , is noted by commentators and differently explained (see Dsterdieck, p. 527); the distinction, at all events, is not a very sharp one, and the second expression is indicative of an augmentation, the extreme consequence of slave-holding. The renewal of these circumstances, even in Christian Babylon, is well known. The strong emphasis laid at the end upon the missing of the favorite fruit39 is highly characteristic as an ironical trait. It is well known that fallen great men often grieve most for the loss of the veriest trifles. Conjoined with these delicacies in the way of fruit, are all sorts of delicious things; , literally the fat, but its conjunction with admonishes us to take the expression in the usual unliteral sense (Isa 30:23; comp. Hesych., who explains . as , ), with Luther, Bengel, Hengstenberg (Dsterd.). There seems, however, to be a distinction made between articles of gastronomic and sthetic taste.
Rev 18:15. The merchants of these things.Here the style changes again from a vivid presentation of the Babylonish world-mart to the prophetic future. These merchants [Kaufleute] also bemoan the City in a characteristic manner. For them, the greatness of the City consisted, not, as for the kings, in her power, but in her outward splendor, her beauty of attire.
[Rev 18:11-16. The description is perhaps drawn, in its poetic and descriptive features, from the relation of Rome to the world that then was, rather than from its relation at the future time depicted in the prophecy. But it must not for a moment be denied that the character of this lamentation throws a shade of obscurity over the interpretation, otherwise so plain from the explanation given in Rev 17:18 (viz., that the prophecy regards Rome pagan and papal, but from the figure of an harlot and the very nature of the predictions themselves, more the latter than the former). The difficulty is, however, not confined to the application of the prophecy to Rome Papal, but extends over the application of it to Rome at all. For Rome never has been, and from its position never could be, a great commercial city. I leave this difficulty unsolved, solved, merely requesting the student to bear in mind its true limits, and not to charge it exclusively on that interpretation which only shares it with any other possible one. The main features of the description are taken from that of the destruction of and lamentation over Tyre in Ezekiel 27., to which city they were strictly applicable. And possibly it may be said that they are also applicable to the Church which has wedded herself to the pride of the earth and its luxuries. Alford.E. R. C.]40
Rev 18:17. And every pilot, etc.Marine affairs are sketched as that form of world-commerce and industry which was, proportionally, most remote from the City. Even this general mercantilism is affected by the fall of Babylon, because the blow inflicted upon the kings and upon the luxury of the great world touches it likewise. From the pilots, who can sail in all directions, are distinguished those who take ship for definite portsfrom these latter, all who do business at sea ( ). [See Text and Note 21, p. 319.E. R. C.]
Rev 18:18. The smoke of her burning.As Rev 18:9. Not to be confounded with the smoke, Rev 14:11. The impression which the City has made on them is, proportionally, the most indefinite: she was incomparable. If a reference to Rev 13:4 was intended, it could yet not be satirical in the mouth of seamen (as Ebrard claims). The expression is, besides, the most general and, therefore, most indefinite form of worldly astonishment. It is thus that popular travellers and seafarers have spoken from time immemorial. [At the same time it should be noted that in reference to both Rome actual and Rome symbolical the expression is strictly true. Barnes comments, What city is like unto this great city? In her destruction. What calamity has ever come upon a city like this?E. R. C.]
Rev 18:19. And they cast dust, etc.A well-known sign of passionate mourning. Hence we need not ask, Whence came the dust at sea? The idea may be, however, that they viewed the conflagration from different ports. The narrative has changed to the preterite. The lamentation of these last is particularly passionate, and the egoistic motive is expressly assigned.
Rev 18:20. Rejoice over her.In face of the threefold lamentation of the world, the heavenly voice (not John himself) expresses the jubilation of Heaven. We might here discover the indications of a three-fold jubilation: that of Heaven, with the Saintsthat of the Apostlesthat of the Prophets. Dsterdieck claims a distinction betwixt earthly believersas Saints, Apostles, Prophetsand Heaven. But even in Neros time, there were several Apostles in Heaven, to say nothing of Prophets.
For God hath judged your judgment [Lange: executed your sentence] upon her.We cannot apprehend the judgment [Urtheilsspruch=sentence of judgment], , passively, with Hengstenb., De Wette, et al., in the sense: God hath recompensed the judgment which ye suffered as martyrs. For how would that apply to Heaven? The rejoicing in this form would, moreover, express the satisfaction of the desire for vengeance, in a style savoring somewhat too strongly of the Old Testament. The fitting expression for that satisfaction is found in Rev 18:24, which is a sort of repetition when the above-cited exegesis is adopted. The higher satisfaction, however, which Heaven itself must experience in connection with all the Saints, particularly the Apostles and Prophets, consisted in the fact that their primeval prophetic sentence upon Babylon, accompanying her throughout her historic career, but appearing for so long a mere melancholic fancy, at which the world hooted, has been finally sealed by God Himself through His judgment. The rejoicing over this satisfaction is a rejoicing over the truth and righteousness of God Himself. [Alford comments, God hath exacted from her that judgment of vengeance which is due to you.E. R. C.]
Rev 18:21. And a (or one) strong Angel.On see Winer, p. 126. As we shall have occasion to recur to this Angel in Rev 19:9-10, we may here refer to the predicates there given by the Angel to himself. Dsterd. remarks that the strength of the Angel receives mention on account of the action which he is represented as performing. Like a great mill-stone.See Jer 51:63-64. See Syn. View. With violence.In a catastrophe. And shall be found no more at all,i. e., as the magnificent City which it had been. That, however, it should continue as a desolate ruin, for a memorial of judgment, is evident from the following context. See Eze 26:13; Jer 25:10, et al.
Rev 18:22. And a voice of harpers.Art stood high in Babylon [and in Rome, and in the Visible Churchespecially as she increases in worldliness,E. R. C.]; it was, however, completely under the influence of vanity and in the service of idolatry. With art business vanishes (the mill); with business, family life (the candle); with family life, family festivals [and relationships] (bridegroom and bride).
Rev 18:23. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth [Lange: the princes of the earth were thy merchants].The vision closes, most appropriately, with a brief recapitulation of the guilt of Babylon. For this reason, also, we cannot, with Dsterd., Ewald, De Wette and Hengstenberg [also Lillie, Alford, Glasgow, et al.,E. R. C.], read: thy merchants were the great of the earth.41 No leading reproach would be involved in the statement that some few money-changers became lords and princes under the influence of absolutist luxury. At all events, we should expect first a repetition of the two leading categories of the transgression of Babylon against the world related to her. The first transgression is the seduction of the kings, or the great, generally, whom she has made her merchants, abettors and brokers (her associates in fornication). The second transgression is against the nations, which she has seduced or intoxicated with her sorcery or poison-mixing (= wine of rage). Dsterdieck interprets as the love-potions of the Harlot; comp. Isa 47:9; Isa 47:12 sq.; Ewald, De Wette. Our Seer, however, keeps the two categories separate, Rev 17:2; Rev 18:3. The nations have not been so much intoxicated by love-potions as by rage-potions (of fanaticism). A connection between the two forms is of course unmistakable. [The objective of may be the instruments of seduction by which she either allures the nations into unholy alliance with herself, or by which she causes them to wander in unrighteous paths. See the Text.E. R. C.]
After the transgression of Babylon against the world, ensues her transgression against the people of Goda transgression still greater than the former, yet connected with it.
Rev 18:24. See Synoptical View. Ebrard: Hengstenberg, who makes the Millennial Kingdom commence with Charlemagne, must, to be consistent with his own view, point out the terrible destruction of Babylon depicted in Revelation 18, as occurring at some period during the time before Charlemagne. Nor does he find this difficult; to be sure, in the City of the Seven Hills the voices of lutists and pipers have never for one moment been silenced; neither is the City thrown into the sea, or burned, nor has an end been put to her commerce and her magnificence, nor has any one mourned over her downfallon the contrary, she has quietly continued to subsist in the midst of the billows of national migrations: butRome here comes under consideration solely as the pagan mistress of the worldand as pagan she is fallen, burned, desolated, etc.: and all this simply inasmuch as at about the time of Constantine she was gradually transformed from a pagan to a Christian City! In Revelation 18., therefore, we have, according to the exegesis of Hengstenberg, an entirely new portrayal of aconversion.
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON Revelation 18]
By the American Editor
[This chapter, introduced by the disjunctive phrase, , and immediately followed by a chapter having a similar introduction, forms, apparently, a supplementary section. In it are set forth events preceding the fall of Babylon. The direct vision of that fall occurred during the outpouring of the vials, Rev 16:18-19. As, however, that series of visions could not with propriety have been interrupted by the introduction of others descriptive of matters other than the plagues, supplementary visions were vouchsafed descriptive of important matters necessarily omitted, or barely indicated, in the main series. This chapter narrates a series of visions having reference (probably) to the voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and earthquake mentioned Rev 16:18. It consists of three parts, in which are narrated visions ofI. A glorious, heaven-descended Angel giving a proleptical prediction of the approaching destruction of the City, Rev 18:1-3, II. A voice from Heaven making a threefold call upon (1) the people of God, who should remain in the doomed City to come out of her, Rev 18:4-5; (2) the executioners of judgment to destroy, Rev 18:6-19; (3) the inhabitants of Heaven to rejoice, Rev 18:20. III. An Angel giving a symbolic prophecy of the destruction.An analogue of this section, as to its subject matter, is to be found Jeremiah 50, 51, where we have a similar threefold division, viz.: 1. A proleptical declaration of destruction, Jer 50:2. 2. A call upon (1) the people of God to escape, Jer 50:1; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45; (er 51:2) the executioners of judgment, Jer 1:14 sqq. Jer 1:3. A symbolical prophecy of the destruction, Jer 51:63-64.One great distinction between the two sections should be noted. The one in the Apocalypse is the record of a prophecy of events (including prophecies); that in Jeremiah is simply a record of events (also including prophecies). John prophesied of a Divinely appointed messenger (Angel) who should prophesy. Jeremiah was himself the messenger (Angel) who foretold.
[In the judgment of the writer, the events here symbolized are yet future; nothing in the history of the world has occurred which adequately meets the symbolization, A comparison of this section with the one in Jeremiah, suggests the thought that by the glorious Angel of Rev 18:1-3 may be symbolized a Divinely called and gifted man, or body of men, who, in the spirit of the old Prophets, shall declare the approaching fall of the spiritual Babylon. By the Voice from Heaven of Rev 18:4 may be designated the inspired voice of these latter Prophets uttering the calls foretold; or, as the change in figure (another voice) probably indicates a change in instrumentality, by it may be indicated some other Divine influence exerted upon the three classes mentioned. By the strong Angel casting the millstone into the sea, Rev 18:21, may be symbolized some great catastrophe in history or naturepossibly the destruction of the great City that symbolizes the apostate Church.An objection to the suggested interpretation may arise in the minds of some from the fact that the Voice of Rev 18:4 (an influence) and the Angel of Rev 18:2 (the agent of a catastrophe) are both represented in the context as prophesying. In answer it may be said that it is altogether in keeping with the dramatic nature of the Apocalypse to represent these symbols of Divine instrumentalities as themselves declaring the results of their agency.E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev 18:1. is omitted in accordance with . A. B*. [P.], etc.
[2]Rev 18:2. The true reading is , in accordance with decisive authorities. [So read Crit. Eds. generally; the with A. P.; the with (.) A. (B*.) P., etc.E. R. C.]
[3]Rev 18:3. [Tisch. reads , – () with P., – with A. C.; Treg. with A. C.; Alf. brackets the ; . and B*. give .E. R. C.]
[4]Rev 18:3. [Tisch. gives with . B*., Clem., etc.; Lach. and Alf. omit with A., Am., Fuld., Tol., Lips.; Tregelles brackets.E. R. C.]
[5]Rev 18:3. [For the rendering rage, see Note 16 on Chap, 14, p. 274.E. R. C.]
[6]Rev 18:4. There are various forms of this; we, with Lach. [Ed. Maj., Tisch. (1859)], read , with B*. C., and also from internal reasons. [Lach. (Ed. Min.), Tisch. (8th Ed.), Treg., Alf., give with . A.; P. reads .E. R. C.]
[7]Rev 18:5. in accordance with . A. B*. C. [P.]. De Wette translates: they have reached unto the heaven.
[8]Rev 18:6. The is omitted. [Om. by Crit. Eds. generally with . A. B*. C. P., Am., Fuld., Demid., Tol., et al.; it appears in 1, 31, 91, 96, Clem., Lips., et al.E. R. C.]
[9]Rev 18:6. The is unfounded. [Om. by Crit. Eds. Tisch. and Treg. insert with . C.; Lach. omits with A. B*. P.; Alf. bracketsE. R. C.]
[10]Rev 18:6. [See Note 19 on Chap. 14, p. 274.E. R. C.]
[11]Rev 18:7. [Crit. Eds. give with . A. B*. C. P.E. R. C.]
[12]Rev 18:8. [Crit. Eds. give with *. A. B*. C. P.; is given by o.1, 6, etc.E. R. C.]
[13]Rev 18:11. [Crit. Eds. generally give with . A. C. P.E. R. C.]
[14]Rev 18:12. [The article is without authority.E. R. C.]
[15]Rev 18:13. In accordance with *. A. C. [P. 6, 11, Am., Fuld., Tol., Lips.] etc. In the Rec. is omitted.
[16]Rev 18:14. Codd. . A. C. read .
[17]Rev 18:14. [The primary meaning of is, the part of the year between the rising of Sirius and Arcturus, . and so, not so much the Lat. Auctumnus, as our dog-days or, at most, the end of summer It was the proper time for both the field and tree fruits to ripen (Liddell and Scott sub voce).E. R. C.]
[18]Rev 18:14. [Lach., Alf., Treg., Tisch. (8th Ed.) give with . A. C. P. Vulg., etc.; Tisch. (1859) gave with B*.; 7 reads .E. R. C.]
[19]Rev 18:14. [The expression never, never more at all is adopted as the best idiomatic rendering of the threefold negative of the original, .E. R. C.]
[20]Rev 18:16. [Crit. Eds. omit with . A. B*. C.; it appears in P., Vulg., th., et. al.E. R. C.]
[21]Rev 18:17. [Crit. Eds. give with . A. B*. C., Am., Fuld., etc. (B*. inserts before ). Lange adopts this reading, declaring the Rec. ( ) to be unfounded; he translates, however, all who sail to definite places. Alford translates, every one who saileth any whither. The first of the renderings given above is regarded as most in accordance with the presumptive meaning of the expression ; see Robinson under , iii. a; and , d. ().E. R. C.]
[22]Rev 18:20. [ . Lange translates: hath executed your sentence upon her.E. R. C.]
[23]Rev 18:21. [The negatives in this and the following verses are merely double; see Note 19.E. R. C.]
[24]Rev 18:23. [Lange translates: for the princes of the earth were thy merchants. See on pp. 323, 328 sq.E. R. C.]
[25]Rev 18:24. Cod. B*. gives ; A. C. [. P.] give . [Tisch, adopts the former reading; Lach., Alf., Treg. the latter.E. R. C.]
[26][In the second and third instances one and the same term is employed, viz.: ; and in the first, .E. R. C.]
[27][For another exposition of the fornication, see Abstract of Auberlen, pp. 311 sq.E. R. C.]
[28][See Add. Note and foot-note, p. 317.E. R. C.]
[29][The should be omitted. See Text. and Gram., Note 8. Rev 18:6.E. R. C.]
[30][See Text. and Gram., Note 17.E. R. C.]
[31][Above, the stone was the symbol of Babylon; its being cant into the sea, the symbol of her punishment by God; but here the stone is the symbol of Babylons sin, and its casting, that of her own sinful conduct!E. R. C.]
[32][Krmera word of lower significance than Kaufleute, previously translated merchants; the latter denotes the great wholesale dealers, whilst the former signifies retailersshopkeepers, as we say in English.Tr.]
[33][See Expla. in Detail, Add. Comment on Rev 18:24.E. R. C.]
[34][A mode of destruction not obscurely intimated by certain very striking allusive expressions in other prophecies both of the Old and New Testament (Isa 34:9-10; Isa 30:33; Jer 51:25; Luk 17:28-32, etc.), and thus expected, as we find, alike by ancient Jewish Rabbis and Christian Fathers of the Church; not to add that the very nature of the Italian soil has forced on many a mind, in different ages, the thought of its physical preparedness almost for such a catastrophe. Elliott.Barnes, in support of the probable correctness of this view, writes as follows: Gibbon (Revelation 15), with his usual accuracy, as if commenting on the Apocalypse, has referred to the physical adaptedness of the soil of Rome for such an overthrow. Speaking of the anticipation of the end of the world among the early Christians, he says, In the opinion of a general conflagration, the faith of the Christian very happily coincided with the tradition of the East, the philosophy of the stoics, and the analogy of nature; and even the country, which, from religious motives, had been chosen for the origin and principal scene of this conflagration, was the best adapted for that purpose by natural and physical causes; by its deep caverns, beds of sulphur, and numerous volcanoes, of which those of tna, of Vesuvius, and of Lipari, exhibit a very imperfect representation. As to the general state of Italy in reference to volcanoes, the reader may consult, with advantage, Lyells Geology. B. II., chs. 9.12. See also Murrays Encyclopedia of Geography, II. 2. . . . . The following extract from a recent traveller will still further confirm this representation: I behold every wherein Rome, near Rome, and through the whole region from Rome to Naplesthe most astounding proofs, not merely of the possibility, but the probability, that the whole region of central Italy will one day be destroyed by such a catastrophe (by earthquakes or volcanoes). The soil of Rome is tufa, with a volcanic subterranean action going on. At Naples, the boiling sulphur is to be seen bubbling near the surface of the earth. When I drew a stick along the ground, the sulphurous smoke followed the indentation; and it would never surprise me to hear of the utter destruction of the southern peninsula of Italy. The entire country and district is volcanic. It is saturated with beds of sulphur and the substrata of destruction. It seems as certainly prepared for the flames as the wood and coal on the hearth are prepared for the taper which shall kindle the fire to consume them. The Divine hand alone seems to me to hold the element of fire in check by a miracle as great as that which protected the cities of the plain, till the righteous Lot had made his escape to the mountains.Townsends Tour in Italy in 1850.E. R. C.]
[35][It is exceedingly difficult to determine what is the idea of Stuart as to the interpretation of this chapter. This arises from the fact that nowhere in the special comment on it does he define what he means by Babylon; his meaning has to be sought through General and Special and Particular Introductions, and through excursuses and textual comments. His comment on Rev 14:8 can leave no doubt that there he regards Babylon as the City of Rome; that this interpretation is contemplated throughout this portion of the Apocalypse, is implied in numerous remarks. But the peculiar scheme of Stuart requires him to regard the woe as having been accomplished; and manifestly the City of Rome has never yet become a desolation. The most plausible idea concerning his interpretation is that he regards the prophecy as having its specific fulfillment in the destruction of Rome long ago commenced, but not yet accomplished; and its generic accomplishment in the overthrow of all Antichristian powers. The view as to the specific fulfillment is suggested by the following remark under Rev 14:8 : The reader is not to suppose, that fallen, while it denotes absolute certainty, at the same time denotes complete and instantaneous excision. The predictions respecting ancient Babylon were fulfilled only in the lapse of several centuries; but they were at last fully accomplished. And so of the tropical Babylon. The Apocalypse itself gives sufficient intimation of a gradual fulfillment; comp. Rev 16:19-21 with Rev 18:4-8; Rev 18:20-24 and Rev 19:11-21.E. R. C.]
[36][A cautionary exodus may be a joyful one. The cautioned escapers may rejoice in view of their escape.E. R. C.]
[37][The distinction here referred to seems to be that contemplated by the theologians of the Reformation in the use of the Latin terms macula and reatus potentialisthe former indicating the stain of sin; the latter, the exposure to punishment proper to the persons sinning. Thus Turretin (Vol. I., p. 654), Macula est pollutio spirituals et ethica, qu hominis anima inficitur. Reatus est obligatio ad pnam ex prvio delicto. Duplex oritur reatus; alius qui potentialis dicitur, qui notat meritum intrinsecum pn, quod peccato inseparabile est; alius ver actualis, qui per Dei misericordiam ab eo separari potest, etc. As the term guilt is technically employed by a large class of English Theologians as the equivalent of reatus, and as it is the term generally employed in the E. V., where Schuld occurs in the G. V., it is here adopted. It should he carefully noted, however, that it is employed, not in its ordinary meaning, but in the special sense indicated above.E. R. C.]
[38][The true condition of the Church during the personal absence of her Husband and Head is that of a widow, comp. Mat 9:15; Mar 2:19-20; Luk 5:34;she should ever be looking, with longing, for His appearing, Tit 2:13. The Am. Ed. cannot resist the thought that these expressions are indicative of a state of the Church in which she shall believe and assert that the personal absence of Jesus is no bereavement,that already as a Queen she has entered upon the possession of the promised Kingdom,that, during Christs personal absence, without material hindrance, she is to go on to complete supremacy over the nations. Already in Rome, and to a great extent throughout Christendom, is this cry heard.E. R. C.]
[39][On the meaning of see the Text, and Note 17, p. 319. The entire clause is probably figurative, declaring that the period of temporal prosperity has passed away.E. R. C.]
[40][The Am. Ed. entertains the view that by Babylon is meant the City of Rome, and, still further, that by the City of Rome is symbolized the Visible Church (apostate in the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy). It seems to him that the difficulties suggested by Alford are imaginary rather than real in reference to both these hypotheses. It should be remembered that, in the days of the Apocalyptist, Rome was not only the centre of the Empire, but in a peculiar sense her boundaries were coterminous with those of the Empire; the commerce of the entire State was hers,at once resulting from, and ministering to, her wealth and power. A peculiar relation of headship continued to be borne by the City to the nation dwelling within the pale of the old Empire, even after that Empire had been shattered into fragments. Even to the present day she is in a sense the capital of Papal Europe. And still furtherthe relation of Rome to the peoples of whom she was and is the acknowledged capital, well symbolizes the relation of the Visible Church to Christendom. She is its inspiring centre,the source, and to a large extent a partaker, of its power and splendor. The commerce of the world is, in a peculiar sense, hers. To Rome actual, and Rome symbolical (in the sense set forth), the description of these verses is applicable.E. R. C.]
[41][The order of the Greek requires this translation. The reproach is, not that some few money-changers became princes, but that her merchants, her men of business generally, busied themselves with the affairs of this world, became worldlings, and assumed the position of its leaders and great men.E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Fifteenth
First Special End-Judgment; Judgment upon Babylon. Earth-picture. (Ch. 18)
General.That essential judgment of Babylon which lies in her very appearance, and has been manifested in the light of Heaven, is here unfolded on earth in a distinct series of evolutions.
The first Act of the judgment, as executed by the Angel from Heaven, consists of the verdict upon Babylon, the sentence of Divine justice.
The second Act is the incipient execution of the judgment in the social sphere of justice. It is divided into two actions: (1) The people of God go out of Babylon (Rev 18:4; Rev 18:6), and (2) the world is commissioned to react against Babylon in pursuance of the same law of violence which she herself has exercised (Rev 18:6; Rev 18:8). The universality of her judgment is expressed in the despair and lamentation of all her allies, who are too cowardly to take her part, but yet are stricken with her. The third Act is the complete historic repudiation of Babylon, executed by the strong Angel with a millstone, in a symbolic act.
The whole constitutes the greatest tragedy of the world, complete in three or five Acts, according to the greater or less prominence bestowed upon the middle items:
1. The guilt of Babylon towards humanity;
2. The exode of the people of God from her;
3. The reaction of the hostile world against her;
4. The lamentation of her friendsa prelude to the final catastrophe;
5. The final catastrophe.
The Angel who, descending from Heaven, lightens the earth with his radiance, and proclaims the fall of Babylon, is also, without doubt, the actual spiritual author of her judgment. For he has great authority, and transports her judgment from Heaven to earth. That is, that judgment which is already declared in the sphere of the celestial Spirit, with the delineation of the character of Babylon, now, through the heavenly illumination proceeding from the Angel, becomes a subject of the universal consciousness of mankind. We hold that the Angel represents evangelic Christianity in the full development of the beauty of its moral and humane principles. For Babylon has outraged all these principles, from liberty of conscience to the recognition of public law. She has perverted her claim to be the educator of mankind into the exact opposite, having become the seducer and destroyer of humanity.
The cry of this Angel is followed by the voice from Heaven, the sentence of the heavenly Spirit, the law of the Kingdom of Goddeclaratory, on the one hand, of the right of the Church (come forth out of her) and, on the other hand, of the right of the State (recompense to her), and expressing itself, thirdly, as the spirit of history and poetry, in the portrayal of the great lamentations. The tragic coloring of this entire judgment-scene is distinctly brought out in all this; it is particularly prominent, however, in the symbolic execution of the final catastrophe.
Special.[Rev 18:1.] Who is the Angel who comes down from Heaven, and whose glory lightens the earth?[Rev 18:2.] The mighty cry over Babylon. Fallen! fallen! or the perfect certainty that Babylon will fall on earth, even as she has already fallen in the sight of God.Contrast betwixt what Babylon should be and what she has become.[Rev 18:3.] Babylons transgression against mankind: (1) against the nations, (2) against the kings, (3) against the rich and great.[Rev 18:4.] Call to the people of God, to come out from Babylon: 1. Meaning of the call; 2. Motive of the call; 3. Neglect of the call (latitudinarianism); 4. Misinterpretation of the call (separatism).[Rev 18:4; Rev 18:6.] Diverse conduct of the Church and the world toward guilty Babylon.Retributory right of the world. This remains pure only in so far as it remains an execution of the right and keeps itself free from fanaticism.[Rev 18:8.] Recompense of corporeal fiery judgments by a social and spiritual judgment of fire.[Rev 18:7-8.] Contrast between the haughty self-blinding of Babylon and her imminent and great day of judgment.The City of the Seven Mountains: yesterday and today.[Rev 18:9-19.] The three lamentations of the world over the fall of Babylon. Common characteristics of them: 1. A view of her fall; 2. A standing afar off and refraining from taking her part; 3. A participation in the stroke that has fallen upon herbut in the sorrow of this world, with no recognition of the justice of the blow, of its nature as a judgment, or of the Judge Who has inflicted it.Heavens judgments, earths tragedies.[Rev 18:9-10.] Lamentation of the kings (see Exeg. Notes).[Rev 18:11; Rev 18:15-17]. Lamentation of the great, the supporters of the luxury of the earth., [Rev 18:17-19]. Lamentation of the pilots or tradesmen.Community and division of egoistical interests in the lamentations over the fall of Babylon.Ironical enumeration of the depreciated goods of Babylon (Rev 18:12-14).As the Church in its way, and the State in its way, so science and art in their way are concerned in the judgment upon Babylon.The unspiritual lamentation of the world over the fall of Babylon contains the germ of that judgment which is later to descend upon the world.[Rev 18:21.] The symbolic act of the strong Angel, a representation of the grand final catastrophe itself.[Rev 18:22-23.] Babylons desolation. Her spiritual desolation shall be followed by an sthetic desolation, and to this a desolation of business and of home life shall succeed.
Rev 18:24. The summit of Babylons guilt: she is the murderess of the prophets and saints.This verse is supplemental to Rev 18:3.
Starke: Rev 18:2; comp. Isa 21:7; Jer 51:8 The repetition of the word [fallen] is indicative of the greatness and certainty of the fall.
Rev 18:4. This exode is based upon a gracious leading out on the part of God. There are certain grades in the execution of it, and it is performed as follows: 1. With the heart, by a right belief and acknowledgment of the truth, and hatred of false doctrine; 2. With the mouth, by a public confession of the truth, and rejection of errors; 3. With the body, by a going away from those places in which Babylon has its throne and superstition.Gods people and Church are, partially, still in Babylon, although hidden; otherwise God could not command them to come out.[Rev 18:5.] Sins that cry unto Heaven (Gen 4:10), whose measure is full, and upon which final ruin follows.
Rev 18:7. These words are taken from Isa 47:5-10. The greater the security and pride of the wicked, the more terrible is their punishment.
Rev 18:8. As Babylon burned innocent martyrs with fire, so shall she herself be burned with fire.
Rev 18:10. The fear of torment may cause us (outwardly) to remove far from those with whom we have sinned, but love to God alone can make their sin odious to us.
Rev 18:12. Quesnel: Let us gather treasures that will endure to eternity; nought is eternal save that which is done with a view to eternity. Rev 18:16. The world does not mourn over the loss of eternal salvation, but over the loss of riches and external magnificence.
Rev 18:20. It is at the downfall of evil, and at Divine vengeance that the pious rejoice; not out of a carnal mind and self-love, but by the ordinance of God and from the love of righteousness (Psa 91:8).
Rev 18:21. The wicked fall into the abyss of perdition as stones fall into the abyss of the sea. That which the world regards as highly exalted finally meets with the deeper fall (Eze 21:26).
Rev 18:24. The slaughter of true believers under the papacy is like the murder of the saints in the beginning of the world.Great cities are destroyed on account of the many and enormous sins that are committed in them.God reckons to the charge of the wicked all the sins of their ancestors, because they tread in their foot-steps (and the guilt of their ancestors attains its consummation and meridian in them).
Schlssel Offenb. Joh. durch einen Kreuzritter (p. 289): The most terrible thing for a human community is when the salt of the earth, that should preserve it from corruption, is taken out of it by death or emigration, when the props of the rotten building give way, when Lot is led forth from Sodom, because there are not even, ten righteous men therein.
[From M. Henry: Rev 18:4. Those that are resolved to partake with wicked men in their sins must receive of their plagues.
Rev 18:5. When the sins of a people reach up to heaven, the wrath of God will reach down to earth.
Rev 18:7. God will proportion the punishment of sinners to the measure of their wickedness, pride and security.
Rev 18:9-19. The pleasures of sin are but for a season, and they will end in dismal sorrow.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Fall of Babylon. God’s People come out from her. The Kings, and great Men, and Merchants, wail for her. The Saints of God rejoice over her.
Rev 18:1
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
This is a very blessed and refreshing Chapter, in which we arrive at the close of the history, in that part of it, which concerns the destruction of the whore; here called Babylon. The date of this Chapter, must be under the fifth vial, and in correspondence also to the sixth trumpet, both which we are still under, though, as I before remarked, in the few general observations on the vials, that they are certainly not so distinct in their ministry, as that one hath fully exhausted all which belonged to it, before the succeeding one came to be poured out, for, frequently, through the whole that is already past, we find from their history, one runs into another, See Chapter 16 Commentary, on verse 1.(Rev 16:1 )
The several parts of this Chapter refresh the Church of God, with their blessed informations. The long prayed-for time is here come. She that deluged the earth with the blood of the saints, is now brought to her account. The Holy Ghost describes the different effects wrought upon the minds of men, in the view of her ruin. Those of states and empires, as well as the shipmasters and merchants, who profited by her delusion on the world, lament her downfall, which involves in it their own. While the Church of God, in not only that part of it yet upon earth, but the Holy Apostles and Prophets now in heaven, join in the triumphant song. Who this Messenger is, whom John saw corning down from the Church, to give the glorious tidings is not said. A very blessed account of his greatness is given, for it is said, that he lightened the earth with his glory, that is, I apprehend, not the glories of his person, but the glory of his intelligence. It could not be Christ I should suppose, because Christ is the judge of the whore, and He that will come under the seventh vial, to punish in Person, the devil, and the beast, and the false prophet together, Rev 16:15-17 .
I admire the grace of the Lord towards John, and the Church through him, that it seems to have been immediately after the vision the Lord hath favored him with, in the preceding Chapter of the whore’s prosperity and pride, that this of her judgment immediately followed. So sweetly doth the Lord time his mercies to his people, that the lifting up their souls with joy, shall speedily succeed their exercises of sorrow.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 18:2
Here we are at Treves. I need not tell you all I have felt here and at Fleissen. At first the feeling that one is standing over the skeleton of the giant iniquity old Rome is overpowering. And as I stood last night in that amphitheatre, amid the wild beasts’ dens, and thought of the Christian martyrdoms and the Frank prisoners, and all the hellish scenes of agony and cruelty that place had witnessed, I seemed to hear the very voice of the Archangel whom St. John heard in Patmos, crying, Babylon the Great is fallen; no more like the sound of a trumpet, but only in the still whisper of the night breeze, and through the sleeping vineyards, and the great still smile of God out of the broad, blue heaven.
Kingsley.
Rev 18:4
Fly from Rome, for Babylon signifieth confusion, and Rome has confused all the Scriptures, confused all vices together, and confused everything. Fly, then, from Rome, and come to repentance.
Savonarola, to the Florentines, in 1496.
Compare also Carlyle’s use of the text in his diatribe against the landed aristocracy, in Past and Present. After accusing them of indolence and oppression, he pauses for a moment to reflect: ‘Exceptions! ah yes, thank Heaven, we know there are exceptions. Our case were too hard, were there not exceptions, and partial exceptions not a few, whom we know, and whom we do not know. Honour to the name of Ashley, honour to this and the other valiant Abdiel, found faithful still, who would fain, by work and by word, admonish their Order not to rush upon destruction! These are they who will, if not save their Order, postpone the wreck of it. All honour and success to these. The noble man can still strive nobly to save and serve his Order; at lowest, he can remember the precept of the Prophet: ‘Come out of her, my people, come out of her’.
References. XVIII. 7, 8. Expositor (4th Series), vol. ii. p. 292. XVIII. 8 . Ibid. (6th Series), vol. v. p. 114.
The Manhood Traffic
Rev 18:11-13
This passage is built up after the analogy of Ezekiel’s prophecies concerning Tyre, in conjunction with which they should be read (see Ezek. XXVII., XXVIII.); and the merchandise of the city of Rome in the Apostle’s time has undoubtedly formed the groundwork of this enumeration.
I. The text declares that one of the causes of the ruin of this Babylon was her extravagant luxury. The history of the world is full of solemn lessons concerning the enervating influence of luxury. It is scarcely too much to say that luxury was the chief destroyer of all the great empires of antiquity. We are constantly discovering a proneness to fall away into the ease-taking and self-pampering which ruined the great empires of ancient Babylon, of Media and Persia, of Greece and Rome. Christlike self-renunciation is a virtue which cannot grow in the soil of luxurious living.
II. But it is to the two last items in this extraordinary inventory that I wish to call your attention, viz., slaves and souls of men. As the margin informs us the literal translation is bodies and souls of men. There are ways of making merchandise of manhood beside the coarse and palpable one of selling men for slaves. (1) I very much fear, thanks to the cruel, heartless, atheistic political economy which this country learnt from Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and company, that very much of our commerce is practically a traffic in the blood, and bones, and nerves, and souls of men. No commerce is healthy, except that whose fundamental law is, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (2) The drink traffic, the opium traffic, and whoremongering are other manifestations of this awful trade in the bodies and souls of men. If the Church would do her Master’s work she must arise and be the champion of the poor, the enemy of all sweating, the inexorable foe of all manhood traffic.
G. A. Bennetts, The Preacher’s Magazine, vol. IV. p. 509.
Reference. XVIII. 14. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xii. p. 283.
Rev 18:21
Compare the use of this verse in Tennyson’s poem, ‘Sea Dreams’.
References. XIX. Expositor (5th Series), vol. x. p. 292. XIX. 1. H. S. Holland, God’s City, p. 59.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
XVI
THE WAR OF HAR-MAGEDON (CONTINUED)
Rev 18:1-19:10
This chapter closes up the longest section in the book, the war between the true church and the counterfeit church. In the preceding study I gave you but a little exposition of Rev 17 , because that chapter only identifies the woman in purple and scarlet, and because it is self-explanatory. The latter half tells the meaning of the first half.
We now consider, with more detail, the effect of the outpouring of the last bowl of wrath upon the woman in purple and scarlet, that is the final destruction of Romanism as the counterfeit church. Note carefully the change from a woman to a city. “I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried with a mighty voice, saying: Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, and is become the habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” That is the announcement sent from heaven, in the brilliance of glory and the highest extent of authority, of the doom of the mystic Babylon. The imagery of this chapter is borrowed, even to the very words, from the following prophecies of the Old Testament: Isa 13:19-22 , which describes the downfall of the historic Babylon on the Euphrates. Then in Isa 34:9-15 , is described the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 50-51) describes the destruction of the historic Babylon. Zephaniah, (Rev 2:13 ff) describes the destruction of Nineveh. Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 26-28) describes the destruction of Tyre, and from these prophecies we get the very word employed in this chapter, as imagery transferred to the mystic Babylon. I have the space to recall to you but one of them, the first one cited:
And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldean’s pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and ostriches shall dwell there; and wild goats [or demons] shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. Isa 13:19 .
The same language is employed by the other prophets to whom I refer, and exactly corresponding to the language which I have Just read, “is become a habitation of demons, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird.” That simply means, that as the ancient Babylon, after its destruction, was never more inhabited, and wild beasts whelped in its palaces, so when God smites the mystic Babylon, the counterfeit church of Romanism, it will be wiped off the face of the earth.
Read again, now from verse Rev 18:3 : “For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.” That is the cause or reason of the destruction of the mystic Babylon; that her influence was so corrupt with the nations of the earth that she caused its kings to join in her idolatries and blasphemies, and through the merchandise of her wantonness, that is, all that part of the commerce which relates to the things employed in her service, on that account it is to be swept away.
Read verse Rev 18:4 : “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that you have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” That is to me a very precious verse. It shows that God never destroys the righteous’; that if the righteous have been associating with the evil, before the judgment falls on the evil the righteous are called out. We saw that in the case of Sodom: the angels took hold of Lot and dragged him out of the city, saying, “We cannot destroy this city while you are in it.” We saw the same thing when Korah and his family were about to be swallowed up by an earthquake on account of great sin. Everybody was required to move away from him, to get away from the dangerous place where they stood, because the ground on which their feet rested would yawn, crack open, and they would be engulfed. We find precisely these words addressed to the old Babylon. Jeremiah uses the words precisely. A great many of the Israelites and people of Judah were in captivity in Babylon, and the prophet says: “Come forth out of her, my people, that ye receive not her plagues.”
We see the same language when Jerusalem was destroyed. Jesus said to his disciples: “When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, then you flee to the mountains, and share not in the doom that is coming upon Jerusalem,” through the armies of Titus. You still see the same thing, on a much grander scale, at the end of the world. The earth cannot be destroyed by fire while any Christian is on it; their bodies are raised, they are caught up in the clouds, and when no living Christian and the dust of no dead Christian is left on the earth, then the earth will be wrapped in fire.
Another pertinent paragraph is found in 2 Corinthians:
Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for we are “ft temple of the living God; even as God said: I dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 2Co 6:14-18 .
Notwithstanding the evil of the system of Romanism, notwithstanding the heresy of its doctrines, there are multitudes of truly converted children of God on its church rolls. Some of the finest religious hymns, some of the sweetest and most precious expressions of the love of Christ, have come from the pens of individual Roman Catholics; they are God’s children. Now, before this destruction falls on that counterfeit church, God will call out from it all of his true children. Every now and then there are secessions. Millions went out in the days of the Reformation; great multitudes of the old-fashioned Catholics went out after the Council of Trent; they could not accept those decrees. All through history they have been going out. Some never were in, and I think we belong to that crowd. But I am speaking of those who were in, and I am glad when any of them come out.
In Rev 18:5 we read the reasons of this final sweeping judgment: “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” The language of the Bible on that point is very impressive. God does not strike until the measure of iniquity is full; but when it is full he strikes. The sins of the Canaanites got so rank that they smelt unto heaven, then God destroyed them root and branch; when Sodom’s sin cried unto heaven, God swept it away without pity and without mercy. We get impatient, oftentimes, at God’s patience, his long-suffering with evil, and we say: Why doesn’t he hurl his lightning; why doesn’t he strike down the wicked? God says: “Wait, I am giving everybody an opportunity for repentance. At the right time I will strike, and when I strike there will be no need to strike again. It will be complete.” Whenever that time comes, God remembereth iniquities.
I preached a sermon once on this text: “When he maketh inquisition for sin, he remembereth.” Men do evil because judgment is not speedily executed. But after a while God will make inquisition, that means a search like a sheriff with a search warrant The day I preached that sermon I described God’s coming to the sinner and entering into his heart and shining with the light of his truth into the most secret chambers of his soul, and unmasking, and revealing, and bringing out into the white light of infinite holiness every foul thing that man ever did: “When he maketh inquisition for sin, be remembereth.” That great sermon of Jonathan Edwards that started a series of meetings in which a quarter of a million people were converted, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” from the text: “Their feet shall slide in due time,” applied this thought.
Rev 18:6 : “Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works; in the cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double.” Now, I do not think the “double” there means twice as much. It is according to the old law of retaliation: “Like for like: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; as ye judge ye shall be judged; as ye measured to others it shall be measured unto you.” The punishment shall correspond to the sin. And now, as that iniquitous counterfeit church was drunk with the blood of the saints; as she filled her cup with idolatries, God gives her a cup to drink with his undiluted wrath. The punishment shall correspond to the sin. The same principle of righteousness is expressed in the next two verses.
“How much soever she glorified herself and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning; for she saith in her heart: I sit a queen and am not a widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. Therefore, in one day shall her plagues come, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her.” In other words, as led by her pride, she took the high seat and spoke great swelling words of blasphemy, and put her foot on the neck of kings and oppressed the saints, and relied upon her infallibility, saying: “I am a queen, I am not subject to the law, and no mourning shall come to me,” so shall be the depth of her fall. It shall be as deep as her presumption was high.
Rev 18:9-10 : “And the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying: Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city I For in one hour is thy judgment come.” This is copied directly from the prophets; in fact, nearly every word in this chapter is.
They had an agreement, the kings and the Romanist church: “You buttress me in my kingly authority, and I will buttress you in your papal chair.” There was a trade, a very convenient arrangement. Just like a municipal sin is committed by a grafter who offers? to support a certain man for mayor or alderman, or chief of police, or some other civil office, on the condition: “You let me put my finger into the pie and take out my plum, and I don’t care how many plums you take out.” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; [and this is her merchandise] merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious atones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood [or sweet scented wood], and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and the souls of men. Rev 18:11-13 .
Ezekiel 26-28, foretelling the downfall of Tyre, represents all who lived by her merchandise as bewailing her. Understand that this merchandise here is not to be considered as merchandise in general, but is that part of the merchandise past for so much; then there were fees for officiating at birth, which was used up in supporting this counterfeit church, or in its ceremonies, or vestments; there would be “Peter’s pence” enough to build a cathedral; there would be the profit from the sale of indulgences, as when Tetzel traveled over Germany and sold the privilege of sins in the future as well as in the marriage fees, and the fees to get your father or mother out of purgatory, fees for everything. Then there were the great donations given by the conscience-stricken dying, donations of lands, and large sums of money. It is related that on one occasion a Pope led a visiting friend into the treasure house of the Vatican, and showed him the silks and purple and laces and fine linen, opened the coffers and showed him the jewels diamonds, pearls and rubies, the gold and silver; and said: “There has been a great change since the first Pope, Peter, for he said: ‘Silver and gold have I none,”‘ and the friend re marked: “We have what Peter had not, and we have not what Peter had, for he could make the lame man walk without the silver and gold, and we cannot.”
Of course, the commercial spirit will always “hurrah” for anything that makes trade. They will if it be whiskey; they will if it be prostitution; they will if it be idolatry, if you can only sell the images of the great goddess Diana and make a big pile of money by it. But when all that is broken up they will stand off and wail: “Alas, Babylon is fallen, and all of our trade is broken up.”
But look at that last item, will you? “And merchandise in the bodies and in the souls of men.” What was Luther when he went to Rome, and on bended knees climbed the stairway to find expiation of sin, but a slave? Slaves and the souls of men! And how joyously he leaped to his feet when he saw that man is justified in the sight of God by faith and not by works from condemnation forever, without dependence on any priest’s “I absolve thee”; God does the absolving. Slaves and the souls of men! Millions and millions have been slaves, slaves to the blindest superstitions, treasuring up the cut-off toe nails of some so-called saint, or put-ting in a vial or bottle the tears of some other saint, or preserving an image that seems to wink the eye. You might as well imitate the Negro, who puts a rabbit’s foot in his pocket for luck, or nails up a horseshoe to keep off the witches; it is the same principle, exactly. It is slavery, the worst form of slavery. Mental slavery is much worse than body slavery.
Rev 18:14 : “And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all.” Now, when a man works hard and lives hard, it does not hurt if occasionally he eats short rations, but if one be pampered, feeding at a banquet every day, having every luxury in the world, then if God sweeps all of it away, and turns out that glutton barefooted and bankrupt, oh, how he feels ill Whenever that is the prop you lean on, and it breaks, then you are in a hard case. But if the spirit of happiness be in you, and not in the things about you, and you rest in the eternal joy of hope and peace and love, then the devil cannot bankrupt you; no money panic can make you a pauper. But notice the crowd that is weeping over the downfall, those who had shared in the profits of the idolatrous business.
Then look at Rev 18:20 , and see who rejoice: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her.” She has passed her judgment on you, she imprisoned you, burnt you at the stake; through flames your soul took its exodus to heaven. Now, up in heaven, look down and see your judgment, that they put on you, see it put on her. That is the crowd that rejoices every time an evil power is put down. The good people are glad; it is the evil people who are sad. Every nation that doeth righteousness maketh the righteous glad.
Rev 18:21 : “And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all.” Now, that is borrowed outright from Jeremiah. When he pronounced the doom on the ancient Babylon, he wrote it and said to one of his friends: “Go to Babylon and tie this writing to a great stone, and hurl it into the Euphrates and as it sinks out of sight you say: Thus shall Babylon disappear forever.” It is a very significant correspondence.
And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. Rev 18:22-23 .
What a description of ruin! If you were to walk amidst the ruins of Palmyra or Karnac, or stand in the ruins of Nineveh or ancient Babylon, never hearing the laughter of a child, never seeing a friendly light shine in a window, never hearing a strain of music) but all desolation, and the only voice the voice of a wild beast, or the hoot of an owl, you would get a conception of the judgment that God sends upon that counterfeit church.
Last verse of the chapter, Rev 18:24 : “And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.” That used to puzzle me, just like it puzzled me in Mat 23:25 when Jerusalem was destroyed: “That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar.” Now, that apostate church did not kill all the people of the Old Testament days, for it did not exist. Then, what is meant by saying that upon it shall come all the righteous blood? The idea is this: That the principle of persecution is the same, and that you may pursue that principle until you have identified yourself with every persecution that ever has been, you get in you the spirit of all past persecutions. It is the solidarity of sin.
After these things I heard, as it were, a great voice of a great multitude in heaven. [We have heard the earth voices, howling and complaining now, let us listen to heaven] “Hallelujah; salvation and glory and power belong to our God; for true and righteous are his judgments; for be has judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. Rev 19:1-2 .
Think about that, will you? To which song is your soul attuned? Will you weep with the wicked, or rejoice with the saints? In the book of the Psalms there is a division called the “Hallelujah Psalms,” and on Passover occasions what is called the “Great Hallel” is sung; Jesus and his apostles sang it at the observance of the Lord’s Supper. That is one of the most striking portions of the Psalms; it denotes the highest expression of joy and praise.
“And a second time they say, Hallelujah.” Notice right after that: “And her smoke goeth up for ever and for ever.” Hallelujah up yonder, smoke down here; the burning of the counterfeit church and the glory of the saints in heaven over its disappearance as a persecuting agency.
Notice who participate in the Hallel: “And the four and twenty elders,” those who represent the continuous priesthood of God’s people on earth. “And the four living creatures,” that is, the four Cherubim that constitute the chariot of God on his messages of mercy. “They fell down and worshiped God, saying, Hallelujah, amen.” That is not all of it: “And a voice came forth from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all ye his servants, ye that fear him, the small and the great,” not only the Cherubim and the elders, but Jet everybody rejoice. Now, let us see what response was made to that:
And I heard it as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying: Hallelujah; for the Lord, our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory unto him; for the marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, and it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Back in Rev 12 , we saw that radiant woman driven into the wilderness, the world despised her, pagan power persecuted her, papal power persecuted her. Here we have seen the purple woman go down in smoke. I told you that this whole section was a war between these two women. The radiant woman not only comes out of the wilderness, but arrays herself for marriage to the Lamb. There are two pertinent parables in Matthew: (1) the parable Of the marriage of the King’s Son, which relates to the time of the espousal (Mat 22 ); (2) the wise and foolish virgins which relates to the consummation of the espousal: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Mat 25:6 ).
The church, conceived of as an institution, a time institution, now becomes the glory church, wedded to the Lamb in heaven. I have explained what the righteousnesses of the saints mean, in the chapter on the promises, and I will not discuss it now.
Rev 19:9 : “And he saith unto me: Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Blessed are they, I give you a general question: What are the beatitudes of the book of Revelation? Everything that commences with “Blessed” is a beatitude. Compare them with the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. I will call them off to you: The first beatitude is chapter Rev 1:3 , then Rev 14:13 , then Rev 20:6 , then Rev 22:7 . You write out all of these, take each one of them into your heart, and you will see that our Lord did not get through speaking beatitudes when he delivered his Sermon on the Mount.
And he said unto me [that is, the interpreting angel]: These are the true words of God; and J fell down before his feet to worship him. And he said unto me: See thou do it not; I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
What a glorious thing the fellowship of the different servants of God I We do not worship the church, we do not worship any one of these ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of shining angels of God; they are servants of God; you are a servant of God. “See thou do, it not.” They are working for the same cause for which you are working. Their lot, for the present, is higher than yours, but don’t forget that it is only for a little season, and then you will be higher than they. So do not worship any one that one day you will be above. The biggest preacher in the world ought to be glad to join in the fellowship of worship with the poorest ragged little street urchin that ever found peace in believing in Jesus Christ. They stand together on a plane of equality before an impartial God. And, brethren, it has been one of the joys of my life that I have not despised any one of the little ones that believe on Jesus Christ. I would not turn on my heel for the difference between the poor dying beggar that loved Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of John D. Rockefeller. They stand exactly even, the rich and the poor, for in Christ Jesus there are no rich and no poor. We are all one, and we are all one with the angels in service.
QUESTIONS
1. From what Old Testament prophecies is the imagery of Rev 18 borrowed?
2. What is the chief sin of the counterfeit church, causing her downfall?
3. Are there true children of God among the Romanists?
4. How do they escape her doom?
5. Give historic instances of God’s people leaving the counterfeit church.
6. Show from both Old Testament and New Testament analogues that God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked.
7. Cite Paul’s pertinent exhortation to the Corinthians,
8. What is the meaning in Rev 18:6 of “rendering double”?
9. Cite some of the merchandise of the counterfeit church.
10. Who will bewail the downfall of the counterfeit church? And who rejoice?
11. How do you account for the expression in the last verse of the chapter that “in her was found the blood of all that had been slain upon the earth,” and what parallel expression in Matthew concerning Jerusalem?
12. What distinction do you make between the parable of the marriage of the king’s son in Mat 22 and the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Mat 25 , and on what Jewish custom are both founded?
13. Which of these parables is parallel with Rev 19:6-9 ?
14. What the beatitudes in Revelation?
15. Why is angelolatry a sin?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Ver. 1. I saw another angel ] Some excellent and worthy man (saith Mr Brightman), such a one as should come suddenly before he be looked for, as those things do that slip down from heaven.
Having great power ] , or authority; as having in hand a great business, viz. the denouncing of Rome’s utter ruin.
And the earth was lighted ] He delivered himself clearly and expressly, so as that all men may well understand his meaning. Ribera the Jesuit gives this note upon this text, that the judgment of Rome’s desolation shall be (not kept secret, but) made manifest to all men.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
CH. Rev 17:1 to Rev 19:10 .] THE JUDGMENT OF BABYLON. And herein, Rev 17:1-6 .] The description of Babylon under the figure of a drunken harlot, riding on the beast . And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials (we are not told which of the seven, and it is idle to enquire. The seventh has been conjectured, because under the outpouring of his vial Babylon was remembered) and talked with me saying, Hither (see reff.), I will shew thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon [ the ] many waters, with whom the kings of the earth ( have ) committed fornication, and they who inhabit the earth have been made drunk from the wine ( , the wine having been the source of their drunkenness) of her fornication (the figure here used, of a harlot who has committed fornication with secular kings and peoples, is frequent in the prophets, and has one principal meaning and application, viz. to God’s church and people that had forsaken Him and attached herself to others. In eighteen places out of twenty-one where the figure occurs, such is its import; viz. in Isa 1:21 ; Jer 2:20 ; Jer 3:1 ; Jer 3:6 ; Jer 3:8 ; Eze 16:15-16 ; Eze 16:28 ; Eze 16:31 ; Eze 16:35 ; Eze 16:41 ; Eze 23:5 ; Eze 23:19 ; Eze 23:44 ; Hos 2:5 ; Hos 3:3 ; Hos 4:15 ( Mic 1:7 ). In three places only is the word applied to heathen cities: viz. in Isa 23:15-16 to Tyre, where, Rev 17:17 , it is also said, “she shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth:” and in Nah 3:4 to Nineveh, which is called the well-favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. And there the threat is pronounced of a very similar ruin to that which befalls Babylon here. So that the Scripture analogy, while it points to unfaithfulness and treachery against God’s covenant, also brings to mind extensive empire and wide-spread rule over the kingdoms of the earth. It is true, that as far as the image itself is concerned, pagan Rome as well fulfils its requirements as Tyre and Nineveh. It will depend on subsequent features in the description, whether we are to bound our view with her history and overthrow. Still, it will not be desirable to wait for the solution of this question till we arrive at the point where those features appear: for by so doing much of our intermediate exegesis will necessarily be obscured. The decisive test then which may at once be applied to solve the question, is derived from the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon in ch. Rev 18:2 . It is to be laid utterly waste, and to “become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” Now no such destruction as this has yet befallen Rome, unless her transfer from pagan to papal rule be such a destruction, and the Pope and his ecclesiastics be described in the above terms. In an eloquent passage of Vitringa, he presses Bossuet with this dilemma. Again, it is said of this harlot, . But we may ask, if this be pagan Rome, who and what are these kings, and what is indicated by her having been the object of their lustful desires? In the days of Imperial Rome, there were no independent kings of the earth except in Parthia and Persia. Rome in her pagan state, as described for the purpose of identification in Rev 17:18 , was not one who intrigued with the kings of the earth, but : she reigned over them with undisputed and crushing sway.
I do not hesitate therefore, induced mainly by these considerations, which will be confirmed as we proceed step by step in the prophecy, to maintain that interpretation which regards papal and not pagan Rome as pointed out by the harlot of this vision. The subject has been amply discussed by many expositors. I would especially mention Vitringa, and Bp. Wordsworth.
The “sitting upon many waters” is said of Babylon in Jer. in reff., but has here a symbolical meaning; see below, Rev 17:15 . On the see ch. Rev 14:8 . The same thing is said of Babylon in Jer. l. c. But there she herself is the cup in the Lord’s hand). And he (the angel) carried me away to the wilderness (not, as Elliott, al., and even Dsterd., “a wilderness.” Such inferences from the absence of the art. in this later Greek, never secure, are more than ever unsafe when a preposition precedes: and the usage of the LXX should have prevented any such rendering here. In no fewer than twenty places (see Tromm.) they use the word anarthrously, where there can be no question that “ the wilderness ” is the only rendering. In fact it may be questioned whether the expressly indefinite rendering, “ a wilderness,” is ever justifiable, except in case of predication, or junction with an adjective, without some further indication than the mere omission of the definite article after a preposition. Had it been intended here, we may safely say that , or would have been used. The most natural way of accounting for the Seer being taken into the wilderness here, is that he was to be shewn Babylon, which was in the wilderness, and the overthrow of which, in the prophecy from which come the very words ( , LXX) ( Isa 21:9 ), is headed . So that by the analogy of prophecy, the journey to witness the fall of Babylon would be . The question of the identity of this woman with the woman in ch. 12 is not affected by that of the identity of this wilderness with that) in the spirit (see reff., and note on ch. Rev 1:10 ): and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast (this beast is introduced as if a new appearance: but its identity with that mentioned before, ch. Rev 13:1 ff., is plain as the description goes onward. For not to mention the features which the two have in common, this beast, as soon as described, is ever after mentioned as : and in ch. Rev 19:19-20 the identity is expressly established. For there we read, Rev 19:19 , that the beast and the kings of the earth make war against the Lamb, which beast can be no other than this on which the woman rides, cf. our Rev 19:12-14 : and in the next verse, ch. Rev 19:20 , we read that the beast was taken, and the false prophet who did miracles before him , which beast can be no other than that of ch. 13. See Rev 19:14 there. The identity of the two is therefore matter not of opinion, but of demonstration. The differences in appearance doubtless are significant. That with which we are now concerned, the scarlet colour, is to be understood as belonging not to a covering on the beast, but to the beast itself. It is akin to the colour of the dragon ( ), but as that is the redness of fire (see however ch. Rev 6:4 ), so is this of blood, with which both the beast and its rider are dyed. It was the colour, see ref. Heb., of the wool to be used in sprinkling the blood of sacrifice. There may be an allusion to the Roman imperial purple: for the robe which was put on our Lord in mockery was , ref. Matt. But this is more probably conveyed by its own proper word in the next verse.
