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.
4. Come out of her ] Isa 48:2; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:9; Jer 51:45, all referring to the flight of Israel from the literal Babylon. This passage is nearest to the last of those cited: but in the second there is also the suggestion, that the Lord’s people must depart to secure their purity, as well as that they will depart to secure their liberty. They are, however, presumably dwellers at Babylon as captives, not as citizens: it can hardly be meant that any of them really belong to Babylon, or are loth to quit her (like Lot in Sodom) till the very eve of her fall.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I heard another voice from heaven – He does not say whether this was the voice of an angel, but the idea seems rather to be that it is the voice of God.
Come out of her, my people – The reasons for this, as immediately stated, are two:
(a)That they might not participate in her sins; and,
(b)That they might not be involved in the ruin that would come upon her.
The language seems to be derived from such passages in the Old Testament as the following: Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing, Isa 48:20. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity, Jer 51:6. My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord, Jer 51:45. Compare Jer 50:8.
That ye be not partakers of her sins – For the meaning of this expression, see the notes on 1Ti 5:22. 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. This is an universal truth in regard to iniquity, and hence it is the duty of those who would be pure to come out from the world, and to separate themselves from all the associations of evil.
And that ye receive not of her plagues – Of the punishment that was to come upon her – as they must certainly do if they remained in her. The judgment of God that was to come upon the guilty city would make no discrimination among those who were found there; and if they would escape these woes they must make their escape from her. As applicable to papal Rome, in view of her impending ruin, this means:
(a)That there might be found in her some who were the true people of God;
(b)That it was their duty to separate wholly from her – a command that will not only justify the Reformation, but which would have made a longer continuance in communion with the papacy, when her wickedness was fully seen, an act of guilt before God;
(c)That they who remain in such a communion cannot but be regarded as partaking of her sin; and,
(d)That if they remain, they must expect to be involved in the calamities that will come upon her. There never was any duty plainer than that of withdrawing from papal Rome; there never has been any act attended with more happy consequences than that by which the Protestant world separated itself forever from the sins and the plagues of the papacy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. Come out of her, my people] These words appear to be taken from Isa 48:20; Jer 1:8; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45. The poet Mantuanus expresses this thought well:-
Vivere qui sancte cupitis, discelite; Romae
Omnia quum liceant, non licet esse bonum.
“Ye who desire to live a godly life, depart; for, although all things are lawful at Rome, yet to be godly is unlawful.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And heard another voice from heaven, saying: a command from God.
Come out of her, my people: they are the words of God by his prophet, Jer 50:8; 51:6, calling to his people, that the years of their captivity being now expired, and they having a liberty to go back to Jerusalem, they would not linger longer in Babylon, nor partake
of her sins; for God was about to destroy that place; and if they were found in it, they would be in danger of being destroyed with it, especially if they were found partakers of its sins. But they are also a general warning to all to take heed of any fellowship with idolaters; and so the apostle applieth part of these words, 2Co 6:17. Here they are applied to mystical Babylon, which is Rome antichristian. God calls to all that either love him, or their own souls, to forsake the commmion of it; for while they continue in it, they must partake of its sins, worshipping the beast, by paying, at his command, a Divine homage to saints and angels, to the virgin Mary, to images and statues, nay, to a piece of bakers bread; and doing so, they will be involved in her
plagues. This text looks terribly upon those who apostatize to that idolatry; and instead of coming out, (in obedience to the command of God), being come out, go in again, and that not by compulsion, but out of choice, and voluntarily.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Come out of her, my peoplequotedfrom Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6;Jer 51:45. Even in the RomishChurch God has a people: but they are in great danger; their onlysafety is in coming out of her at once. So also in every apostate orworld-conforming church there are some of God’s invisible and trueChurch, who, if they would be safe, must come out. Especially at theeve of God’s judgment on apostate Christendom: as Lot was warned tocome out of Sodom just before its destruction, and Israel to comefrom about the tents of Dathan and Abiram. So the first Christianscame out of Jerusalem when the apostate Jewish Church was judged.”State and Church are precious gifts of God. But the State beingdesecrated to a different end from what God designed it, namely. togovern for, and as under, God, becomes beast-like; the Churchapostatizing becomes the harlot. The true woman is the kernel: beastand harlot are the shell: whenever the kernel is mature, the shell isthrown away” [AUBERLEN].”The harlot is not Rome alone (though she is pre-eminently so),but every Church that has not Christ’s mind and spirit. FalseChristendom, divided into very many sects, is truly Babylon, that is,confusion. However, in all Christendom the true Jesus-congregation,the woman clothed with the sun, lives and is hidden. Corrupt,lifeless Christendom is the harlot, whose great aim is the pleasureof the flesh, and which is governed by the spirit of nature and theworld” [HAHN inAUBERLEN]. The firstjustification of the woman is in her being called out of Babylon theharlot, as the culminating stage of the latter’s sin, when judgmentis about to fall: for apostate Christendom, Babylon, is not to beconverted, but to be destroyed. Secondly, she has to pass through anordeal of persecution from the beast, which purifies and prepares herfor the transfiguration glory at Christ’s coming (Rev 20:4;Luk 21:28).
be not partakersGreek,“have no fellowship with her sins.”
that ye receive not of herplaguesas Lot’s wife, by lingering too near the polluted anddoomed city.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I heard another voice from heaven,…. Either of another, or of the same angel, or rather of God, or Christ himself, since the persons addressed are called his people:
saying, come out of her, my people; meaning either his elect ones, till now uncalled, being such whom God had chosen for his people, and were so by virtue of the covenant of grace, were given to Christ as his people, and were redeemed by him, though, till this call, in an unconverted state; or else such who had been secretly called by the grace of God, but had not made a public profession of the Gospel, nor bore an open testimony against the Romish idolatry; for as the Lord had a righteous Lot in Sodom, and saints where Satan’s seat was, Rome Pagan, so he will have a people in Rome Papal, at the time when its destruction draws near; and these wilt be called out, not only in a spiritual sense, to quit the communion of the church, to forsake its idolatries, and not touch the unclean thing, separate themselves from her, and bear a testimony against her doctrines and worship, but in a literal sense, locally; they shall be bid to come out of her, as Lot was ordered to go out of Sodom before its burning, and the people of the Jews out of Babylon before the taking of it, Jer 50:8 to which reference is here had: and as the Christians were called out of Jerusalem before the destruction of it: this shows the particular knowledge the Lord has of his people, be they where they will, and the gracious care he takes of them, that they perish not with others; and that it is his will they should be a separate people from the rest of the world; and this call of his sufficiently justifies the Protestants in their separation from the church of Rome, and every separation from any apostate church;
that ye be not partakers of her sins: by conniving at them, or committing the same; and all such are partakers of them, and have fellowship with these unfruitful works of darkness, that are in the communion of that church; and those that dwell at Rome are in great danger of being so, and cannot well avoid it: yea, even those that only go to see it, and stay but for a time in it, and that not only through the strength and influence of example, but through the force of power and authority:
and that ye receive not of her plagues; or punishments; the seven last plagues, which belong to her, the vials of which will be poured out upon one or other of the antichristian states, and the fifth particularly will fall upon Rome, the seat of the beast, and is what is here referred to.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Come forth, my people, out of her (, , ). Second aorist (urgency) active imperative (– form) of . Like Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6, (about Babylon). See also the call of Abram (Ge 12:1). the rescue of Lot (Ge 19:12ff.). In the N.T. see Mark 13:4; 2Cor 6:14; Eph 5:11; 1Tim 5:11. H is vocative with the form of the nominative.
