Revelation 18

Studies in Revelation
by Dr. John H. Roller

Chapter 18



Introduction
If Revelation 17 is a “picture” of the Antichrist world power, Revelation 18 is a rather poetic description of the final destruction of that power. As “poetry” (in my opinion), this isn’t a passage that refers directly to a lot of specific historical events. It is presented in a format that Bible scholars call “taunt song” – actually, what we might call a “parody” of the kind of song that those who love a city would have sung when the city was destroyed by a natural disaster or by invading armies. I say “parody” because this “song” is sung by those who don’t love the city and are actually thrilled to see it fall, because it has been the capital city of the “nation” that has oppressed them for hundreds of years. In it, Babylon (the city that was oppressing the Jews in the time of the Prophet Daniel) is used as a symbol for Rome (the city that was oppressing the Christians in the time of the Apostle John), which, itself, is a symbol (as we’ve seen in studying earlier chapters) for the Antichrist (which we have identified as the medieval Papacy). So this chapter is a “taunt song” of the Christians against the oppressive power of the Papacy, to be “sung” on the occasion of that power’s final destruction. The Papacy actually “fell” from its position of power in AD 1870 (as we have seen in studying earlier chapters), but antichrists similar to it still exert powerful influences in the world today. This “taunt song” probably refers not so much to the fall of the Papacy in AD 1870 as to the final destruction of every power that seeks to rule the world in the place of Christ – which will be at the time of the Second Coming, when Christ arrives in person to take His rightful place as King of Kings (we’ll see more about that when we get to Revelation 19).

Revelation 18:1
AFTER THESE THINGS, I (the Apostle John) SAW ANOTHER ANGEL COMING DOWN OUT OF THE SKY, HAVING GREAT AUTHORITY. THE EARTH WAS ILLUMINATED WITH HIS GLORY.

Revelation 18:2
HE (the angel) CRIED WITH A MIGHTY VOICE, SAYING, “FALLEN, FALLEN IS BABYLON THE GREAT (that’s actually a direct quotation of Isaiah 21:9, where the prophet Isaiah was writing a similar ‘taunt song’ about the destruction of the literal city of Babylon in Old Testament times), AND SHE (‘Babylon the Great’) HAS BECOME A HABITATION OF DEMONS, A PRISON OF EVERY UNCLEAN SPIRIT, AND A PRISON OF EVERY UNCLEAN AND HATEFUL BIRD! Many people (in those days) believed that when a city was destroyed and there were no longer any people living in it, demons and unclean spirits would make that place a sort of ‘base of operations’ from which they could feel free to roam throughout the world to afflict and oppress people. Even today, people express a similar belief when they speak of an uninhabited house as being ‘haunted’ or ‘spooky’ like one of the ‘ghost towns’ in the western United States. Those towns are no longer inhabited; the buildings are still there, but nobody lives in them. Visitors to such places feel uncomfortable. In biblical times, people expressed that feeling by saying ‘haunted by demons and unclean spirits.’ In a more literal sense, ‘Babylon the Great’ is described as ‘a prison of every unclean and hateful bird’ such as vultures, buzzards and other birds of prey that would eat whatever dead bodies were still lying around. Such birds, of course, would make their homes in a place that was no longer inhabited and in which people and animals had died.

Revelation 18:3
FOR ALL THE NATIONS HAVE DRUNK OF THE WINE OF THE WRATH OF HER SEXUAL IMMORALITY (gone along with ‘her’ beliefs and practices and ‘her’ system of rebellion against God), THE KINGS OF THE EARTH COMMITTED SEXUAL IMMORALITY (a symbol for spiritual idolatry – worshipping false gods, gods other than the true God – her ‘god,’ in fact, being the man who claimed to be ‘the man who sits in God’s place’ as ‘the representative of God’) WITH HER, AND THE MERCHANTS OF THE EARTH GREW RICH FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF HER LUXURY.” The economy was involved in this multinational antichristian system, as well as the government and the religion.

