The Fall of Babylon
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Good afternoon. Last week we saw kind of the thousand foot view of the final battle that is yet to come. And now we are going to spend the next two weeks at around the hundred foot mark. We are going to be given a more detailed picture of what is to happen during that final battle between Jesus and Satan. But because we are still a good ways overhead there are going to be a lot of details that we simply will not be able to see clearly.
The next two chapters are dedicated to the fall or destruction of Babylon. And Babylon is representative of all of the worldly systems that stand against Christ Jesus as King. And the big question that the next two chapters is going to beg us to ask and in fact one of the questions that the entire book begs us to ask over-and-over again is. Whose side are you really on?
This world is and has always been spiritually bankrupt. And yet we all at times seem to go to the world in order to find those things that only Jesus is able to provide. Look. If you end your day feeling good about yourself because the world respects you or sees value in you? What is that truly worth?
Or perhaps we find security in the fact that we have been diligent in saving enough money to ensure a nice retirement?
Or perhaps we feel good about where we are in life because we know what our agenda is, our goals are set, and we are chasing our dreams.
Now hear me out and I need you to listen well. Please don’t tune me out just yet. I am not saying that these things in and of themselves are necessarily evil or bad. What I am saying is that all too often we allow the world and its lies to distract from the true source of respect, or security, or self worth. Just to name a few very subtle ways that our world seeks to replace Jesus with the lies and distractions of Satan.
What we need is to be freed from the spiritually bankrupt and broken promises of this world, and instead we need to see God’s power to provide freely everything that the world is trying to sell us.
One of the most difficult things for us to see and understand is that this world doesn’t love us. It says it does, but it simply does not. Fallen humanity loves only themselves.
And we need to see every foothold that Babylon has in our lives fall away. We need to hear the clear call of Jesus to come out of Babylon and to find rest and refuge in the Land of Promise.
And my hope is that we can see here in Revelation chapter eighteen exactly what we need.
So let’s begin. In the first three verses we read the announcement so to speak of Babylon’s Fall
In verse one we read.
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.
An angel from heaven appears and we are told that this angel has great authority. That is because it has been sent by God Almighty. It has come in the authority of God Almighty. Also I would say that this angel comes forth from the very presence of God and that is why it says that the earth was made bright with the glory of the angel. We saw something similar but on a much smaller scale when Moses descended from the mountain after speaking with God. He literally glowed from the glory that had been revealed to Him by the mere presence of God almighty. And I believe that here we are seeing a very similar experience.
Then in verse two the angel calls out and we read.
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.
One of the traps that we have a tendency to fall into when reading these last several chapters is not seeing Babylon clearly. Here we are told that Babylon has already fallen and that Babylon has become a dwelling place for demons, unclean spirits, birds, and detestable beasts. We need to remember that this is speaking of the world in which we live right now, not simply the seat of power of Satan during the end times. We need to remember that we are living today in Babylon. This is how we should see this passage here and now today.
Most of us don’t like to look for or see the demonic powers that are at work all around us each and every day. I also want to argue caution in regards to this as well. We can not go through life blaming Satan for everything bad that occurs within our lives.
Then in verse three we read just why such judgment is going to come upon Babylon and we read..
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.”
This says that ALL nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. This means ALL nations. No nation is separated out. Not Israel. Not America. We like to look at our founding principles and say that they are based upon Christian principles and so therefore we live in a “Christian” nation. But, this says that America has been seduced by Babylon and is fallen.
Also this statement concerning sexual immorality is simply speaking of only those sins that are sexually immoral, but rather this is used symbolically of the myriad of sins that our world is caught up in. Now, we might claim that it is very interesting that our world has truly been caught up in a very unique in striving to give a stamp of approval on sexual immorality in a way that we have never seen in the history of our world. Is there a connection? I don’t know, there are certainly similarities.
This essentially says that those who are the political leaders (the kings) and the economic leaders (the merchants) of the world have been seduced by worldly desires and passions and they have succumb. They have ALL fallen. Not one stands apart from the world as a truly godly leader.
David the greatest king of Israel was seduced by power and riches to make foolish sinful decisions concerning his rule. Solomon his son who is said to be the wisest man to have lived was just as easily seduced by the false promises of the world. And rather than looking to Jesus to fulfill their every need, they sought fulfillment in the seductions of Babylon, the worldly systems in which we find our lives so entangled every day.
We will one day have the opportunity to see David and Solomon face-to-face in heaven. Because our salvation from the seductions of Babylon do not come from our great deeds. Instead our hope is found only in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Then there is a shift and there is a warning that comes from a voice from the heavens. This warning is found in verses four and five where we read.
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;
for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
The fall of Babylon has been announced and a voice calls out to the people of God to flee from the destruction that is to come upon Babylon. There are very clear allusions here to the angels who were sent to Lot and told Lot to take his family and flee from Sodom.
And here’s the question we should each ask ourselves. First, are we fleeing from Babylon and the world. Are we actually trying to flee from the seductions of the world to sin? Are we like Lot? Or are we like his wife, who longingly looks back and only sees the loss of where her heart truly wants to be. Don’t be like Lot’s wife. Because if you are you will take part in her sins and you will share in her plagues. This is a picture of repentance. When we repent are we truly turning away from the world and the sins of this world and turning to Jesus and Jesus alone to fulfill the needs that we have in life.
There is another shift in verses six through eight and the voice from heaven now cries out for vengeance against Babylon. And we read in verse six.
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.
This is language that is very similar to what we saw in chapter six where the martyred saints cried out for God to enact vengeance upon those who martyred them. Now we need to all remember today that this cry for vengeance is not the enactment of vengeance by those who were martyred.
In Matthew chapter five we are told by Jesus to walk kindly and in love towards our enemies. This should be a characteristic that marks the life of a disciple of Jesus.
In fact in Romans chapter twelve verse nineteen where God tells us to never take vengeance into our own hands, but rather God says “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”
God alone knows the heart of the person who wronged us and He alone will act justly. We simply do not and will not. And so when this fallen world falls all over your life. Cry out for vengeance while allowing the Holy Spirit to control your life.
This cry continues and we read in verses seven and eight.
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.’
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.”
Babylon has seduced the world into believing that safety and security and prosperity will surely follow wherever she treads and so just follow in her footsteps she says and receive the blessing of her presence. However all those who follow here have been deceived and they walk each day of their lives straight towards destruction all the while thinking they are living the good life.
And when God chooses to finally act he will act swiftly. This will not all come to pass in a single day. But those several years that His wrath is felt will feel by the end as though it had been one endless nightmare.
The destruction of Babylon will be complete. So, I ask what in this world, within this Babylon are you hanging on to?
Now there is yet again another shift in our passage and the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth, and the seafarers (I don’t know where they came from in our passage, but they are going to pop up) they are all going to mourn the destruction and fall of Babylon. But, this is what I want each of us to see. Are these individual groups of the world concerned that Babylon is destroyed? Or are they only looking at their own personal loss? Do they really care about Babylon? Or do they only care about themselves? This is why when we started this whole thing I stated that the world around you doesn’t truly care about you. In the end they only care about themselves. We can discuss this later if anyone wishes. This is the nature of of our world that we have come to call the sin nature. The very nature of humanity is to sin. And ultimately that means to be self-centered not other-centered.
Alright so let’s cruise through this woeful mourning that we have in verses nine through nineteen.
In verses nine and ten the kings of the earth are found and we read.
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. 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.”
I know some of you right now are saying Garey they sure do seem to be mourning over the loss of Babylon. I would ask the question are they mourning the loss of Babylon or are the mourning the loss of sexual immorality and the luxurious lifestyles that have been lost.
Look we have all seen far more about politicians in the last several years than we had ever hoped to see and hear. Do you think they love the source of the power more than they do the power? I couldn’t come up with another analogy and it’s not a pretty one and it’s hard for perhaps many in this room to hear. But every addict acts like their pusher is their best friend until the drugs dry up. The seller doesn’t really care about the buyer and the buyer doesn’t really care about the seller. Because either one would quickly turn on the other if they didn’t get what each one of them wanted out of the relationship. And what we are seeing here is no different. That’s why our verses begin by describing what the kings really see as their loss.
They stand far off it says they didn’t actually come to the funeral. And it says they stood far from Babylon in fear of her torment. We are not reading this correctly if we think they are afraid that something that just died is able to react with torment towards them. They are afraid of sharing in the torment she experienced as she drank of the cup of the wrath of God. That’s what they’re really afraid of.