That ye have no fellowship with her sins ( ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist active subjunctive of , old compound (, together, , partner), in N.T. only here, Phil 4:14; Eph 5:11. With associative instrumental case .
And that ye receive not of her plagues ( ). Another purpose clause dependent on the preceding, with and the second aorist active subjunctive of , and with proleptic emphatic position of before .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Come out of her. Compare Jer 51:6, 45; Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Num 16:26.
Have fellowship with [] . This compound verb is not of frequent occurrence in the New Testament. It is found only in Eph 5:11, Phi 4:14, and here. On the kindred noun sugkoinwnov companion, see on ch. Rev 1:9.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And I heard another voice,” (kai ekousa allen phonen) “And I heard (gave heed to) another voice,” other than that of angels and of Jesus Christ, those who had formerly announced pending judgments, Rev 15:1; Rev 16:1; Rev 18:1-2.
2) “From heaven saying,” (ek tou ouranou legousan) “Out of heaven continuously repeating,” saying repeatedly, so that all on earth could hear, give heed, or respond, 2Pe 3:9.
3) “Come out of her my people,” (ekselthate ho laos mou eks autes) “The people of me (my people) come ye out, out of the midst of her; God never sends judgment for sine without first providing a way and offering an escape to those who will obey, Eze 23:11; 2Ch 7:13-16; 2Co 6:14-17; Jas 4:4.
4) “That ye be not partakers of her sins,” (hina me sungkoinonesete tais hamartias autes) “In order that you all may not jointly share in her lawlessness,” in the consequence of her sinful deeds, Gal 6:7-8; corporate or institutional identity with and sanction of sin therein entails personal liability; Isa 52:11; Jeremiah 50; Jeremiah 51; Rom 12:1-2.
5) “And that ye receive not of her plagues,” (kai ek ton plegon autes hina me lambete) “And in order that you all receive not of her plagues; The plagues (the last seven) here referred to, are those that shall come Upon civil and religious, apostate, organized Babylon during the last half of the final week of Jacob’s trouble, with the heaviest of the wrath being pronounced on those who consort and cohabit in spiritual fornication with and wear the mark and name and number of the beast and the great whore. Rev 13:4-5; Rev 13:8; Rev 13:13-17; Rev 14:8-11; Rev 15:1-8; Rev 16:1-2; Rev 17:1-18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) Voice from heaven . . .Read, Voice out of heaven, saying, Come forth out of her, my people, that ye partake not in her sins, and that of her plagues ye receive not. The voice is not said to be that of another angel. It is not necessary to say whose voice it is; that it is a voice of divine love giving warning is enough. The coming forth is not to be understood of a bodily exodus from Rome. It is rather the warning which is so needful in every corrupt state of society, to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; to practise that separation from the spirit of the world which is essential lest we should be entangled in the meshes of its sinful habits. This duty of separation may sometimes lead to a literal exodus, and even under the pressure of overwhelming necessity to secession from a world-corrupted church; but the jeopardy lies in attachment to the world-spirit (1Jn. 2:15). The parallel warnings in Jer. 51:6; Jer. 51:45, and Zec. 2:6-7, should be read; but the story of Lot in Sodom best illustrates the spirit of the passage (Genesis 19), for it is participation in sin which is to be primarily guarded against.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(4-20) The voice out of heaven warns the faithful to leave her, and describes her fall.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
b. Celestial rehearsal of the ancient menacing predictions, as having been now fulfilled in Babylon’s downfall, Rev 18:4-8 .
Voice from heaven We might conceive this voice to come from an impersonation of ancient prophecy. We might suppose it an expression from the body of the old prophets in heaven.
Come out of her Quoted from Jer 51:45.
My people Commentators, not realizing the dramatic nature of this interlude, are puzzled to know who utters this my. Stuart says, it is “the Saviour.” Alford says, it is “an angel speaking in the name of God.” But what authority for attributing the voice to “an angel?” Very plainly it is a celestial quotation from the old prophet who spoke the words of Jehovah.
Her plagues Alluding, of course, as also Rev 18:8, to the seven last plagues of chap. 16, which have passed. For even those who deny the literal totality of the ruin in Rev 16:19-21, admit the priority of the plagues to the song of this chapter.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And I heard another voice from Heaven saying, “Come forth, my people, out of her so that you have no fellowship with her sins and so that you do not receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached even unto Heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities”.’
The voice from Heaven can only be that of the Lamb for He speaks of them as ‘My people’, and then calls on God to render judgment (compare ‘my people’ in Jer 51:45, see also Rom 9:25-26; 2Co 6:16).
‘Come forth — out of her’. Compare how Jeremiah three times warned the people to ‘flee out of the midst of Babylon’ because of the judgments coming on her (Jer 50:8-9; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45 compare also Isa 48:20). It is not wise to stay in a place where sin is rife. The Christian is to be ‘in the world but not of the world’, but there are times when they must learn the art of fleeing when the desires of the flesh are in mind (1Co 6:18; 1Co 10:14; 1Ti 6:11; 2Ti 2:22), otherwise they may well find themselves drawn in. It should be noted that the great sin of Babylon was not that she was commercial (she only buys, not sells) but that she engaged in idolatry, luxurious living and the occult.
