Project 119: Revelation 18
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
A Warning and a Promise
As a child, my mother’s warnings often came with promises: “Don’t touch the stove, or you’ll burn your hand!” or, “Don’t walk in the street, or you might get hit by a car!” In Revelation 18, John’s vision includes a warning and a promise. We see Babylon’s final fall and ultimate destruction. She’s been wreaking havoc for thousands of years, and yet in a day—even in an hour!—God brings about her ultimate demise. God repays her for her sins “heaped high as heaven” (Revelation 18:5). Her days of selfish pride and arrogance come to an end at the hand of the Lord. She lived as though she would never receive retribution for her sins, but Revelation 18 reminds us that His judgment is mighty, sure, and just (Revelation 18:7–8).
“What does the judgment of Babylon have to do with us?” you might ask. The call from the voice on high in verse 4 answers this. “Come out of her, my people,” God calls. Her judgment is a warning for us, too. If we align ourselves with the ways of the world, God promises we will be judged in the same manner. For those in Christ, their sins are forgiven and washed white as snow (Isaiah 1:18); “as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). But, notice that this is not the case for Babylon the Great. God has remembered her iniquities and pays her back “as she herself has paid back others” (Revelation 18:6). The call to “come out of her” in Revelation 18:4 reminds us that we must choose a side. Either we will side with Babylon the Great or with the Lord. Either our sins will be remembered or they will be covered by the blood of Christ. We are called to live as God’s holy people, distinct and separate from the world.
But while this is a promise of judgment for some, it is a promise of hope for others. Since the beginning of time, creation has been longing for its redemption, groaning with the rest of mankind as we wait for the day when sin is no more (Romans 8). Revelation 18 is the answer to this longing, to the question posed to the Lord in Revelation 6:10: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” There is an end to suffering. There is a final defeat of evil. There is a day coming when our faith will be made sight and a day when justice will be received for “the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth” (Revelation 18:24).
Revelation 18 (ESV):
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; 5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. 7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ 8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
14 “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!”
15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
16 “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! 17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,
“What city was like the great city?”
19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,
“Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste. 20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!”
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; 22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, 23 and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”