Revelation 18:4
I (John) HEARD ANOTHER VOICE FROM HEAVEN, SAYING, “COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, THAT YOU HAVE NO PARTICIPATION IN HER SINS (God’s people should withdraw from, and cease to participate in, any organization that they realize is seeking to dominate their lives in a way that only God Himself should be allowed to do, and to find fellowship only in such organizations as do not attempt to do that), AND THAT YOU DON’T RECEIVE OF HER PLAGUES (clearly, those who participate in any organization’s sins will also deserve to share in that organization’s punishment, so the best way to avoid the latter is to avoid the former),

Revelation 18:5
FOR HER SINS HAVE REACHED TO THE SKY (they were huge and numerous), AND GOD HAS REMEMBERED HER INIQUITIES. God, of course, is fully aware of everything that has ever happened; He doesn’t need to ‘remember’ things in the sense than we do. In this context, the word ‘remembered’ means ‘has decided to punish’ and ‘is about to do so’ (not just ‘hasn’t forgotten about’).

Revelation 18:6
RETURN TO (treat) HER (‘Babylon the Great’) JUST AS SHE (‘Babylon the Great’) RETURNED (treated the true Christians, during the days of ‘her’ power), AND REPAY HER (‘Babylon the Great’) DOUBLE AS SHE (‘Babylon the Great’) DID (to the true Christians, then), AND ACCORDING TO HER WORKS. IN THE CUP WHICH SHE MIXED, MIX TO HER DOUBLE (‘Babylon the Great’ is to be punished twice as severely as ‘she’ punished the true Christians, because ‘she’ only succeeded in killing some of them, but ‘she’ will be completely destroyed).

Revelation 18:7
HOWEVER MUCH SHE GLORIFIED HERSELF (as opposed to glorifying God) AND GREW WANTON (that was quite a lot!), SO MUCH GIVE HER OF TORMENT AND MOURNING. FOR SHE SAYS IN HER HEART, ‘I SIT A QUEEN, AND AM NO WIDOW, AND WILL IN NO WAY SEE MOURNING.’ The arrogance and self-exaltation of this political and religious system in the time that we’re referring to knew no bounds. All of this, of course, is thoroughly recorded in history. I refer to it as if you were already familiar with the history; if you’re not familiar with the history, take the time to read it sometime! Find out what was going on during all those hundreds of years! It wasn’t pretty.

Revelation 18:8
THEREFORE IN ONE DAY HER PLAGUES WILL COME: DEATH, MOURNING, AND FAMINE; AND SHE WILL BE UTTERLY BURNED WITH FIRE; FOR THE LORD GOD WHO HAS JUDGED HER IS STRONG. God’s power exceeds every human power and every system of human power, and He will bring to judgment those who attempt to seize His rightful place and stand in it.

Revelation 18:9
THE KINGS OF THE EARTH, WHO COMMITTED SEXUAL IMMORALITY AND LIVED WANTONLY WITH HER, WILL WEEP AND WAIL OVER HER, WHEN THEY LOOK AT THE SMOKE OF HER BURNING (they will be saddened by the destruction of that which they had held dear for such a long time, but),

Revelation 18:10
STANDING FAR AWAY FOR THE FEAR OF HER TORMENT (they won’t want to be destroyed, too, so they will distance themselves from the system that will then be coming to its doom), SAYING, ‘WOE, WOE, THE GREAT CITY, BABYLON, THE STRONG CITY! FOR YOUR JUDGMENT HAS COME IN ONE HOUR.’ I don’t know how literally that ‘one hour’ should be taken – whether it’s a literal, 60-minute clock hour or whether it’s a symbol for something else. Usually, in the Bible, a ‘day’ symbolizes a year, and any time period greater than that can be scaled accordingly, so that a ‘week’ symbolizes seven years, a ‘month’ symbolizes 30 years, a ‘year’ symbolizes 360 years, and so on; but I’ve never seen an interpretation that says that you can scale it down, that an ‘hour’ symbolizes 1/24 of a year, which would be about 15 days. It may be that, or it may be just one clock hour, or it may just mean in one unit of activity – the punishment occurred, and that was that. I don’t know. The point that is clear, I think, is that the judgment comes suddenly, and is executed swiftly.