That God’s people are there emphasises again that Great Babylon’s demise comes a short time before the resurrection and therefore before the final judgment. John may well have had in mind here how the Christians fled from Jerusalem when the wrath of God was to be visited on it. In the same way this is suggesting they flee from any ‘great city’ that behaves in this way, when they see the ominous signs of the end approaching. Christians are to be awake to the signs of the times. It is an indication of how near her judgment is that Christians are no longer called on to evangelise her. Her opportunity has passed.
‘For her sins have reached even unto Heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities’. This has in mind the tower of Babel which was intended to ‘reach to Heaven’ (Gen 11:4). By many later readers, as in John’s day, this was taken literally. But, the speaker is saying, while the tower never did reach to Heaven, the iniquities of Babel represented by it have. Compare how Jeremiah describes the situation as ‘her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies’ (Jer 51:9). Compare also Gen 18:20-21 of the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, and what is said about that other great city Nineveh (Jon 1:2).
‘God has remembered her iniquities’ (see Rev 16:19). He has a long memory when men refuse to repent, a memory that goes back even to the tower of Babel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The warning voice from heaven:
v. 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.
v. 5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 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. This passage is strongly reminiscent of the so-called psalms of vengeance, where the wrath of God is poured out upon His enemies in fearful measure. The voice of the Lord follows the voice of the angel: And I heard another voice out of heaven saying, Come out from her, My people, lest ye become guilty of her sins, and lest ye receive of her plagues; for her sins are heaped up unto heaven, and the Lord has called to remembrance her misdeeds. Reward her as she rewarded you, and make the retribution double, twofold, according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed mix to her double. This is a terrifying arraignment, the proper understanding of which ought to open the eyes of many people. Rome has added sin upon sin, in a heap which now reaches to heaven; she has become guilty of so many deeds of unrighteousness that it is impossible for the Lord to ignore the situation. His warning call, therefore, goes out to all such as may be outwardly affiliated with this Church, but do not realize the depth of depravity which their organization represents, that they should leave her organization; for to remain in their connection with her will expose them to the same punishment as will strike her, since their association with her will make them guilty of her sins. God will judge and punish her with a fearful double punishment; and woe to all that are found in her company! The Lord wants no false sympathy with the Church of Anti-Christ, such as many are inclined to give in our days; He wants the testimony against the great harlot to double in force, in order that men everywhere may realize what the cup of abominations in her hand really is, namely, the sum total of all the idolatrous practices that have ever been invented against the holiness of the Lord.
This is brought out also in the next verses: As she glorified herself and lived a wanton life, to that extent give to her torment and Borrow; for in her heart she says, I sit a queen and am no widow and know no sorrow. For this reason her plagues shall come in one day, death and sorrow and famine, and she will be burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God that judges her. Here it appears that the punishment, although carried out, to some extent, by men as God’s instruments, is all divine, and includes no personal revenge on the part of men. There is not a suspicion of repentance in the great harlot; she still vaunts herself, she continues her luxurious, wanton life, her show of pomp and power is as great as ever. Her boast is even today that she is the queen of the world, and that she, the Church of Rome, is the only saving Church. Her very existence is a blasphemy of Jesus Christ, for she is the Church of Anti-Christ. But the day and hour of her final judgment is even now fixed in the counsel of the Lord; on one day, the day of God’s vengeance, all the plagues will strike her, death, sorrow, famine, and fire; the mighty power of the Lord will be revealed in His judgment.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 18:4-20 . Another voice from heaven scarcely that of God or Christ, [3928] because the discourse extending until Rev 18:20 , and even presenting from Rev 18:9 the grievance of another, is not appropriate to the mouth of God or Christ, but of an angel, who [3929] speaks in the name of God first of all commands those who belong to the people of God to leave the city given over to destruction: , . . . [3930] The [3931] is not to be taken by metonymy for the punishments of sin; [3932] but the idea is, [3933] that fellowship in the sins of the city, which indeed is not a fellowship of guilt, yet will be a fellowship of punishments ( . . , . . .). [See Note LXXXII., p. 449.] For the idea that God’s believers, whether under compulsion, [3934] or in consequence of an increased temptation, [3935] could actually share in the sins of the great city, is here scarcely justified, since the judgment unmistakably befalls them. Believers would share in the destruction occurring because of the sins of the city, which now (Rev 18:5 ) have reached the highest limit: , . . ., i.e., the sins not the cry thereof have accumulated to so monstrous a degree that they reach even to heaven. [3936] On the expression
. ., literally belong even to heaven, cf. Bar 1:20 , [3937] Psa 63:9 , [3938] and similar examples in Biel, Thes .
, cf. Rev 16:9 .
[3928] Beng., Hengstenb.
[3929] Rev 11:3 .
[3930] Cf. Jer 51:6 ; Jer 51:9 ; Jer 51:45 .
[3931] Cf. Rev 18:5 , . and . . .
[3932] Beng., De Wette.
[3933] Cf. Gen 19:15 . Hengstenb.
[3934] Ew. ii.
[3935] Luthardt.
[3936] Cf. Eze 9:6 . Beng.
[3937] .
[3938] . .
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
LXXXII. Rev 18:4 .
Participation both in the sins, i.e., in the guilt, and in the punishment, is, however, expressly mentioned. As Ebrard and Hengstenberg note, there is an explicit antithesis between and . Besides, where there is no guilt, there is no real punishment, except in that one case of the vicarious suffering of Him who assumed our guilt. The chastisements of the believer are not punishments, but blessings. Lange is therefore right when he takes exception to our author’s interpretation, and adds: “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 strokes. See Jos 7 ; Num 16:21-24 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(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.
I think it more than probable, that this voice which John heard, and which he calls another, by way of distinction from the one before, was Christ. John doth not call him an Angel. And if he had, we know that Christ is not unfrequently called the Angel of the Covenant, Mal 3:1 . But he saith he heard another voice from heaven, from the Church. And it is not unlikely that it was Christ, because Jesus dwells in Zion. And he delights to make himself known to his people. He loves to call them so. And here the voice saith my people. Everything is endearing, where we can see Jesus, and hear Jesus.
But I must particularly beg the Reader, to attend to the sweet words themselves. Come out of her, my people. May we not suppose, that whenever the fall of Rome takes place, many of God’s dear ones, both already called, and some as yet uncalled, will be there. Nay, may there not be many of Jesus’s own, which are then unborn in nature, and therefore must be preserved in the loins, or bowels of their natural parents for the future purpose of regeneration! Destroy it not, there is a blessing in it! Isa 65:8 . What a subject to the imagination doth this open. And how many of the Lord’s hidden ones may be found there in that day, whom that day’s judgment shall minister to their conversion? How many of God’s timid ones, who, though secretly taught of God, like Lot, are living in the Sodom city, grieved as his soul was, with the filthy conversation of the wicked; but from various causes there remain? Psa 120:5 ; 2Pe 2:7 . In all these and numberless other cases, that our imagination cannot form the voice to come out from among her, will be heard and obeyed, for the Lord saith as to Lot, haste thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. And as it was then, so will it be in spiritual Sodom, and all similar destructions of the ungodly. It came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities, in the which Lot dwelt, Gen 19:22-29 .
The separating from everything unsuitable to the faith of a child of God, is included in what is here said, and the recompensing the evil an ungodly conduct of infidels hath imposed upon the Lord’s people, is perfectly consistent with the precept of not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing. For let the Reader observe, this is not an injury of a private and personal nature. This is the Lord’s cause, and of public concern to the Church. As the whore hath burnt and destroyed, robbed and murdered the saints of God, for their adherence to Christ, so all that love Christ, must give no countenance to her heresies. No favor is to be shown on any account, to the cause of the whore, though to the persons of the ignorant, in the communion of her heresy, tenderness is to be manifested, if peradventure, God should give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, to recover them out of the snare of the devil, who ore taken captive by him at his will, 2Ti 2:25-26 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Ver. 4. Another voice ] This was Christ’s voice, whether mediate or immediate it appears not. SeeJer 51:45Jer 51:45 .
My people ] A people Christ had, and still hath, where Antichrist most prevaileth. There are thought to be no less than 20,000 Protestants in Seville itself, a chief city of Spain. Even in Italy there are full 4000 professed Protestants; but their paucity and obscurity (saith Sir Edw. Sands) shall enclose them in a cipher.
Partakers of her sins ] Esto procul Roma qui cupis esse pius. Roma, vale, vidi, satis est vidisse, &c. John Knox refused the bishopric offered him by King Edward VI, as having aliquid commune cum Antichristo, something in common with the Antichrist. Adam Damlip, martyr, had been a great Papist, and chaplain to Fisher, bishop of Rochester; after whose death he travelled to Rome, where he thought to have found all godliness and sincere religion. In the end he found there, as he said, such blaspheming of God, contempt of true religion, looseness of life, and abundance of all abominations, that he abhorred any longer there to abide; although he was greatly requested by Cardinal Pole there to continue, and to read three lectures a week in his house; for the which he offered him great entertainment. (Acts and Mon.) The like is recorded of Mr Rough, martyr, that being before Bonner, he affirmed that he had been twice at Rome, and there had seen plainly with his eyes that the pope was the very Antichrist; for there he saw him carried on men’s shoulders, and the falsely named sacrament borne before him; yet was there more reverence given to him than to that which they counted their God. Mr Ascham (schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth) was wont to thank God that he was but nine days in Italy, wherein he saw in that one city of Venice more liberty to sin, than in London he ever heard of in nine years. (Mr Fuller’s Holy State, f. 159.)
And that ye receive not of her plagues ] Muscult ruinis imminentibus proemigrant, et aranei cum telis primi cadunt, saith Pliny: Mice will haste out of a house that is ready to drop on their heads, and spiders with their webs will fall before the house falleth. Cerinthus the heretic coming into the bath where St John was washing, the apostle , sprang or leapt out of the bath, saith Eusebius (lib. iv. 14); as fearing, lest being found in his company he should partake of his plagues. It is dangerous conversing with wicked men, 1. For infection of sin; 2. For infliction of punishment. Ambrose, closing up the story of Ahab and Jezebel’s fearful end, fitly saith thus: Fuge ergo, dives, huiusmodi exitum, sed fugies huiusmodi exitum, si fugeris huiusmodi flagitium: Flee therefore, O rich man, such an end as Ahab had, by shunning such evils as Ahab did. (Amb. de Nab. Jezreel, c. xi.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 20 .] Warning to God’s people to leave her, on account of the greatness of her crimes and coming judgments ( Rev 18:4-8 ); lamentations over her on the part of those who were enriched by her ( Rev 18:9-20 ). And I heard another voice out of heaven (not that of the Father nor of Christ, for in such a case, as has been well observed, the long poetical lamentation would be hardly according to prophetic decorum; but that of an angel speaking in the name of God, as we have ch. Rev 11:3 also) saying, Come out of her, my people (in reff. Isa., the circumstances differed, in that being a joyful exodus, this a cautionary one: 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 reff. Jer., we have the same circumstance of Babylon’s 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. p, 40), 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 in her coming judgments), that ye partake not in her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (the fear, in case of God’s servants remaining in her, would be twofold: 1) lest by over-persuasion or guilty conformity they should become accomplices in any of her crimes: 2) lest by being in and of her, they should, though the former may not have been the case (and even more if it have), share in her punishment. It was through lingering fondness that Lot’s wife became a sharer in the destruction of Sodom): because her sins (not as De W. the cry of her sins: but the idea is of a heap: see below) have reached ( is put here after the analogy of the Heb. , which, see Gesen. Lex. p. 312, is used for assecutus est, proxime accessit ad , Gen 19:19 ; Jer 42:16 , al. Gesenius compares hrere in terga hostium , Liv. Rev 1:14 ; in tergis , Tacit. hist. iv. 19; Curt. iv. 15. Bengel gives it well, accumulata pervenerunt ) as far as heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Repay to her (the words are now addressed to the executioners of judgment) as she also repaid (cf. ref. Jer., , . The latter is used, not in its strict propriety, but as corresponding to the other. Hers was a giving, this is a giving back: we have exactly the same construction, which was probably in mind here, used also of Babylon, in ref. Ps., , ), and double [ the ] double according to her works (so in reff. Isa. and Jer.). In the cup (see above, ch. Rev 17:4 , also Rev 14:8 , and our Rev 18:3 ) which she mixed, mix for her double (see ch. Rev 14:10 ; a double portion of the deadly wine of God’s wrath): in proportion as (lit., in as many things as) she glorified her (self: possibly ruled into this form by the continual recurrence of the various cases of in the context), and luxuriated (see above, Rev 18:3 , and ref. 1 Tim. note), so much torment and grief give to her. Because in her heart she saith ( that ) I sit a queen (see ref. Isa., from which the sense and even the single words come, being there also said of Babylon. Similarly also Eze 27:1 ff., of Tyre), and am not a widow (ref. as above), and shall never see sorrow (= , Isa. l. c). For this cause in one day shall come her plagues, death and mourning and famine (from Isa 47:9 , where however we have . The judgments here are more fearful: death, for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance): and with fire shall she be burnt (the punishment of the fornicatress; see ch. Rev 17:16 note. Whether this is to be understood of the literal destruction of the city of Rome by fire, Elliott iv. 43, is surely doubtful, considering the mystical character of the whole prophecy): because strong is [the Lord] God who hath judged her (a warrant for the severity of the judgment which shall befall her).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 18:4-8 . A song of exulting in heaven, addressed first to the faithful (Rev 18:4 ) and then (Rev 18:6 ) to the enemies who execute God’s vengeance.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Rev 18:4 . ( cf. Apoc. Bar 2:1 ), which in the source referred to the Jewish community at Rome, is an artistic detail, retained like several in ch. 21, although the historical meaning and application was lost in the new situation. Cf. the opening of Newman’s essay on The Benedictine Centuries .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 18:4-8
4I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. 7To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ 8For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.”