Then in verse eleven we read
And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore,
Okay they weep, why? Because Babylon has fallen? Nope. Because no one is buying what they are selling.
Verses twelve and thirteen list a ton of goods that would have all been quite expensive during this time.
And we read.
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, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
It’s the end of that that is really important. Now remember Babylon is seen as all that is sinful in regards to our world which is almost everything. And so if you want to do business with Babylon you must become a slave of Babylon and essentially sell your soul to Satan.
Again, I have to ask the question? Who or what are we chasing after for fulfillment in our lives is it Babylon or is it Jesus?
Verse fourteen bears the truth of what is really within the heart of the merchants and reads.
“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!”
It wasn’t Babylon that they missed or longed for or are even mourning. It’s all the stuff of the world that they are chasing after that has now been lost.
Then in verse fifteen we read
The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
No different than the kings of the earth. They fear the wrath of God more than they truly care for Babylon.
Then in verses sixteen through eighteen we read about the shipmasters and the seafaring men.
“Alas, alas, for the great city
that was clothed in fine linen,
in purple and scarlet,
adorned with gold,
with jewels, and with pearls!
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 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,
“What city was like the great city?”
Oh woe is me! I have lost everything of value to me in but a moment! Oh what a great city this was to provide for me all of this wealth. But I won’t go close because I might be struck just as she was.
Then in verse nineteen their grief at the loss of Babylon becomes too much and we read.
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.
Here today. Gone tomorrow.
Alas, Alas, me hearties, where do you find your value? Don’t be like these scally wags.
Then there is another shift in our passage and in verse twenty we read.
Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!”
There could not be a greater contrast presented. Now pay close attention, because this is not meant to be a means of personal joy for personal vengeance right. This is the announcement of the destruction of all that has stood against God within this world. God has won. His judgment is true and his justice is right. We should see this as a cry of rejoicing that God in the end will show himself to be God Almighty in the face of all Satanic forces within this world.
It’s not until the final four verses of the chapter that we actually read about the final destruction of Babylon.
In verse twenty-one we read.
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;
This verse is, I do believe, is a reference to Jesus speaking about those who lead little children who believe in him to sin. And in Matthew 18:6 he says.
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Here Jesus saying that it would simply be better to drown to death than to cause a child to sin.
And yet this is exactly what Babylon has done since the fall. And now the full weight of the judgment of God will be felt like a millstone around her neck as she sinks to the depths and gasps for her last breath.
And her destruction will be complete. It says that she will be found no more.
Then in verses 22 and the first part of 23 we read.
Revelation 18:22–23 (ESV)
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,
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,
The regular human activities of life will simply cease to occur in Babylon, because Babylon will simply cease to exist. Babylon is a dead and dying city. And Babylons coming death and decay is seen all around us even now.
Then in the last part of verses 23 and 24 we read.
Revelation 18:23–24 (ESV)
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
and of all who have been slain on earth.”
The ones that society all too often see as the greatest of the greats, the smartest of them all, they were all deceived by the sorcery, the trickery, the deception, the lies, the seduction of Babylon. It is as though Babylon has cast a spell upon mankind and she has seduced them to become her lover. This is what sin is.
And now she stands destroyed because she was the cause of the deaths of the prophets and the saints.
But more than that. Death did not exist within this world until sin came from the deception of that great serpent, who is satan. And from that moment on all of humanity has faced the reality that one day death must come. And so all who have faced death at the hands of sin, which is and will be nearly all of humanity, their blood is on Babylons hands.
This is the pervasive nature of sin.
Please see that there is nothing today that comes close to what we see within the book of Revelation. No empire throughout time has ever spanned the entirety of the globe. Babylon or whatever she will call herself in the end times will however control everything within our world. We are not in the end times yet.
But, each of us are still faced with the same questions that one day the saints will be faced with then.
Who do you follow Babylon or Jesus?
I would say so what? And try to come up with some cultural connections to our text. But I think that all of that would simply take away from the question that this text ultimately poses to the church.
Who do you follow the World or Jesus?
Let us pray.
Prayer
Benediction
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.