Revelation 18:11
THE MERCHANTS OF THE EARTH WEEP AND MOURN OVER HER, FOR NO ONE BUYS THEIR MERCHANDISE ANY MORE (the Church had such a stock of money and resources that it was able to keep the economy moving by buying all of the stuff that the merchants were selling and adding it to the decorations in the various cathedrals, monasteries, convents and so on – what we will read next is a long list of the goods and products that the merchants engaged in selling and that were purchased and used by the Church in those days);

Revelation 18:12
MERCHANDISE OF GOLD, SILVER, PRECIOUS STONES, PEARLS, FINE LINEN, PURPLE (cloth), SILK, SCARLET (cloth), ALL (the most) EXPENSIVE (kinds of) WOOD, EVERY VESSEL OF IVORY, EVERY VESSEL MADE OF MOST PRECIOUS WOOD, AND OF BRASS, AND IRON, AND MARBLE;

Revelation 18:13
AND CINNAMON, INCENSE, PERFUME, FRANKINCENSE, WINE, OLIVE OIL, FINE FLOUR, WHEAT, SHEEP, HORSES, CHARIOTS, AND PEOPLE’S BODIES AND SOULS. They trafficked in every conceivable area of expensive produce, even including people, who were bought and sold during that time just like any other commodity on the market.

Revelation 18:14
THE FRUITS WHICH YOUR SOUL LUSTED AFTER HAVE BEEN LOST TO YOU, AND ALL THINGS THAT WERE DAINTY AND SUMPTUOUS HAVE PERISHED FROM YOU, AND YOU WILL FIND THEM NO MORE AT ALL. Material possessions don’t last forever in any situation, and certainly not when God comes in judgment.

Revelation 18:15
THE MERCHANTS OF THESE THINGS (just like the kings, in verses 9 and 10), WHO WERE MADE RICH BY HER, WILL STAND FAR AWAY FOR THE FEAR OF HER TORMENT, WEEPING AND MOURNING;

Revelation 18:16
SAYING, ‘WOE, WOE, THE GREAT CITY, SHE WHO WAS DRESSED IN FINE LINEN, PURPLE (clothes), AND SCARLET (clothes), AND DECKED WITH GOLD (ornaments) AND PRECIOUS STONES AND PEARLS!

Revelation 18:17
FOR IN AN HOUR (again, not knowing just exactly how that phrase should be interpreted) SUCH GREAT RICHES ARE MADE DESOLATE.’ The kings were concerned with the fact that in one hour the city had been punished, because punishment relates to the function of a king or a government; the merchants lament the fact that in one hour the city had lost all its wealth, because wealth and money is the area that merchants relate to and are concerned about. EVERY SHIPMASTER, AND EVERYONE WHO SAILS ANYWHERE, AND MARINERS, AND AS MANY AS GAIN THEIR LIVING BY SEA, STOOD FAR AWAY (just like the kings in verses 9 and 10 and the merchants in verse 15),

Revelation 18:18
AND CRIED OUT AS THEY LOOKED AT THE SMOKE OF HER BURNING, SAYING, ‘WHAT IS LIKE THE GREAT CITY?’

Revelation 18:19
THEY CAST DUST ON THEIR HEADS, AND CRIED, WEEPING AND MOURNING, SAYING, ‘WOE, WOE, THE GREAT CITY, IN WHICH ALL WHO HAD THEIR SHIPS IN THE SEA WERE MADE RICH BY REASON OF HER GREAT WEALTH!’ FOR IN ONE HOUR IS SHE MADE DESOLATE. These were the people who carried all of this merchandise from place to place. The Roman Empire was built around the edges of the Mediterranean Sea. Most commerce didn’t go over land, but it went by way of water. The Roman emperors bragged that through their conquests they had ‘turned the Mediterranean into a Roman lake’ – meaning that the Roman Empire completely surrounded the Mediterranean Sea so that, for all practical purposes, the sea was theirs as well as the land around it. Then they used that ‘lake’ as a means of transportation – you could get from one point to another by sailing on it, so the sailors made a lot of money. All of this so far has been the reaction of the worldly people who were involved with and committed to the system that was opposed to God – any system that is opposed to God, really, throughout all history, and, supremely, the Antichrist system of the Middle Ages. What is the reaction of God’s people to this destruction and this judgment?

