Judgment and Influence

Throughout history the petty kingdoms and empires built by proud, arrogant, God-rejecting rebels have come and gone. The spirit of humanism first expressed at Babel has permeated human history ever since. Unshakably optimistic despite centuries of war, slaughter, injustice, and cruelty, people still seek a utopia, to be brought about by humanity’s upward scientific progress. Having taken control (so they think) of their own destiny through science, sinners have no use for God and haughtily replace Him as self-styled gods devoted to their own sovereignty.

In Psalm 2:2–4 the psalmist recorded God’s reaction to man’s impotent fury against Him:

The kings of the earth take their stand  And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

From beginning to end, the Bible warns of coming judgment on sinners who reject God and blaspheme His holy name. Job declared that “the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity; they will be led forth at the day of fury” (Job 21:30). David noted that “the Lord … has established His throne for judgment, and He will judge the world in righteousness”

Psa 7:11  God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry [with the wicked] every day.

An angel announces Babylon’s judgment and its severe effects, which will come because of her idolatrous influence on the people.

A major theme of this chapter is an exhortation to God’s true people to separate from the world and be restored to the Lord.

That the angel cried out with a mighty voice further highlights the authority of this pronouncement  the glorious appearance of the angel, the loud voice is meant to get the attention of any who are in danger of falling under Babylon’s spell.

The certainty of the judgment is underlined further by narrating the consequences of the destruction in the past tense, as if it has already happened. The prophecy and fulfillment of historical Babylon’s past fall is viewed as a historical pattern pointing forward to the fall of a much larger Babylon.

Isaiah prophesied that, following earthly Babylon’s destruction, she would be left as the dwelling place of various unclean and strange animals, including howling hyenas, jackals, and shaggy goats (literally “goat demons”; see Isa. 13:20–22; 34:11). This revelation shows that the demonic realm has been Babylon’s guiding force.

The cause of Babylon’s judgment lies in her idolatrous seduction of nations and rulers: The reference is not to literal immorality, but to acceptance of Babylon’s religious and idolatrous demands in return for economic security

REFLECTION ON 1–3

On the perils of falling under Babylon’s spell. The loud voice of the angel is meant to gain the attention of those who might be in danger of falling under Babylon’s spell.

How are we in similar danger today? The power of Babylon’s allure is surely at least as powerful as in John’s day.

Do we really understand that behind the facade of incredible wealth and luxury lie insecurity and, ultimately, the dwelling place of demons?

An angel exhorts God’s people to separate from cooperating with the Babylonian system lest they also suffer its just punishment.

Judgment can be avoided

The unidentified voice of v. 4 may be that of God (note my people), of Christ

The report of Babylon’s coming judgment in the preceding verses is the basis for exhorting wavering believers not to participate in the compromising idolatrous system and encouraging those not compromising to keep maintaining their faithful course:

The exhortation to separate from Babylon’s ways because of God’s coming judgment is patterned after the repeated exhortations of Isaiah and Jeremiah, especially Jer. 51:45: “

The purpose of separating is to escape the coming judgment;  Jer. 51:45 (“And each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord”). There may also be echoes of the angels’ exhortation to Lot and his family to go out from the apparent security of Sodom in order not to suffer the judgment of that city (Gen. 19:12–22).

Christians are not being called to withdraw from economic life or from the world in which they live, but they may be ostracized because of their refusal to compromise. They are to remain in the world to witness (11:3–7) and to suffer for their testimony 17:6; 18:24, but they are not to be of the world (14:12–13; 16:15).

This is not an exhortation to unbelievers, but is addressed to those within the confessing community of faith who can already be referred to by God as “My people.” This is an exhortation to persevere in the true faith.

The Judgment is Defined

The nature of God’s judgment,  Psalm 137: “O daughter of Babylon … how blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us” Ps. 137:8; . likewise

The punishment of historical Babylon is typological of that of the end-time Babylonian system.

Self-glorification is sinful, since glory can be rightfully given only to God v7 “Yet you said, ‘I shall be a queen forever,’ ” and spiritual Babylon here speaks the same words:

The church must beware of trusting in economic security, lest she be judged along with the world (as with the potential judgment of the Laodiceans, who said “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” 3:17).

As disaster came upon earthly Babylon in one day (Isa. 47:9), as she was burned by fire (Isa. 47:14), so also will it be with spiritual Babylon. The clause she will be burned up with fire is  identical to 17:16.

