Revelation 18

Why study Revelation?

It is God’s word, and therefore “useful for… training in the ways of righteousness”.

It is full of Jesus!

It is very relevant to our lives today.

If you’ve been taught anything about Revelation, it was probably related to the Dispensational view.

Even if the person teaching it wasn’t Dispensationalist, it is the most common interpretation of Revelation among Protestants today.

The church has historically viewed Christ’s kingdom as “already but not yet” where Christ rules now but will in a more full way after his return.

How to read Revelation:

Let Revelation explain itself.

Let the NT explain Revelation.

Let the OT explain Revelation.

We have a set of common symbols to represent ideas. So does the Bible.

Revelation has three great waves of judgment: seven seals → seven trumpets → seven bowls

Each wave is bigger than the last

Each wave covers the same ground, all of history between Jesus' resurrection and His return, but zooms in closer each time

Chapter 15 is the doorway into the third and final wave: the seven bowls

But John doesn't open that door by showing the judgments first: He shows us the saints first

Their condition: victorious, standing, singing

Judgment is not the main story. Victory is the main story.

Revelation 18:1 CSB

After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

Revelation 18:2 CSB

He called out in a mighty voice: It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every unclean and despicable beast.

Revelation 18:3 CSB

For all the nations have drunk the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.

Revelation 18:4–6 CSB

Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues. For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Pay her back the way she also paid, and double it according to her works. In the cup in which she mixed, mix a double portion for her.

Revelation 18:7–8 CSB

As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, “I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.” For this reason her plagues will come in just one day— death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.

Revelation 18:9 CSB

The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.

Revelation 18:10 CSB

They will stand far off in fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come.

Revelation 18:11–13 CSB

The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer—cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves—human lives.

Revelation 18:14 CSB

The fruit you craved has left you. All your splendid and glamorous things are gone; they will never find them again.

Revelation 18:15–17 CSB

The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls; for in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed! And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off

Revelation 18:17–18 CSB

for in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed! And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out, “Who was like the great city?”

Revelation 18:19–20 CSB

They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning, Woe, woe, the great city, where all those who have ships on the sea became rich from her wealth; for in a single hour she was destroyed. Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints, apostles, and prophets, because God has pronounced on her the judgment she passed on you!

Revelation 18:21 CSB

Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, In this way, Babylon the great city will be thrown down violently and never be found again.

Revelation 18:22 CSB

The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again; no craftsman of any trade will ever be found in you again; the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again;

Revelation 18:23 CSB

the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of a groom and bride will never be heard in you again. All this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

Revelation 18:24 CSB

In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth.