Judgement of Babylon

Brief Background

For those who are just joining us, we are working our way through the book of Revelation. John the son of Zebedee was in exile on the isle of Patmos. Yeshua was revealed to him there, and John was commanded to write to seven communities in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

When we were last studying Revelation, we were discussing the Great Prostitute riding the Scarlet Beast. Rev. 17 explains the three basic characters, the Great Prostitute, the Scarlet Beast and the Kings and People of the Earth. We looked at how Scripture interprets the symbol of mountains to represent nations. I shared my view where I believe that a Revived Islamic Caliphate fits closer to the prophetic scriptures of Daniel 2, 7 & 9 than a Revived Roman Empire.

We also talked about how there will be massive internal conflict between the final empire, the seven headed beast, and the city of Babylon the Great, the woman riding the beast. Rev. 17 finishes by telling us that the final world empire will destroy the city because Adonai has put it in their heart to do His will.

Today we are going to Read Revelation 18 and cover the specifics of the Judgement of Babylon the Great.

Revelation 18 TLV

After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory. He cried out with a mighty voice, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a den for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit and for every unclean bird and for every unclean and detestable beast. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her immorality. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich off the power of her self-indulgence.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you participate in her sins and receive her plagues! For her sins have piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Pay her back just as she has paid out, and give her back double for her deeds! In the cup she has mixed— mix a double dose for her! As she has exalted herself and indulged herself in luxury, so give her the same measure of torment and grief! For in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen— I am no widow; I shall never see grief.’ For this reason her plagues will arrive in a single day— death and grief and famine— and she shall be burned down with fire. For mighty is Adonai Elohim who judges her!” Then the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and indulged in luxury with her shall weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning— standing far off because of the terror of her torment, saying: “Alas, alas, O great city— O Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come!” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, because no one buys their merchandise anymore— shipments of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of citron wood; all kinds of ivory products; all kinds of products made of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; and slaves—that is, human souls. The fruit of your soul’s desire has gone from you, and all the expensive and beautiful things are lost to you —never again will people find them. The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, shall stand far off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, “Alas, alas, O great city— clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in a single hour so much wealth has been ruined!” And every ship captain and passenger, sailors and all who make their living at sea, stood at a distance and were crying out, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, “Alas, alas, O great city— in her all who had ships at sea grew rich from her wealth! For in a single hour has she been ruined! Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you kedoshim, emissaries and prophets! For God has judged her condemnation of you!” Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying: “So shall Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, never to be found again! And the sound of harpists and musicians, flautists and trumpeters, shall never be heard in you again! And the craftsman of any craft shall never be found in you again! And the sound of a mill shall never be heard in you again! And the light of a lamp shall never shine in you again! And the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall never be heard in you again! For your businessmen were the tycoons of the world, for all the nations were deceived by your sorcery! And in her was found the blood of the prophets and kedoshim and all those slaughtered on the earth.”

Poetic retelling

What we see in this chapter is a descriptive and poetic retelling of the previous chapter. This is sort of re-telling is seen in multiple places throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Some examples are seen in the creation narrative, where Genesis 2 gives many more details to the creation account in Genesis 1. Another example is the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Ex. 15 we have the song of Moses and Miriam that recounts the rescue of Beni Yisrael from the Egyptian army.

Another great example is shown, as shown in this picture, is the story of the Judge and Prophetess Deborah as written in Judges 4 and 5. Judges 4 recount the story as a narrative, where as Judges 5 is the song of Deborah that expresses the victory of Adonai in a poetic form. We also see the same with many of the Psalms relating to historical events and providing us another perspective of the same stories.

The Judgement of Babylon

This brings us to the passage in Revelation that we just read. In the previous chapter we saw a narration of the destruction of this wealthy end-time city. Now here in Ch. 18, we see multiple poetic responses to the judgement of the city, and this chapter provides many details that we did not see before.

Merchants

Some new characters are added to the story and are described as Merchants (vs. 3, 11, 15, Sea Captains (vs. 17), and in the TLV, Businessmen (vs.23). These people, along with the Kings of the earth, are shown mourning over the loss of this great end-time city.

The first mention of these merchants is in Verse 3. The angel tells us that Rev. 18:3b “the merchants of the earth grew rich off the power of her self-indulgence.””

We see that the Merchants have grown excessively wealthy from the trade and influence that this city has in the world’s affairs.

Once the city and its port are destroyed, we see that the Merchants are weeping in Rev. 18:14 “The fruit of your soul’s desire has gone from you, and all the expensive and beautiful things are lost to you —never again will people find them.” and Rev. 18:16 “saying, “Alas, alas, O great city— clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!”

All of those who make their living at the sea weep over the loss of this city of trade in Rev. 18:19 “And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, “Alas, alas, O great city— in her all who had ships at sea grew rich from her wealth! For in a single hour has she been ruined!”

Just as we are experiencing a minor supply chain crisis at the moment, all of these Business people will weap because of the losses that they will experience when this port city is destroyed.

Because of some of the discussions we have had before I feel I need to mention, that neither Rome nor Mecca are port cities.

Kings of the earth

We discussed the Kings of the earth in Chapter 17. Here we see them mentioned again. Twice we see that the angle is declaring that the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with this great city, both in Vs. 3 and in 9. We remember that throughout the Biblical prophets, adultery and sexual immorality is synonymous with idolatry, especially when it refers to a city.

An example of this is seen in the Lament against Tyre, another port city. Let’s turn to Isa. 23:1-5 .