REFLECTIONS ON 18:4–8

On being in the world but not of it. One of the lessons of these verses is that Christians should be in the world but not of it. To be “of” the world means that we have compromised our values to share in the world’s present wealth and advantages, but at the cost of also inheriting a share in its coming judgment. The worldliness both outside and inside our churches is always making godly standards appear odd and sinful values seem normal, so that we are tempted to adopt what the world considers to be “normal.”

How do we practically avoid such contamination while we are holding down jobs, buying houses and cars, making prudent financial plans for retirement, and so on?

Is the tithe a good place to start, as it signifies giving the first of all we have to God?

Yet the rest of our finances must also be managed according to God’s ways. Is this kind of teaching and discipleship available in our local churches?

Are we continuously grappling with stewardship issues? Jesus talked a great deal about money, and for good reason. Are we examining what He said and putting it into practice?

Judgment Lamented

Those who cooperate with the Babylonian system will cry over her judgment because it means their own demise (18:9–19)

The mourning of those who prosper from cooperation with the idolatrous economic system happens because they see in its downfall their own economic downfall. The main point of the entire segment is the despair because of economic loss,

The close connection between idolatry and economic prosperity was a fact of life in Asia Minor, where allegiance to both Caesar and the patron gods of the trade guilds was essential for people to maintain good standing in their trades.  Local and regional political leaders had to support this system in order to maintain their own political stability and to benefit economically from their high positions.

They are in awe not only because of the judgment itself, but because of its suddenness (in one hour). Judgment shows that the unbelieving kings perceive in Babylon’s doom the judicial hand of God.

The time designation one hour refers in 17:12 to the brief time when Babylon’s former allies turn against her and destroy her.

A representative list of trade products shows what cargo will no longer be purchased by the Babylonian economic system.

The trade goods in the list are selected because they represent the kind of luxury products in which Rome overindulged in an extravagantly sinful and idolatrous manner.

An additional influence on the description of the harlot comes from Ezekiel’s condemnation of unfaithful Israel as one adorned with gold, silver, linen, and silk who trusted in her beauty and played the harlot (Ezek. 16:13–16). The prophet also cried, “Woe, woe” to Israel (Ezek. 16:23) even as the angel does here to Babylon.

The presence of this imagery suggests further that the harlot, though primarily reflecting the pagan system, includes also unfaithful Israel and even those from the Christian community who have compromised and effectively become part of the pagan culture.

These cries of lamentation are not a token of true repentance, but are expressions of sorrow for their own demise.

REFLECTION ON 18:9–19

The destructive power of human self-interest. The mourning and weeping of the kings, merchants, and mariners over the destruction of Babylon reflects their own self-interest rather than genuine repentance and recognition of the righteousness of God and of His judgment.

Entanglement in the things of this world, and particularly pursuit of material wealth, focuses us inward on ourselves, blinds us to the interests of others, and numbs us to the approaching judgment of God, such that we do not even recognize it when it comes.

Those who separated from Babylon should rejoice over her judgment because it vindicates their faith and God’s just character (18:20–24)

Judgment Enjoyed

An address in response to Babylon’s terrible fall is given: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”v20

It is best to see the suffering saints who cried for vengeance in 6:9–11 at the center of the heavenly throng who are exhorted to rejoice in.

v:20 is the climax of the saints’ cry for vindication from 6:10, though anticipated in various ways also in other verses.

The focus is not on delight in Babylon’s suffering but on the successful outcome of God’s execution of justice, which demonstrates the integrity of Christians’ faith and God’s just character

God will judge Babylon just as severely as she persecuted others in order to make the punishment fit her crime.

The rejoicing does not arise out of a selfish spirit of revenge, but out of a fulfilled hope that God has defended the honor of His just name by not leaving sin unpunished and by showing His people to have been in the right all along and the verdict rendered by the ungodly world against the saints to be wrong.

Judgment Completed

21 The judgment of Babylon, and its devastating effects, are repeated again in different ways in vv. 21–23, which, together with v. 20b, serve as the basis of the rejoicing in v. 20a.

