June 22, 2024
Last week revealed the identity of Babylon the Great – the Prostitute. The religious system that will control world governments in the last days. The closing verses of Revelation 17 briefly describe what will happen when those same governments turn against her:
Revelation 17:16 - The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
John borrows Old Testament language to depict this event:
Leviticus 21:9 - If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.
Ezekiel 16:36-41 - This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children's blood, therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see all your nakedness. I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare. They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.
Ezekiel 23:22-29 - Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side -- the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. So, I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore. For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you naked and bare, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity
Now, in Revelation 18, the Prostitutes demise is portrayed as the destruction of a wealthy commercial city:
Revelation 18:2 - With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
Again, John turns to the language of the Old Testament:
Isaiah 13:19-22 - Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there; no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.
Isaiah 21:9 - 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!"
Jeremiah 50:39 - So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.
Babylon will be judged based on the grounds of 3 charges that are brought against her:
• Religious Grounds – she is charged with intoxicating the earth’s inhabitants with her corrupt teachings and doctrines:
o Revelation 18:3a - For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.
• Political and Economic Grounds – she is charged with seducing the global political powers into an adulterous relationship for political and economic gain.
o Revelation 18:3b - The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.
The economic benefits of joining Babylon are hinted at in Revelation 13:16-17…. Those who DO NOT have the Mark of the Beast will be prohibited from buying or selling. Again, think short-term consequences. It might appear to be in your financial interest to cave to the beast, but the long-term consequences will be complete and utter and eternal ruin.
Before the judgment on Babylon occurs, there is one final plea for those sincere God-fearing people who still live in Babylon (this plea is delivered PRIOR to the 7 Last Plagues):
Revelation 18:4-5 - 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; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
This reminds us of the story of Lot, who was strongly encouraged to leave Sodom before its destruction (Genesis 18:1-29) and Jeremiah’s call to the Jews in Babylon to flee before she is destroyed.
Jeremiah 50:8-10 - Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock. For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed. So, Babylonia will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill," declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 51:6 - Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the LORD's vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves.
Jeremiah 51:42-45 - The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her. Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no man travels. I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall. "Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.”
This is the last call. According to Revelation 19:1-10 many will respond to the call. Those who refuse to separate themselves from her will share her fate.
The sins of this religious system have reached heaven and God has remembered her crimes. Now the judgments against her will fit those crimes.
Revelation 18:6-8 - Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.' 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.
Once again, John turns to the Old Testament and the arrogant boasting of ancient Babylon:
Isaiah 47:7-9 - You said, 'I will continue forever -- the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen. Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.' Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
Jeremiah 50:29-32 - "Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day," declares the LORD. "See, I am against you, O arrogant one," declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty, "for your day has come, the time for you to be punished. The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her."
She has exhibited self-glorification and self-sufficiency and this is the foundation for the condemnation and punishment she will receive.
The fall of Babylon brings great sorrow to those who have benefitted through of their association with her. The rest of the chapter describes 3 laments brought by those who will suffer personal loss as a result of her collapse:
• The Kings of the Earth (18:9-10): This group was seduced by Babylon’s wealth and luxury and by the promise of financial gain, safety and security. Too late they realize that they were deceived. In their rage they turn against Babylon and carry out her destruction:
o Revelation 17:16 - The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
• The Merchants of the Earth (18:11-17a): This group has also profited through their association with Babylon. They have grown rich by selling and distributing Babylon’s corrupt goods:
o “cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.”
Their lament mirrors the lament over Tyre in Ezekiel 27:1-36:
o The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, take up a lament concerning Tyre. Say to Tyre, situated at the gateway to the sea, merchant of peoples on many coasts, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You say, O Tyre, "I am perfect in beauty." Your domain was on the high seas; your builders brought your beauty to perfection……
• Ship Captains and Sailors (18:17b-19): This group acquired great wealth by transporting Babylon’s goods. Now all who have benefited through their association with Babylon stand at a distance and mourn as the city burns.
o Revelation 18:19 - They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: "Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!”
They do not mourn because Babylon is destroyed. They mourn because of what they have lost: power and wealth. They truly are Satan’s children…… (Not sorry for what they did. Sorry they got caught/consequences.)
Not everyone weeps for Babylon. Just like the fall of ancient Babylon was good news for God’s people:
Isaiah 44:23-28 - Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel. "This is what the LORD says -- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,' of the towns of Judah, 'They shall be built,' and of their ruins, 'I will restore them,' who says to the watery deep, 'Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,' who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."
So, the fall of “Babylon the Great” will be good news for those have stood against her full fury. She was responsible for bringing about the persecution of God’s people and the shedding of their blood at the hands of the political powers of the world. To them the destruction of Babylon means salvation and deliverance.
As the vision concludes, John watches as a mighty angel takes a boulder the size of a millstone, and throws it into the sea, declaring that this represents the sudden and violent end facing Babylon (see Jeremiah 51:59-64).
Music will never be heard again. All the workmen will be gone. The sound of the grinding stone will become silent. No lamp will shine. No voices of brides and grooms will be heard. The “city” will be dead.
Why?
Revelation 18:23b-24 - …. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.
We have talked about short-term vs. long-term consequences. Revelation 18 shows us that the “positives” experienced by those who have chosen Satan will not last long. Their ending will be sudden and violent. This is good news for God’s people. They have endured all that Satan can throw at them and now their prayers for vindication have been answered.