By the woman sitting on the wild-beast, is signified that superintending and guiding power which the rider possesses over his beast: than which nothing could be chosen more apt to represent the superiority claimed and exercised by the See of Rome over the secular kingdoms of Christendom), full of names of blasphemy (for the construction with accus., see reff., and Winer, edn. 6, 32. 5. The names of blasphemy, which were found before on the heads of the beast only, have now spread over its whole surface. As ridden and guided by the harlot, it is tenfold more blasphemous in its titles and assumptions than before. The heathen world had but its Divi in the Csars, as in other deified men of note: but Christendom has its “most Christian” and “most faithful” Kings, such as Louis XIV. and Philip II.; its “Defenders of the faith,” such as Charles II. and James II.; its society of unprincipled intriguers called after the sacred name of our Lord, and working Satan’s work “ad majorem Dei gloriam;” its “holy office” of the Inquisition, with its dens of darkest cruelty; finally its “patrimony of St. Peter,” and its “holy Roman Empire;” all of them, and many more, new names of blasphemy, with which the woman has invested the beast. Go where we will and look where we will in Papal Christendom, names of blasphemy meet us. The taverns, the shops, the titles of men and of places, the very insurance badges on the houses, are full of them), having seven heads and ten horns (as in its former appearance, ch. Rev 13:1 ; inherited from the dragon, ch. Rev 12:3 . These are presently interpreted: we now return to the description of the woman herself). And the woman was clothed in purple (St. John’s own word, even to its peculiar form, see reff., for the mock-imperial robe placed on our Lord: and therefore bearing probably here the same signification; but not in mockery, as Bed [121] , “fucus simulati regiminis:” for the empire is real) and scarlet (see above. This very colour is not without its significance: witness the Cardinals, at the same time the guiding council of the Church and princes of the State), [ and ] gilded with gold and with (the is zeugmatically carried on) precious stone and with pearls (this description needs no illustration for any who have witnessed, or even read of, the pomp of Papal Rome: which, found as it is every where, is concentrated in the city itself), holding a cup of gold in her hand full of abominations and of the impure things (the change of construction is remarkable: for such it must be accounted, and not, with Dsterd., the accus. governed by . It seems to be made, not to avoid an accumulation of genitives, as Hengstb., but to mark a difference between the more abstract designation of the contents of the cup as , and the specification of them in the concrete as . . .) of her fornication (this cup is best taken altogether symbolically, and not as the cup in the Mass, which, however degraded by her blasphemous fiction of transubstantiation, could hardly be called by this name, and moreover is not given , but denied by her to the nations of the earth. That she should have represented herself in her medals as holding forth this cup (with the remarkable inscription, “sedet super universam;” see Elliott, vol. iv. p. 30, plate), is a judicial coincidence rather than a direct fulfilment), and ( having ) upon her forehead a name written (as was customary with harlots: so Seneca, Controv. i. 2, in Wetst.: “Stetisti puella in lupanari:. nomen tuum pependit a fronte: pretia stupri accepisti:” and Juv. Sat. vi. 123 of Messallina, “Tunc nuda papillis Constitit auratis, titulum mentita Lycisc”), Mystery (is this word part of the name, or not? On the whole it seems more probable that it is. For though no such word would in the nature of things be attached to her forehead as part of her designation, so neither would the description which follows , to which the word seems partly to refer. But whether part of the name or not, the meaning will be the same: viz. that the title following is to be taken in a spiritual and an enigmatical sense: compare ch. Rev 1:20 , and 2Th 2:7 ), Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth (i. e. not only first and greatest of these, but herself the progenitress and origin of the rest. All spiritual fornication and corruption are owing to her, and to her example and teaching). And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus (as the Seer contemplates the woman, he perceives that she is drunken: and from what is revealed to him, and from her symbolic colour of blood, he assigns the cause of that intoxication. Wetst. quotes Plin. H. N. xiv. 28, “quo facile intelligitur ebrius jam sanguine civium, et tanto magis eum sitiens”). And I wondered, when I saw her, with great wonder (what was the ground of the Seer’s astonishment? One doubtless might be assigned, which would at once account for any degree of such emotion. If this woman is the same as he before saw, who fled into the wilderness from the face of the dragon, “the faithful city become an harlot” ( Isa 1:21 ), he might well wonder. And certainly there is much in favour of such a supposition. It has been taken up by some considerable expositors, such as Auberlen (Der Prophet Daniel, pp. 278 ff.), who has argued earnestly but soberly for it. There is one objection to it, which has been made more of in this place than perhaps it deserves. It is, that in the Angel’s replication to St. John’s wonder, no allusion is made to this circumstance as its principal ground. But, it may well be replied, this would be just what we might expect, if the fact of identity were patent. The Seer, versed in the history of man’s weakness and depravity, full of O. T. prophetic thoughts and sayings, would need no solution of the fact itself: this would lie at the ground of his wonder, and of the angel’s explanation of the consequences which were to follow from it. Auberlen very properly lays stress on the fact, that the joint symbolism of the wilderness and the woman could not fail to call up in the mind of the Seer the last occasion when the two occurred together: and insists that this symbol must be continuous throughout. Without going so far as to pronounce the two identical, I think we cannot and ought not to lose sight of the identity of symbolism in the two cases. It is surely meant to lie beneath the surface, and to teach us an instructive lesson. We may see from it two prophetic truths: first, that the church on earth in the main will become apostate and faithless, cf. Luk 18:8 ; and secondly, that while this shall be so, the apostasy shall not embrace the whole church, so that the second woman in the apocalyptic vision should be absolutely identical with the first. The identity is, in the main, not to be questioned: in formal strictness, not to be pressed. This being so, I should rather regard St. John’s astonishment as a compound feeling, occasioned partly by the enormity of the sight revealed to him, partly also by the identity of the symbolism with that which had been the vehicle of a former and altogether different vision).
[121] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
CH. Rev 18:1 to Rev 19:10 .] THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON. And herein, Rev 18:1-3 .] Announcement of the destruction . The Seer does not see the act of destruction: it is prophesied to him in ch. 17, and now announced, as indeed it had been by anticipation before, ch. Rev 14:8 , as having taken place. After these things I saw another angel (another besides the one who shewed him the vision in the last chapter: or, perhaps, as it is natural to join the in some measure with the participle following, another besides the last who came down from heaven, ch. Rev 10:1 ) coming down out of heaven (the Seer is still on the earth) having great power (possibly, as Elliott suggests, as the executor of the judgment that he announced. If so, the announcement is still anticipatory, see Rev 18:21 ), and the earth was lighted up by his glory ( , as the source of the brightness): and he cried with (or, in ) a mighty voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen [ is fallen ], and is become an habitation of dmons (see especially LXX, Isa 34:14 ff.), and a hold (a place of detention: as it were an appointed prison) of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird (see the prophecy respecting Babylon, Jer 50:39 ): because by ( out of , as source: or, according to the other reading, of ) the wrath of her fornication all the nations have fallen (or, according to the other reading, drunk : see on ch. Rev 14:8 . The use of the is even more remarkable here: of (or, by) that wine of her fornication which has turned into wrath to herself), and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich out of the quantity ( , copia, as Vitringa, who remarks, “alluditur ad Hebram vocem , cujus hc significationis vis est, Job 31:25 , Eze 28:4 .” We have in Jos. Antt. iii. 2. 4) of her luxury ( , see reff. and note on 1 Tim., seems properly to mean the exuberance of strength, the flower of pride).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 18:1-3 : an angelic proclamation of Babylon’s fate ( cf. Rev 14:8 ) in terms of Isa 13:19-22 ; Isa 34:14 (demons of the desert, the Mazzikin of Jewish demonology, familiar to Babylonian magic), Jer 50:30 ; Jer 51:37 , Zep 2:15 , etc. “Be of good cheer, O Jerusalem Miserable are the cities which thy children served, miserable is she who received thy sons. For as she rejoiced at thy fall and was glad at thy ruin, so shall she grieve at her own desolation. Yea I will take away her delight in her great crowds, and her vaunting shall turn to mourning. For fire from the Everlasting shall come upon her for a length of days, and for long shall she be inhabited by demons” ( Bar 4:30-35 ). . . . “by ( cf. Rev 18:19 ) the wealth of her wantonness” traders profited; i.e. , by the enormous supplies which the capital required to satisfy her demands ( , – from the New comedy and colloquial usage). in Rev 18:1 denotes the flashing brilliance which, according to the primitive collocation of life and light, accompanied the heavenly visitants to earth or the manifestation of a divine presence (Rev 21:11 ; Rev 21:23 , Rev 22:5 ); see the valuable paragraphs in Grill, pp. 259 271.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation Chapter 18
Chapter 18 need not delay us long. It is not. the warning beforehand, as in Rev 14 , announcing Babylon’s fall before the fact; nor is it its exact place as the last of the Bowls of God’s wrath; nor yet as in Rev 17 the relation of Babylon to the Beast and the kings of the earth in contrast with the Bride’s to the Lamb and the millennial kings as in Rev 21 . It is the catastrophe viewed as come, with a preceding call to God’s people, and consequent on her ruin the lamentations of all from kings to seamen over her who had contributed to their pleasure and earthly greed. But there is a call for the joy of heaven, and of saints, apostles, and prophets, that God has judged her, the shameless deceiver and prostitute.
Thus runs the introduction. “And after these things I saw another angel descending out of the heaven, having great authority: and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried, saying, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, and become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird; because of the wine of the fury* of her fornication all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich by the might of her luxury. And I heard another voice out of heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her strokes; for her sins reached up to the heaven, and God remembered her unrighteousnesses. Award her, even as she awarded, and double to her double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. How much she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much give her torment and grief: because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and I am no widow, and in no wise shall I see grief. For this reason in one day shall come her strokes, death, and grief, and famine; and she shall be burnt with fire; for strong [is] the Lord God that judgeth her.”
* “Poison” has been suggested by pious and learned men. But it is better rendered homogeneously with what is said elsewhere. we cannot apply “poison” to God’s wrath, but we may with many scriptures employ “fury” to mark His extreme indignation, and Babylon’s excessive deception and unbridled iniquity.
It is a description, as we readily see, not of the corrupt woman’s relation to the Beast but of the city’s fall, with certain dirges put into the month of the different classes that groan because of her extinction here below. But along with that, God warns of her total ruin, and calls on His people (verse 4) to come out of her. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins reached up to the heaven, and God remembered her unrighteousnesses.” Then the word is, “Award her even as she awarded you, and double to her double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. How much she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much give her torment and grief: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and I am no widow, and I shall in no wise see grief.”
Babylon is viewed in this chapter not so much in her mysterious and religious form, giving currency to every kind of confusion of truth and error, of good and evil, intoxicating, corrupting, and seducing, as all can see, through her wickedly ecclesiastical influence; she is regarded here as the most conspicuous aider and abettor of the world in its luxuries and delicacies and the pride of life, or what men call “civilisation.”
This is accordingly traced in our chapter with considerable detail, and unto the sorrow and vexation of all the different classes who on the fall of Babylon groaned over her destruction, and the loss of their wealth and enjoyment, or their occupation.
“And the kings of the earth, that committed fornication with her and lived luxuriously, shall weep and wail over her, when they behold the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city, because in one hour came thy judgment. And the merchants of the earth weep and grieve over her, because no one buyeth their lading any more, lading of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of precious wood; and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; and cinnamon, and spice, and incense.” Nor are these by any means all. “And unguent, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle and sheep, and of horses and chariots, and of bodies, and souls of men. And the ripe fruits thy soul desired are departed from thee, and all the fair and bright things are perished from thee, and they shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who were enriched by her, shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, weeping, and grieving, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, for in one hour so great wealth was desolated. And every steersman, and every one sailing to a place, and sailors, and as many as ply their work on the sea stood afar off, and kept crying as they beheld the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city] is like the great city 7 And they cast dust upon their heads, and kept crying, weeping, and grieving, saying, Woe, woe, the great city in which all that had ships in the sea were enriched by her costliness; for in one hour was she desolated. Rejoice over her, heaven, and ye saints and ye apostles and ye prophets; for God judged your judgment upon her.”
Yet is it a profound error to infer from the divine denunciation of her far-reaching and malignant influence as the centre, and factor, and patron of the world’s luxury, that so vast an impulse to commerce is Babylon’s worst virus. That she, proclaiming herself the church, should thus play the harlot instead of being a chaste virgin for Christ, is no doubt monstrously false and evil. But to combine idolatry with the Lord’s name is viler still and unpardonable before God; to which must be added her implacable and deadly hatred of all that truly bear witness to God and His Anointed.
But the graphic account does not end until the Spirit of God shows us another figure of Babylon’s downfall. “And a strong angel took up a stone as a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall be cast down Babylon the great city, and shall be found no more at all; and voice of harp-singers and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no artificer of any art shall be found any more at all in thee; and voice of millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and light of lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and voice of bridegroom and bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; because thy merchants were the grandees of the earth, because by thy sorcery all the nations were deceived. kind in her was found blood[s] of prophets and saints, and of all that were slain on the earth.” The reason is given at the close; not only “for by thy witchcraft were all the nations deceived,” but above all “and in her was found blood of prophets and saints, and of all that were slain on the earth.”
What a solemn and weighty fact in the government of God! How can it be said that this vile, corrupt, idolatrous system of the last days was guilty of the blood of all the martyrs? She followed and had inherited the spirit of all, from the days of Cain, who had lifted up their hands against their righteous brethren. Instead of taking warning from the wickedness of those before her, who had seduced on the one hand and persecuted on the other, she had, when she could, gone on increasing in both, until at last the blow of divine judgment came. It is thus that God is wont to deal as a rule in His judgments, not necessarily on the one that first introduces an evil, but on those that inherit the guilt and perhaps aggravate it, instead of being warned by it. When God does judge, it is not merely for the evil fruits of those then judged but for all from its first budding till that day. Far from being unrighteous, this is, on the contrary, the highest justice from a divine point of view in public government.
We may illustrate it by the members of a family, and suppose, for instance, a drunken father. If the sons had a spark of right feeling, not only must they feel the utmost shame and pain on account of their parent, but they would endeavour (like the two sons of Noah, who had a due sense of what was proper) to cast some mantle of love over that which they could not deny, yet would not look at; but surely above all things they would watch against that shameful sin Alas! there is a son in the family, who, instead of being admonished by his father’s sin, tales licence from it to indulge in the same. On him the blow falls, not on the unhappy parent The son is doubly guilty, because he saw his father’s nakedness, yet felt it not enough to turn away in silent sorrow. He ought to have felt the shame as holily hating the sin itself, yet withal in deep compassion for his parent But far from this, the unwitting exposure he wilfully exposed in mockery, not in grief. Then and thus is guilt aggravated in the case of his wicked son.
It is a similar case here. Babylon had once heard the varied testimony of God; for what had she not heard of truth? The gospel had been preached at Rome, as she of Chaldea had heard of law and prophet. The Roman Babylon too must hear the final testimony of God, the gospel of the kingdom that is to go forth in the last days; but she loves earthly pleasure and power, and refuses truth in any measure. She despises everything really divine; she will only use whatever of God’s word she can pervert for increasing her own importance, and gaining a greater ascendancy over the consciences of men, whilst enjoying herself more luxuriously in the present life. For it is here to obliterate all remembrance of heaven, and to make this world such a paradise as suits her, which she embellishes, not with pure and undefiled religion, but with the arts of men, the idolatries of the world, and the snares of Satan.
This it is which will bring out the indignant judgment of God upon the last phase of Babylon, so that the guilt of all blood of holy ones shed on the earth shall be imputed to her, and she may be judged accordingly. It does not hinder, of course, that in the judgment of the dead each man is judged for his own sin. This remains true. The day of the Lord on the world in no way sets aside His dealing with souls individually for eternity. The judgment of the dead is strictly individual judgments in this world are not. His blows on the quick come more nationally as on Israel; incomparably more severe, as in possession of greater privileges, is the judgment of corrupt Christendom, or Babylon here so called. But according to His principle of government it is not merely personal guilt, but that which, from despising the testimony of God, thus morally accumulates from age to age in the ratio of the testimony of God and of men’s wickedness indulged in spite of it. All Israel too shall be saved (Rom 11:26 ) as a people, and for the glory of Jehovah on the earth. But there is neither restoration nor mercy for Babylon, but unmitigated destruction, extinction at length through God’s indignant judgment.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 18:1-3
1After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. 2And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. 3″For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committedacts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”
Rev 18:1 “I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory” This was a tremendously powerful angel. The term “authority” (exousia) is not used for any other angel in the book. In Joh 5:27, it is used of God’s authority given to Jesus. In Rev 22:16 Jesus says He sent an angel to speak for Him as a representative.
Rev 18:2 “‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!'” This is one example of the difficulty in interpreting the book of the Revelation. A piece of information is brought in at one point in the vision, partially developed at another point, and fully developed in yet another vision (e.g., cf. Rev 11:8; Rev 14:8; and Rev 16:19-20 or this may be another example of recapitulation between the seven literary units). This is an allusion to Isa 21:9 and/or Jer 51:8.
“She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird” This is an allusion to the ruins of ancient cities:
1. Babylon (cf. Isa 13:21-22; Isa 14:23; Jer 50:39; Jer 51:37)
2. Edom (cf. Isa 34:10-15)
3. Nineveh (cf. Zep 2:14)
In the OT animals are often said to roam about in ruined cities. This is a symbol of both destruction and the presence of evil spirits (cf. NEB). Many of these birds represented demons.
John’s writing is very fluid. This verse describes the city as desolate and indwelt with the demonic, while Rev 19:3 describes it as burnt and smoldering.
Rev 18:3 “all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality” This phrase is an allusion to the OT prophecy of the destruction of Babylon (cf. Jer 51:7). Jeremiah specifically uses drunkenness (i.e., “a golden cup”) as a symbol of lust for wealth.
“passion” This is literally “anger” (thumos). See full note at Rev 7:14.
“the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality” This is an allusion to the major problem of fallen mankind embodied in the self-centeredness and materialism of an end-time, anti-God world system. There are three groups of humans who mourn the fall of the great whore:
1. businessmen (cf. Rev 18:3; Rev 18:11-16)
2. kings of the earth (cf. Rev 18:3; Rev 18:9-10)
3. merchant sailors (cf. Rev 18:3; Rev 18:17-19)
These three represent worldwide human economic systems.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
And. Omit.
after, &c. See Rev 1:19.
saw. App-133.
another. App-124. Not the speaker of Rev 17, but one invested with great authority and glory.
come = coming.
heaven. See Rev 3:12.
power. App-172.
earth. App-129.
lightened. Greek. photizo. Compare App-130.
with. Same as “from”, above.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
CH. Rev 18:1 to Rev 19:10.] THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON. And herein, Rev 18:1-3.] Announcement of the destruction. The Seer does not see the act of destruction: it is prophesied to him in ch. 17, and now announced, as indeed it had been by anticipation before, ch. Rev 14:8, as having taken place. After these things I saw another angel (another besides the one who shewed him the vision in the last chapter: or, perhaps, as it is natural to join the in some measure with the participle following,-another besides the last who came down from heaven, ch. Rev 10:1) coming down out of heaven (the Seer is still on the earth) having great power (possibly, as Elliott suggests, as the executor of the judgment that he announced. If so, the announcement is still anticipatory, see Rev 18:21), and the earth was lighted up by his glory (, as the source of the brightness): and he cried with (or, in) a mighty voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen [is fallen], and is become an habitation of dmons (see especially LXX, Isa 34:14 ff.), and a hold (a place of detention: as it were an appointed prison) of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird (see the prophecy respecting Babylon, Jer 50:39): because by (out of, as source: or, according to the other reading, of) the wrath of her fornication all the nations have fallen (or, according to the other reading, drunk: see on ch. Rev 14:8. The use of the is even more remarkable here: of (or, by) that wine of her fornication which has turned into wrath to herself), and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich out of the quantity (, copia, as Vitringa, who remarks, alluditur ad Hebram vocem , cujus hc significationis vis est, Job 31:25, Eze 28:4. We have in Jos. Antt. iii. 2. 4) of her luxury (, see reff. and note on 1 Tim., seems properly to mean the exuberance of strength, the flower of pride).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Chapter 18
Now after these things I saw another angel ( Rev 18:1 )
It may be one of the seven. It doesn’t really declare or it could be outside of the seven. It is just another angel as far as we know.
coming down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lit up with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird ( Rev 18:1-2 ).
So this whole satanic system that seems to be centered now in this time in this city of Babylon, which has become the commercial center of the world. The world banking and all of the commercial interests now become centered in this city, Babylon.
Now, what city this is or where this city is to be located is a matter of speculation. There are many Bible scholars who believe that the ancient city of Babylon will be chosen by the antichrist for his capital and will be rebuilt at a tremendous expense, as they put it up in a hurry. There are indications that this city will be built quite rapidly. That craftsmen from all over the world will be paid premium wages and thousands will descend upon this area with unlimited funds to build this awesome wonderful city that shall be the center of world banking and world commerce.
Now, we are told in the book of Daniel that when the antichrist establishes his reign that the craftsmen will prosper in his reign. In other words, he will inaugurate vast building kind of programs that will necessitate the use of hundreds of thousands of laboring men. And thus, people will be able to get jobs at tremendously high wages, premium wages. And they will prosper exceedingly under his reign. That is quite possible that the city of Babylon described here does not yet exist, but will be built by the antichrist for his capital and for the commercial center of the world. And as they bring the goods by ship and all into this city that there will be a time of tremendous economic prosperity.
After these things I saw another angel coming down, the earth is lighted with his glory. He cried, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, become the habitations of devils, the hold of every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you ( Rev 18:1-6 ),
So again, here is the idea of the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, the fairness of the judgment of God.
and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously [or delicately, sumptuously, luxuriously], so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God that judges her ( Rev 18:6-8 ).
And so this city that has become the center of the world’s riches, the center of world commerce, in one day is destroyed by God.
And on the earth the kings, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously [luxuriously] with her, shall bewail, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment ( Rev 18:9-10 ),
It sounds like it is destroyed by a nuclear blast of some kind, and there is heavy radiation, which causes them to fear to approach the city. In each case, they are standing afar off and they are afraid to approach it, which does sound like a lot of radioactivity around the destruction of this city. The fact that it is destroyed in just a moment’s time, it sounds like a detonation of a nuclear device with heavy radiation following.
And so the king standing afar off, fearful to approach, wailing,
the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linens, purple, silk, scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of most precious wood, of brass, iron, marble, cinnamon, odours, ointments, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, beasts, sheep ( Rev 18:11-13 ),
I mean the whole gamut of commerce is into this and centered in this area.
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all the things that were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing ( Rev 18:14-15 ),
So, the kings stand off for fear. The merchants stand far off for fear.
And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nothing ( Rev 18:16-17 ).
All the wealth wiped out in just an hour’s time.
And every shipmaster, and all the company of ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all of us that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate ( Rev 18:17-19 ).
All of the wealth that was brought in to build this city, all of the wealth that was centered in this city now destroyed. And the world is weeping, the kings, the merchants, the merchantmen who brought in the ships bringing the goods and the valuable costly items all weeping as they see her destruction.
In heaven there is a different scene.
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, ye holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone ( Rev 18:20-21 ),
Now, a great millstone could easily be a rock as large as this pulpit, as wide as this pulpit and the hole would be in the middle. It would be round. I have seen millstones as large as this pulpit. They must weigh twelve, fifteen hundred pounds. Jesus said, “If a person deliberately destroyed the faith of a little child, it would be better for that person to have a millstone hung on his neck and thrown him into the sea, than to destroy the faith of a little child.” I sometimes wonder about these teachers, humanists, who are seeking to destroy the faith of the children that come into their classrooms. Boy, I will tell you, I wouldn’t want to stand in their shoes when they face the eternal living God.
The angel takes this great millstone and he,
casts it into the sea, and he says, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all ( Rev 18:21 ).
It could be that God will cover the area where this city once lived with the oceans again. That in the kingdom age, the geographical area will be under the sea as the millstone fell to the bottom. It could be that when the cataclysmic changes take place upon the surface of the earth, that this area will be covered with water. It will never be found. It will never be brought into remembrance again.
And the voice of the harpers, the musicians, pipers, trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of the millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of the candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries all of the nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the eaRuth ( Rev 18:22-24 ).
And so, we see God’s judgment as we centered in on the commercial system and the false religious systems.
Next week we finish the book of Revelation from chapter nineteen through twenty-two, next week, and we’ll get out of this judgment scene and we are going to move into something far more exciting and glorious as we deal with the new heavens and the new earth that God has planned for His people and for His children.
Father, we thank you that You have called us, and You have chosen us and ordained us that we should be your disciples and that we should bring forth fruit, abiding fruit. Now Lord, may we commit ourselves unto Your Lordship, to that rule of Your Spirit over our lives. Make us like You, Lord, in all ways, pure as You are pure, righteous as You are righteous, Holy Lord, as You are holy. May we be a holy people walking before the Lord, circumspectly, in total reverence unto thee, O Lord, that we will be accounted worthy in that day to stand with You in Your kingdom and to share in the eternal glories that the Father has purposed to give unto you and to those who love You and walk with You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Rev 18:1-3
4. THE FALL OF BABYLON DESCRIBED
Rev 18:1-24
The general idea of this chapter is that of a rich populous city being reduced to desolation. The fall of Babylon is the symbol by which is prophetically described the destruction of the apostate church. The vivid imagery, in the main, carries its meaning upon the surface. Only brief expressions from the text in 18:1 to 19:10 are given; hence, comparatively few notes will be necessary in explanation. The ideas of a wicked city and a dissolute woman are intermingled and carried to the end of the chapter.
(1) THE FALL ANNOUNCED
(Rev 18:1-3)
After these things.–After the vision described in the last chapter John saw an angel in a halo of light descend from heaven. This is assurance that the announcement he made will certainly be fulfilled.
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon.” This expression is borrowed from the Old Testament prophets who speak of ancient Baby-lon’s fall. (Isa 21:9; Jer 51:8.) The tense here is “prophetic past” to indicate the certainty that the event would take place. For another example consult Isa 9:2; Isa 9:6. The ruins of cities become the habitation of unclean and wild animals. Compare the language about literal Babylon. (Isa 13:20-22.)
All the nations are fallen.–This shows the reason for her fall—-she made the nations drunk with her wine, and this will lead to their fall ultimately. By her perversion of the truth leaders have been seduced into sinful practices, here described as spiritual adultery.
Merchants of the earth waxed rich.–This includes all those who traffic in papal doctrines for gain. Those made the victims of this traffic will also fall when spiritual Babylon falls.
Commentary on Rev 18:1-3 by Foy E. Wallace
(1) The angels announcement-Rev 18:1-3.
This is another instance of a proleptic utterance by an angel, as the following verses of the chapter outline the successive stages of the fall and the desolation of the Babylon–Jerusalem.
The proclamation of doom was delivered by an angel having great power, a power commensurate with the magnitude of the proclamation and which signified the authority to pronounce a final doom. As a result of the proclamation the earth (land of Judea) was lightened with glory, as the heavens are aglow with lightenings attending the thunders. This was symbolic of the awe and terror of the appalling events impending.
The dirge of fallen Babylon in verse two, was an extension of the same vision in Rev 14:8, and was substantially the same lamentation over the fall of the ancient Babylon recorded in Isa 21:9 : Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. The Babylon of this chapter was symbolic of Jerusalem, and the voice of verse two was crying a threnody–a dirge of lamentation–on the day of doom for the once faithful but apostate city.
The latter part of the verse describes Jerusalem as the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. The severance of all commercial affiliations by the siege of Jerusalem and the devastation of Judea, had reduced the city to a haunt, symbolized by the demoniac habitation of evil spirts, devils and vultures. The visions of the overthrow of Tyre and Babylon in the Old Testament were combined in these same symbols.
The repetitionin Rev 18:3 of the harlots wine cup, representing her multiplied forms of seduction. The reference to the kings of the earth was used in the sense of the rulers and authorities of Judea and Palestine; and the reference to the nations was a designation for the heathen.
They were all particeps criminus, having drunk of the harlots seductive wine-cup of abominations. The language was symbolic of Jerusalems heathen affiliations. Thus the proud capital of the Jews, once the dwelling place of God and the depository of the Oracles and the center of Judaism, by apostasy had come to destruction and was reduced to a haunt of the demon-world of heathenism, the habitat of the diabolical agents of the satanic beast.
Commentary on Rev 18:1-3 by Walter Scott
THE FALL OF BABYLON: LAMENTATION
ON EARTH;TRIUMPH IN HEAVEN.
THE ANGEL AND HIS CRY.