Isaiah 23:1–5 TLV

The burden of Tyre. Wail, ships of Tarshish! For Tyre is destroyed. There is no house and no harbor. From the land of Cyprus, it was revealed to them. Be still, inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, your messengers crossing the sea. On many waters the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile was her revenue and a marketplace of nations. Be ashamed, O Sidon. For the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not writhed or given birth. I have not reared young men or brought up maidens.” When the report reaches Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report about Tyre.

We see that with the destruction of a port city, all the nations that did trade with it, in this case Egypt and Tarshish, will weep and mourn. As you can see, this lament against Tyre is very similar to the passage we read in Revelation 18.

Adonai was declaring the destruction of Tyre and Sidon (which happened under Alexander the Great) for the exact same reasons as the destruction of Babylon the Great. Later in the chapter the prophet declares, Isa. 23:9 “Adonai-Tzva’ot has planned it, to defile the pride of all glory, to shame all the honored of earth.”

But in the case of Tyre, we see that there is no repentance, and the city returns to its previous state. Isa. 23:17 “Then it will come about after the end of 70 years that Adonai will take note of Tyre. She will return to her trade and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.”

Notice, that just like the passage in Revelation 18, Adonai links the wealth and prosperity with prostitution. Now I am not saying that wealth and prosperity are inherently evil, because there are certainly godly people throughout the Scriptures who Adonai had prospered. A perfect example of this is Abraham himself. However, when wealth becomes god in someone’s life then it becomes idolatry. When we do not have Adonai as the one we worship, then we end up worshiping something else.

This is why Moses writes in Deut. 8:11-18

Deuteronomy 8:11–18 TLV

“Take care that you do not forget Adonai your God by not keeping His mitzvot, ordinances and statutes that I am commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply, and silver and gold multiplies for you and all that is yours multiplies, then your heart will be haughty and you will forget Adonai your God. He brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. He led you through the great and terrible wilderness—fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water. He brought forth water for you from the flinty rock. He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, in order to afflict you and test you, to do you good in the end. You may say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand has made me this wealth.’ Rather you are to remember Adonai your God, for it is He who gives you power to make wealth, in order to establish His covenant that He swore to your fathers—as it is this day.

When a nation or a city forgets God, they always fall into the place of worshiping something else. It may be actual idols, or it could be wealth as is shown here.

Timing of the judgement

Another fact that is brought out by this passage is just how quickly this city of Babylon the Great is destroyed, and how it is destroyed.

In Rev. 18:8 it states, “For this reason her plagues will arrive in a single day— death and grief and famine— and she shall be burned down with fire. For mighty is Adonai Elohim who judges her!””

This time frame is repeated by the Kings of the earth in Rev. 18:10b “Alas, alas, O great city— O Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come!”

The Merchants also repeat this in Rev. 18:17 “For in a single hour so much wealth has been ruined!” and again in Rev. 18:19 “Alas, alas, O great city— in her all who had ships at sea grew rich from her wealth! For in a single hour has she been ruined!”

And how is it destroyed, well we have read it several times. The port city of Babylon the Great will be destroyed in a single hour by fire that comes from the final world empire. Was this possible in the time of John? Not really. It is possible now?

Application for Today

Called to be Holy

A specific area that we must apply in our lives is in Revelation 18:4 “Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you participate in her sins and receive her plagues!”

As followers of Yeshua we are called to be in the world but not of the world. We are called to be salt and light where ever we are, but we must not participate in the sins of the world. We are called to be Kadosh or holy. When Peter was writing to a congregation of both Jews and Gentiles, He said this, 1 Pet. 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Focus on ultimate victory of Yeshua

When we remember that the focus of Revelation is on the victory of Yeshua, we can see the worship of this chapter. There is a cry of desperation in the hearts of all of us, that is crying out for truth and justice.

Just as the angel declares in Rev. 18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you kedoshim, emissaries and prophets! For God has judged her condemnation of you!””

While I do hold that there will be a physical city that will be destroyed, it is easy to see that Babylon the Great represents every world system that is does not follow Adonai. Every time that we see injustice and lies propagated by the world’s system around us we need to remember that this is the result of a sin-filled world that is following the prince of lies and deceit, the devil.

This becomes even more clear when we see our brothers and sisters being persecuted and killed for the sake of Yeshua. I am referring to the believers who are in Afghanistan, China, Iran, North Korea and many other places, who are persecuted, arrested, re-educated, and enslaved. Adonai said to Cain after murdering his brother, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.” (Gen 4:10)

Here in Revelation we see that not only does the blood spilt on the ground cry out for justice, but the multitudes surrounding the throne will rejoice when that justice is finally measured out. If Yeshua delays in coming, then I will also be in the crowd. There is a cry in my heard that yearns for justice for the unborn, for the children who are being lied to by false narratives, by the youth who believe that their only identity is found in sexuality, for the depressed who see this world as the only reality, and do not understand the eternal future and hope, for the parents who are fighting for their children, and feel like they are taking 1 step forward and 2 steps backward, for the mothers and fathers who are praying for their adult children who have walked away from Adonai.

In all of these things, our heart cries out to Adonai for his rescue, for His intervention. And one day we will all cry out with the great multitude in heaven as it says in Rev. 19:1-3

Revelation 19:1–3 (TLV)

“Halleluyah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. For His judgments are true and just. For He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her whoring, and has avenged the blood of His servants caused by her hand.” And a second time they shouted, “Halleluyah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!”