Revelation 18:20
REJOICE OVER HER, O HEAVEN (because of ‘her’ destruction), YOU SAINTS (true Christians), APOSTLES, AND PROPHETS; FOR GOD HAS JUDGED YOUR JUDGMENT ON HER (condemned ‘her’ for what she did to you).” The destruction of that system that opposed God is a vindication of God’s people – a public demonstration that they were in the right when they were tortured and killed and accused of being in the wrong. All of that time, all those martyrs gave their lives for their faith in Jesus, and yet there was no public vindication of them. There was no way for anybody to state that they were the ones who were right and that those who put them to death were the ones who were wrong. On the contrary, those who put them to death had the last word and were able to say, “We have punished the heretics.” But now, God has turned the tables, bringing destruction on that system that brought destruction and reward to those who had been destroyed.

Revelation 18:21
A MIGHTY ANGEL TOOK UP A STONE LIKE A GREAT MILLSTONE (such as were used by the housewives in most of that part of the world at that time to grind up grain to make flour and meal with which to bake food – the “great” millstone was the “lower” millstone, a rock about six or eight feet across and a couple of feet thick with a hole in the middle of it, and the “upper” millstone was about a foot across and had a handle on it, and you would take the grain and lay it out on the lower millstone and then grind on it with the upper millstone – the upper millstone was the possession of the female head of household and it was a very important possession to her; it was a tool that she used in her work and a symbol of her authority in the family – women would carve their initials on their upper millstones, paint them different colors to decorate them, draw pictures of their family, etc. and it was their prized possession. But this angel picked up a stone the size of a lower millstone, something no human being could do) AND CAST IT INTO THE SEA, SAYING, “THUS WITH VIOLENCE WILL BABYLON, THE GREAT CITY, BE THROWN DOWN, AND WILL BE FOUND NO MORE AT ALL. When you throw a rock into water, it goes straight to the bottom, and the bigger the rock, the less likely it is that anything will possibly prevent it from going to the bottom. When you get a rock the size of a lower millstone and throw it into the sea, you know that it’ll go straight to the bottom of the sea and nothing will stand in its way. What’s meant by that illustration is that the Antichrist system will certainly and absolutely be thrown down and destroyed; there is no hope of any recovery of it in any way, shape or form. Nothing can stop God’s judgment from coming upon the system that so thoroughly opposed Him during all those hundreds of years.

Revelation 18:22
THE VOICE (music) OF HARPISTS, MINSTRELS, FLUTE PLAYERS, AND TRUMPETERS WILL BE HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN YOU (‘Babylon’). NO CRAFTSMAN, OF WHATEVER CRAFT, WILL BE FOUND ANY MORE AT ALL IN YOU. THE SOUND OF A(n upper) MILL(stone grinding on the lower millstone) WILL BE HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN YOU. If there was a city in which you never heard the sound of an upper millstone grinding on a lower millstone, you knew that it was a ghost town. That would have been a totally uninhabited city. There wasn’t any way for you to not hear that sound in a city that was inhabited, because all of the women would be out there grinding up the meal to make their flour.

Revelation 18:23
THE LIGHT OF A LAMP WILL SHINE NO MORE AT ALL IN YOU. Every night, people would have to light oil lamps in order to have light in their houses. No lamps shining would mean that there were no people living there. THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND OF THE BRIDE WILL BE HEARD NO MORE AT ALL IN YOU (no more weddings would mean no more families – no way to perpetuate the population); FOR YOUR MERCHANTS WERE THE PRINCES OF THE EARTH; FOR WITH YOUR SORCERY (deceptive miracles, as we saw in a previous chapter) ALL THE NATIONS WERE DECEIVED.

Revelation 18:24
IN HER (‘Babylon’) WAS FOUND THE BLOOD OF PROPHETS AND SAINTS, AND OF ALL WHO HAVE BEEN SLAIN ON THE EARTH.” The fact that the Antichrist system had oppressed and tortured and killed God’s chosen people is sufficient reason for its punishment.