Rev 18:1-2. – After these things I saw another angel descending out of the Heaven, having great authority: and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried with a strong voice, saying, Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen. Although the subject of Babylon is resumed in this chapter, yet it forms a distinct and subsequent revelation contained in vision. The phrase after these things (cp. Rev 4:1; Rev 7:1; Rev 7:9) notes a new commencement, and introduces a new set of circumstances; it also serves to direct attention to the distinctive unity of the subject or subjects so prefaced. In this point of view the chapter is an interesting one. Babylon, of course, is in the forefront of both chapters 17 and 18, and we may also add in the first three verses of the following one. Here the Beast is not once named, nor the ten kings, so active in the destruction of Babylon. In this chapter the human agents disappear, and the ruin of that awful system of corruption is traced to God as the source. Babylon, neither as a woman in relation to the Beast nor as a whore in relation to Christendom, is mentioned in the vision – one as distinctive as that in the previous chapter. The fall of Babylon (Rev 17:16) in its civil relations does not exhaust the judgment of God upon that organised system of evil (Rev 18:4, last clause). But of this more anon.
Rev 18:1 – Another angel, in contrast to the Vial angels (Rev 17:1; Rev 21:9). Descending out of the Heaven intimates the heavenly character of the action, and the deep interest there taken in the character and fate of Babylon. Having great authority. There are orders and degrees amongst the angelic hosts.(*See remarks on Rev 8:2.) Some are more distinguished than others in service and in position. All are characterized by might (2Th 1:7; 2Pe 2:11), but on some is conferred special power to act for God in certain circumstances; others, again, have a defined authority within a circumscribed area, but universal authority is never ascribed to an angelic being. The Lord Jesus Christ as Man and Son is the appointed Heir of all things (Mat 28:18; Mat 11:27; Heb 1:2). As Creator, His claim to universal dominion is not a conferred one, but is sovereign and independent (Col 1:16), founded on the rights and glory of His Person as God.
The angel in our text has great authority, and is probably the angel to whom the judgment of Babylon is committed. Here he announces its fall, but as a preliminary to further and more awful dealing. The angel has ample authority conferred upon him to deal thoroughly with the subject on hand, namely, the most iniquitous religious system on earth. The earth was lightened with his glory. This is a testimony that God is in the scene, that it is He Who is acting in judgment. The fall of Babylon was a public event – the smoke of her burning (v. 18) as it darkened the heavens proclaimed this far and near; but the earth lightened, not by the reflection of the sun, but by the glory of the descending angel, witnessed to the fact that, whoever the actors and agents might be, yet God, as the Righteous Judge, judges Babylon. Probably the angel here referred to is none other than Christ, the same as in Rev 8:3 and Rev 10:1. Christ, the Angel-Priest, on behalf of His suffering remnant (Rev 8:1-13). Christ, the Angel-Redeemer, taking possession of His inheritance (Rev 10:1-11). Christ, the Angel-Avenger of His people, taking vengeance on Babylon (Rev 18:1-24).
Rev 18:2. – He cried with a strong voice. This is a quality in which angels excel (Psa 103:20). (See remarks on Rev 5:2.) The cry of the angel was the welcome proclamation of Babylons downfall, not anticipative, but as having actually taken place. Great Babylon has fallen, has fallen. The fall of that mighty system which, while guilty of falsehood and treason against Christ, yet bore His Name is here publicly announced. This in the previous chapter was executed by the western powers. There we had the Beast, to whom the power or civil authority had been entrusted, (Nebuchadnezzar received his appointment as chief of the world in civil power directly from God (Dan 2:37-38), the succeeding powers only came upon the scene providentially, but in their case no formal grant of power or authority was directly bestowed. In the last days of the fourth empire Satan endows it with his authority and seat and power (Rev 13:2). What a contrast between the two empires – the first and the fourth. God established the first! Satan establishes the fourth!) becoming for a time the willing slave of the woman. She sits upon it in pride, an object of wonder and of admiration to all, save to those whose eyes are opened through grace to discern her true character. But the power which is with the Beast, not with the woman, gets restless under restraint, and chafes under her intolerant sway. Her wealth, too, is eagerly coveted by the civil and apostate powers. The ten kingdoms and the Beast, the whole material strength of the empire, combine to effect her ruin. In this commission of vengeance upon the worst system of evil and tyranny the sun has ever looked down upon the confederate ten kings are even more active than the Beast himself, i.e., the little horn of Dan 7:1-28. The woman is stripped of her possessions and wealth, which go to swell the respective treasuries of the great chiefs of the empire. The woman, or the system she represents, is brought down to the lowest depths of degradation, an object of scorn and contempt even to those who before sought her favors and courted her smile. She lies before us a wreck of her former self. The apostate civil authority has triumphed over her by brute force; then the ten kings yield themselves and their kingdoms up to the coarse and brutal will of the Beast. Bad as things are under the woman a worse condition will ensue under the unchecked will of the Beast satanically inspired.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE MIGHTY ANGEL.
Rev 18:2-3 – Babylon has become the habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird. Because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have been enriched through the might of her luxury. This is the condition of Babylon after and consequent upon her political downfall. She was overthrown, not destroyed. This latter is sudden. She shall be utterly burned with fire (Rev 18:8) is subsequent to the burning noted in Rev 17:16.
Has become. Babylon having lost her public place of supremacy, being torn to pieces by the very powers which once formed her strength, is reduced to a state of desolation described in language of unexampled force. The description is evidently borrowed from Isa 13:21-22, in which the grandest of the Hebrew prophets foretells the ruin of Babylon, once the proud mistress of the world, now the most debased of all cities; here we have the moral counterpart. This, then, is what the professed spouse of Christ has become. There are three parts in the description which in the aggregate constitute an awful moral horror.
(1) The habitation of demons. (We may remark that the word satyrs (Isa 13:21) is rendered in the LXX. demons.) Their proper home is the abyss (The reader who desires help on the demonology of the New Testament would do well to read Critical Studies in St. Lukes Gospel: Its Demonology and Ebionitism, by Colin Campbell, B.D. (Blackwood & Sons).) (Luk 8:31, R.V.). Who demons are, whether lost angels or the souls of lost men, or a class of lost and miserable beings by themselves, to whom future torment is known and assured, we know not. (See an interesting paragraph, containing probably all that is known of demons, in From Advent to Advent; or, The Outline of the Gospel according to St. Luke, by C. E. Stuart.) What an amazing thought that the abyss in the underground world, and the professed spouse of Christ on earth, should both be regarded as the habitation of demons! We could readily understand the abyss as the dwelling of these emissaries of Satan, but that the professing Church should become that almost exceeds belief.
(2) A hold of every unclean spirit. Satan establishes his spiritual forces in the ruined Church system. He makes it a hold, or stronghold, which is the force of the word, and thither the uncleanness and foulness of the pit congregate. There the doleful cry is heard and wicked deed perpetrated, every (foul or) unclean spirit gathers to ruined Babylon as to a centre.
(3) A hold of every unclean and hated bird. We gather that demons and unclean spirits referred to in our text are personal beings. The unclean birds, birds of prey and of darkness, signify the many and varied agents of Satan (Mat 13:4; Mat 13:32; Jer 5:27; especially Isa 34:11-15), those, of course, of a highly pernicious and destructive character. Thus is Babylon a very sink of corruption, an abomination in the sight of God.
GRAVE INDICTMENT AGAINST BABYLON.
The grounds of Gods judgment on Babylon are next stated. These are:
(1) Because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication. The peoples of the prophetic earth have drunk, and drunk eagerly out of her golden and intoxicating cup. She has seduced the nations from their allegiance to God and Christ, and established herself in the affections of the masses of mankind. The peoples of Christendom, if not of a wider geographical area, have been captivated by the splendor of her services, her high and ornate ritual, and general display of gorgeous vestments and millinery, all so fitted to act on the ignorant mind and unbridled imagination of the populations of our cities, towns, and villages. Add to this the easy terms on which she offers salvation to her devotees, with, on the other hand, the threat of no salvation outside the pale of her communion, and need we be surprised that the nations get morally intoxicated, or mad, over a system which offers such advantages, while blind to all true judgment as to her real condition before God! At the period contemplated in our chapter the Bible will have been dethroned from its place in public, as also from the conscience of the masses of even religious people. Hence they will fall an easy prey to the seductions of Babylon.
(2) With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. The personal heads of the ten kingdoms which form the territorial area of the empire, when revived, must be distinguished from the kings of the earth. The former are the destroyers and burners of the woman (Rev 17:16); they turn to hate her. Not so the kings, or chiefs, of Christendom, they lament her fate (Rev 18:9); they, not the ten western kings, a specific class and number, commit fornication with Babylon. Love of display, of which the Roman Catholic Church boasts, is her argument and appeal to the senses, and before this god the nations will bow, but the kings of the earth, or leaders, are more guilty, more sober, as befits their position; they yield themselves up to the blandishments of the woman. The Church hugs the world for what of numbers and wealth she can get, and the world gladly welcomes her embrace, for has she not promised to open Heaven to all comers who pay well? The keys of St. Peter are dangled before kings and people, and so the chair of The Vicar of Christ and Universal Bishop will yet be exalted to a moral height far beyond that of the palmiest days of the papacy in either of the three centuries so renowned for Romish arrogance and pride, the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth.
(3) The merchants of the earth have been enriched through the might of her luxury. This third class has trafficked with her for gain. There has always been a numerous class of people who attach themselves to religion for what they can get, using the Church as a stepping-stone to advance their temporal interests. Babylon will offer a tempting bait to all such. The abundance of her luxuries will attract the merchants of the earth, who will enrich themselves thereby. Soon, however, the scene will change, and these same traffickers weep and wail over the ruin of that from which they enriched themselves.
Commentary on Rev 18:1-3 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 18:1. The angel had great power which is from EXOUSIA, the leading meaning of which is “authority.” The possession of that qualification is explained by the fact that he came down from heaven which is the seat of all authority. It is understandable also why his glory would light up the earth, for everything that pertains to that celestial region is glorious.
Rev 18:2. The preceding chapter pictures conditions just prior to the revolution of the Reformation. The present chapter will extend the vision on through that period, showing the effects it will have among the nations of the world, and will predict the permanent end of the union of church and state. We should keep clearly in mind the truth that we are studying a book of symbols, and therefore we will not try to make a literal application of the symbols. However, even political and religious advantages may sometimes bring material gains to men of selfish character, hence we should not be surprised to see indications of that in some instances. The angel cried with a strong voice, which signified that his announcement was of interest to many. Babylon here means the institution formed by the union of church and state. That body had been in control since the time of Constantine, but now it is destined to be dissolved by the work of the Reformation. Babylon is fallen, is fallen; the repetition is for emphasis. The fall refers to the disolving of church and state through the influence of the Bible that had been given to the people by Luther and his fellow workers. Is become the habitation, etc. This is symbolic and the language is formed from what literally happened to the ancient city of Babylon after it was destroyed by its conqueror. The description of that destruction from which our verse gets its symbols may be seen in Isa 13:19-22 and Jer 50:35-40.
Rev 18:3. Wine of the wrath of her fornication. This combines several symbolical thoughts. Wine suggests drunkenness and that is used figuratively sometimes to mean being beside oneself through the influence of false doctrine, which certainly was an outstanding characteristic of Rome. It also stands for the wrath of God upon evildoers, and fornication refers to intimacy with unlawful organizations. Kings and merchants all reaped personal advantages from their subjects and customers, because they were duped into thinking they should submit to the wishes of their superiors.
Commentary on Rev 18:1-3 by Burton Coffman
Rev 18:1
The relationship of this chapter to the preceding one is generally admitted, although there are several views with regard to the exact nature of that relationship. That the judgment of the great whore is still under consideration seems certain; but Criswell thought that Revelation 18 deals with the particular “judgment of God himself upon Babylon,”[1] as sharply distinguished from the judgment of Revelation 17, in which “the nations of earth, not by the intervention of heaven, but by something that mankind does, grow weary of her and destroy her.”[2] As we see it, this is a distinction without a difference. “God puts into their hearts to do his mind” (Rev 17:17); therefore, it is still God’s judgment in both instances. The judgment of Jerusalem was nonetheless God’s, because it was executed by Roman armies (Mat 22:7); nor is the destruction of the harlot any less the judgment of God himself because it was effected by multiple kingdoms of the earth who finally had enough of her.
In the great judgment scene of Rev 16:20, the final overthrow of “Babylon the great” was briefly mentioned; and both Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 are a double recapitulation of that same event, Revelation 17 being given over to the revelation of “Babylon’s” identity, as indicated by the brief tie-in by another reference to her destruction in Rev 17:17. Next, comes Revelation 18 with a particular close-up of conditions in Babylon on the eve of the final overthrow in the last judgment. One of the big expressions in this chapter is “one hour,” that being the period of the ten kings (Rev 17:12) who “burnt” the whore and ate her, not realizing in doing so that they also destroyed themselves. These are the mysteries cleared up in chapter 18. Thus it will be seen that the principal events here are what takes place against Apostate Christianity during the period of the ten kings and the eighth beast with whom they are surely identified and to whom they gave their mind and authority.
Ladd gave this analysis of Revelation 18 :
After foretelling the destruction of Babylon by the beast (the ten kings) and his vassal kings, a long section on the same theme depicts in greater detail the destruction of the once proud city.[3]
Thus, both Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 are successive “close-ups” of the great judgment of Rev 16:20. At the end of these (Rev 18:21), the final judgment is again symbolized by the hurling of the mighty boulder into the sea, making both of these chapters another recapitulation ending in exactly the same place as the previous sections have ended; namely, in the final judgment of the last day. In our interpretation, the events of chapter 18 are future from our own times, because they belong to the period of the ten kings and the eighth beast which apparently have not yet been fully manifested upon earth. Still, there have been enough “partial” fulfillments to leave an element of uncertainty. Here is an outline of the chapter:
A CLOSE-UP OF BABYLON’S JUDGMENT
1. The announcement of her fall (Rev 18:1-8).
2. Consequences of her fall for the world (Rev 18:9-20).
3. The finality of her doom (Rev 18:21-24).
THE IDENTITY OF THE HARLOT
Once more, it is incumbent upon us to explain our persistent identification of the harlot with Apostate Christianity, the great Roman Catholic Church itself being a conspicuous element of that apostasy, but by no means all of it. The extensive details in this chapter regarding business, commerce, merchandise, and trade have led some to make confident assertions limiting these references to pagan Rome, overlooking the fact, as Alford pointed out, that, “The difficulty of doing so is unsolved.”[4] Whatever may be intended by these elaborate commercial symbols:
One thing cannot be denied: the muddy Tiber flowing through Rome could never carry the enormous maritime traffic portrayed here. Pagan Rome was never famous as a center of selling and exchanging merchandise.[5]
Despite all the insoluble problems of doing so, some scholars insist that the harlot is pagan Rome. “Babylon is a figure of the city of Rome.”[6] “The great harlot symbolizes the city of Rome.”[7] The destruction of the harlot is used here to picture “the destruction of the Babylon of the New Testament, Rome,”[8] etc. Nevertheless, we are certain that this view is incorrect and that the elaborate commercial symbols which in no sense can properly symbolize pagan Rome have a far more appropriate meaning.
There are some who cannot see anything here except Papal Rome as the harlot; and, as Smith said, “There is much here to support their view,”[9] but, as frequently noted in this commentary, we simply cannot thus limit it. Much more is involved than the Papacy, despite the undeniable truth that the Papacy must certainly be included in the meaning.
Morris rejected the inadequacy of applying this chapter merely to pagan Rome, thus:
John is thinking not of the fall of one city or empire but of the collapse of civilization. Final judgment means the overthrow of all that opposes itself to God.[10]
This is correct as far as it goes, but it falls short of including the religious situation as it must be related to all this. In short, it leaves out the Papacy (as so many do); and without that nothing is explained.
Wilbur M. Smith believed that the fall here presented is that of the “Apostate Christianity, the world religion that has betrayed Christ, and is interlocked with pagan, godless governments.”[11] This too is correct as far as it goes, but it leaves unexplained the inconceivable grief in which the very people who destroyed the Apostate Christianity greeted the actual accomplishment of it. To understand this is to understand the passage. True, the destruction of the harlot was the destruction of Apostate Christianity; but that is not all it was. Merely getting rid of all religion would have been greeted with howls of glee all over the world if that had been all that the destruction of the harlot meant. We shall attempt to show the larger picture of what actually is prophesied as happening.
The limited views already noted, that “the great world-city,” “cities everywhere,” “urban civilization,” etc., are what is meant by the harlot, is absolutely contradicted by one thing, the hatred of the ten kings (Rev 17:17) who are the symbols of great world governments. We cannot imagine, nor can anyone else, that there can ever come a time when the great governments of the earth will “hate” urban civilization, the great world city, or cities everywhere, which have always been, are now, and shall ever continue to be the very essence and foundation of world governments. Could any government hate and willfully destroy its tax base? We cannot believe that Revelation prophesies any such thing. Is it not clear that it is the religious thing which will at last incur the wrath and hatred of the kings? This is the undeniable fact that absolutely requires that the Papacy and related phenomena be included in the understanding of who the whore is, and all that was involved in her destruction.
The ten kings, who are the executioners of God’s wrath upon the whore, will hate her, not the great populous cities of the world, either singly or collectively; but what they will overlook in their terminal assault upon the whore is that the whore herself is the principal element of stability in the whole civilized world, and that her fall will have fatal repercussions for themselves. Christendom, in a remarkable degree, is an edifice constructed by the harlot; and this is as good a place as any to take a look at the harlot’s contribution to the world structure in which she is yet the principal glue that holds the whole thing together.
ADMIRATION OF THE HARLOT
John himself wondered at the harlot “with great admiration” (Rev 17:6 KJV), and there are ample reasons for our own very great admiration of her. Some of these are:
1. The stern, basic moralities advocated and taught by the Apostate Church are the principal foundation of all commerce, business, industry, and trade. Nearly half a billion Roman Catholics are basically honest, virtuous, sober, truthful, and diligent, opposed to violence, murder, theft, abortion, etc. Without such virtues, which the Apostate Church has effectively promulgated, no business, industry, or civilization can endure. To be sure, the Apostate Church has allowed, or even sold the right of violation of these principles, nevertheless her achievement in enforcing them generally cannot be denied.
2. The art, music, architecture, and culture of our whole civilization are, in large measure, the achievement of the harlot. Volumes could be written about any one of these.
3. The stability and sanctity of marriage and the home, which is the basic building block of all civilized order, are due, more than to any other single agency of their advocacy, to the accomplishments of the harlot. What will happen to any society when such things are no longer effectively advocated and promulgated? The incredibly dark scenes of this chapter which confounded the “smart” kings who decided to get rid of religion, with the sudden and unexpected result, when they had done so, of their glee being turned into howling misery – these scenes depict exactly what happened!
4. It is the Roman Catholic Church which alone is the worldwide Christianity, imperfect and apostate though it is; and there is not a church of any name on earth today that does not in some degree stand indebted to her accomplishments, which have been providentially used for the protection of the truly faithful. Nevertheless, “the true followers of Christ” on earth today are a dwindling minority with reference to the whole of mankind; and when the Apostate Christianity is destroyed, as it will be, that minority will either go underground or perish, thus reducing what little impact they have upon “all people” even further toward the vanishing point.
Here then, in Revelation 18, is the mystery of the ten kings hating the whore. They are blind to the truth that when they “burn her with fire” and destroy her, they will at the same time kindle the fires of their own destruction, remove the keystone from the arch of world order, and reduce the vaunted civilization of which they are a part to utter chaos and disorder. The foolish dream of modern humanist fools who vainly believe that they can produce a good society apart from its roots in the religion of Christ is an idiot’s nightmare. The fruits of a Christian world (imperfect as they are) will not be kept alive apart from their roots in the word of God. When “the kings” shall see what follows their removal of the whore, that is when the howling, the wailing, the cries, the mourning, and the casting of dust on their heads will take place. In America today, there are at the top intellectual level a horde of humanistic atheists who are paving the way for the “ten kings.” “The 1955 Harvard Report on Education claimed that Western Civilization would never again utilize Christianity as the foundation of our social structure.”[12] This report rejected Christianity without ever knowing what it really is. The harlot has herself long resorted to war and cruelty as instruments of policy; and this fact colored their distorted view. They just overlooked other qualities of the harlot’s work.
“The mystery of iniquity” is in this (2Th 2:7), and other theological questions of the utmost significance are also present.
When every church on earth has lost its tax status and the Christian religion is outlawed everywhere as it already is in Russia, the situation will be the beginning of what Revelation 18 describes. All enterprise, business, commerce, industry, trade, etc., will be slowed down, thwarted and halted, because the basic morality upon which such enterprise rests will have been destroyed. Human rights will no longer exist. The basic ethics of the harlot are Christian in many particulars; and when she falls, the disaster will be sudden, complete, and final. The sacred virtues of the holy faith in Christ will be unable to prevail afterwards, except in a beleaguered remnant. The reason for this is that the harlot taught such basic virtues as hers, existing through her authority, and enforced through her power, and not as Christ’s requirements. This was the fatal error. When she falls, as far as the world as a whole is concerned, all the hoops will be removed from the barrel of the world’s morality and order.
For these, and a multitude of other considerations, we must, through our tears, see the harlot as Apostate Christianity, most conspicuously represented by that form of it known all over the world in every village and hamlet of it, and the sole historical figure large enough to fit the description of it; namely, the Papal system and its derivatives.
And what are those derivatives? Practically all of Protestantism is included in this. What church is free of the guilt? This writer has experienced in his own ministry bulls of excommunication, anathemas, and denunciations just as bitter as any ever issued by any Pope, and which came from little popes and agents of Diotrephes from within his own communion. Where is the church that does not have its synod, conference, presbyter, president, moderator, chairman, or some other substitute for a pope? And if these are not found, some college, publication, preacher, or other functionary is allowed to serve the same end. Christendom itself is apostate; and we freely confess that we do not know any patent solution of the problem. Freely admitting this still leaves us no escape from reading the harlot as the one most conspicuously identified as the historical church and its papal apparatus. If there is any solution of the apostasy, it must be allowed as the one proposed by Reuel Lemmons, distinguished editor of the Firm Foundation: “Let us be sure that those whom we convert are truly converted to Christ.”[13]
When God used Rome to destroy apostate Israel (Jerusalem), as revealed in Mat 22:7, the true Israel (the church) was also nearly annihilated at the same time; and from this we may suppose that when the new Israel turned harlot receives the wrath of God from the “ten kings,” that the righteous remnant of the true faith will suffer their greatest test. We pray that in our understanding Roman Catholicism as the harlot, that this extended explanation and definition of it will also be considered. There is nothing narrow, sectional, denominational, or vindictive in this. It is a tragedy that reaches all the way to heaven, and the shadow of the apostasy, in one form or another, falls upon every Christian upon earth. For some, it is in the innovations with which they worship God; for others it is the totalitarian organization of their church; for some it is the perverted form of the baptism they receive; for many it is the secularization of their faith; for yet others it is the false idea that the church is the dispenser of salvation; for still others it is their acceptance of tradition instead of the word of God; and many have elevated a “priesthood” between themselves and the Lord, etc.
[1] W. A. Criswell, Expository Sermons on Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962), IV, p. 16.
[2] Ibid.
[3] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 235.
[4] Alford as quoted by Wilbur M. Smith, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1089.
[5] Ibid.
[6] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 145.
[7] Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 250.
[8] Ray Summers, Worthy is the Lamb (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1961), p. 193.
[9] Wilbur M. Smith, op. cit., p. 1089.
[10] Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 20, Revelation Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 214.
[11] Wilbur M. Smith, op. cit., p. 1089.
[12] James D. Strauss, The Seer, the Saviour and the Saved (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1972), p. 225.
[13] Reuel Lemmons, Editorial, Firm Foundation (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1978), Dec. 12,1978.
After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. (Rev 18:1)
Another angel coming down out of heaven … This angel does not mean that another vision is being introduced. “The Babylon of Revelation 18 is identical with the Babylon of Revelation 17 … the theme of great Babylon’s downfall is continued.”[14]
Having great authority … This together with the glorious appearance of the angels emphasizes the eternal truth of what would be revealed.
ENDNOTE:
[14] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969),p. 659.
Verse 2
And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.
It should be noted that it is not merely the fall of Babylon (a symbol of pagan Rome) that is announced, but of “Babylon the great,” the symbol of something far more extensive.
Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great … “Here is portrayed not merely the doom of an ancient city, but the sure collapse of all human organization, commercial and otherwise.”[15] See chapter introduction for an elaboration of this. “Mystical Babylon is the representative of religious degeneracy, not wickedness.”[16] This announcement is not made so that the earth will know it; the earth will already know it when this occurs. “Babylon is in ruins and does not need to be told. The announcement is because the destruction is so vast and terrible.”[17]
That the actual city of Rome is in some way to be identified with Babylon cannot be denied. “There can be no doubt that the preterists are right in asserting this; but the historicists may be right in applying it to the Papacy.”[18] They are both right. Just as Jesus’ prophecy had reference to: (1) the fall of Jerusalem, and also to (2) the end of the world, this prophecy also is big enough to take care of both events. Rome is properly identified both as the pagan city and also as the later headquarters of the harlot. It is the vain effort to nullify and discard this second meaning that we reject.
And is become a habitation of demons … The pagan city made “demons” of its dead emperors and worshipped them; but the papal city did exactly the same thing with its dead “saints,” making them objects of worship and invoking their names in the public worship.
And a hold of every unclean spirit … This also was true both of the pagan city with its sorcery, witchcraft, and savage cruelty exhibited daily in the Coliseum, and likewise later of the apostate Christianity with its inquisitions, persecutions, and vicious politics.
And a hold of very unclean and hateful bird … “This probably alludes to the parable of the mustard seed (Mat 13:31-32), indicating the demonic forces at work in the apostate system.”[19] See our exegesis of that parable in my Commentary on Matthew, pp. 192-194. Hendriksen’s view that “hold” here should be understood in the sense of a prison, with the meaning that, “The unclean spirits and hated birds consider it a prison,”[20] does not appear to be correct. “This meaning as a place where unclean spirits are confined seems hardly appropriate.”[21] It merely means that “they have built their nests in the church,” after the analogy of the parable. “It is their natural and fitting stronghold, rather than a place where they are involuntarily confined.”[22]
[15] Ibid.
[16] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 134.
[17] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 515
[18] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 598.
[19] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1968), p. 105.
[20] William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 207.
[21] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 713.
[22] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 431.
Verse 3
For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen; and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness.
By the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen … This places the blame squarely upon the harlot herself for the universal disaster about to fall. How is this so? The essence of this wine that at last intoxicates all mankind, especially the “ten kings” who are the executioners of this judgment, is that man himself is the supreme authority. In the elevation of a human being as the head of God’s church and by giving his word precedence and greater authority than the word of the Son of God himself, this harlot established the prototype of the ultimate and final rebellion of mankind against all that God said. If a man is really supreme, people can logically dispense with the whole system of Christianity; and the tragedy unfolded in this chapter is what takes place when “the kings” at last catch on to this and decide to act in accordance with the very principles the harlot herself established. This was prefigured, of course, in the pagan city, by the cult of emperor worship; but it would issue ultimately in the savage, atheistic humanism of the last days, thus applying appropriately to both situations.
And the kings of the earth committed fornication with her … They presumed to rule by “divine right.” They accepted the principle of the supremacy of a man; but, in the episode of the “ten kings” they decided themselves to be “the man,” leading to their rejection and hatred of the whore through their acceptance of her principles. It is totally inadequate to view the seduction of “the kings” as being derived solely from “the vast luxury trade bringing widespread prosperity.”[23] Something far more significant is indicated.
And the merchants waxed rich … This enters into the ultimate disaster, because the proliferation of a rich class indicates a loss of spiritual values. “The English word waxed comes from the German word, “wachsen”, to grow or increase.”[24] The implication is that the rich, borrowing the principles of the harlot, grew selfish and unmindful of other duties.
Up through this verse, the prophecy views the fall of Babylon as in the past, having already happened, as announced in Rev 16:19; but there were still some things to be related concerning the “hour” leading up to this; therefore, the next verses, beginning with Rev 18:4, retrogress in order to relate it. “In Rev 18:2-3, by means of aorists, Babylon’s fall is viewed as having occurred; but the imperatives of Rev 18:4 ff present her as still standing with all her seduction.”[25] Not merely by the use of different tenses, but by the introduction of another “voice from heaven” (Rev 18:4), the transition is indicated.
[23] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 223.
[24] James D. Strauss, op. cit., p. 223.
[25] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 517
Commentary on Rev 18:1-3 by Manly Luscombe
1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. An angel comes down from heaven. This angel has great power. The angel has power to announce. He also has power to act and judge.
2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! Babylon is one of the terms studied in the previous chapter. This announcement from the angel adds some information about Babylon. She has already been called the mother of harlots and guilty of fornication. Notice the terms added to this description: She has become a dwelling place of demons. She is a jail for foul spirits. She is a cage for every unclean and hated bird. Those are strong terms. Demons, foul spirits, unclean, hated are used here. Babylon is also described with terms of confinement – Dwelling place, prison, and cage.