Rev 18:4 “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues” This is an OT allusion to Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8; Jer 50:28; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:9; Jer 51:45 or Zec 2:6-7. It is an aorist active imperative which speaks of the urgency of God’s people not being caught up in this fallen world system.
Rev 18:5 “for her sins are piled up as high as heaven” This is an allusion to Gen 18:20-21 or Jer 51:9. God’s patience was used as an excuse to sin more instead of repenting (cf. Rev 2:21; Rom 2:4).
“God has remembered” Often in the Bible, when God remembers the acts of the wicked it results in judgment (cf. Rev 16:19; Psa 79:8; Isa 64:9; Jer 14:10; Jer 17:1-4; Jer 44:21-23; Hos 7:2; Hos 8:13; Hos 9:9; Amo 8:7).
Rev 18:6 “Pay her back even as she has paid” This is an allusion to the truth that we reap what we sow (cf. Gal 6:7; for full list see www.freecommentary.org ). This truth is presented in many different forms in the Bible (cf. Psa 137:8; Jer 50:15; Jer 50:29; Mat 7:2; Rev 13:10).
“give back to her double according to her deeds” This is an allusion to Jer 16:18; Jer 17:18, but the truth is expressed in many contexts (cf. Exo 22:4-9; Psa 75:7-8; Isa 40:2). This idiom speaks of complete and full judgment, as does the next phrase. This verse would have been very encouraging to persecuted Christians.
“the cup which she has mixed, mix twice for her” “Cup” is an OT metaphor for the judgment of God (cf. Psa 11:6; Psa 60:3; Psa 75:6-8; Isa 51:17; Isa 51:22; Jer 25:15-16; Jer 25:27-28).
Rev 18:7 “for she says in her heart ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning'” This specifically relates to Zep 2:15 and Isa 47:7-8. It alludes to the self-sufficiency and pride, which may have been the source of Satan’s fall (possibly alluded to in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28), mankind’s fall (cf. Genesis 3), and this end-time world system. The problem is arrogant independence!
For “heart” see Special Topic at Rev 2:23.
Rev 18:8 “for this reason in one day her plagues will come” This is a specific allusion to Isa 47:9. The concept of grief overtaking her in a single day is repeated in Rev 18:17-19, where the Johannine term “hour” is used. This was a major encouragement to persecuted Christians.
“she will be burned up with fire” This may be an allusion to Lev 21:9. See SPECIAL TOPIC: FIRE at Rev 16:8.
“for the Lord God who judges her is strong” This is an allusion to Jer 50:34.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
another. App-124.
Come = Come forth.
My People. See Jer 50:4-9, and compare Isa 10:20, Isa 10:24.
that = in order that. Greek. hina.
sins. App-128.
plagues. Greek. plege. See Rev 13:3 (wound) and App-197.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4-20.] Warning to Gods people to leave her, on account of the greatness of her crimes and coming judgments (Rev 18:4-8); lamentations over her on the part of those who were enriched by her (Rev 18:9-20). And I heard another voice out of heaven (not that of the Father nor of Christ, for in such a case, as has been well observed, the long poetical lamentation would be hardly according to prophetic decorum; but that of an angel speaking in the name of God, as we have ch. Rev 11:3 also) saying, Come out of her, my people (in reff. Isa., the circumstances differed, in that being a joyful exodus, this a cautionary one: 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 reff. Jer., 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. p, 40), 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 in her coming judgments), that ye partake not in her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (the fear, in case of Gods servants remaining in her, would be twofold: 1) lest by over-persuasion or guilty conformity they should become accomplices in any of her crimes: 2) lest by being in and of her, they should, though the former may not have been the case (and even more if it have), share in her punishment. It was through lingering fondness that Lots wife became a sharer in the destruction of Sodom): because her sins (not as De W. the cry of her sins: but the idea is of a heap: see below) have reached ( is put here after the analogy of the Heb. , which, see Gesen. Lex. p. 312, is used for assecutus est, proxime accessit ad, Gen 19:19; Jer 42:16, al. Gesenius compares hrere in terga hostium, Liv. Rev 1:14; in tergis, Tacit. hist. iv. 19; Curt. iv. 15. Bengel gives it well, accumulata pervenerunt) as far as heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Repay to her (the words are now addressed to the executioners of judgment) as she also repaid (cf. ref. Jer., , . The latter is used, not in its strict propriety, but as corresponding to the other. Hers was a giving, this is a giving back: we have exactly the same construction, which was probably in mind here, used also of Babylon, in ref. Ps., , ), and double [the] double according to her works (so in reff. Isa. and Jer.). In the cup (see above, ch. Rev 17:4, also Rev 14:8, and our Rev 18:3) which she mixed, mix for her double (see ch. Rev 14:10; a double portion of the deadly wine of Gods wrath): in proportion as (lit., in as many things as) she glorified her (self: possibly ruled into this form by the continual recurrence of the various cases of in the context), and luxuriated (see above, Rev 18:3, and ref. 1 Tim. note), so much torment and grief give to her. Because in her heart she saith (that) I sit a queen (see ref. Isa., from which the sense and even the single words come, being there also said of Babylon. Similarly also Eze 27:1 ff., of Tyre), and am not a widow (ref. as above), and shall never see sorrow (= , Isa. l. c). For this cause in one day shall come her plagues, death and mourning and famine (from Isa 47:9, where however we have . The judgments here are more fearful: death, for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance): and with fire shall she be burnt (the punishment of the fornicatress; see ch. Rev 17:16 note. Whether this is to be understood of the literal destruction of the city of Rome by fire, Elliott iv. 43, is surely doubtful, considering the mystical character of the whole prophecy): because strong is [the Lord] God who hath judged her (a warrant for the severity of the judgment which shall befall her).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 18:4-5
(2) GOD’S PEOPLE TOLD TO FLEE
(Rev 18:4-5)
Come forth, my people.–This is not the language of John, but the command of an angel of heaven. It is the same com-mand that was given Israel regarding literal Babylon. (Isa. 48 20; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6.) The angel’s command means that people should abandon all false doctrines taught by the mother of harlots, or any of her daughters. This is nothing less than a command to abandon sectarian teaching and practice. If any who have obeyed the gospel have wandered into human churches, they should come out at once. “My people” here probably do not mean Christians, but that noble, honest number that really want to obey God–hence, by anticipation, called God’s people. (Com-pare Act 18:10.) That means they could become God’s people in fact by coming out. Two reasons are assigned for their coming out: to prevent partaking of her sins and to escape the punish-ment sure to come.
