The Fall of Babylon
18:1 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.” (ESV)
Wow. If there was ever any hint of doubt that God hates sin, it is definitely gone now. This is an intense chapter, showing us the ultimate destruction of all the things that the world holds as glamorous, important, or worth striving to attain.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.
It may seem anti-Christian to be gloating over such destruction, but the Bible tells us clearly in passages like these that when evil is punished, we are to celebrate. As long as God withholds His judgement, we have a mission to spread His word and take whatever persecution is thrown at us with joy. But one day, God will pay the world back for everything that they do to us. But until that day, we need to be even more bold to go out and preach His message of repentance to our high schools and everywhere else we go, taking confidence in the fact that God is with us and will not forsake us.
Great comment as always Mike :)
5for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
This is the exact opposite of how God views us! How cool is that! Everytime we sin we are saved by the blood of Christ and the Father forgives our diobedience towards Him (1 John 1:9). Unlike Babylon, our sin’s won’t pile up, there is no pile in the first place! Before Jesus’ work in us there was a pile, but by His grace and love we don’t have all that sin anymore, and instead all that remains is a Savior that loves us and wants to have a divine relationship with us. He deserves all the praise and glory forever and ever!
8Therefore 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.
All the bad stuff that wordly cities have caused will be turned against Babylon in this time. I believe Babylon is located in modern day Iraq. Not so sure what is going to be destroyed, but some city that worldy people love and a place that sin is rampant. God will destroy these places. The first thing that came to my head as I was reading this was that the way they described Babylon sounded like a city in the modern world. John describes it as a place in which many trade and make a lot of money and where people are commiting adultery. It sorta reminded me of Las Vegas. That placed is sometimes called Sin City, and for a good reason. People today don’t even care about all the immoral things that happen there, and our media even flaunts it. But God will destroy all the cities like that. It says that she will be consumed with fire. That reminded me of Sodom and Gommorah. Hellfire and brimstone fell from the sky and wiped that city of the face of the earth. That is an example of what it might look like when this happens. This shows how powerful God really is. It says here He does this to show His might. But if you think about it, He could just be going easy on them, because for all we know, He could think that erasing an entire city is a piece of cake. This goes to show that God won’t let these sins go unpunished.
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
Good job Hunter! Yeah, I agree, by His grace and love we don’t have all that sin anymore. It is amazing how forgiving the Lord is! It is also comforting to me that we don’t have a pile of sins that keeps growing, because the Lord forgives us of our sins.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.’
Mike, great comment. I too really liked this verse. There is such a strong, underlying theme of justice and God’s retribution for sin throughout Revelation. I think that is something that has really opened my eyes. Not only do we have to realize that those who are lost will one day suffer these unspeakable terrors, but when we choose to sin, we align ourselves (even if temporarily) with Satan and are under the cloud of God’s wrath. Even though we are Christians, we do have to realize that God takes sin EXTREMELY seriously and his anger can burn even with Christians who are unfaithful to Him. As we preach to others, let’s make sure we are guarding our hearts as well and entrusting them to Christ. When we are faithful, we will be able to one day rejoice that God’s justice is paid to the wicked because God will repay them for the persecution we received. Basically, God’s got our back!!!
This is a great warning to all those that invest in worldly things instead of a Godly ones. I know we all have to live in the world, but we don’t have to be like the world. 8 Mighty is the Lord that judges her. 17 In one hour such great wealth was brought to ruin. Gods judgement will be swift, painful and permanent. Thank God for Compass and especially true north where the teaching is faithful to His word.
19They 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!
The last sentence in this verse really stood out to me “In one hour she has been brought to ruin!” Babylon has been investing itself in all the world has to offer and not thought once about investing in God and things that are eternal. This verse shows how meaningless worldly wealth, prestige and possessions are…in one hour God brought them all to ruin. As Christians we do not need to worry that we will be destroyed like Babylon, but we do need to examine what we invest in on earth. We must be careful to spend our time, talents and energy on kingdom things so that our life’s work is not meaningless.
Nice to see Mr. Ray Burke in the house!
3For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.
On the same note as Matt’s comments, when we sin, we align ourselves with Satan. According to this verse it is like we are commiting adultery against God. When we see sin in this context, the fleeting pleasure it offers seems hardly worth it. I don’t want to be like “all the nations” who endulge in sin and live purely to please themselves.
14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’
This verse just hit me because as Orange County Highschool students we have the blessing to grow up in one of the most wealthy areas of the entire world. Most of OC is focused on the here and now and the material and money oriented things. The thing is, in the End times, all of that will pass away… its just a temporary thing. So what we need to do is not focus so much on the physical but the spiritual. Be more God and heaven focussed rather than focussed on material possessions…. Just remember the words of
Matt 6:19-21″Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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.
Like Mike said, I’m pretty sure God’s not a huge fan of sin. But yet again we’re warned to come out of the world or when it falls it’s taking us with it. And in verse five it’s says that the world is full of sin. This reminds of how Bobby was talking about how people try to take on sin but it’s not gonna happen, we need to just remove ourselves from it.
15The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn
16and cry out: ” ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
Outstanding comments everyone!! I would have to agree with what Jacob said on this subject!! HOW do we let material possessions get in the way with our walk with Christ?? Computers, cell phones, ipods, or whatever takes up your time, are we using it to please our Father in heaven?? We need to remind ourselves that all of these things are temporary objects, like what Jacob said, and that we should be aiming for our ultimate goal in Christ Jesus our Lord!! :D
I agree with Sarah. God is not a fan of sin but he does forgive us. Material possesions should not be our entire life and i think that even though he forgives us we shouldn’t disobey him anyways.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.’ ”
Great comment Mike! I was kind of wondering about this verse… At first it seems sorta evil to gloat about such a giant destruction. But then you remember that it’s a wonderful thing when evil is punished, and we should celebrate victories like this. God is sooo powerful and so amazing… Yet another reason to stand by HIm :)
8Therefore 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.