3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. People of all nations have fallen at the feet of immorality. All nations have participated in fornication. They have committed fornication with her. The second part of this verse makes reference to the control of world wealth. The great harlot has, in promoting immorality, made many people rich. Think about pornography for a minute. Many are made rich in the filming, production, and sale of such pictures. The same is true with gambling, prostitution, alcohol and many other immoral matters.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The vision of the destruction of Babylon as directly resulting from the government of God is now given. It is announced, “Fallen is Babylon.” Her condition is described as that of a habitation of demons, the prison of unclean spirits. Nations, kings, and merchants who have lived and ruled and traded on the principles of Babylon are involved in her fallen condition. A remnant is called out from Babylon before the destruction comes. The angel pronounces a retributive sentence, “As she rendered . . . according to her works.”
The fall of the city produces entirely opposite effects on earth and in heaven. The earth is plunged into mourning. The heavenly and spiritual world rejoices. From the beginning, Babylon had been in opposition to heaven. It had lived under the impulse of things seen, while denying the unseen things. At last it is overthrown, and there is rejoicing of the righteous.
A symbolic act follows, the casting of a great millstone into the sea by an angel. The result is that Babylon “shall be found no more.” The overthrow is to be absolute, irrevocable. The reason for this is stated as threefold, first, “Thy merchants were the princes of the earth”; second, ‘With thy sorceries were all the nations deceived”; finally, “In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.”
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Her Sins Have Reached unto Heaven
Rev 18:1-13
We have seen that the scarlet woman represents the false religion of human wit and fashion. It is found in every age. There is not a city, town, or village where it does not seek to allure men from Christ. The mischief is that so many really godly people are misled by it. In this they resemble Obadiah, who hid the prophets in a cave and fed them but was hand and glove with Ahab. To all such, who are endeavoring to keep in touch with the true Bride and with the apostate Church, the summons of Rev 18:4 has a very profound significance.
It was the unanimous verdict of the reformers that the great city here described, Rev 18:10, was intended to represent Rome, as the seat of the great apostasy. If that be the case, the merchandise described here does not refer to literal commerce, but to the carnal delights which are often permitted and fostered by false religious systems to win the adhesion of the worldly and unclean.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter Eighteen Babylon: Its Character And Doom (Part Two)
In the previous chapter I sought to identify the Babylon of the apocalypse. I tried to show just how it was linked with Babylon of the Old Testament, the literal city in the land of the Chaldeans on the plain of Shinar. This chapter will give more details as to its unholy character and its awful doom. We also will get a better idea of the incredible way in which its principles have permeated civilization, affecting the entire civil and commercial fabric of the age in which we live. All of these principles must be destroyed in order to prepare the way for a higher and happier condition of society to be ushered in at the Lords return.
The Fall of Babylon (Rev 18:1-10)
The opening verses of chapter 18 synchronize with the second angels message in Rev 14:8 and introduce the judgment of the seventh vial as foretold in chapter 16:19. Babylon will therefore continue up to the very end of the tribulation period. Its destruction by the beast and his ten kings will be a last frantic effort to rid themselves of this dreadful incubus, just before they are destroyed by the appearing of the Lord in glory. The antichrist will be the pretended incarnation of the womans seed and will be accepted as such by apostate Christendom and apostate Judaism. Thus Satans masterpiece will seem to carry all before it until the true seed of the woman appears from Heaven. He will descend with all His holy ones, to the consternation of His enemies and the joy of His suffering saints, the persecuted remnant of Israel and those from among the nations who will receive their testimony in that day. These are not people who in this present dispensation of grace have refused the message of the gospel; it is only those to whom that message will not have gone until after the rapture of the church. Second Thessalonians 2 bears a clear and convincing testimony to this distinction.
The description of fallen Babylon as the habitation of demons, the hold of evil spirits, and a cage of unclean birds is a most graphic one (18:2). It strikingly depicts the horrible end of the apostasy. That which professes to be the spouse of Christ, and which issues its often blasphemous decrees as under the direction of the Spirit of God, is seen to be but a Satan-inspired and demon-directed system. Every unholy thing flourishes in this system, and evil men can find shelter and are protected in the promulgation of their evil doctrines and practices. The papacy has fully answered to this in the past, and its character remains unchanged to this present hour. It would be practically impossible to find a viler history than that of the medieval popes and their emissaries. It was a Roman Catholic writer who said of this period, The annals of the church are the annals of hell.
The proverb, The corruption of the best thing is the worst of corruptions is strikingly illustrated in the history of the church. It seems almost impossible to believe that the church to which the apostle Paul addressed his Epistles could, in a few centuries, degenerate into the Roman church as now known. But this is the mystery of Babylon, as we have already seen. It is even more amazing that the Reformation churches, once delivered from this vile system, should now hopefully look for reconciliation with it, so readily forgetting its dreadful past and overlooking its present wicked pretensions! We in America, and our brethren in Britain, see Rome at its best, for men do not readily do in the light what they will do in the dark. But as it has been said, Character is what a man is in the dark; we may test this system by the same principle. If you want to know the true character of Catholicism, go to the lands where the light of Reformation has barely penetrated. Look at the countries south of us, the great Latin American republics, where the papacy has controlled and poisoned the morals of the people for centuries. There you will see the results of Babylonianism unchecked by enlightened Christianity. What a horrible cesspool of iniquity it is. There idolatry reigns in most abhorrent form. The gospel is a proscribed teaching, which would be absolutely prohibited if the church had full power as it did before.
In the Old Testament, idolatry is branded as spiritual fornication. In the New Testament it is the unhallowed union of the church and the world. We see both in this evil system today. Who is so un-blushingly idolatrous as Rome? Subtly she is enlarging her sphere of influence and will continue until the scarlet woman again rides the beast-until the church dominates the state. By devious ways she seeks to make America catholic, and undo the work of the Reformation in England.
Commercialism has always flourished under the patronage of the popes. This is another powerful weapon that Rome knows well how to use. Commerce is the goddess of the present feverish age, and to her everything must be sacrificed. The Babylon of the future is not only a great church, but a great commercial system as well. Men will finally turn to her for the solution of the problems that now perplex them. While she is the professed enemy of socialism, she delights to be regarded as the patron of the working classes on the one hand and the protector of capital on the other. She has a veritable genius for the commercial. In Rome, cried Luther, they sell everything. They would sell the Father, and sell the Son, and sell the Holy Ghost. The stamp of simony is on her brow and all who would glorify God should avoid her principles and flee from the error of Balaam.
The call of verse 4, if I understand it correctly, is not merely a warning to saints in a coming day who may be in danger of being deceived by her. It is also a message for all who even now discern her true character. Separation from evil is imperative for all who would have the Lords approval. This was the call heard by the reformers of the sixteenth century. But, unfortunately, many who are supposed to be their successors have returned in spirit to that which their fathers left behind. There is many a Babylonish garment today hidden in Protestant tents or even displayed on Protestant shoulders. How else are we to account for the widespread return to principles and practices once abhorrent to those whose boast it was that the Bible and the Bible alone is the religion of Protestants. The Bible is losing its hold on the consciences of the people because its inspiration and authority is being so widely denied by those who have solemnly sworn to teach it and defend it. We need not wonder that Babylonish ways and teachings are coming into vogue again. Men want something stable, something infallible; and if they cannot have the infallible Word of the living God they will turn to a professedly infallible church.
But the hour of Gods judgment draws on swiftly. He will not be a silent spectator of all these abominations forever. Soon He will pour out the bowls of His wrath on spiritual Babylon as He did of old on the city of idolatry on the Euphrates. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities (5). Then will go forth the sentence recorded in verses 6-7.
A comparison of the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah in regard to the fall of ancient Babylon will show how plainly the doom of the spiritual counterpart is prefigured there. In several instances the same identical figures are used. This has led some commentators to suppose that the doom of the literal city was not final. So it is taught by some that Babylon is to be rebuilt on her ancient site. She is to flourish for a few years as the religious and commercial metropolis of the world, only to be destroyed for the final time at or immediately preceding the Lords second coming. These teachers generally agree in making this restored Babylon the seat of the antichrist. As a rule, they identify him with the future world emperor. But I think we have already shown that a careful comparison of the Old and New Testament Scriptures on these subjects make this view untenable. The city of old has fallen to rise no more. The system that succeeded it is to be judged by God and destroyed as literally as her predecessor, according to verse 8.
Although God will use the ten kings and the beast to bring this about, they will themselves bewail her fall, when they find to their horror that the whole fabric of civilization is falling with her (9-10). Something like this was seen in the days of the French Revolution and has been seen in measure in more recent history. With the destruction of the church, no matter how corrupt, came the breaking up of all social barriers. A flood of anarchy and violence seemed likely to involve the entire nation in ruin. Even Napoleon I saw the necessity of re-establishing the church-though largely shorn of its power-on the ground that a poor religion is better than none at all in holding the masses in restraint.
We can readily understand therefore how Babylons fall will send a thrill of horror through all who have been linked in any way with her. Her fall will cause the kings of the earth who have enjoyed her favor to bewail her and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off, they cry, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come (10). It would seem that, coincident with the fall of the system, comes the fall of the city where she has had her seat. By some act of God, perhaps such as a great earthquake, it will be forever destroyed. That proud and haughty capital which has borne the title of the eternal city for two millenniums is surely doomed because of her impiety and hateful pride. It is a well-known fact that all southern Italy is of a peculiarly volcanic character. The very soil seems to be stored with fire, to use a Scriptural phrase which is applied in 2Pe 3:7 (literal rendering) to the heavens and earth as a whole. In a very remarkable manner this is true of the vicinity of Rome, and it may yet prove to be the means of its complete destruction. In such a case the phrase the smoke of her burning may be far more literal than some have supposed.
The Lament of the Merchants (Rev 18:11-19)
These verses present a magnificent elegy and deserve more careful consideration than our limited space will permit. They picture the destruction of the great commercial system that men are building up with such painstaking care and which some fondly view as the panacea for all the disturbances that have wrought such distress among the nations. How often was it said before the outbreak of World War I that labor would not fight and that capital dare not. It claimed that there was too much at stake; but how false have all such predictions proved. We may however be assured that when it is over, for a time a tremendous effort will be exerted to build up a financial system that will be world-embracive and that will unite the nations in the bonds of commercial self-interest. We know that all such schemes are doomed to disappointment, for the prophetic word has clearly foretold its failure. There can be no lasting peace until the Prince of Peace becomes the governor among the nations. And so we are permitted in this present portion of our book to stand by, as it were, and look on as Babylon falls and to hear her merchants bewailing her doom and their own tremendous losses. As her merchandise is tabulated, now with none to buy, we notice among the precious things mentioned are the bodies and souls of men-not merely slaves, as in the King James version. And this is the awful thing about Babylon. She has made merchandise of the bodies and souls of her dupes. Turning away from the rich grace revealed in the gospel, they have tried to purchase what God was freely offering. In the end they find that they have sold their souls to a cruel and avaricious system that is conscienceless and remorseless as the grave. How fearful must be the accounting at the judgment bar of God of those responsible for such terrible deceptions!
The Final End of Babylon the Great (Rev 18:20-24)
No wonder Babylons fall brings joy in Heaven, though it involves the earth-dwellers in selfish sorrow. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her (20). She had shed their blood like water, but the vengeance of God, though it seems to slumber long, will awaken at last. Every upright soul will justify God when He visits her in His wrath and indignation with the judgments symbolized in these verses.
The figure used in Jer 51:63-64 is repeated in Rev 18:21. A mighty angel is seen casting a great stone into the sea. This stone, like a tremendous millstone, is a fitting symbol of that mysterious power which had crushed the nations and ground the saints of God beneath it for so long.
How solemn are the angels words in verses 21-23. How solemnly do they contrast with the lamentations of the merchants of the earth, whose only grief is that no man buys their merchandise any more.
It is the destruction of the greatest schemes and works of man, to make way for that which has been in the mind of God and promised through His prophets from the beginning of the world. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city after the murder of his brother Abel. This was the beginning of mans boasted civilization. All the arts and sciences had their origin there. There were artificers in brass and iron. Trade and barter, the pursuit of the unrighteous mammon began there. Those who handled the harp and the organ also dwelt there. Music charmed the weary sons of Cain as they sought to make themselves happy and this world attractive apart from God.
The Lord blotted all this out in the deluge, but it is evident that Ham, Noahs son, had learned the same ways. The world as an ordered system of things, apart from God, had a new beginning in his family. We have seen that Nimrod built a city and a tower, and it became the mother-city from which others went out and built a civilization, godless and selfish. That system eventually crucified the Lord of glory. His accusation was written above Him in Hebrew, the language of religion; Greek, the language of culture; and Latin, the language of world-politics-the world, as such, arrayed against God and His Christ. And this is the world which is to reach its culmination in Babylon the great. The greatest geniuses that earth has ever produced will preside over it, only to be judged by God because of its inveterate enmity to everything holy and its constant rejection of His Son. Its downfall will prepare the way for the establishment of the kingdom of God and the reign of righteousness and peace, for which humanity has sighed so long. Mans city must fall to give place to the city of God which will stand forever. Therefore the joy in Heaven at Babylons destruction.
And in her-that is, in Babylon-was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (24). This closing verse of chapter 18 should make it clear that while Rome is the inheritor of the mysteries of ancient Babylon, it also is a world-inclusive system of apostasy. This, and this alone, fully meets the requirements of this last verse. When God makes inquisition for blood, He finds it all shed by Babylon the great. For, if man had not gone out from the presence of the Lord, this earth would never have been stained with human blood; brotherhood and righteousness would have prevailed everywhere. Babylon therefore is guilty of all the corruption and violence that have darkened the history of the human race; it caused the death of the Christ of God Himself. May grace be given to all to whom this message comes to flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul (Jer 51:6).
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
CHAPTER 18
Rev 18:1-3.
Babylon is now seen under another aspect. In the former chapter we have the religious center of Rome and her wicked idolatries, in the present chapter it includes also the whole system of apostate Christendom in its social and commercial aspect, the so-called Christian civilization in its final apostate condition and doom. Papal Rome in her short revival becomes the head of apostate Christendom and controls everything till her appointed doom comes upon her. While we saw in the preceding chapter the desolation of the whore by the ten kings and the beast, here we see how God views her and that He dethrones this system in His judgment. A strong angel comes down to announce her doom and to lay bare her inner and most awful corruption. A strong descending Angel whose glory lightened the earth, shows what the boasting thing, she, who bore the blessed name of Christ, has become. (This angel may represent the Lord Himself. If this is correct we have the third manifestation of our Lord in the garb of an angel: 8:3 in His priestly dignity; 10:1 in His royal dignity and here as the herald and executor of the vengeance of God upon Babylon.) She is seen to be the habitation of demons. Even now behind all the denials of the doctrine of Christ and the false doctrines which mark the onward march of the predicted apostasy, demons are the leaders (1Ti 4:1).
And the nations drank eagerly her cup and the kings committed fornication with her. These kings are not the ten kings of the Empire for they are used in the judgment of the whore, while the kings mentioned here bewail her destruction (Rev 18:9). And with the system there was connected great commerce; merchants through her became rich.
Rev 18:4-5.
God always calls out His true children from that which is evil. His own must be a separate people. Saints in past centuries have heard this call and left behind the Romish abominations and thousands sealed their testimony with their blood. And in these days in which our lot is cast, days of increasing signs, heralding as never before the approaching end and the home call of His people to meet Him in the air, in these days God demands the separation of His true children. Christendom is becoming daily more and more the religious camp of apostasy. And, therefore, He calls: Let us go forth unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach (Heb 13:13). He who remains in that which denies His Name, is partaker of her sins (Rev 18:4; compare with 2Jn 1:10-11). As all drifts back to Rome and the coming political and religious confederacy, this final Babylon looms up; Gods people must hear that call. To whom is this call addressed? Undoubtedly to the remnant of Gods ancient people, the believing remnant and also to that large number of Gentiles who hear the final message, the gospel of the kingdom.
Rev 18:6-8.
Like ancient Babylon, the whole apostate system, Rome and all her offspring, was filled with pride. She was lifted up in all her earthly glory and now God breaks her completely. She shall be utterly burned with fire. As her smoke is to arise forever and ever (Rev 19:3) it is possible that the proud city, Rome, the center of the system of apostasy and commerce, will be destroyed by volcanic action, and where the seven-hilled city once stood there may be instead an immense crater, testifying through the millennium of Gods righteous retribution. In view of the volcanic conditions on the Italian peninsula this is more than possible.
Rev 18:9-20.
And now follows the great and universal lamentation over the destruction of the great world-system. There is weeping and wailing when at last this anti-Christian civilization, all Christendom united with Rome, and for a time controlling the commerce of the world, is wiped out by the hand of God. The kings, the merchants, the ship masters, the company in ships and sailors, all are seen mourning, weeping and wailing. The destruction of the system and of its proud city affects them all. They bewail their great loss. Notice twenty-eight things are mentioned by them. The first is gold and the last is the souls of men. How this describes Rome! She is the trafficker in souls and the destroyer of souls as well. And in studying the articles of the commerce of apostate Christendom we notice that these are nearly all articles of luxury. The greatest panic has then come and there will be no recovery of the market. The rich men will weep and howl for their misery is come upon them (Jam 5:1). See also Zep 1:11; Zep 1:15.
Heaven is called to rejoice over her, and three classes are mentioned (Revised Version), saints, apostles and prophets. For God hath judged your judgment of her. This is the better rendering. The judgment which the saints pronounced on her is now executed. The next chapter shows us more fully the rejoicing heavens.
Rev 18:21-24.
In Jer 51:60-64 we read that Seraiah was commissioned by Jeremiah to attach a stone to the book containing the prophets words and to cast it into the Euphrates. And thou shalt say, thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her and they shall be weary. Here an angel took up a millstone and cast it into the sea, showing by this action the complete and final destruction of the wicked system and the equally wicked city. And what revelation there is in the statement, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. In chapter 20 we read that the old serpent deceives the nations. Sorceries, wicked spirits, demon-powers blinded the eyes of the nations to follow Romes seductive lure. And thus it is with a lifeless, spiritless Protestantism and its bloodless gospel. The sorceries of Rome, the demons underneath it all, attract apostate Christendom so that all will be united in the great, final Babylon.
So that we may not question that both chapters refer to Rome, though the entire apostate Christendom is also in view, her blood-guiltiness is mentioned once more.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Chapter 39
Christ destroys Babylon
‘And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird’
Rev 18:1-24
Satan has always opposed the Lord Jesus Christ. In the beginning, his heart was lifted up with pride against the Son of God. He inspired, organized, and led a rebellion among the angels of heaven, attempting to overthrow Gods throne, frustrate his purposes, destroy his works, and prevent the triune God from executing and fulfilling his eternal covenant of grace. Though his revolt was totally unsuccessful. (He did not even shake Gods throne, much less overturn it! {See Isa 14:24; Isa 14:26-27}. Yet, the old serpent has never ceased to oppose the purpose of God. He knows he has but a short time until Christ shall cast him forever into the pit (Rev 12:12). Yet, he continues his rebellion. He continues to inspire, organize and lead men and women in rebellion against the God of heaven. And his primary means of opposition to Christ is organized false religion.
That religious system, inspired, organized, and led by Satan, the religion of antichrist, is portrayed as a great harlot patronized by the whole world and a great city of world wide influence and wealth. The name of that great harlot and that great city is Babylon. Babylon represents the world, especially the religious world, in opposition to Christ. The religions of the world have many names. But their essential tenets are always the same. The religion of the world, the religion of antichrist, the religion of Babylon, is the religion of free-willism and works salvation. The religion of Babylon, the hell inspired religion of antichrist by which the souls of deceived multitudes are destroyed, always proclaims that salvation is ultimately decided and determined by man. Free-will, works religion is a satanic antichrist and damning to the souls of men. Both the preachers and the adherents of such religion, like Nimrod, are rebels against God, utterly lost, without the knowledge of the living God. And, like Nimrod, they all shall perish under the wrath of God.
It is popular. Men love it, support it, promote it, and defend it. It has always been the religion of the world. It is wealthy. The worlds most famous, most well respected religious leaders are the servants of this great whore. And the religion of Babylon so thoroughly controls the minds of men that it controls the political, economic, academic, and philosophical powers of the world. The whole world, by the deception of satan, cherishes free-will, man-centered, Babylonian religion. But, thank God, the religion of Babylon, all opposition to the church of Christ, the truth of Christ, and the glory of Christ shall be destroyed. That is the subject of Revelation 18.
An announcement, an admonition, and a warning (Rev 18:1-8)
A great, mighty angel came down from heaven, whose glory lightened the earth. These mighty spirits, who were created by God to be ministering spirits to those chosen and ordained of God to be the heirs of salvation (Heb 1:14). But these mighty angels are also the instruments by which God executes his judgment upon his enemies. Those holy beings who, by divine direction, have protected Gods church from their enemies in every age shall destroy our enemies in the end.
This mighty angel announced the fall of Babylon as if it had already occurred (Rev 18:2-3)
So sure and certain is Gods judgment upon Babylon that it is recorded as a past event. Notice how the angel describes Babylon. It is not a literal city, but a religious system that encompasses and includes everything opposed to God. It is the habitation of devils, the home of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hated bird! Babylon is the idolatrous religion of the world (Isa 21:9; Jer 50:2). The gods of Babylon are the dung-gods of freewillism and works salvation. The dung of Babylons religious solemnities has smeared and defiled the whole earth. Had it not been for the Lords free, preserving grace, we all would have been swallowed up in Babylon. But God would not allow us to have our way (Jer 51:7-10; 2Th 2:10-13).
Yet, even Babylon serves the purposes of God. Though the heresies of false religion are hatched in hell and set in opposition to the throne of God, they are under the rule of God and serve only to accomplish his purpose of grace toward his elect (1Co 11:19; 2Th 2:3). By the spreading fame and popularity of free-will religion, Gods elect are proved. Though all the world goes after Babylon, Gods own will not fall for her lies. When Babylon has served her purpose, she shall be brought to utter destruction. By what means God will publicly destroy false religion, we are not told. But these things are plainly revealed: Babylon will fall suddenly. Her destruction will come from within (Rev 17:16-17). And Gods judgment upon Babylon is just and well deserved (Rev 18:3). When the worlds religious system is destroyed, the whole earth shall be thrown into chaos and confusion, because it is the religion of the world that governs the economics, philosophy, and politics of the world. When Babylon falls, everything falls.
In Rev 18:4, John records an admonition from the mouth of Christ himself
This is a call which the Lord our God repeatedly issues to his Church in all ages. It is an urgent call to separation, ‘Come out of her, my people!’ (Read – Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:54; Zec 2:7.) The Lord does not say, ‘Stay in Babylon and heal her.’ He does not say, ‘Find a way to get along with Babylon.’ He does not say, ‘Love Babylon, pray for Babylon, and try to help Babylon.’ God says, ‘Come out of her, my people!’ (Jer 51:7-10). And all of Gods people will deliberately come out of Babylon (2Co 6:16-18). To remain a part of any church or denomination that denies the gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ is to line up with the Lords enemies and court eternal damnation. To come out of her is to have no fellowship with her, give no support to her, offer no hope to her, and publicly repudiate her doctrines and practices by identifying with Christ, his gospel and his church.
A solemn warning is given to those who set themselves against Christ, his church, and the gospel of his grace (Rev 18:5-8)
The God of heaven is a God who can, must and will punish sin. Here the Lord himself tells us five things about divine judgment (Rev 18:5). (1.) God remembers all the iniquities of his enemies. He has forgotten the sins of his people, because they are thoroughly removed by the blood of Christ. But he will never forget any iniquity of his enemies. (2.) God will punish sinners exactly in proportion to the evil they have done, according to strict justice (Rev 18:6-7). There are no degrees of reward in heaven. But there are degrees of punishment. And the hottest fires of hells lowest pit are reserved for those who despise the free grace of God and trample under foot the precious blood of Christ revealed in the gospel (Mat 11:20-24). (3.) Divine judgment comes suddenly, swiftly, without warning (Rev 18:8). (4.) It is thorough, complete, without mercy (Rev 18:8). And (5.) God is both willing and able to punish sin (Rev 18:8).
A threefold lamentation (Rev 18:9-19)
The kings of the earth, the merchantmen of the earth, and the seamen of the earth, when they see Babylon fall by the hand of God, shall all wail because of her fall.
The kings, the mighty men of power and influence, in the earth wail for Babylon (Rev 18:9-10)
They have laid in the bed of this great harlot for so long that they have come to love her and depend upon her. By yielding to her influence, honoring her name, and defending her, they have made themselves rich and powerful. Slick politicians (conservative and liberal) have always used religion to promote themselves. But when these mighty men see their whole religious foundation in ruins, they wail for her.
Then the merchants wail for her (Rev 18:11-16)
These merchants represent something more than businessmen. They represent all men and women who set their hearts on the wares and luxuries of this world. When everything they cherish crumbles before them, or becomes worthless in their eyes, they wail in agony (Luk 12:16-21). Without question there is a direct reference here to false prophets, preachers who for covetousness make merchandise of mens bodies and souls, bringing them into the slavery of the worlds religion to enrich themselves (cf. Rev 18:13 and 2Pe 2:1-3).
The third lamentation comes from the mouths and hearts of seamen (Rev 18:17-19)
Like the kings and merchants, the seamen have spent their lives seeking the wealth, power, luxury, and pleasure of the world. But when God brings everything to ruins, when men see all their hopes and desires utterly destroyed, they weep like babies in torment, with broken hearts. The destruction of Babylon is the destruction of the world, its religious, economic, political, and philosophical foundations. When the unbeliever sees everything he has lived for, worked for, and trusted in completely destroyed, he is utterly devastated. Let all be warned. Lay not up treasures upon the earth (Mat 6:19-21). The fashion, the outward appearance, and the glamour of this world is perishing (1Co 7:31). Make provision for your immortal soul (Mar 8:36-37).
A cause for great joy (Rev 18:20-24)
Babylons fall and the worlds destruction is Gods just retribution poured out upon those who have despised and persecuted his elect throughout history. Therefore, all of Gods elect are called upon to rejoice over her.
The final destruction of Babylon will be total, climatic, and irreversible (Rev 18:21-22)
A mighty angel appears to execute Gods judgment upon Babylon. He picks up a huge millstone. With one mighty, angry thrust, he hurls it into the sea and says, ‘This is what shall become of Babylon, it shall be hurled into the sea of Gods wrath forever, never to be retrieved. This wicked world, particularly, this religious world system, with its leaders and its followers, as the center of seduction, shall perish forever. Notice the symbolism that is used to express thorough destruction. All false religious comfort and hope, Babylon, will be gone! All joy, symbolized by music, will be gone! All skill, art, talent, craftsmanship, self-satisfaction will be gone! All food, symbolized by the mill, will be gone! All light shall be gone! All relationships of love and unity will be gone!
This destruction of Babylon is a matter of strict justice (Rev 18:23-24)
Babylons merchants are the men received and made great by the earth, both worldly and religious leaders! By her sorceries, the world has been deceived (Gal 3:1). Babylon, primarily false religion, has upon her hands the blood of all Gods saints and prophets (Luk 11:47-51).
The destruction of Babylon will be a cause for great joy (Rev 18:20)
But why are Gods saints called upon to rejoice when the wicked are damned? This joy is not at all a vindictive joy over the torments of personal enemies. It is a righteous agreement with God. It is Gods saints taking sides with God, vindicating him in his justice, and saying, ‘Amen,’ to all that he does, because of their hearts agreement with him (Psa 139:21-22). Gods saints will rejoice when Gods enemies are destroyed, because Gods name and honor will then be vindicated.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
angel
(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I saw: Rev 17:1
and the: Rev 21:23, Isa 60:1-3, Eze 43:2, Luk 17:24, 2Th 2:8
Reciprocal: Psa 77:18 – lightnings Jer 25:12 – that I Jer 25:26 – drink Jer 50:1 – against Babylon Eze 1:13 – General Mic 1:13 – she Mat 28:3 – countenance Luk 2:9 – and the Joh 12:29 – An angel Act 12:7 – and a 2Ti 1:10 – and hath Rev 19:1 – after Rev 20:1 – I saw
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ANOTHER ANGEL OF special power and glory now appears, coming down from heaven and announcing Babylons fall. In Rev 14:8, John saw an angel who made this announcement, but here it is given with greater impressiveness and with more detail. The evil system which is thus represented had long been fallen morally, now it is fallen under Divine judgment. Yet it is acknowledged as great even by this angel, who himself had great power. Men are naturally inclined to worship what is great, especially if it is something produced by themselves, though this had really been Satans masterpiece.
When God judges any system or individual their real character is made wholly manifest. This feature is seen here. Babylon had become infested with evils of the most virulent type. Demons had made it their habitation or dwelling place, and not merely a spot that they visited occasionally. Moreover every foul or unclean spirit was there. Demons are spirits but men have spirits that sin has made utterly unclean, and every kind of spirit is included in this statement. Thirdly, there are hateful birds. We may remember that in the parable of the sower the Lord used the birds as figures of agents that Satan uses in the world of men. So Babylon had become a place where demons were perfectly at home, and where every kind of evil spirit and evil man had been held as in a cage or prison. A fearful and crushing indictment indeed!
