Revelation 18:1-8 – Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! Come Out of Her My People

We have read about the great city that sits on seven hills, Rome, and it’s destruction in God’s judgment for its abominations. In this chapter we get a final detailed description of the declaration of judgment against the great prostitute and her sins, and the implications for all who were involved in her adulteries. We read of the destruction that happened in chapter 17, now we get details. It starts with yet another angel, this one “coming down from heaven who has “great authority,” and “the earth was illuminated by his splendor.” The description of the angel is important because what he is about to be announced would have been shocking to John’s readers. There has never been an empire in all of world history as far reaching and dominant as Rome. To learn what will happen and why would be very difficult to believe. The angel has the authority directly from God to bring to light what is certain to happen, although it will not be for several hundred years. As I always say, God is never in a hurry! The angel shouts with a “mighty voice” so the entire world will hear what is to come and why as if it’s already happened:

“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’
    She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
³ For all the nations have drunk
    the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
    and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

This is the second declaration of Babylon the Great’s fall, the first in 14:8. The first reference to Babylon as great goes back to Daniel 4 where King Nebuchadnezzar was boasting in its greatness as if he made it great (v. 30), instead of God in his providence allowing it to happen. God struck him down with mental illness until he repented and acknowledged that kingdoms are God’s to give and take as he chooses. So it is with Rome. The double declaration of fallen harkens back to a time even before Nebuchadnezzar, to the time of Isaiah (chapter 21) where he prophesies:

⁹ Look, here comes a man in a chariot
    with a team of horses.
And he gives back the answer:
    ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen!
All the images of its gods
    lie shattered on the ground!’”

We know this would not happen for another couple hundred years, and maybe John is intimating to his readers that this may not happen right away, but just as ancient Babylon fell and was utterly destroyed, so modern Babylon the Great will too. The two verses above about this Babylon’s fall have an interesting mix of past and present tense that points to a future certainty. Even now she is a dwelling place of the most detestable things. As we’ll see, and have seen, what is so appealing to the nations and all its people is an abomination to God, and they will pay for it.

Then we come to the crux of the issue for Christians John is addressing, and for Christians of all time: where does our ultimate loyalty lie, with the state or Christ, with the wealth she can provide or Christ, with the power and promise of this world or Christ:

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

“‘Come out of her, my people,’
    so that you will not share in her sins,
    so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
⁵ for her sins are piled up to heaven,
    and God has remembered her crimes.

This is a specific reference to Jeremiah 51:45, as well as the entire theme of that chapter. Just as the Jews were tempted by the riches of ancient Babylon, God is imploring them not to share in its sins and thus its destruction. As we’ve seen over and over, it may look like she’s getting away with it now, but she most certainly will not in the end. They can remain loyal to Almighty God in Christ because ultimate justice will be done. God is keeping score. This other voice, also from heaven, with the authority from God’s presence itself, then assures them that Rome will be given back as she has given. In fact, she will be paid “back double for what she has done.” God promises them she will get “as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.” It would be almost impossible for those living at the end of the first century who daily witnessed the pomp and circumstance of the Roman Empire, and it’s arrogance, to imagine what is to come.

She boasts as if sitting enthroned as a queen, and asserts she will never suffer in yet another reference to an Old Testament text about the fall of Babylon from Isaiah 47:

You said, ‘I am forever—
    the eternal queen!’
But you did not consider these things
    or reflect on what might happen.

⁸ “Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure,
    lounging in your security
and saying to yourself,
    ‘I am, and there is none besides me.

John’s readers know what’s happened to Babylon, and he is saying so it will happen to Rome:

⁸ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
    death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
    for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

In one day is not a literal day, of course, but an ancient way of saying, this will happen quickly when it happens. More importantly is the certainty of it happening. The regal pretensions she now has, and uses to lure the peoples of the earth to her luxuries, will be utterly destroyed. I am reminded of Joshua’s words to the Israelites shortly before his death, and it is a good reminder to all of us the choices for our loyalty we have every day:

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Amen!

Tagged: Revelation, The Bible