Reached even unto heaven.–Her wickedness is known to God and he will not forget properly to reward her.
Commentary on Rev 18:4-5 by Foy E. Wallace
(2) The call to the faithful-Rev 18:4-8.
The voice from heaven introducing verse four was a call to the faithful saints to depart from the doomed city before the calamity struck. It is manifestly parallel with the Lords exhortation in Mat 24:15-16 for his faithful disciples to flee Jerusalem when the signs of the impending destruction appeared.
The same call was spiritually applied by Paul to the Corinthians (2Co 6:14-18), beseeching them to cut all the ties that would bind them to heathenism or in any way maintain affiliation with the heathen world and its temple of Belial. Its derived or applied meaning was to abandon all that both Judaism and heathenism represented.
The enormity of Jerusalems sins which reached unto heaven are underlined in Rev 18:5-6 in the exercise of the prerogatives that belongs only to God–Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord–He remembered her iniquities, and rendered due reward double unto double, according to her works. Again, it was Lords answer to the altar cry of martyrs in Rev 6:10, how long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.
Commentary on Rev 18:4-5 by Walter Scott
A CALL FOR SEPARATION.
Rev 18:4-5. – And I heard another voice out of the Heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins, and that ye do not receive of her plagues: for her sins have been heaped on one another up to the Heaven, and God has remembered her unrighteousnesses. An angel descending from Heaven (Rev 18:1), and a voice heard in Heaven (Rev 18:4), express different actions. The latter is the expression of the mind of God, in which all in Heaven are in unison.
Rev 18:4 – The call, Come out of her, my people, (Compare with Jer 51:6 : Isa 48:20.) is, of course, applicable at all times, and is never out of season wherever Babylon in principle is found. But the exhortation has its special force after the overthrow of Babylon from its commanding greatness (Rev 17:1-18) and before its final doom (Rev 18:1-24). The call is imperative. Babylon as a system cannot be remodeled on scriptural lines, and hence there is ever but one course open to the faithful – one of thorough separation from that which falsely bears the Name of Christ. No doubt some real believers will be found in Babylon, even in her worst and most corrupt condition, probably to avoid persecution and death. These adherents must make a complete severance from Babylon, or if they remain in it become partakers of her plagues. (These plagues are death, mourning, and famine (Rev 18:8).)
4. – The call is based on two grounds: (1) that ye have not fellowship in her sins. By remaining in it they would become partakers of her guilt. (2) That ye do not receive of her plagues. The warning here is on account of consequences – judicial and governmental. Eternal security is in no wise imperiled by the divine threat. The guilt and punishment of all remaining in Babylon are here predicated. God is about to overwhelm the whole apostate ecclesiastical system with utter and irremediable ruin, and in view of this final downpour of wrath, here termed plagues, the last call is heard, Come out of her, my people. We would naturally conclude that the exodus of saints from Babylon is accomplished ere the last stroke falls, crushing her to powder. As another has said, The full judgment comes after Gods people are come out of her.
Rev 18:5. – But why such stern judgment? Why such awful dealing both from man and God? For her sins have been heaped on one another up to the Heaven. Of the first Babel confederacy without God we read, And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto Heaven (Gen 11:4). They would build an enduring monument of their folly, one of stone. But here the sins heaped up reach the Heaven, the monument of her shame if she only knew it. What a striking picture is here presented, a Babel tower, not of stones but of sins; not simply sin on earth calling for judgment, but sins so aggravated, so numerous, and so bold and impious that Heaven itself is outraged. (See Ezr 9:6; also Jer 51:9; there the LITERAL Babylon; here the MYSTICAL, the one being the counterpart of the other.) God has remembered her unrighteousness. Judgment, stern and unsparing, must take its course.
Commentary on Rev 18:4-5 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 18:4. Come out of her my people. Even after the work of the reformers was well under way, and the institution of Babylon as a body had fallen, there were still some individuals connected with the church part of the former institution who were honest and at heart were desirous of serving God. They are the ones who are called my people because the Lord considered them true to the testimony of Christ as far as they had been permitted to learn it- Now if they will heed the call to come out and line up with the workers of the Reformation they will be received by Him. If they refuse to heed this call they will have to receive of her plagues.
Rev 18:5. Sins have reached unto heaven means the corruptions of Rome were an offense to heaven, and also had become notoriously public so that God remembered (took unfavorable notice of) her iniquities.
Commentary on Rev 18:4-5 by Burton Coffman
Rev 18:4
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:
Another voice from heaven … See under the preceding verse for the reason behind this.
Come forth, my people, out of her … Amazing! Does God have people in the harlot church? Yes, nor should this surprise us. There were also saints in Sardis (Rev 3:14), and much people who belonged to God even in pagan Nineveh (Jon 4:11). Even of wicked Corinth, God said to Paul in the night by a vision, “I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city” (Act 18:10). We shall leave it to others to edit these words out of the New Testament. The very fact of God’s having people in the apostate church itself points to his having people, in one sense or another, in all the harlot daughters as well; and there is no way to harmonize this with any classification of people by denominations or groups as either saved or lost, on the basis of blanket judgments of the evil accepted by any group. Salvation is an individual matter; and Christ has specifically warned his people against “‘judging.” That was the great sin of the great harlot herself who arrogated to herself alone the right of deciding who is saved or lost, and then enforcing that decision even through the gates of the cemetery. “The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2Ti 2:19); and we consider it unchristian to meddle with this question in any manner. We have the commission to teach what the New Testament says, but not the right to bind our deductions from it upon others. That God’s people in the apostate church are in mortal danger is clear enough, for they are ordered to “Come out!”
That ye have no fellowship with her sins … “Through history, God is always calling his people to cut their connection with sin and to stand with him and for him.”[26] “Persecuted and harried as they were, God’s people must have been tempted to come to terms with the city; for she could make their lives rich and comfortable.”[27] This call to “Come out” was the call of God to Abraham (Gen 12:1), and to Lot (Gen 19:12-14), to Moses (Num 16:23-26), to Israel (Isa 48:20), and to Christians (in this verse, and in 1Co 6:15-16). “This precept is obeyed by standing aloof from evil in the very heart of the world’s traffic.”[28]
That ye receive not of her plagues … This is a warning that God’s people, by their very association with apostasy, may also incur its penalties.
[26] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 151.
[27] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 215.
[28] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 138.
Rev 18:5
for her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
For her sins have reached even unto heaven … There is something resembling the quality of “glue” in the metaphor here. As Beckwith said, “The thought is not that the sins cleave to the skies, but that they cleave to each other, forming a mass reaching to heaven.”[29] Moffatt saw it as a “gluing together of the leaves comprising a roll”;[30] Rome’s sins would make a roll reaching all the way to heaven! No catalogue of these could be complete.
And God hath remembered her iniquities … God remembers all sins, unless they are forgiven, in which case they are forgotten. This indicates that the harlot church was not only powerless to forgive the sins of her followers, but that she was also utterly unable to procure forgiveness even for her own sins. As Spurgeon once admonished his church:
Therefore, if some shaveling priest shall lift his hand to absolve thee, even upon thy deathbed, lift thy bony hand and absolve him; thou hast the same right!
[29] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 714.
[30] James Moffatt, Expositor’s Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 457.
Commentary on Rev 18:4-5 by Manly Luscombe
4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. God expects his people to be separate from sin. Baptism puts us on the other side of the river. The water of baptism separates us from our former life of sin. 2Co 6:14-18 is a clear passage in which Christians are commanded to come out from among them. We are commanded not to participate (touch) things that are unclean. If you dont participate in the unclean activity, you will not suffer the plagues. If you refuse to engage in homosexual activity or share drug needles, you will not get AIDS. If you do not involve yourself in fornication, then STD is not a threat.
5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. God knows who has shared a role in immoral activity. God will remember their sins. Men will be judged by the deeds done while here on earth, good or bad. (2Co 5:10)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sins
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Come: Gen 19:12, Gen 19:13, Num 16:26, Num 16:27, Isa 48:20, Isa 52:11, Jer 50:8, Jer 51:6, Jer 51:45, Jer 51:50, Mat 24:15, Mat 24:16, 2Co 6:17
partakers: Psa 50:18, Mat 23:30, 1Ti 5:22, 2Jo 1:11
Reciprocal: Gen 12:1 – Get Gen 14:12 – who Gen 19:14 – Up Gen 19:15 – hastened Lev 14:36 – be not made Num 16:21 – Separate Jdg 20:13 – would not 1Ki 13:9 – Eat no bread Job 36:17 – fulfilled Psa 16:4 – Their Psa 64:8 – all that Psa 141:4 – to practice Pro 9:6 – Forsake Pro 13:20 – but Pro 24:19 – Fret Isa 13:3 – them that Isa 52:2 – Shake Zec 2:6 – and flee Zec 2:7 – Deliver Luk 21:21 – and let them Act 2:40 – Save Eph 5:7 – General Eph 5:11 – no
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE CALL TO SEPARATION
Come out of her, My people.
Rev 18:4
Babylon the great (Rev 18:2) typifies for us in this twentieth century the ungodly world. In this world you and I are living and must live. Are we of it? Do we belong to it? Once we were of the world, worldly. Have we come out of the world? Have we cast out of our hearts the worldly spirit? Remember, the friendship of the world is enmity with God, and if we are to serve God we must resolve to come out of the world. The text is the call to separation. Be ye separate is the command, and it is a call to the Church as a corporate body as well as to the individual believer.
I. The call to the Church.From the very earliest days the spirit of the world has invaded the Church, and there have been times in her history when the spirit of worldliness has so dominated her life that it has seemed there was no differencethe Church and the world seemed to be one. How is it to-day? Come out of her, My people, and the Church is never so strong spiritually as when the line of demarcation between the Church and the world is most clearly marked.
II. The call to the individual.But it is to each one of us that the call comes with the greatest force. If we would be Christs people we must have no part with the world. And yet the world and all that the world stands for is very attractive to us, and too many of us yield to the desire to enjoy the worlds pleasuresand sometimes, alas! the worlds sinwhile at the same time professing to serve Christ. But this will not do. There must be complete separation.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rev 18:4. Come out of her my people. Even after the work of the reformers was well under way, and the institution of Babylon as a body had fallen, there were still some individuals connected with the church part of the former institution who were honest and at heart were desirous of serving God. They are the ones who are called my people because the Lord considered them true to the testimony of Christ as far as they had been permitted to learn it- Now if they will heed the call to come out and line up with the workers of the Reformation they will be received by Him. If they refuse to heed this call they will have to receive of her plagues.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 4.
(2) The call to the faithful–Rev 18:4-8.
The voice from heaven introducing verse four was a call to the faithful saints to depart from the doomed city before the calamity struck. It is manifestly parallel with the Lord’s exhortation in Mat 24:15-16 for his faithful disciples to flee Jerusalem when the signs of the impending destruction appeared.
The same call was spiritually applied by Paul to the Corinthians (2Co 6:14-18), beseeching them to cut all the ties that would bind them to heathenism or in any way maintain affiliation with the heathen world and its temple of Belial. Its derived or applied meaning was to abandon all that both Judaism and heathenism represented.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 18:4. A new stage in the drama opens. Another voice out of heaven is heard, saying, Come forth out of her, my people, that ye may have no communion with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. The voice is that of an angel although, as coming out of heaven, we are to hear in it the voice of God or of Christ; and hence the use of the word My before people. It is a summons to Gods people to depart out of Babylon, and there are many parallels both in the Old and in the New Testament, Gen 19:15-22; Num 16:23-26; Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 51:6; Jer 51:45; Mat 24:16. Two reasons are assigned for this departure; first, that Gods people may have no communion with the sins of Babylon, and secondly, that they may escape participation in her punishment. As to the former, it does not seem necessary to think that they were in danger of being betrayed into sin; were they not all sealed ones? But it was well for them to be delivered even from the very presence of sin, and from the judgments that follow it (comp. 2Pe 2:7-9).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, An admonition given, and a double reason assigned for that admonition.