Verse Rev 18:3 again emphasizes what had been stated in the previous chapter. This abominable system by her very corruption had exercised a controlling fascination over the kings of the earth-the leaders of earths politics. And her wealth and luxury had equally fascinated and controlled the merchants of the earth-the leaders of earths commerce. So in the last days religion, politics and commerce will find for a brief moment in Babylon a centre that unifies. And the religion will be as earthly as the politics and the commerce.
A voice from heaven gives the final cry, Come out of her, My people. One can hardly imagine that many of those, who can be owned as Gods people, will be in any sense inside such a system as it faces its final overthrow, yet doubtless there will be some like Lot, who was only dragged out of Sodom at the last moment. It is ever Gods way to give such a final warning. Another illustration of it is seen in the Epistle to the Hebrews, written a short time before the destruction of Jerusalem, and calling upon Jewish Christians to go forth to the rejected Christ without the camp, and reminding them that they had no continuing city on earth.
Those who in the last days might remain in Babylon would run the risk of partaking of her sins and of the plagues visited upon her sins. This also is vividly illustrated by the case of Lot, his wife and daughters. But do not let us miss the application of all this to ourselves. Verse Rev 18:4 plainly declares that association with evil has a defiling effect. By remaining in an evil and defiling system we become a partaker of its sins, and eventually of the governmental judgments of God that fall upon it.
In our day religious evil and sin is not yet headed up in one great system, but is surrounding us in many lesser and apparently conflicting systems. There are many traps for our feet though smaller ones. The situation is more confused, but no less seductive. Let us be careful to obey this injunction to come out; cutting our links with associations that defile. And having come out, let us keep out.
It is Gods way to sever His people from the ungodly, and take them out of their midst, before His judgment falls. He acted thus before the flood, and again in Egypt, as well as in the case of Sodom, and with His people before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Thus it will be with the Church before the vials of wrath are poured out, and with earthly saints who may be entangled in Babylon before it is judged. This is shown in verse Rev 18:4.
Verse Rev 18:5 shows that judgment only falls when the cup of iniquity is full to the brim; or, as it is stated, her sins have reached unto heaven. This is striking language, for the ancient city, Babylon, started when men began to federate, with the idea of self-aggrandizement and influence by the building of a city and tower, whose top may reach unto heaven (Gen 11:4). The ancient Babylon reached the height of its splendour under the famous Nebuchadnezzar, who wielded the widest influence and reached the top-stone of self-aggrandizement. Shortly after this, the city lost its supremacy and descended into ruin. The principles for which it stood were, however, perpetuated in Rome; first in the imperial, and then in the papal form.
In this mystical Babylon, then, we see all the old evils displayed in their intensest and most virulent form, and at last the tower of mans iniquity does indeed attain such dimensions that it has reached unto heaven. In drastic fashion the well-merited judgment then falls and the hateful thing sinks out of sight for ever.
Verses Rev 18:6-7 emphasize how apposite are Gods judgments. They fit the case exactly. The same thing may be noticed in the enactments of the law of Moses, which brought upon the offender the very penalty he had inflicted on another, and relieved the offended party. Babylon is to get her exact double or equivalent, and her torment and sorrow is to be the counterpart of her previous self-glorification and luxury.
There is an allusion in verses Rev 18:7-8 to Isa 47:8-9. What was said, in predicting the fall of the literal Babylon by the Euphrates, is duplicated in the judgment of the mystical Babylon, but with one addition. It is the mystical Babylon who says, I sit a queen. This again is striking, for here we have the full-blown result in display of the apostate church. The true church is the bride of Christ, and destined to be His partner in the day of the glory of the kingdom. The apostate church is no widow, though her Lord has been slain upon the earth, and she claims to be queen, though He is absent, and the day of His power not yet come. She aims at queenly influence and a life of delicious self-indulgence and self-glorification, while He is still absent and rejected.
But judgment is to fall upon her in one day. A stroke of terrible severity and swiftness falls upon her; described as plagues, death, mourning. famine. Nothing mitigates the stroke; no time for a parley to avert it. The overwhelming stroke is administered by the ten kings, as the end of Rev 17:1-18 showed, but behind their action is the hand of God. The Lord God who judges her is strong, and all her tinsel glory vanishes beneath His avenging hand.
Verses Rev 18:9-19 indicate how the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth, and the shipmasters of the sea will react to her judgment. The ten kings, who had been dominated by her, rise up and destroy her, but outside the ten-kingdom empire are many kings who had profited by their connection with her, and they lament. By kings we understand national leaders: by merchants of the earth leaders of trade and commerce: by shipmaster and all the company in ships leaders in transport. For all these her destruction is a disaster, for she was the great trafficker in all earths luxuries. The list of verses Rev 18:12-13 begins with gold. It ends with the bodies and souls of men.
Even today there is no sadder scandal than Romes traffic in the bodies and souls of men-more particularly in their souls. Souls become most profitable merchandise, when it is a question of extricating them from an imaginary purgatory; merchandise which has brought into her coffers more gold and silver and precious stones than all the trading in other objects of luxury put together.
The lament of verse Rev 18:16 has a familiar sound to those who know Romes ways in lands where her sway is nearly absolute. Many years ago we stood in the great Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Saragossa, Spain, and watched some kind of mass being performed by ecclesiastics, gorgeous in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet. Then some visitors were being shown the great collection of gifts, left by deluded votaries, housed in a kind of side chapel. We slipped in with them, and beheld enormous cases reaching up the walls, which, when the lights were turned on, sparkled with gold and precious stones, and pearls in dazzling variety.
And just when all this greatness and costliness and outward glory reaches its finest display, her outrageous sin reaches its climax, and the judgment of God falls. The action of the mighty angel, recorded in verse Rev 18:21, gives us an idea of the violence of the overthrow from the hand of God.
How great is the contrast between earth and heaven! Their respective reactions could not be more opposite. The casting of dust upon the head, weeping and wailing, on the one hand; rejoicings, on the other. Holy apostles and prophets are now avenged on her: further proof, if it be needed, that mystical Babylon represents the great system of false and corrupted religion, which from the outset has persecuted the servants of God. This interpretation is further reinforced by the last verse of the chapter. The day of reckoning had now come. Individual sinners have an eternity to spend. Evil systems do not pass into eternity. Their judgment in its full weight falls upon them in this world.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Mystic and Commercial Babylon
Rev 17:1-18 and Rev 18:1-24
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The seventeenth chapter of Revelation discusses what we call mystic Babylon; and the eighteenth presents commercial Babylon. Personally, we believe that there will be a union of apostate protestantism with apostate Catholicism. This is discussed in chapter seventeen. Then, we believe that Babylon will be rebuilded. We are quite aware of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the former Babylon, which was to be destroyed, never to be inhabited, and never to be rebuilt. The new Babylon, however, may easily be erected on a sight distinct from the former one. If the eighteenth chapter does not. discuss a literal Babylon it certainly discusses a great city. If not Babylon, perhaps Rome where the world’s commerce may be centralized.
We should remember, as we approach these two chapters that we are at the very end of the seven year period of Tribulation, in which the antichrist shall rule, and reign over a ten kingdom empire, and in which his authority will reach to the end of the world. By way of introduction, we wish to speak upon one thing only. That is the present hour development of that great religious hierarchy which is known, in chapter seventeen, as the Great Harlot.
In considering this strange name for an apostate church, let us remember that the true church has been recognized in the Word of God as the bride, the Lamb’s wife. If a true fellowship in Christ is known as a Virgin, with raiment spotless and clean, why should not the contradiction of that spiritual fellowship be known as the great harlot? Let us observe several things in Rev 17:1-6 which are spoken about this evil woman, which we call the apostate church.
1. Consider the statement that she sitteth upon many waters. In verse fifteen, these waters are designated as peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. We all know of the universality of the Roman Catholic Church. While the Roman Apostasy centers in a little corner of the earth, in Rome. Yet. its sweep and sway is known and felt the world over.
2. Consider that the inhabitants of the earth, have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. When an individual is drunk, we think of him as dominated by a power, in which he loses his own sober, and individual self. Thus, also have millions come under the sway and the sweep of apostate Christianity.
3. Consider that the woman was seen sitting upon the scarlet colored beast. This beast is not difficult to place, because he is full of names of blasphemy, and he has seven heads and ten horns. We found out in a study, that these things are especially true of the antichrist. The verse, three, reveals to us the fact that apostate Christendom will make a league with the antichrist.
The fact that the woman was seated upon the beast, shows that she will have great power in directing, at least the early movements of the beast. Antichrist will have a religious personality, particularly, when he comes in power. The Roman Catholic church has long flirted with dictators and kings and potentates. Its dream is to hold a regal, as well as a spiritual relationship toward men. In this role apostate modernism will have no difficulty in playing its part.
4. Consider the harlot’s raiment. Verse four tells us, “And the woman was arrayed in purple, and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,” No one could doubt the significance of this description. We were present at the Eucharistic Conference of the Roman church in Budapest, Hungary. The great church leaders had the appearance of monarchs, as they paraded the streets in purple and scarlet and gold. Apostate Christendom is more and more following in the same footsteps.
5. Consider the golden cup in her hand full of her fornications. What abomination, what filthiness, what shame have been found in many acts of the apostate church. Much of the blood of the martyrs lies at her feet. She seems to be holding her golden cup aloof in her hand, as she makes bold to boast of her power, and authority, in realms political. Many a politician has sought the favor of Rome in order to obtain his seat.
6. Consider her name. In verse five her name is described, as being written upon her forehead. Here it is: “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth.” Mark you, we do not say that in this great world system of Romanism, and apostate Christendom, there are to be found no lovers of the Lord. Not that. We speak merely of the facts that the system, as a whole, is drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
I. THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED (17:7-11)
1. The beast is explained as one who was and is not and is about to ascend out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. What a picture of the antichrist. It was because of this, in the old days, that John wrote, “Even now there are many antichrists.” It is not because the personal antichrist is not to be revealed. The antichrist is to ascend out of the bottomless pit. Whether this means that the antichrist will be one who has already lived, or whether it means that his system and methods come out of the abyss, under the touch and power of Satan, we are not prepared to say. Perhaps the former is true.
He shall go into perdition. This we know is literal, because, in the nineteenth chapter, we read: “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he received them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
2. They that dwell on the earth wonder after the beast. Among men he is of great renown. Only those whose names are written in the book of life, will refrain from following after the antichrist. Daniel gives us a most graphic picture of the power of this striking personage. He is called a vile person, who comes in peaceably, and attains his kingdom by flatteries. He enters into league with others. Then, he works deceitfully. He stirs up his power and his courage against kings. He waxes great even to the host of Heaven. He magnifies himself. He destroys wonderfully, and prospers, and practices, but he shall be broken without hand.
3. The beast had seven heads. Verse nine tells us, “The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” Our mind cannot help but go to Rome. There are some real Bible interpreters in the church of Rome. We wonder how they treat this chapter as a whole, and these words, in particular? To us, there can be but one meaning.
Verse eighteen tells us this: “And the woman, which thou sawest, is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Once again the city of Rome comes to mind and the Roman Catholic Church.
II. A GROWING ANTAGONISM OF THE BEAST TOWARD THE GREAT HARLOT (Rev 17:12-15)
Let us take up these verses statement by statement.
1. “The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings.” This statement is in perfect accord with many others. The ten horns here, are the same as the ten toes of Daniel two. They are the same as the ten horns of that dreadful and terrible monster in Dan 7:7. That the old Roman Empire has come into a ten kingdom empire under one super-king, there can be no doubt.
2. The ten kingdoms will have one mind, and shall deliver up their power and strength to the antichrist. We heard Stanley Baldwin, of London, say one night that a democracy believes in the voice of the people, but a totalitarian state, under a dictatorship, gives the people no voice. In a totalitarian state, he said, everything runs smoothly, and peaceably so long as the people have no mind, and no power or strength of their own. Mr. Baldwin had just come over from Europe, and was speaking in New York City. His words met a response in our own hearts.
3. The ten kingdoms will make war with the Lamb. This also is the message of the prophetic Scriptures as a whole. David, by the Holy Ghost, put special emphasis upon these things. He spoke of the kings of the earth, the coming confederacy, as they set themselves together, and took counsel together, against the Lord, and against the Anointed. Yes, the world that rejected Christ, when He came the first time has the same antagonism now, as of yore.
4. “The Lamb shall overcome them.” In Psa 110:1-7, we read that He shall strike through kings in the days of His wrath. In the same Psalm we read that His arrows will be hot in the hearts of the king’s enemies.
5. He who fights against the Lamb, fights against those who are with Him. These are described in our verse as the called, the chosen, and the faithful. Thus, whatever befalls our Lord, befalls His saints.
III. THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF THE GREAT HARLOT (Rev 17:16-18)
1. When the antichrist comes into power he will need the patronage and influence of the apostate church. When, however, he shall have ascended the seat of authority, it will be another matter. Even the Catholic Church will break with the antichrist. So long as he. was willing to permit the richly arrayed harlot, to sit upon him, all was well. When he, however, having received power from Satan, begins to demand the worship of the populace, and to lift himself up above God, and is worshipped; then, even the apostate church will bear with him no longer. Or, perhaps, he will bear no longer with her. He throws her from his back, and tramps her beneath his feet.
When the antichrist throws apostate Christendom from the saddle, he makes her desolate and naked, and as it were, eats her flesh, taking everything that was hers to himself, and then he burns her with fire.
2. This is the method by which God’s will is to be performed. For verse seventeen says, “God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree.” After this scene of judgment there remains among men, but one will, and one mind, and one supreme king, even the antichrist, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Our advice to the ministry of today is to carry forward their evangelism. It is not for us to take judgment into our own hands. Suppose that modernism does devastate the churches; suppose that Roman Catholicism does carry away many from the full Gospel, of glory and of grace; we should only preach that Gospel the more faithfully. We need not war against apostates, because we cannot overthrow them. We need not seek to avenge ourselves against the Romanists; we may contend for the truth, we may preach the Word; then, when the day comes God will judge this great religious harlot, with His own judgments.
IV. “THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FALL OF BABYLON (Rev 18:1-3)
Our verse reads. “And after these things I saw another angel come down from Heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying. Babylon, the great, is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
1. Think with me for a moment upon the ministry of angels. As we have been preaching on this wonderful book, you, no doubt, have seen the angels of God at every turn. They have ever been ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation. With what tender, guarding hands they have ever encamped around those who fear the Lord. Now, however, they have become the angels of God’s judgments toward the ungodly.
The highest, and the holiest of angels, are seen in these hours of tribulation. One after the other appears on the scene. They come clothed with great power and glory. Just now we saw how the very earth was lightened with the glory of the angel, as he cried mightily with a strong voice announcing the fall of Babylon,
2. Come with me a while, as we look upon the greatness of the world’s great city, Babylon.
From the days of Babel and its mighty tower, until this moment, the name Babylon has stood for confusion. It has stood for the tearing down of God and of His authority, and for the erection of the dominion and rule of the coming superman. Babylon, in the chapter we are now considering, stands for world commercialism. Its message is the message of wealth and its power.
3. Come with me as we behold Babylon’s fall. All nations drank of the wine of her fornication, and the kings of the earth mingled with her in every evil way. The merchants of the earth waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Now, commercialism, having reached its greatest height, is seen toppling and falling, Babylon quickly becomes the habitation of demons. Vandals come to sack her. Every unclean and hateful bird comes to suck her blood. She rose, but to fall. She lifted herself up, and God brought her down in humiliation and disgrace. She lived for self, and she lost it all. She played the game, but went into worse than bankruptcy.
V. A CALL TO GOD’S PEOPLE TO EVACUATE THE CITY (Rev 18:4-7)
1. The call, “Be not partakers of her sins.” This is God’s last call to His own people to come out of Babylon. Away back in the beginning, God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. Later He called the children of Israel out of Egypt. There has always been a great danger when saints mix and mingle, in the world of self-centered commercialism. Yet, it has been absolutely necessary for all to buy, and to sell. As the age, however, comes to its close and antichrist rules; and, as no man can buy or sell, excepting under the supervision of the man of sin, the antichrist; more and more it will be impossible for saints to compete in commercial life.
When, at last, God is about to destroy Babylon, the commercial center from which comes the authority of earth’s dictator, then, God cries, “Come out of her, My people.”
When Sodom had to burn, Lot had to flee. Poor Lot! He was so entangled in commercial Sodom and Gomorrah that he had to be urged to fly from her overthrow. The two angels who warned Lot, hastened him (Gen 19:15).
Has not God said to saints, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth”? Has God not also said concerning the riches of this earth, “But thou, O man of God, flee these things”? Let us beware lest we become too much entangled by the lure of gold.
2. The curse. The iniquities of commercial Babylon reached up unto God, and God says, “Reward her, even as she rewarded you; and double unto her double according to her works.” Then God added, “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
Thus did commercialism boast her security, and thus did she trust in her gold.
VI. THE WOES AND WAILS OF MERCHANTS AND SHIPMASTERS (Rev 18:8-19)
1. When the merchants of the earth, who had luxuriated with the wealth of the world, saw that in one day she was cut down, and utterly burned with fire, they bewailed her and lamented. John foresaw all of this. The merchants saw the smoke of her burning as they stood afar off, because of fear. And they said, “Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”
Thus did the merchants of the earth meet and morn, for no man bought their merchandise any more.
2. The merchandise, in which the merchants of the earth traded. Here is God’s forewritten list: “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep; and horses, and chariots; and slaves, and souls of men.”
3. The woes of the shipmasters. Every shipmaster, and sailors; as many as trade by sea, stood afar off and cried as they saw the smoke of her burning. Do any of you wonder at the grief and groans of these men who had made themselves rich by trading? Men love money. They love to live deliciously, they love to luxuriate. When Christ commanded the demons to enter the swine, and the swine ran down a steep place into the waters of Galilee, the people were not slow in wanting Christ to leave their coast.
Shakespeare might write, “Who steals my purse steals trash”; but the average man thinks of his purse, as his greatest possession.
VII. THE HEAVENS REJOICE (Rev 18:20-24)
1. There is a bright side, as well as a dark side to every cloud. While on earth the merchants and the shipmasters were bewailing the fall of Babylon, Heaven was rejoicing. Here are the words of the angels, “Rejoice over her, thou Heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you of her.”
The Lord knows that all of us need to be clothed and fed, and He has promised to supply our needs. Legitimate commerce is honorable and right. However, today the whole world seems to be rising up against the inconsistencies and sins of the rich, as they have depressed the poor.
The Holy Ghost, in the book of James, gives us a brief record of this. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, your garments are motheaten (Jam 5:1-20).
This will suffice to show you why God’s curse is upon the trade and traffic of men. It is because they have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton; it is because they have nourished their own hearts, in a day of slaughter. It is because they have condemned and killed the just.
2. Now we understand why the saints are told to rejoice at the overthrow of commercial Babylon. Commercial Babylon ceases forever upon the earth. The mighty angel, as he took up a stone, like a millstone, cast it into the sea, and said, “Thus with violence, shall that great city Babylon, be thrown down and shall be found no more at all.” Along with Babylon’s overthrow, comes also another overthrow: “The voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and of trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee.”
Thus, does Babylon fall, and in her wreckage is found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Rev 18:1. The angel had great power which is from EXOUSIA, the leading meaning of which is “authority.” The possession of that qualification is explained by the fact that he came down from heaven which is the seat of all authority. It is understandable also why his glory would light up the earth, for everything that pertains to that celestial region is glorious.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Introduction.
XI
THE FINAL PROCLAMATION OF DOOM ON JERUSALEM
(Chapter 18)
The approaching fall of Jerusalem, under the symbol of Babylon was envisioned in this chapter. It pictured the overthrow of Judaism and the Jewish state as having been actually accomplished when in fact it was an apocalyptic forecast of an event still future, described in the details of past occurrence.
Verse 1.
(1) The angel’s announcement–Revelation 18 :l-3.
This is another instance of a proleptic utterance by an angel, as the following verses of the chapter outline the successive stages of the fall and the desolation of the Babylon–Jerusalem.
The proclamation of doom was delivered by an angel having great power, a power commensurate with the magnitude of the proclamation and which signified the authority to pronounce a final doom. As a result of the proclamation the earth (land of Judea) was lightened with glory, as the heavens are aglow with lightenings attending the thunders. This was symbolic of the awe and terror of the appalling events impending.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 18:1. Another angel appears having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. These last words are in all probability taken from Eze 43:2, and the earth shined with his glory. They illustrate the greatness of his mission, and the manner in which the whole earth shall be struck with its glorious accomplishment. As in chap. Rev 7:2 this angel has a closer than ordinary connection with the Lord Himself.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Section 2. (Rev 18:1-24.)
Her judgment.
The eighteenth chapter gives the judgment from the divine side. The question has been naturally raised, Is it another judgment? There is nothing here about beast or horns, -nothing of man’s intervention at all, -and there are signs apparently of another and deeper woe than human hands could inflict. It is this last which is most conclusive in the way of argument, and we shall examine it in its place.
Another angel descends out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth is lighted with his glory. Earth is indeed now to be lighted, and with a glory which is not of earth. Babylon is denounced as fallen, not destroyed, as is plain by what follows, but given up to a condition which is a spiritual desolation worse than the physical one of Babylon of old, under which she has long lain, and from which the terms seem derived. She has become the dwelling-place of demons -“knowing ones;” Satan’s underlings, with the knowledge of many centuries of acquaintance with fallen men, and serpent-craft to use their knowledge; a “hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.” The parable of the mustard-seed comes necessarily to mind; and without confining the words here to that, it is amazing to see how deliberately filthy and impure Rome’s system is. She binds her clergy to celibacy, forces them to pollute their minds with the study of every kind of wickedness, and then, by her confessional system, teaches them to pour this out into the minds of those to whom she at once gives them access and power over -and all this in the name of religion!
What has brought a professing Christian body into so terrible a condition as this bespeaks? We are answered here by reference once more to her spiritual fornication with the nations and with the kings of the earth, and to the profit which those make who engage in her religious traffic. As worldly power is before all things her aim, and she has heaven to barter in return for it, the nations easily fall under her sway, and are intoxicated with the “wine of the fury” -the madness -“of her fornication.” First of all, it is the masses at which she aims, and only as an expedient to secure these the better, the kings of the earth. Thus she can pose as democratic among democrats, and as the protector of popular rights as against princes. In feudal times the Church alone could fuse into herself all conditions of men, turning the true and free equality of Christians into that which linked all together into vassalage to herself; and so the power grew which was power to debase herself to continually greater depths of evil. Simoniac to the finger-ends, with her it is a settled thing that the “gift of God can be purchased with money.” And with her multiplicity of merchandise, which is put here in catalogue, there will naturally be an abundant harvest for brokers. With these, who live by her, she increases her ranks of zealous followers.
Another voice now sounds from heaven -“Come forth from her, My people, that ye partake not of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues; for her sins have heaped themselves to heaven, and God hath remembered her unrighteousness.”
Even in Babylon, and thus late therefore, there are those in her who are the people of God. But they are called to separation. Rome is a false system which yet retains what is saving truth. Souls may be saved in it, but the truth it holds cannot save the false system in which it is found. Truth cannot save the error men will ally with it, nor error destroy the truth. There are children of God, alas, that “suffer Jezebel,” but Jezebel’s true children are another matter: “I will kill them with death” is God’s emphatic word. The testing-time comes when the roads that seemed to lie together are found to separate, and then the necessity of separation comes. Truth and error cannot lead to the same place, and he that pursues the road to the end will find what is at the end.
“Recompense to her as she recompensed; according to her works, double to her double: as she hath glorified herself, and lived luxuriously, so much torment and sorrow give her. For she said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore in one day shall her plagues come on her -death, and sorrow, and famine; and she shall be burned up with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
The government of God is equal-handed, and for it the day of retribution cannot be lacking. “God hath remembered” Babylon at last. In truth He never lost sight of her for a moment. But the wheels of His chariot seem often slow in turning, and there is purpose in it: “I gave her space to repent,” He says pitifully; but pity is not weakness -nay, it is the consciousness of strength that may make one slow. There is no possibility of escape. No height or depth can hide from Him the object of His search -no greatness, no littleness. The day of reckoning comes at last, and not an item will be dropped from the account.
Then follows the wail of the kings of the earth for her, while they stand off in fear for the calamity that is come upon her, more sentimental than the selfish cry of the merchants, whose business with regard to her has slipped out of their hands. And then comes the detail of it, article by article -all the luxuries of life, each of which has its price, and ending with “slaves, and souls of men.” If one had skill to run through the catalogue here, he would doubtless find that each had its meaning; but we cannot attempt this now. The end of the traffic is at hand, and the Canaanite is to be cast out of the house of the Lord.
The lament of so many classes shows by how many links Rome has attached men to herself. Her vaunted unity is large enough to include the most various adaptations to the character of men. From the smoothest and most luxurious life to the hardest and most ascetic, she can provide for all grades, and leave room for large diversities of doctrine also. The suppleness of Jesuitism is only that of her trained athletes, and the elasticity of its ethics is only that of the subtlest ethereal distillation of her spirit. But though she may have allurements even for the people of God, she has yet no link with heaven, and while men are lamenting upon earth, heaven is bidden to rejoice above, because God is judging her with the judgment that saints, and apostles, and prophets, have pronounced upon her.
Finally, and reminding us of the prophetic action as to her prototype, “a strong angel took up a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon the great city be cast down, and shall be found no more at all.” And then comes the extreme announcement of her desolation. Not merely shall her merchandise be no more, there shall be no sign of life. at all -no pleasant sound, no mechanic’s craft, no menial work, no light of lamp, no voice of bridegroom or of bride; and then the reason of her doom is again given; “For thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.”
Interpretation is hardly needed in all this. The detail of judgment seems intended rather to fix the attention and give us serious consideration of what God judges at last in this unsparing way. Surely it is needed now, when Christian men are being taken with the wiles of one who in a day of conflict and uncertainty can hold out to them a rest which is not Christ’s rest; who, in the midst of defection from the faith, can be the champion of orthodoxy while shutting up the Word of Life from men; who can be all things to all men, not to save, but to destroy them; at such a time, how great a need is there for pondering her doom as the word of prophecy declares it, and the joy of heaven over the downfall of the sorceress at last!
Heaven, indeed, is full of joy, and gratulation, and worship: “After these things, I heard, as it were, a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! salvation, and honor, and glory, and power, belong to our God; for true and righteous are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And a second time they say, Hallelujah! And her smoke goeth up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped God, saying, Amen: hallelujah!”
We may now briefly discuss the question of how far there is indication here of a divine judgment apart from what is inflicted by the wild beast and its horns. These, we have read, “shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire.” In the present chapter we have again, “And she shall be burned up with fire; for strong is the Lord God who hath judged her.” The kings of the earth “wail over her when they look upon, the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment.” And so with the merchants and the mariners. And finally we read, “Her smoke goeth up for ever and ever.” Nothing in all this forces us to think of a special divine judgment outside of what is inflicted by human instruments, except the last. The last statement, I judge, does. It cannot but recall to our minds what is said of the worshipers of the beast and false prophet in the fourteenth chapter, where the same words are used; but this is not a judgment on earth at all; could, indeed, “her smoke goeth up for ever and ever” be said of any earthly judgment? The words used are such as strictly imply eternity: no earthly judgment can endure in this way; and the language does not permit the idea that the persistency is only that of the effects. No, it is eternity ratifying the judgment of time, as it surely will do; and it is only when we have taken our place, as it were, amid the throng in heaven that this is seen.
But thus, then, we seem to have here no positive declaration of any judgment of Babylon on earth, save by the hands of the last head of western empire and his kings. Yet the eighteenth chapter, we have still to remember, says nothing of these kings: all is from God absolutely, and at least they are not considered. It has been also suggested that it is the “city” rather than the woman (the ecclesiastical system) that is before us in this chapter; but much cannot be insisted on as to this, seeing that the identification of the woman with the city is plainly stated in the last verse of the previous one, and also that the terms even here suppose their identity.
On the other side, there is in fact no absolute identity; nor is it difficult to think of the destruction of the religious system without its involving at all that of the city; nor, again, would one even suppose that the imperial head, with his subordinates, would utterly destroy the ancient seat of his own empire. Here a divine judgment, strictly and only that, taking up and enforcing the human one as of God, becomes at least a natural thought, and worthy of consideration.
Outside of the book of Revelation, Scripture is in full harmony with this. The millennial earth, as we may have occasion to see again, when we come to speak more of it, is certainly to have witnesses of this kind to the righteous judgment of God upon the objects of it. In it, as it were, heaven and hell are both to be represented before the eyes of men, that they may be fully warned of the wrath to come. During the present time, it is objected, there is not sufficient witness; in the Millennium, therefore, there shall be no room left for doubt. Therefore, while the cloud and fire rest as of old, but with wider stretch, as of sheltering wings, over Jerusalem (Isa 4:5-6; comp. Mat 22:37), we have on the other side the open witness of the judgment upon transgressors which the Lord Himself renders, as a type of the deeper judgment beyond (Isa 66:23-24; cp. Mar 9:43-50).
Besides this, Edom remains desolate, and, to come near to what is before us, Babylon also (Isa 13:20; Isa 34:9-10). How suitable that Rome, the seat of a power far worse, and of far greater significance, should be so visited! Such a judgment would fill out the prophecy most fully and exactly. What a picture of eternal judgment is that of Idumea, in that “year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion”! “And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever.” Rome is the great Edom, as it is the great Babylon; and it would be really strange if there were not to be in her case a similar recompense. Barnes quotes from a traveler in Italy in 1850 what is only a striking confirmation of the story told by all who with eyes open have visited the country: “I behold everywhere, in Rome, near Rome, and through the whole region from Rome to Naples, the most astounding proofs, not merely of the possibility, but the probability, that the whole region of central Italy will one day be destroyed by such a catastrophe. The soil of Rome is tufa, with a volcanic subterranean action going on. At Naples the boiling sulphur is to be seen bubbling near the surface of the earth. When I drew a stick along the ground, the sulphurous smoke followed the indentation. . . . The entire country and district is volcanic. It is saturated with beds of sulphur and the substrata of destruction. It seems as certainly prepared for the flames as the wood and coal on the hearth are prepared for the taper which shall kindle the fire to consume them. The divine hand alone seems to me to hold the fire in check by a miracle as great as that which protected the cities of the plain till the righteous Lot had made his escape to the mountains.”
That Rome’s doom will be as thus indicated we may well believe. And it is in awful suitability that she that has kindled so often the fire for God’s saints should thus be herself a monumental fire of His vengeance in the day in which He visits for these things!
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
The destruction of spiritual Babylon hath in this prophecy been several times predicted and already foretold: now here an angel from heaven is employed to declare it shall certainly be performed.
This angel is variously here described, 1. By the place from whence he came, namely, from heaven; signifying, that the destruction of Babylon was there surely decreed, and should most certainly be accomplished.
2. By the authority and power with which he came, in the name of, and by commission from, the great God, and having great power. A mighty angel is employed in this great and mighty work, to destroy Babylon, the mighty throne of antichrist.
3. By the effect of his appearance, the earth was lightened with his glory; denoting, that Babylon’s destruction should be open and manifest, and matter of joy and glorious rejoicing both to heaven and earth.
Learn hence, That as the destruction of Babylon is the work and office of an angel, under God, so is it unto the angels matter of joy and triumph; especially to such of them as are employed as officers therein. I saw an angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Observe, 2. The place against which the mighty angel doth denounce the vengeance of God, and that with an ingemination, or repetition of the threatening: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen; where, by Babylon, all, both papists and protestants, do understand the city of Rome, though in different respects.
This is called mystical Babylon, in allusion to ancient Babylon, because of their resemblance,
1. In sin; namely, in pride and sedf-exaltation, in cruelty and oppression, in sorcery and witchcraft. Isa 51:7.
2. In punishment: the destruction of old Babylon was a sudden destruction, Isa 17:9 and a perpetual destruction. See Isa 13:20 compared with Rev 11:10 and Rev 18:8.
It is called Babylon the great, 1. Because of the greatness of its strength and glory; it was the strongest and most fortified place in the world. Cyrus besieged it thirteen years before he took it, and then by cutting channels, and drawing dry the river Erphrates.
2. In regard of her great power and dominion: literal Babylon said, and Are not my princes altogether kings? and mystical Babylon ruleth over all the kings of the earth.
Farther, it is here said, that Babylon the great is fallen, nay, it is ingeminated and repeated, is fallen, is fallen; implying,
1. The certainty of her ruin; it is a speech of faith, speaking of things to come as already past; God’s punishments when threatened are as certain as if already inflicted.
2. It denotes the suddenness of her destruction, She is fallen, that is subito ruitura, she shall soon fall; as when Christ said of his suffering work, It is finished, he meant that it was very near finishing.
3. It denotes her utter ruin and destruction, is fallen, is fallen, never to rise more: the church shall never more be tormented by her, or troubled with her.
4. It denotes the joy and rejoicing which will be found in Sion, at Babylon’s downfall and destruction: she is fallen, she is fallen; it is not only a speech of faith and trust, but of joy and triumph.
Learn hence, 1. That Rome or mystical Babylon, shall certainly fall, shall utterly fall, shall irrecoverably fall.
2. That the downfall of Babylon will be matter of great joy and triumph to the inhabitants of Sion, because she has been to the church of Christ an old and inveterate enemy, a cruel and bloody enemy, and shall be the last enemy. When Babylon is fallen, then shall all persecutions cease, Satan shall be bound, and the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ. Let all that have an interest in God, be instant in prayer with him to hasten its time, that it may be in the history as it is here in the prophecy, that Babylon is fallen.
Observe lastly, what an heap of multiplied expressions the Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of, to set forth the utter ruin and final desolation of Babylon,–She is become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; that is, as devils and evil spirits are supposed to haunt desolate places, and birds which make hideous and dismal noises, do dwell in ruinous and ruined places: in like manner these expressions denote how entirely and absolutely God will bring about the destruction of Babylon, insomuch that the place which hath known her, shall know her no more, and her habitation shall be an eternal desolation, so that none that pass by shall say, This is Babylon.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
After the vision of chapter 17, John saw another angel with great authority to carry out his mission. The brightness surrounding him shows his greatness and the greatness of his task.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 18:1. And after these things After the angel-interpreter had so far explained the meaning of the vision, and mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns which carried her; I saw another angel Termed another, with respect to him mentioned Rev 10:1; come down from heaven To show the sure downfall of this antichristian power, which is here described in the same sublime figurative style as that in which Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel have foretold the fall of ancient Babylon and Tyre, the types and emblems of the spiritual Babylon; and, together with her punishment, the crimes which deserved it, her idolatry and wickedness; having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory In this description of the angel there seems to be an allusion to the vision of Ezekiel, (Eze 43:2,) when he beheld the glory of the God of Israel, and the earth, it is said, shined with his glory. A bright and shining light, it seems, usually attended the appearance of angels; and it is likely the splendour of the appearance used to be greater in proportion as the angel appearing was more honourable. The sending an angel of superior rank alludes to the custom of courts in employing persons of dignity, according to the weight and importance of the commissions they were to execute. We may observe here, if such be the lustre of the servant, in lightening the earth with his glory, what images can display the majesty of the Lord, who has thousands of thousands of those glorious attendants ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation Chapter 18
Chapter 18 announces the judgment. The one difficulty here is Rev 18:4, coming where it is; but, as every difficulty in scripture, it leads into further light. The destruction of Babylon is simple enough. She falls by Gods judgment just before Christ comes to judge the earth; and, first perhaps losing her power and influence, is destroyed by the horns and beast. The comparison of Rev 16:8, and the place it holds, Rev 16:19; Rev 18:8, and the beginning of 19, make this plain. Chapter 18 is a warning from heaven, not the angel of judgment of the earth. It is not consequent on events, but supposes spiritual apprehension of heavens mind. This is the case when it is simply a voice from heaven. This call then was a spiritual call, not a manifest judgment. It may be more urgent and direct just before judgment, and I doubt not will be: as the call is in Hebrews to come out of the camp because Jerusalems day was at hand. Hence I believe this applies whenever we see the system to be Babylon, and the sense of her iniquities is pressed upon the conscience.
The chapter then goes on to the actual execution of judgment according to Rev 17:16. The horns, or kingdoms connected with the beast, have destroyed her. The kings mourn over her; so do those that have sought profit and ease and commerce in the earth. The royal and commercial system is shattered to pieces by the upset of the system. What characterises her, that for which she is judged, is idolatry, corruption, worldliness, and persecution. She is judged and destroyed, and the prosperity of the worldly is smitten by her fall, and the hopes of the kings who had commerce with her. The blood of all saints was found in her, as in Jerusalem in her day. Persecution comes from religion connected with worldly advantage. But what a picture we have here of the world, the relations of the kings and of the saints to Babylon!
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
FALL OF BABYLON
THE name of this angel is not given. The wonderful light of his glory would lead to the suspicion, at least, that it was Michael. Gabriel and Michael are the only archangels whose names are given. The former always comes in the interest of humanity, and the latter in the interest of divinity. We must remember we are now in the tribulation. The Ancient of Days i.e., the Father is here executing the awful premillennial judgments. Hence the world is full of divine interventions, in every way necessary to the fulfillment of prophecy. What stupendous miracles will be wrought in the universal destruction of Babylon, we cannot anticipate. Of course this proclamation is anticipatory of the speedy fall. Such will be the wonders of Omnipotence in this notable event, that counterfeit religions will all perish from the earth. Babylon will be utterly spoilated of her sorceries and enchantments, so that henceforth she will no longer be able to delude a human soul, but will be occupied by devils only.
3. The infliction of these terrible castigatory judgments will utterly destroy and exterminate false religion from the earth. A just retribution supervenes because all nations have fallen (Greek) by the wines of her fornication. All religion intoxicates. The people thought the apostles were drunk when filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. It is equally true that false religion intoxicates the one with the Spirit of God, sanctifying you and making you holy like God; the other with the spirit of Satan, filling you with lying delusions, making you dream you are on your way to heaven when you are on a bee-line to hell, inspiring you with Satans false faith, vain and carnal love, all of which but ripen you for hell and lead you into it. The age of miracles is past is as gratuitous as it is unscriptural. It favors that modern infidelity called evolution, which takes God out of the worlds government and turns it over to man. I anticipate greater miracles to attend our Lords second coming than the ages have ever known. Rest assured, when the time comes, Babylon will fall, her spiritual power be utterly annihilated, and her temporal dominions exterminated. What is included in Babylon? Romanism, with all her temporal and spiritual power. Besides, it certainly will include all forms of human ecclesiasticisms. God made religion, but Satan made sectarianism. While the papacy is the mother of harlots, she is very prolific, and has many daughters. Human government is political and ecclesiastical. It must all go down before the King of kings, who is coming to reign in righteousness forever. The tribulation revolutions will effect these results, and thus prepare the way for the coming King. The terrible antagonisms and retributions inflicted on the fallen Church by the State will doubtless prove an important precursor in her final ruin.
CONVOCATION OF GODS PEOPLE
4. Come out of her, my people. This call is largely anticipatory. It contemplates the savable, rather than the saved. When the Lord spoke to Paul. in the night vision at Corinth, saying, I have much people in this city, it is to he understood prospectively, as the whole city was in idolatry at that time. The crushing catastrophes of the tribulation, both political and ecclesiastical, will sweep from the earth the incorrigible and unsavable popular elements. The terrible bloody revolutions attending the fall of the time-honored kingdoms will he used by a gracious Providence as political purifiers, while the fall of Babylon will prove the greatest religious purifier the world has ever seen. We must remember that the world is to be inhabited again after the great tribulation. Daniel pronounces a great blessing on those who survive the tribulation. (Dan 12:12.) According to this prophecy, the tribulation will be (1335 minus 1290) 45 prophetic years.
When the mighty cyclones of premillennial judgments shall have expended their forces, and the kings of the earth shall have been shaken from their thrones, and Babylon shall have been smashed into debris, then our King, descending in His glory, will receive the salutations of an obsequious world, disencumbered of human yokes and prejudices, and ready to fall in line with the new administration. Some good people have doubtless made an innocent mistake in coming out prematurely, thus leaving an unfinished work in Babylon. We are to remain among the warring sects of Babylon, faithfully preaching the everlasting gospel, till she falls. Certainly we have not yet reached that historical epoch, though evidently very rapidly approaching it. Two hundred millions of Gods saints have shed their blood in Babylon.
2-4. Certainly we can afford to be steadfast. We see from this prophecy that Babylon is to be the recipient of the seven last plagues unto her utter extermination. This is given as a reason why the Lords people shall make their escape.
5. Here we learn that the sins of Babylon have actually reached their maturity, when she, with her multiplied millions encompassing the globe, is fully ripe for doom and damnation. We here see from this verse that God never forgets anything. Every tear shed and groan uttered by His martyrs, in all bygone ages, is as fresh in His memory as the events of yesterday. We see from this Scripture that He assuredly pays back with compound interest.
7. She says in her heart, I sit a queen, am no widow, and see no sorrow. The true Church, consisting of the invisible children of God, has mourned, a widow, prophesying in sackcloth because of her absent Lord, ever since He left her and flew up to heaven. She will remain unknown, misjudged, and persecuted, till her Divine Spouse rides down on a cloud and takes her to Himself. The reason why the fallen Church i.e., Babylon is no widow, is because she has forsaken her ascended Husband and married antichrist. You can well discriminate the Babylonian Churches, because they all claim that their sect is the true Church, thus confessing judgment against themselves. Col 3:3-4 :
Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
Here Paul positively teaches the invisibility and entire sanctification of the true Church. Never will the true Church on earth be visible till her Head returns and becomes visible again. Thus we see how the belligerent parties of Babylonian ecclesiasticism have ignorantly signed their own death- warrant in their pertinacious controversies to vindicate themselves.
8. We see from this verse that the fall of Babylon will mark a distinct epoch in history. Doubtless, like all other great events, it will be preceded by a progressive series of preparatory developments, and followed by a grand sweep of wonderful consequences. The burning with fire may be literally verified in the conflagration of Rome; but fire, throughout the Bible, is the constant figure of utter destruction. For this reason, fire is the constant type of sanctification, because sin is thereby utterly exterminated. The Lord God who condemneth her is mighty. In a mysterious way, Babylon has been a powerful factor in the probationary scheme. Multiplied millions, beguiled by her lies and intoxicated with her adulterous wine of wealth, fame, carnal pleasures, and secular aggrandizement, have toppled into hell. These twelve hundred years, she has been Satans greatest temptation. She is exceedingly prominent in the all things that work together for good to them that love God (Rom 8:28). Only the blood-washed, fire-baptized pilgrim, who gladly forsook all for Christ, has been able to withstand her wiles. I am so glad all the prophecies culminate in the verdict that her race is about run. The hand- writing announcing her doom is even now legible to spiritual eyes on the walls of the magnificent cathedrals from which the Holy Ghost has long since retreated. You must not look too much to human agencies in the destruction of Babylon, as you see this scripture imputes it to God alone. When she has run her race, and her cup is full, then will the hand of God lift the flood-gate of doom.
9, 10. The wailing of the kings over the fall of Babylon may strongly contrast with the scene of the preceding chapter, when they were all goring her with their horns, thus doubtless somewhat preparing the way for her downfall. Daniel (12:12) gives the tribulation period forty-five years. This will be one unbroken revolutionary cyclone. Consequently we need not be surprised at anything. Daniel (12:1) says:
It will be a time of trouble, such as the world has never seen.
Christ says : It will he a time of trouble, such as the world never saw and never will (Mat 24:21). It is peculiar to the caprices of war that the victor, reveling in blood and slaughter, will stop and weep over a fallen rival.
UNIVERSAL BANKRUPTCY
12-14. The fall of Babylon will doubtless occur far out amid the flood-tide of the tribulation. The bankruptcy will come as a normal consequence of universal revolution. However, it is pertinent to observe that the fallen Church is the autocrat of style, fashion, pomposity, buncombe, and phantasmagoria infinitesimal. The world is more disposed to run on utilitarian lines. Romanism has amassed billions by fraudulent sales of candles, heads, crucifixes, et cetera, at enormous prices, for magical value. The whole world has long followed Satans gewgaws, expending their money for imaginary emolument. During the tribulation, all of Satans delusions will he unearthed to the eye of the world. National finances are generally on a bogus foundation. All intrigue, externality, and pomposity must fade before the coming King. The millennium will he a world of realities. From an analysis of the bogus condition of the worlds commerce and finances, and the wonderful incantatory influence of Babylon among the nations, we readily see how her sudden and utter destruction would bring a universal financial panic, culminating in worldwide bankruptcy.
As Noahs Flood swept away the institutions of the Antediluvian world, leaving not a vestige, so the great tribulation will rack, topple, turn, overturn, and smash all the institutions of the present age, leaving the world a blank, with its new population so divested of the Satanic institutions that now fill the earth that they will constitute a de nova element, out of which the King of kings will lay the foundation of the millennial world.
15, 16. Gilded with gold, precious stones, and diamonds. When I was in Rome last summer, I was much reminded of this language of inspiration. St. Pauls Cathedral, on the spot where he was beheaded, has already cost fifty millions of dollars, and will take five millions more to finish it. Internally it exhibits in gigantic mosaic all the popes (287), and all of the apostles in gigantic stature. In the altar they allege the remains of Paul are deposited. It is environed by every species of rubies, precious stones, and diamonds, whose sparkling radiance, amid the constantly burning candles, exhibits every conceivable tint and hue of the rainbow at all times, night and day. St. Peters Cathedral at the Vatican palace cost two hundred millions of dollars, and occupied two hundred years in building, thus expending sufficient money to put the Bible in every home on the earth. It is 835 feet long, 330 feet wide, and 447 feet high the largest building in the world, not even excepting the Coliseum. It is certainly the grandest monument of idolatry on the globe. John Tetzel, Luthers antagonist, and others, raised money to erect this superstructure by the sale of indulgences. Thus the faces of all nations were ground two hundred years to erect this mammoth temple of idolatry. In one hour so great wealth was laid waste. We learn in Rev 16:19 Rome will be divided into three parts by the great earthquake at the beginning of the tribulation. We see, further on, that she is to be utterly destroyed in a moment. This will constitute the salient epoch in the fall of Babylon.
17, 18. No wonder the ship-masters will weep and wail. The Roman superstition has brought multiplied millions of money to seamen. In a single month, quite recently, one hundred thousand pilgrims came to Rome. Ship companies make immense sums of money. On my first trip across the Atlantic, our ship carried fifteen hundred passengers, besides immense quantities of freight. The passengers alone, at forty dollars per capita, would bring the company sixty thousand dollars. The seamen of every nation have been enriched by Babylon. Hence they weep and wail when she goes down to rise no more.
20. Rejoice over her, O heaven, saints, apostles, and prophets, because God hath judged your judgment from her. Rome has outraged the saints, apostles, and prophets, and insulted heaven, by idolizing them. What an insult to Peter, the humble fisherman, to build to his memory an idolatrous monument at the paradoxical cost of two hundred millions of dollars, which should have been used to save the world What an insult to humble Paul, who lived a tramp and died a martyr, to erect a fifty-five-million- dollar mausoleum over his dust in which to worship idols, of which they have made him chief. In the destruction of Babylon, God truly vindicates the martyrs, with whose blood she has been drunken for ages.
21-24. We see from these verses the final doom of Rome. She is to sink into the sea and never be seen again. Having been terribly shocked and divided into three parts by the earthquake early in the tribulation (16:19), she is finally to receive another shock, so terrible as to bury her so deep in the sea that not a spire nor monument will ever be seen again. On that enchanted spot, where sat the worlds ruler two thousand years, naught shall be seen but the mighty, thundering billows of the dark, deep sea. From the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus, B.C. 753, she has been cruel as the grave and despotic as Diabolus. She deluged the world with blood and whitened it with bones, to make her way to the summit of despotic power. Under pagan rule, for three hundred years, she fattened her lions on Christians, till she fed out one hundred millions. Under papal rule, she has martyred a hundred millions more. In her, the blood of prophets, saints, and all of those slain upon the earth, is found. Babylon was the persecuting power under the former dispensation, and Rome, her successor, under the latter. It is a significant fact that this wicked world has never martyred Gods saints; but this odious diabolism has always devolved on the votaries of false religion. Rome began her bloody catalogue with the Son of God; the Jews not having the power of capital punishment, it devolved on the Romans, the rulers of the world. When I was in Rome I saw the finest monuments of ancient art, having been transported from Egypt. Rome is to this day the monumental city of the world, still abounding in the mementos of her former grandeur, when she dictated law to all nations. Amid all her boasted grandeur and glory, she simply ruled by wild-beast power. She is the grand ultimatum of human rule, both political and ecclesiastical. Her best achievements in the former consisted in the terror inspired by her ferocious brutality; in the latter, those dark superstitions which gave sanction to all the blood and slaughter of popery, prelacy, and priestcraft. So black is the record of Rome that she cannot survive the tribulation, lest she darken the escutcheon of the millennial world.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 18:1-2. Another angel came down from heaven and the earth was lightened with his glory. This was an angel of the highest order, having great power. It may be the Lord himself, the mission being worthy of his dignity. He cried mightily with a strong voice, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great. Truth and grace shall henceforth reign in all the earth. Oh Judah, keep thy feasts.
Rev 18:4. Come out of her, my people. Since the revocation of the edict of Nantz in 1685, when the tremendous persecution burst on the protestants, the ministers have been calling the people out of France, and out of the papal communion. The exiles have grown rich in Holland, in England, and in America. Saurin repeatedly uses this call in his sermons, fearing the protestants would fall away.
Rev 18:8. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day. Certainly this was the case with the revolution in France. Death reigned in popular wars throughout Europe, while in the interior its ravages were perpetrated by the gullotine and private massacres. Mourning and famine followed. The nobility and the clergy fled, believing that they should be recalled in six months. But the prediction is, they shall burn her with fire. The churches were in consequence shut up, and plundered, and many of them destroyed. More than two hundred and seventy one gentlemans seats were also burned, amid the popular confusion. Calamities unnumbered and great followed in the train. This is not all: the cup is still going round. While the judgments of heaven are abroad in the earth, may the inhabitants learn righteousness!
Rev 18:11-13. The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her. Bishop Bale, who was formerly a carmelite, and afterwards a convert to the protestant religion, and bishop of Ossory in Ireland a man who was persecuted by the papists, narrowly escaping with his life, five of his domestics having been murdered by them, speaks thus of their ceremonial.
The mighty kinges and potentates of the earth, Rev 18:9, not havinge afore their eyes the love and feare of God, have committed with this whore moste vile filthynesse; abusinge themselves by many straunge or uncommanded worshippings, and bynding themselves by othe to observe hyr lawes and customs. At the examples, doctrines, counsels, and perswasions of hyr holy whoremongers, have they broken the covenaunts of peace; battailed, oppressed, spoyled, ravished, tyrannously murthered innocents; yea, for vain foolish causes, and more vaine titles, as though there was neither heaven nor hel, God nor accounts to be made.
And her mitredd marchants, Rev 18:11, hyr shorne soldiers, hir masse-mongers, hyr soule-sellers, and hir mart-brokers, waxed very riche, through the sale of hir oyles, creme, salt, water, and other pedlary wares Specially shal they be sore discontented with the matter, which have with hir committed the whordom of the Spyrite, by many externe worshipings of drye waffer cakes, oyles, roods, relyques, ladyes images, sculles, bones, chippes, olde ragges, showes, (shoes) bootes, spurres, &c.
And they that have lived wantonly with hir, Rev 18:9, in following hir idle observacions, in mattenses, houres, and masses; in sensinges, halowings, and font-halowing; in going processions with canapye, crosse, and pyx; with banneres, stremers, and torche-light; with such other gaudes, to folish for children.
Alas, alas, that great cyty, Rev 18:10, that beautiful Babilon, that blessed holy mother the church, which somtime had so many popes pardons, so many bishoppes blessinges, so many holye stacions, so many cleane remissions pena el culpa, so many good ghostly fathers, so many religious, orders, so much holy water for spirites, and St. Johns gospels, with the five woundes, and the length of our Lord for drowning, is nowe decayed for ever.
In their thynen wood, Rev 18:12, whom some men call algumetrees, some basill, some corall, may be understande all theyr curious buildings of temples, abbeys, chappels, and chambers; all shrines, images, church stooles, and pews that are well paid for; all banner staves, paternoster scores, and peeces of the holy crosse.
The vessels of ivory comprehendeth all their maundye dyshes, their offring platters, their relique chestes, their god boxes, their drinking horns, their sipping cuppes for the hiccough, their tables whereupon are charmed their chalises and vestiments; their standiches, their combes, their muske balles, their pomaunder pottes, and their dust boxes, with other toyes.
The vessels of precious stone, which after some interpretours are of precious stone, or after some are of most precious wood, betokeneth their costuous cuppes, or cruses of jasper. Their pardon masers, or drinking dishes, as St. Benits bole, St. Edmonds bole, St. Giless bole, St. Blithes bole, and Westminster bole, with such other holy reliques.
Of brasse, which containeth latten, copper, alcumine, and other harde metals, are made all their great candlesticks, holy water kettles, &c. Of strong yron are the braunches made that holde up the lightes before their false gods; the tacks that sustayne them from fallinge; the lockes that save them from the robberye of thieves, their fyre-pans, &c.
With marble most commonlye pave they their temples, and build strong pillers and arches in their great cathedrale churches and monasteries, &c.
By the sinamon is ment all manner of costly spyces, wherewith they bury their byshops and founders, lest they shoulde stinke when they translate them agayne to make them saintes for advantage.
By the smellynge odours, the swete herbes that they strewe abrode at theyr dedications and burials; besydes the damaske waters, bawmes, muskes, pomaunder, civet, and other curious confections they yet bestow upon theyr owne precious bodyes. Paraphrase compyled by John Bale, an exyle also in thys lyfe for the faithful testimony of Jesu.
For the above extracts I am under obligations to the Rev. W. Wail, rector of Norton and Chewstoke, who sent me them in his pamphlet on the present crisis.
REFLECTIONS.
Oh Babylon, Babylon, thy day is come at last. The embers that burned the martyrs have reached thy palaces, and kindled up into dreadful flames. The glad tidings of thy fall have reached heaven, and a special messenger is deputed from thence to announce the joys to earth. He cries with a strong voice, Babylon the great is fallen; her abbies and monuments are forsaken, and become the habitation of voracious birds.
The first strokes of her fall are a signal to the pious and faithful to separate from her communion, and even to flee from a country where her sins and the blood of saints are about to be purged.
These punishments were to come upon her when she was perfectly at ease, and saying, I sit a queen, and shall see no sorrow. Just before the French revolution, popery was never more rich and secure in all the south of Europe. But in one day, or time of visitation, all her churches and religious houses were pillaged, and even the dead were dug up for plunder.
These punishments were to be requited in kind; reward her as she hath rewarded you. This was awfully done in France during the revolution of 1789. The protestant ministers had formerly been hanged, burnt and massacred without mercy. The people worshipping were pursued by the military, some shot, others sent to the gallies, and multitudes fled as they could, leaving their property behind. Now, the God who visits the iniquities of the fathers on impenitent children unto the third and fourth generation, stirred up the atheists of France to kill and plunder all the priests and nobles they could, as outlaws for not taking the civic oath to the new constitution; and those who were happy enough to escape, fled in beggary to those very countries whither their intolerant fathers had banished the protestants! Thus with violence shall Babylon continue to be thrown down at different times; and her bishops and princes of the church shall howl and cry, because no man buyeth her degraded merchandise of gold and silk, or pardons and indulgences any more. She must now howl as an ancient Babylon, while heaven rejoices over her, because in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints that were slain upon the earth, which cried to heaven.
Of all the songs that gladden the hearts of the blessed, none is more sublime than this, that the oppressor shall no more oppress. If the prince of the house of David sunk a stone in the Euphrates, as a token that old Babylon should fall, behold here, the angel throws a millstone into the sea for the fall of great Babylon, while all the perfections of God blaze out in her righteous visitations. Rejoice over her, ye heavens, and the holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged your blood.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 18:1. another angel: we have no means of identifying this angel of doom.
Rev 18:2. habitation . . . bird: cf. Isa 13:21 f; Isa 34:14, where the rained cities of Babylon and Edom become the haunts of unclean spirits.
Rev 18:3. kings of the earth: Rev 17:2*.
Rev 18:4. come forth: the cry come forth rings through Hebrew history (e.g. Gen 12:1; Gen 19:12, Num 16:26, Isa 52:11). . . . In this context the sauve qui peut is to be regarded partly as a feature borrowed from the OT model, partly as a warning to Christians at Rome to shun entanglement in the sin and punishment of Babylon (Swete).
Rev 18:6. double unto her: this phrase is explained by Jer 16:18 (cf. Isa 40:2).
Rev 18:9. all the kings of the earth: Rev 17:2*. The vassal kings are the first to take up the strain of woe, because Rome was the prop upon which they leaned, and when it fell, they lost their main support.
Rev 18:11. the merchants: Rome was the market of the world in the first century of our era, and the merchants bemoan the loss of their trade. The list of the imports given in Rev 18:11-14 is an indication of the wealth and luxury of the time.