The judgment of Babylon is expressed parabolically through the vision of an angel who took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea. The picture is based on Jer. 51:63, where Jeremiah commands his servant Seraiah to “tie a stone” to a scroll (literally “book”) containing the prophecy of Babylon’s judgment, and to “throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,” declaring in the process that in this same way will Babylon sink down and never again rise.

Judgment Justified

22–23a Vv. 5–7 and 20 have asserted that Babylon’s judgment is suited to its crime, and vv. 22–23 reveal how the punishment fits the crime, which continues to depict the effects of Babylon’s destruction, especially most immediately from the millstone portrayal in v. will not be heard in

Passages from Jeremiah 25 (judgment on unfaithful Israel) and Ezekiel 26 (judgment on Tyre) continue to be pieced together to depict this judicial principle (cf. Ezek. 26:13: “and the sound of your harps will be heard no more”; Jer. 25:10: “I will take from them … the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sounds of the millstones and the light of the lamp”).

The statement in v. 14, “and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them,” is elaborated in more detail in vv. 21–23a. Babylon’s persecution was selective in John’s day, but he foresaw a time in which she would attempt to exterminate completely the Christian community (so 11:7–10; 20:7–9; cf. also 13:16–17). God will likewise punish her for her persecution and attempted annihilation of the church by overthrowing her completely.

23b The angel’s pronouncement of devastation begun in v. 21 continues. These merchants were concerned only for their own glory instead of acting as stewards responsible for what had been entrusted to them by God.

The point is that the chief purpose of humanity according to Revelation is to glorify God and to enjoy Him, not to glorify oneself and enjoy one’s own achievements (e.g., 4:11; 5:12–13; 7:12; 15:3–4; 16:9; 19:1, 7). Self-glorification necessitates judgment in which a forced humbling occurs. It is idolatrous for Babylon and her allies to see themselves as “great” (11:8; 14:8; 16:19; 17:5, 18; 18:2, 10, 16, 19, 21,

One reason for Babylon’s judgment is that all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. By magic Babylon deceived the nations into worshiping idols instead of the true God. Sorcery, immorality, and idolatry are very closely related. In Rev. 9:20–21, idolatry, sorcery, and immorality (Greek porneia) are linked together (as also in Gal. 5:19–21). Immorality (Greek porneia), as we have seen, is a common term for idolatry in Revelation (2:14, 20–21; 14:8; 17:1–2, 4–5; 18:3, 9). Sorcery and idolatry are also linked in the OT (2 Chron. 33:5–7; Mic. 5:12–14; sorcery, idolatry, and immorality in Isa. 57:3–7). The OT Jezebel was judged for immorality and sorcery (2 Kgs. 9:22).

Another reason for Babylon’s judgment is now given: And in her was found the blood of the prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth. In earthly Babylon, declared Jeremiah, “the slain of all the earth have fallen” (Jer. 51:49). Nineveh, another prophetic forerunner of the end-time Babylon, was judged not only for her immorality and sorcery, but also because she was a city of blood (Nah. 3:1–4). Babylon and Nineveh of old were sinful world empires that are set forth as models for the annihilation of the last corrupt world system. The fact that Babylon, Tyre, and Nineveh, as well as unfaithful Israel and Sodom, are all used in ch. 18, as well as chs. 16 and 17, as prophetic forerunners of the Babylonian world system shows again that spiritual Babylon is not one specific nation at a given point of time, but rather represents all forms of evil government from the resurrection of Christ until His return. In John’s day, the Roman Empire represented this wicked system, for by his time Christians had been persecuted not only in Israel, but throughout the Roman Empire. Yet the concluding clause all who have been slain on the earth points to a universal reference well beyond the Roman Empire and its time. This description of all who have been slain may be literal and allude to Christian martyrs, but it is best taken figuratively for all kinds of persecution, including death (see on 6:9; 13:15).

REFLECTION ON 18:20–24

They do not rejoice because they have “won” at the expense of others, but because God has been vindicated. The lost, on the other hand, cannot see past their own self-interest. The suffering of others, even the destruction of an entire world system, concerns them only because of the negative effect on their own fortunes. Here in a paragraph is the difference between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.

What ultimately divides the two is the willingness (or lack thereof) to recognize who God is and to give Him the honor and worship He alone is due. Particularly in the West, we live in a profoundly anthropocentric culture which utterly fails to place God and His glory at the center, and if we do not resist this, we will find ourselves slipping all too easily into the hold of the kingdom of darkness.