1. The admonition itself; Come out of her my people, that is, come out of mystical Babylon, have no communion with that idolatrous church; abstain from all communicating with her in her sins, as ever you would approve yourselves to be my faithful people.
Here note, it is not so much a local departure, as a moral separation, that is here intended; not so much from Babylon’s local bounds, as from her abominable errors, superstitions, and idolatries.
Learn hence, 1. That God has, and ever had, a people, even in Babylon.
Learn, 2. That it is a special duty which God requires of his people, to depart from mystical Babylon, especially when her downfall is approaching.
3. That such a departure from Babylon is no schismatical separation; it is not a departure from the true church, but the true church’s separation from an idolatrous communion; and that by the express and positive command of God himself, Come out of her my people an allusion to the charge given with respect to Babylon of old, We would have healed Babylon, but she would not be healed; forsake her. Jer 51:6; Jer 51:9.
Observe, 2. A double reason assigned for this admonition.
1. Because we are in danger of being partakers of her sins, namely, by incurring the guilt of her sins, and by contracting the spot and filth of her sins.
2. There is a danger also of being made partakers of her plagues: there is no safety in being near those who are under the curse of God; participation in sin will certainly cause a participation in judgment.
How dreadful is this text to such as continue in, or apostatize unto, Babylon’s idolatry and communion!
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
-5 Christians, or God’s people, are told by a great voice to come out from such worldly pursuits lest they participate not only in the pleasures of sin but also its terrible rewards. ( 2Co 6:17-18 ; 2Co 7:1 ; Eph 5:11 ) Like pieces of paper glued together to form a roll, the sins of Babylon are so numerous that they stretch to heaven. Thus, they have reached an intolerable state, and God will reward them.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 18:4-6. And I heard another voice from heaven Probably the voice of Christ, graciously warning his people of their danger of being infected by the prevailing corruptions of the mystical Babylon, and, in consequence thereof, of being involved in her ruin; saying, Come out of her, my people Immediately forsake the communion of so corrupt a church; that ye be not partakers of her sins Which you surely will be if you do not separate yourselves from her; and that ye receive not of her plagues That ye share not in that guilt which would render you liable to all the plagues and judgments with which she shall assuredly be punished. But, as Bishop Newton observes, was there any such necessity of forsaking the Church of Rome in the days of Alaric or Totilas, before she had 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? What a remarkable providence it was that this book of the Revelation was printed in the midst of Spain, in the Great Polyglot Bible, before the Reformation! Else how much easier had it been for the Papists to reject the whole book, than it is to evade these striking parts of it! For her sins have reached unto heaven When sins are ripe for judgment, they are said to reach unto heaven, or to come up before the face of Jehovah. So the angels speak who were sent to punish the sins of Sodom, Gen 19:13, We will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before the face of the Lord. Thus God said to Jonah, Cry against Nineveh, for their wickedness is come up before me: and St. James uses a like expression concerning oppressors, The cries of them which have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. It seems to be an elegant allusion to the methods of justice in human courts, when criminals are actually prosecuted, and their crimes are brought to light before the court of judgment. Reward her God speaks to the executioners of his vengeance; even as she hath rewarded Others, in particular the saints of God; and double unto her double This, according to the Hebrew idiom, implies only a full retaliation; according to her works The injuries and evils with which she has oppressed the faithful servants of God. In the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double Let her suffer whatever the laws of justice have made the punishment of such great offences. By the laws of the Jewish government some offences were punished by retaliation, or by inflicting on the offender that evil which he had injuriously done to his neighbour. It was therefore enacted by the Jewish law, that life should be given for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Exo 21:23, &c. In other cases of damage it was enacted that the offender should pay double damages. Thus, in the case of theft, the law required the thief to restore double, (Exo 22:4,) it being just that the thief should suffer for his offence, as well as make full restitution for the damage he had done. In allusion to these laws of the Jewish government, divine justice is represented as punishing Rome for her idolatry and persecution, by inflicting upon her, as an offender, such pains and penalties as the laws of equity direct, where injuries are so highly criminal.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:4 {4} And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, {5} Come out of her, my people, that ye {6} be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
(4) The second prediction, which is of the circumstances of the ruin of Babylon: of these there are two types: one going before it, as beforehand the godly are delivered, to the ninth verse Rev 18:5-9 : the other following on her ruin, namely the lamentation of the wicked, and rejoicing of the godly, to the twentieth verse Rev 18:10-20 .
(5) Two circumstance going before the ruin, are commanded in this place: one is that the godly depart out of Babylon: as I mentioned in chapter twelve to have been done in time past, before the destruction of Jerusalem: this charge is given here and in the next verse. The other is, that every one of them occupy themselves in their own place, in executing the judgment of God, as it was commanded of the Levites in Exo 32:27 and that they sanctify their hands to the Lord.
(6) Of this commandment there are two causes: to avoid the contamination of sin and to shun the participation of those punishments that belong to it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The prediction of the voice from heaven 18:4-20
This section contains a call for believers to leave Babylon, laments over Babylon’s destruction by those afflicted by it, and rejoicing in heaven over Babylon’s fall.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The call for God’s people to leave Babylon 18:4-8
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Another voice from heaven instructed God’s people to separate from the system that the city symbolizes so they would avoid getting caught in her judgment. The being speaking is evidently an angel who speaks for God (Rev 18:4-5; cf. Rev 11:3; Rev 22:7-8). He called God’s people to leave a city (cf. Gen 12:1; Gen 19:12; Exo 8:1; Num 16:26; Isa 48:20; Isa 52:11; Jer 50:8; Jer 51:6-9; Jer 51:45), but beyond that to forsake the enticements of the idolatry, self-sufficiency, love of luxury, and violence that the city symbolizes. The people addressed are faithful believers living in the Tribulation. Unless they separate from her sins, they will be hurt by the judgment coming on her, but if they do separate, they will enjoy protection (cf. Rev 12:14; Mat 24:16). They should not have the attitude of Lot’s wife who hankered after another worldly city that God destroyed (cf. Gen 19:26; Luk 17:32).