Rev 18:12. thyine wood: i.e. all kinds of scented wood. Citrus or thyine wood was much prized for its veining, and was largely used in the manufacture of dining tables.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
God’s Judgment of Great Babylon
In Rev 17:1-18 we have seen that the destruction of Great Babylon is by the hand of the Beast and his ten horns. Now, in Rev 18:1-24, the judgment is seen to be from the Lord God (vv. 5, 8, 20)-as Lord being in absolute authority, as God being supreme in majestic glory. An angel from heaven having great authority announces Babylon’s fall (v. 1). The earth was lightened by his glory. Such light is God’s exposure of the sordid works of the great harlot which have prospered under cover of spiritual darkness. What has been said and done in the dark is to be proclaimed in the light (Luk 12:2-3). Mightily he cries, for the whole earth to hear, that Babylon is fallen and has become the habitation of demons (v. 2). Demon activity has been rampant within her bosom before this announcement is made, but she has cunningly concealed it by fair outward appearances and by professing the name of Christ. How glaring and humiliating the exposure will be when it comes! Every foul spirit and every unclean and hateful bird are additional expressions descriptive of demons.
The nations that will not accept the truth of Christianity will accept the woman’s adulterous corruption of it and thus drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (v. 3). The acceptance of her hypocrisy deadens the conscience and allows the indulgence of every lust. Merchants of the earth have grown rich by trading with her, for it means nothing to them that she gains her wealth by oppression of the poor. By collusion and flattery they can multiply their gains so that both share in the spoil. But God has set the limit.
An urgent voice from heaven says, “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues” (v. 4). This message surely is intended for God’s people to hear before the actual judgment falls. If one remains in that false religious system named the woman Babylon, the person is partaker of her sins and can only expect the judgment she receives. Some may protest that an evil association does not defile unless one is actually doing the same evil things, but this is not God’s view: He commands to come out from the very association!
God had borne with this corrupt woman until her cup of iniquity becomes full and her sins cry out for heaven’s judgment. God remembers her past and will judge in perfect righteousness (v. 5). She has meted out cruel, unrighteous judgment to others: now she will be rewarded in double measure. She has filled her cup with iniquity, so she receives a righteous double recompense (v. 6).
She has exalted herself and lived in luxury at the expense of the poor. Now her torment and sorrow is to be commensurate with the measure of her self-indulgence (v. 7). She has boasted of being “a queen,” in fact “the queen of heaven,” reigning as the professed bride of Christ before Christ Himself has taken His throne with His true bride, the Church (Rev 3:21). She thus has no heart for the rejected Lord. The true Church mourns His absence and wants no part in being recognized and patronized by a world that despises her Lord.
Great Babylon has glorified herself and will be utterly abased. This abasement will come swiftly, “in one day death and mourning and famine” (v. 8). This strong world-wide system has been building itself virtually high into the heavens, considering itself so secure as to give Rome the proud misnomer, “the eternal city.” Man will not bring her down: it is God who is stronger than she, and the swiftness of her judgment will amaze all who observe this complete desolation. The destroying fire will be both literal as to the city of Rome itself and symbolical of the total destruction of the entire false church. The patient grace of God has borne long with her, but judgment when it falls will be all the more dreadful.
Great Lamentation for Babylon
The kings of the earth who have indulged themselves in luxurious evil with the woman Babylon will be shocked and will mourn the loss of this source of illicit gain and pleasure (v. 9). They themselves will not as yet have fallen under the approaching judgment of God. Though the angel has said that Babylon’s plagues come in one day, the nations speak of her judgment coming in one hour (v. 10). Little do they realize that Babylon’s torment is a forewarning of what awaits them. They speak of Babylon as “the great city” and “the strong city.” Such is man’s estimation, but she has been built in independence of God and He reduces her greatness to nothing, her strength to weakness. Just as the first city Babylon was left a ruin after men’s boast of making themselves a name (Gen 11:1-9), so will the second Babylon suffer a similar humiliating end.
Merchants of the earth weep because their trade has been devastated (v. 11). Trade in religious artifacts and ornaments of gold and silver, vestments of expensive finery and jewels, ornamented buildings, wine and oil, food and travel equipment and many other industries owned or controlled by Rome will be tremendously affected.
However, these things speak more solemnly of the illicit traffic in spiritual things by which there is great temporal gain. Babylon may boast of its gold-that which claims to be for the glory of God-though this is merely trading for its own profit. It can speak of silver, typical of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, but use this also to prompt its adherents to give money to the church. All of the other things mentioned in verses 12 and 13 also speak of various precious aspects of the truth of God used by this great system as a means of present gain, thereby making the professed house of God “a house of merchandise.”
Verse 13 ends with the significant expression “and bodies and souls of men.” The common people have been made her virtual slaves, not only physically, but psychologically as well. God takes full account of all this.
Verse 14 shows that selfish lust always eventually loses what it seems to gain or what it expects to gain. All is lost for which the woman has lived. The merchants who profited by her lust now weep as they consider her great wealth and luxury as being reduced to nothing in one hour (v. 15). Shipping companies and their employees mourn the tremendous loss of trade because of her demise. Traffic in and out of Rome has been notoriously heavy through the centuries. What city has been like this great city? What other city has been so suddenly and totally destroyed?-specially a city boasting of a world-wide religious organization that has seemed immovable! Sea traders then repeat what has been said by kings (v. 10) and by merchants (v. 17): “in one hour she is made desolate” (v. 19).
Heaven Rejoices
The mourning is not shared by heaven where the call is rather to rejoice together with apostles and prophets (v. 20), for this is God’s answer to the cries of His people who have been oppressed. In righteousness He avenges His beloved saints by His unsparing destruction of this destructive harlot.
In token of the awesome finality of the judgment, a mighty angel takes a stone like a great millstone and casts it into the sea (v. 21). He announces that Babylon likewise will be violently thrown down with no semblance of a remaining existence. She is no longer to sit on the waters (the nations), but will be utterly swallowed up by them. This entire graphic description of her ruin is intended to strike home to the consciences of all who would dare to make merchandise of the truth of the Word of God.
What will become of the great emphasis on music such as is prominent in mere human religion, and which the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar knew well to have great influence on the feelings of the people (Dan 3:4-6)? Nothing of this mere sensual attraction will remain. There will be no employment left for the unsaved promoters of so-called Christian music (v. 22), for real Christian musicians will have been taken away at the Rapture. This is just another area that will receive a staggering shock. Further, craftsmen of whatever description-artists, sculptors, cabinet makers, stone masons, tile setters, etc. will share this total desolation. Even the flour mills will be silent.
Millions of candles will no longer burn for solemn religious services. Countless processions of marriage ceremonies will come to a stunning, sudden end (v. 23). All of these things have provided employment for millions of people. The merchants of these things were the great men of the earth, and they, together with the common people, will be devastated. By the harlot’s sorceries (her cunning satanic manipulation of the truth) all nations have been deceived, and all will be awakened with sudden shock. How greatly will people everywhere be shaken! Verse 24 uses words of solemn exposure and indictment. Babylon is found guilty of the blood of prophets, saints and great numbers of others who have been murdered. Prophets have been killed for proclaiming the truth of God, saints have been killed for acting on the truth, while others have been killed simply because the harlot considered she could profit by their death. How great a mercy for earth itself when she is removed!
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 1
And after these things, &c. The visions described in this and in the following chapter are evidently intended to represent, by vivid images, the certain and terrible destruction of the great anti-Christian power represented by Babylon.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
15 The Great City Babylon (Revelation 18)
There is a deep importance for Christians, as well as intense solemnity, attaching to Revelation 17 and 18, as therein we have a complete setting forth of the terrible character of the last phase of corrupt Christendom and of its final doom. In Revelation 17 we have learned that the corrupt religious system that through the ages has professed to be the church of God, and finds its greatest expression in the Papacy, will at last be found in unholy alliance with a worldly empire that derives its power from the bottomless pit. While professing the Name of Christ, this false church is utterly untrue to Christ, as set forth by the figure of the false woman.
(Vv. 1-3) In Revelation 18 we see this same corrupt religious system set forth under the figure of a great and imposing city, and we learn that the Papacy, which for ages has claimed to be exclusively the church of God, and thus “the habitation of God through the Spirit,” will, in its terrible end, “become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” These solemn truths are announced by an angel from heaven who, invested with great authority, enlightens the darkness of earth with the glory of heaven. With a strong voice that none can gainsay, the angel announces the fall of this false system, and in a few brief words sums up its evil effect upon the world at large. “All nations” have been utterly deceived by her intoxicating influence. Kings have been indulged in evil by their unholy association with her; and the worldly minded have been “enriched through the might of her luxury.”
(Vv. 4-8) In view of the terrible character of this corrupt system, and the overwhelming judgment coming upon it, John hears a voice from heaven – which surely is the voice of Christ – saying, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” In the beginning of the Christian period believers were exhorted to “come out” from among the idolaters of the heathen world, and be “separate” (2Co 6:16; 2Co 6:17). In the end of the Christian period, in which our lot is cast, believers are exhorted to “come out” of the corrupt Christian profession as represented in all the fulness of its evil by the Papacy. We are not called to attempt to reform it, or overthrow it; but to come out of it, lest we partake of its sins. Babylon means “confusion,” and no word could more adequately set forth the terrible result of that which professes the name of Christ being marked by the friendship of the world which is at enmity with God. It ends in the outward form of religion being used as a cloak to cover up “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Against these sins we are warned. Our danger is that, even as true believers, we may fall into “her sins.” What are her sins? Is not this her outstanding sin, that, while professing to be the church of God this terrible system is the practical denial of Christianity? She has dared to associate the Name of Christ with every worldly indulgence and fleshly lust. Instead of sheltering the Lord’s people she has for ages been a persecutor of the saints. Instead of exalting Christ she has glorified herself. Instead of following Christ and letting go the present life, she has lived delicately. Instead of taking the path of a stranger and pilgrim as called out of this world, she has reigned as a queen in this world.
To escape these sins we are exhorted to “come out ” and be wholly apart from the corruptions of Christendom. Our place as believers is outside the camp to gather to Christ who is in reproach in the world.
We are warned that the judgment of this worldly religious system will be sudden and overwhelming. The one that has boasted she will see no sorrow, will fall under “death and mourning, and famine.” However powerful and firmly established she may appear before men, her fall will be complete: “she will be utterly burned with fire,” for “strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” It is not for believers to attempt to wage a crusade against the wickedness of Rome. God, who is “strong,” will in His own time and way render to her double for all the misery she has caused to the true people of God. Our responsibility, as believers, is to obey the Lord’s words, “Come out of her my people.”
(Vv. 9-19) In the verses that follow we have the lament of “the kings of the earth,” and “the merchants of the earth,” over the fall of this vile system. The ten kings, under the beast, may be used for her destruction. But having destroyed her, these kings and merchants will realise how much the material grandeur of their great cities and the prosperity of their commerce was dependent upon this false system. Discovering that her destruction is an immense loss, socially and commercially, they will lament her fall. The merchants of the earth that have been enriched by her love for magnificent buildings and earthly luxuries will lament that “no man buyeth their merchandise any more.” What a fearful condemnation of professing Christendom to learn that it is supported by kings because it adds to their earthly grandeur and luxury, and by merchants because it becomes a fruitful source of trade and money-making! Corrupt Christendom ends in becoming the greatest power on earth to advance worldliness, luxury, and material profit. In this evil system everything is turned into a means of worldly profit, from gold to the bodies and souls of men. And be it noted that in the things in which she traffics, “gold” has the first place and the “souls of men” the last place as being, in her estimation, of the least importance. In the judgment of God all will “come to nought” (17). She will be stripped of her earthly riches (14), and left “desolate” (19).
(V. 20) If on earth kings and merchants mourn over her fall, in heaven the saints, apostles, and prophets are called to rejoice, for in her fall God will avenge the sufferings of His people at her hands. It is not for believers to seek to avenge themselves. God cannot trust His people to take vengeance. The word is “Avenge not yourselves . . . for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord” (Psa 94:1; Rom 12:19).
(Vv. 21-24) In the closing verses three leading truths come before us which sum up the instruction of the chapter as to the appalling character and terrible end of corrupt Christendom. Firstly, we learn how this religious corruption appears in the sight of men; secondly, we see its true character in the sight of God; and thirdly, we are told of the overwhelming judgment by which it will for ever be removed from the earth.
Firstly, in the sight of men it is an imposing system, for it is spoken of as a “great city.” Eight times in the course of these chapters the city is referred to as “great.” There is everything in it to appeal to the natural man. In verse 22 we read of the music by which it charms the natural ear; of the “craft” that has filled Europe with magnificent buildings that gratify the eye. Then there is found within it the “millstone” that speaks of the commerce by which it has enriched men with material wealth. In it is found the artificial light of the candle speaking of its appeal to natural sentiment, and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, speaking of natural joy.
Secondly, we have the outstanding marks of this corrupt system as seen by God. We read, “Thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of the saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.” (Professing Christendom ends in a system that is the exact contrast to all that the church of God is called to be. Firstly, it is marked by “merchants” and thus characterised by material riches rather than “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Secondly, it is marked by “great men,” rather than the weak and base things of the world that God has chosen. Thirdly, those in Babylon are “men of the earth” rather than heavenly men. Fourthly, this system by its “sorceries” is clearly under the influence of wicked spirits rather than the Holy Spirit of God. Fifthly, by it all nations are “deceived;” thus it propagates error rather than truth. Sixthly, in her is found “the blood of prophets and of saints.” Thus it persecutes instead of caring for the flock of God. Finally, “all that were slain upon the earth were found in her” setting forth that she is marked by death instead of life.)
Thirdly, we learn the overwhelming judgment that will end the history of corrupt Christendom. For fifteen centuries this awful system has been deceiving the world, but at last its judgment will come in “one day” or “one hour” (verses 8, 10, 17, 19). Like a great millstone flung into the sea, to be found no more on the earth, its judgment is overwhelming and final. It is striking how the Spirit of God repeats the words “no more.” When thrown down, it will be found “no more.” Its thrilling music that appeals to the natural ear, “shall be heard no more.” Its merchandise by which the merchants have been enriched and made great will be “no more.” Its natural light that appeals to the natural intellect will be “no more;” and its natural pleasures will be “no more.”
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
18:1 And {1} after these things I saw another {2} angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
(1) The second passage (as I said before) see Geneva “Rev 17:1” of the history of Babylon, is of the woeful fall and ruin of that whore of Babylon. This historical prediction concerning her, is threefold. The first a plain and simple foretelling of her ruin, in three verses Rev 18:2-3 . The second a figurative prediction by the circumstances, from there to Rev 18:4-20 . The third, a confirmation of the same by sign or wonder, to the end of the chapter Rev 18:21-24 .
(2) Either Christ the eternal word of God the Father (as often elsewhere) or a created angel, and one deputed to this service, but thoroughly provided with greatness of power, and with light of glory, as the ensign of power.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The first angelic announcement of judgment 18:1-3
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
John next saw another scene on earth (Gr. Meta tauta eidon, "After these things I saw," cf. Rev 4:1). Another angel of the same kind as in Rev 17:1 (i.e., one who descends from heaven to fulfill a special mission; cf. Rev 10:1; Rev 20:1) announced the next scene that John saw in his vision. This angel possessed great authority and glory, probably indicative of the importance of the judgment he announced. His description has led some interpreters to conclude that he is Jesus Christ. [Note: E.g., M. Robert Mulholland, Revelation, Holy Living in an Unholy World, p. 284; and Chilton, The Days . . ., pp. 445-46.] However his clear identification as an angel and the function he performs seem to mark him as an angel (cf. Rev 14:8). [Note: Düsterdieck, p. 442; Beckwith, p. 712.] Evidently his task required great authority. [Note: Wilcock, p. 166.] His great glory, with which he illuminated the earth, probably suggests that he had just come from God’s presence (cf. Exo 34:29-35; Eze 43:2).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FALL OF BABYLON.
Rev 18:1-24.
BABYLON has fallen. We have now the Divine proclamation of her fate, and the lamentation of the world over the doom to which she has been consigned: –
“After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of devils, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness (Rev 18:1-3).”
At Rev 17:1, we read of one of the angels that had the seven Bowls. The angel now introduced is another, or a second. We shall find as we proceed that we have entered upon a new series of seven parts, similar to that in chap. 14, where six angels and their actions, three on either side, are grouped around One higher than angels, and forming the central figure of the movement.* The series is a long one, extending from chap. 17:1 to chap. 22:5, the central figure meeting us at Rev 19:11; and again, as before, the fact ought to be carefully noticed, for it has a bearing on the interpretation of some of the most difficult sections of this book. Meanwhile we have to do with the second angel, whose action extends to Rev 18:20 of the present chapter. (*Kliefoth seems to have been the first to point this out.)
The description given of this angel is proportioned to the importance of his message. He has great authority; the earth is lightened with his glory; the voice with which he cries is mighty. It could hardly be otherwise than that, with such joyful tidings as he bears to men, the “glory of the Lord should shine round about him, and a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun.”1 The tidings themselves follow, taken from the Old Testament accounts of the desolation that was to come upon Babylon: “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces.”2 In words such as these, though combined throughout both the present and following descriptions with expressions taken from the ruin of other famous and guilty cities of the Old Testament, we have the source whence the powerful and pathetic words of this chapter are drawn. The most terrible disasters of bygone times are but types of that wreck of all the grandeur of earth which we are now invited to behold, while Babylon s sinfulness is referred to that her fate may appear to be no more than her appropriate punishment. (1 Luk 2:9; Act 26:13; 2 Isa 13:19-22)
At this point we are met by one of those sudden transitions, common in the Apocalypse, which so completely negative the idea of chronological arrangement. A cry is heard which seems to imply that Babylon has not yet fallen: –
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, My people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works: in the cup which she hath mingled mingle unto her double. How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. Therefore in one day shall, her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God which judged her (Rev 18:4-8).”
The first words of this voice from heaven deserve peculiar attention: Come forth, My people, out of her; that is, out of Babylon, the degenerate Church. We are at once reminded of the striking teaching of our Lord in chap. 10 of the fourth Gospel, where He compares Himself to the “door” of the fold, not the door by which the sheep enter into, but by which they come out of, the fold.l We are also reminded of the blind man of chap. 9 of the same Gospel, whom our Lord “found” only after he had been “cast out” of the synagogue.2 In the midst of the blinded theocracy of Israel in the days of Jesus there was a faithful, though small, remnant. It had been betrayed by the religious guides of the people, who had become “thieves and robbers,” whom the true sheep did not know, and to whom they ought not to listen. Jesus came to call it out of the theocracy to Himself. Such was the spectacle which St. John had witnessed when his Master was in the world, and that experience is now repeated. The Church as a whole degenerates. Called to prepare men for the Second Coming of the Lord, and to teach them to live, not for the present, but the future, she becomes herself the victim of the present She forgets that, in the absence of the Bridegroom, her days are days of fasting. She fails to realize the fact that until her Lord comes again her state is one of widowhood. And, instead of mourning, she sits as a queen, at ease and satisfied, proud of her pomp and jewellery. What is all this but a recurrence of the old events of history? The Apostle sees the future mirrored in the past; and he can only follow in his Masters footsteps, and call His Christian remnant out of Babylon. (1 Joh 10:7; 2 Joh 9:35)
The words are in the highest degree important for the interpretation and understanding of the Apocalypse. We have already found in more than one passage distinct traces of this double Church, of the true Church within the false, of the few living ones within the Body which had a name to live, but was dead. Here the distinction meets us in all its sharpness, and fresh light is cast upon passages that may have formerly seemed dark. “Many are called,” “many” constituting the outward Church; but “few are chosen,” “few” constituting the real Church, the Church which consists of the poor, and meek, and lowly. The two parts may keep together for a time, but the union cannot last; and the day comes when, as Christ called His sheep out of the Jewish, so He will again call His sheep out of the Christian “fold,” that they may hear His voice, and follow Him.
Having summoned the true disciples of Jesus out of Babylon, the voice from heaven again proclaims in a double form, as sins and as iniquities, the guilt of the doomed city, and invites the ministers of judgment, according to the lex talionis, to render unto her double. The command may also be founded upon the law of the theocracy by which thieves and violent aggressors of the poor were required to make a double repayment to those whom they had injured,1 or it may rest upon the remembrance of such threatenings as those by the prophet Jeremiah, “I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double.”2 (1 Exo 22:4; Exo 22:7; Exo 22:9; 2 Jer 16:18)
Judgment is next supposed to have been executed upon Babylon; and the Seer proceeds to describe in language of unexampled eloquence the lamentation of the world over the citys fall: –
And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and merchandise of horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearl! for in one hour so great riches is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth anywhither, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood afar off, and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city? And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein were made rich all that had their ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice with her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her (Rev 18:9-20).”
Three classes of persons are introduced to us: Kings, Merchants, and Sailors. All are of the earth; and each class, in its own strain, swells the voice of lamentation. The words are largely taken from the Old Testament, and more particularly from the description of the overthrow of Tyre in Ezekiel (chaps. 26 and 27). There is even a peculiar propriety in this latter reference, for Tyre was known by the prophets as another Babylon. In describing the “Burden of Tyre,” Isaiah uses in one part of his description the words, “The city of confusion” (the meaning of the word Babylon) “is broken down.”* (* Isa 24:10)
It is unnecessary to enter into any examination clause by clause of the passage before us. We shall better catch its spirit and be made sensible of its effect by attending to a few general observations upon the description as a whole.
1. Not without interest may we mark that the classes selected to mourn over the burning of the city are three in number. We have thus another illustration of the manner in which that number penetrates the structure of all the writings of St. John.
2. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that the city is burned. Her destruction by fire has indeed been more than once alluded to. Of the beast and the ten horns it had been said that “they shall burn her utterly with fire;”1 and, again, it had been proclaimed by the voice from heaven that “she shall be utterly burned with fire.”2 We shall not venture to say with any measure of positiveness that the type of this “burning” is taken from the burning of Jerusalem by the Romans. It may have been taken from the burning of other cities by victorious enemies. But this much at least is obvious: that, in conjunction with the fact that Babylon is a harlot, destruction by fire leads us directly to the thought of the spiritual, and not simply the civil, or political, or commercial, character of the city. According to the law of Moses, burning appears to have been the punishment of fornication only in the case of a priest s daughter: “And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the harlot, she shall be burnt with fire.”3 (1 Rev 17:16; 2 Rev 18:8; 3 Lev 21:9)
3. Whether there is any other allusion to spiritual traffic in the lamentations before us it is not easy to say. Of one at least which may be quoted in this connection the interpretation is uncertain. When the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over the loss of that merchandise which they now miss, they extend it, not only to articles of commerce bought and sold in an ordinary market, but to souls of men. It may be that, as often suggested, slavery alone is thought of. Yet it is highly improbable that such is the case. Rather may it be supposed to refer to that spiritual life which is destroyed by too much occupation .with, and too engrossing interest in, the world. “The characteristic of this fornication is the selling themselves for gold, as the Greek word signifies. Therefore with such wonderful force and emphasis of accumulation is every species of this merchandise mentioned, running up all into one head: the souls of men. Like that in the prophet: Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land also is full of idols And it must be observed that all these things which are so minutely particularized as expressive of the meshes of that net by which mens souls are taken have also their place in the new Jerusalem, where every jewel is specified by name, and the gold of its streets, and the fine linen, and the incense, and the wine, and the oil, its white horses also. In both alike must they stand for spiritual merchandise of good and evil, the false riches and the true.”* (*Isaac Williams, The Apocalypse, with Notes, etc., p. 360)
The conclusion to be drawn is that Babylon is a spiritual city. That, as such, she is Jerusalem is further confirmed by the fact that, at the close of the chapter, it is said, And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth. Similar words met us in Rev 17:6; and here, as there, they unmistakably remind us of the words already quoted in which our Lord describes the great city of the Jews.* (* Mat 28:35)
4. From all that has been said, it must be obvious that nothing is here spoken of Babylon inapplicable to Jerusalem when we think of this latter city in the light in which the Seer specially regards it. Jerusalem was indeed neither a commercial nor a maritime city, but Rome also was no city on the sea. A large part, therefore, of the details of St. Johns description is not less destitute of force when applied, if applied literally, to the latter than to the former. On the other hand, these details are more applicable to Jerusalem than to Rome, if we remember that Jerusalem supplies, in a way impossible to Rome, the groundwork for a delineation of those religious forces which are far more wide-spreading in their reach, and far more crushing in their power, than the legions of the imperial metropolis.
Babylon then is fallen, and that with a sudden and swift destruction, a destruction indeed so sudden and so swift that each of the three companies that lament takes particular notice of the fact that in one hour did her judgment come.* (* Rev 18:10; Rev 18:17; Rev 18:19)
More, however, so important is the subject, has to be said; and we are introduced to the action of the third angel of the first group: –
“And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and minstrels, and flute-players, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee; and the voice of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth (Rev 18:21-24).”
Yet once again, it would seem, must we think of Babylon as to be destroyed rather than as destroyed already. So great is her guiltiness that the Seer again and again approaches it, and dwells, though from different points of view, upon the thought of her disastrous fate. In the present case it is less the method than the effect of her destruction that is before his eye, and nothing can be more touching than the light in which he presents it. At one moment we behold the city in her brightness, her gaiety, her rich and varied life. We hear the voice of her harpers, and minstrels, and flute-players, and trumpeters, all that can delight the ear accompanying all that can please the eye. Her craftsmen of every craft are busy at their work; and each shop in the great city resounds with the noise of the hammer, or the shuttle, or the other instruments of prosperous industry. The cheering sound of the millstone tells that there is food in her humbler dwellings. Her merchants, too, are the princes of the earth; innumerable lamps glitter in their halls and gardens; and the voice of the bride groom and the bride is the pledge of her well-being and joy. The next moment the proud city is cast like a millstone into the sea; and all is silence, desolation, and ruin. The resources of language appear as if they had been exhausted to supply the description of so great a fall.
We have now reached the close of the longest and most important section of the Apocalypse, beginning, as has been already pointed out, with chap. 6. It is the fourth in that series of seven of which the book is composed; and the main purpose of St. John in writing finds expression in it. As the writer of the fourth Gospel describes in the fourth section of that book, extending from chap. 5 to chap. 12, the conflict between the Son of God and “the Jews,” so he describes in the corresponding section of the Apocalypse the conflict between the glorified Son of man as He lives and reigns in His Church and the evil of the world. Throughout the conflict we are not once permitted to forget that, although Christ and the true members of His Body may be the objects of attack, and may even have to retire for security from the field, God is on their side, and will never suffer His faithfulness to fail or forget His promises. In a threefold series of judgments the guilty world and the guilty Church are visited with the terrors of His wrath. These three series of judgments, too, go on in an ascending line. The climactic character of their contents has already been pointed out, and nothing more need be said of it. But it may be worthwhile to notice that the element of climax appears not less in the nature of the instruments employed. Comparing the Trumpets with the Seals, the simple fact that they are Trumpets indicates a higher, more exciting, more terrible unfolding of wrath. The Trumpet is peculiarly the warlike instrument, summoning the hosts to battle: “Thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war;” “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities.”* That the Bowls, again, are still more potent than the Trumpets, appears from the language in which they are described, from their mode of introduction, and from the vessels made use of for the plagues. They are “the last ” plagues; in them is “finished” the wrath of God; they are called for by a “great voice out of the sanctuary;” and they proceed. not from a secular instrument, however warlike, but from a sacred vessel, not from one which must be sounded for a length of time before it produces its effect, but from one which, inverted in a moment, pours out with a sudden gush its terrors upon men. Similar though they thus are, the three series of judgments lose what might otherwise be their sameness; and the mind is invited to rest upon that most instructive lesson of the providence of God, that in proportion to privilege misused is the severity with which sin is punished. Throughout all these judgments the righteous are kept safe. (* Jer 4:19; Zep 1:15-16)
It will thus be observed that there is no strict chronological succession in the visions of this book. There is succession of a certain kind, succession in intensity of punishment. But we cannot assign one series of judgments to one period in the history of the Church or limit another to another. All the three series may continually fulfill themselves wherever persons are found of the character and disposition to which they severally apply.
But while these three series constitute the chief substance of the fourth, or leading, section of the seven into which the Apocalypse is divided, they do not exhaust the subject. The last series, in particular – that of the Bowls has proceeded upon a supposition the most startling and pathetic by which the history of the Church is marked, – that “they are not all Israel which are of Israel,” that tares have mingled With the wheat, and that the spirit of Babylon has found its way into the heart of the city of God. A phenomenon so unexpected and so melancholy stands in need of particular examination, and that examination is given in the description of the character and fate of Babylon. The remarks already made upon this point need not be repeated. It may be enough to remind the reader that in no part of his whole book is the Seer more deeply moved, and that in none does he rise to strains of more powerful and touching eloquence. Yet what is chiefly required of us is to open our minds to the full impression of the fact that Babylon does fall, deep in ruin as in guilt, and that with her fail the conflict ends.