Wow what an intense chapter! It says in this verse, in one day her plagues will overtake her! One day! I like the end of the verse particularly, though, where it says, “for might is the Lord God who judges her.” How true is that! God is almighty, all powerful!! God brings His judgement on the world in Revelation and shows how mighty He is! Sometimes, at least I know I do, I forget or don’t think about God’s power and might. He can do anything and that is something to constantly be reminded of. Our prayers should show that we know of His might by asking for great things for Him to do for His kingdom. Many of us have said this book is a great motivation for evangelism, and thorugh His power and might, more people will come to know Him.
Some people today act like the only things to sing about God are his love and kindness. And of course these are good things to sing about but there is more to God’s character. This chapter shows us in the future singing of God’s judgment! We are rejoicing that He is just and has made things right! Whenever we are worshiping God let us keep in mind who He is, full of love and truth.
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
Like a couple people already said, we don’t have to worry about this because God has forgiven us and no longer remembers our sins. We are covered by Christ’s blood. It is a great feeling knowing that God is not piling our sins against us.
20Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.’ ”
Nice comment Mike. It might sound weird in seeing that it says to rejoice in other peoples’ destruction, but really we are rejoicing to see sin destroyed forever and God glorified. We should care about the people who are trapped in it though, and evangelize to them with every opportunity we get and with all our heart. But what a great day its going to be when troubles, sin and evil will be gone forever and instead we will have God’s presence. But in the mean time we want to make sure that we are imploring others to repent and join us rather than experience God’s wrath.
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes
If you read this verse and on….it sure shows how God punishes because of sin. GOD HATES SIN. God remebers every single sin we have ever comitted! This chapter of Revelation scares me!! It definitley motivates me to stay out of sin. I hope it is a good motivational chapter for you too!
I liked verses 6-10 talking about the destruction that is to come to Babylon. This city was like an idol to the world and to the kings of the world; however, we know as Christians, our God is powerful and He destroyed that city in no time. Again, I am so thankful that God sent His Son for us so that we will not have to go through this.
21Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
That is an image that I could picture clearly in my mind. A millstone being thrown into the ocean making a huge wave and instantly sinking. Putting the same image with Babylon shows how magnificent God is.
this chapter is a great example of how seriously God hates sin, and sexual immorality. this whole chapter is about the great prostitute and babylon, which like brett said was an idol. God has a very harsh (yet just) wrath that He will unleash like a theif in the night; we will not know when it happens. this is a great motivation for evangelism, because we dont know when it will happen, but hte Bible tells us it will be soon
Great comment Mike! It really encouraged me
Intense chapter as always.
I totally agree with what Mike said, this chapter really shows how God truly cannot tolerate sin, not only does he not tolerate it but he hates it. It really proves that the things on this Earth are not worth the judgement and punishment that we will face as a consequence of giving into the sins of this world. I also like what Mike said about rejoicing in the fact that sin was being punished. Even though the consequences of our sins are never comfortable or fun to deal with, we need to still rejoice in the fact that we have a just God!!
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes
We can trust that God is a just God, this should encourage us but at the same time motivate us to stay far away from sin!!
14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’
These people from Babylon had idols, God punishes them for their sin that “has piled up to heaven” and He shows His power and destroyed Babylon and left them in ruin. These people seeked after wealth that is only temporary and they are also sexual immoral.
8Therefore 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.
This verse stood out to me and I really liked Haley’s comment on it too. Revelation is an intense picture of how mighty and strong the Lord is, right in all of His judgments, and more powerful than we can imagine.
13cargoes 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.
Whoa! does this mean that there are going to be slaves in the end times?
24In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.”
This verse stuck out to me the most because it says “the blood of the prophets and of the saints” which obviously means that she, this city of sin, killed them! What a sad picture that is painted here, as well as inspiring!!!!!!!!
What God is doing in this chapter is awesome! God is just and His attributes are at work, the majesty of God is finally paying back sin for what it is worth.
20Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.’ ”
Oh man I love God’s justice, even the fact that I will be judged one day is something that I admire, because it is from God. And especially the fact that CHrist died for my sins, that helps a tiny bit too :)
JK!!!!!!!!!!! that helps so so much! My life is centered around Him and His saving grace! Praise the Lord for the salvation He so lovingly gives to all!
19They 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!
How sad that people will not turn to their heavenly father and confess their sins and become his! Man it breaks my heart to read this verse and imagine people crying out in agony becuause of the justice that God will bring down to those who rejected him. “In one hour she has been brought to ruin!” God has the power to bring the whole world to ruins and the destruction of those unbelievers will be quick. Let us save as many people as we can from that horrible hour!!!! But still, MARANATHA!!!!
mmmmmBOOOOM!!! destroyed…. wow God’s power is completley amazing. What pastor Bobby said was so true…you can’t just worship the “nice” part of God. When we worship we worship GOD, holy, might, powerful, loving, perfect…the list goes on….We need to make sure that we are truly worshiping Him…just because we are saying praise to Jesus Christ, doesn’t mean we are really saying praise to JESUS CHRIST. If our veiw of God is false then how could we really be worshiping him.
4Then 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;
mmm ya, we dont want to be associated with this. I love how it shows that the Lord clearly says to get away, or out, from them so we wont be judged!