A sermon for Pilgrim Church July 2022

Chapter 17 began the narrative of the fall of Babylon, the great prostitute.  She has great earthly splendour.  But her allies turn against her and fight against her before turning to fight against the Lamb.  Chapter 18 goes into detail about the fall of Babylon and the mourning of those who relied on her empire to make themselves rich.

1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendour. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted: “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. 3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” (Rev. 18:1-3 NIV)

The angel lights up the whole earth with his glory.  In every other verse mentioning glory in Revelation, glory belongs to God or to the Lamb (1:6; 4:9, 11; 5:12, 13; 7:12; 11:13; 14:7; 15:8; 16:9; 19:1, 7; 21:11, 23, 24).  This implies that the angel whose glory illuminates the world is Christ.  Many different beings have authority in Revelation, but the only ones with great authority are the beast of Rev 13:2 and the angel described here.  The counter to the great authority of the beast is the far greater authority of the Son of God.  His voice is mighty and he proclaims the downfall of Babylon the Great.

Just like the OT nation Babylon, whom God cursed and proclaimed uninhabitable forever and filled with desert creatures (Isa 13:20-22), so the metaphorical Babylon the Great will be barren and only fit for demons and unclean animals to live in.  We saw in chapter 17 that Babylon the prostitute was allied with the dragon and the beast.  Here Babylon is described as demonic in a different way.  However beautiful this woman is on the outside, with her riches and finery, underneath it all she is full of demons.  We must remember that the enticement that comes from Babylon is not good but demonic.  The excessive luxury and wealth that she has generated is a demonic counterfeit for the glory of God.  Ultimately, pursuing the wealth and splendour of Babylon will prove empty, but nonetheless the allure is great and all the nations of the earth have drunk her maddening wine.

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. 6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. 7 Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ 8 Therefore 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.” (Rev. 18:4-8 NIV)

The allure of Babylon exists for the church, not just for the peoples of the earth.  It is really easy to fall into the same trap as the world and be carried away with the false promises that the devil makes through the woman who rides on the beast.  The temptation is real especially in our very wealthy and tech-filled society.  We want all the new gadgets and exciting things that money can buy.  Although there are certainly poor people in Australia, we still have an amazing amount of stuff in this country that was undreamed of in centuries before this.  It is hard sometimes to decide where functionality and utility stop and excess begins.  And before we know it, we can start believing that having it all is possible and a good idea.

But this is why there is a serious warning in the passage.  “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.”  Since we know that Babylon will be judged severely, we must come out of her so we don’t share in her downfall.  When the angels went to Sodom to rescue Lot, Lot told his sons-in-law, the ones who were betrothed to his daughters, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city.”  But they ignored him and died when God rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:1-29).  It is easy to become so used to the way things are that we just go along with it instead of realising how much we have compromised the gospel in the way we live.  If we don’t come to our senses then maybe we will end up experiencing the judgement alongside Babylon.  This warning is part of God’s plan to keep the church safe from compromise.

“for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”  The sins of Babylon the prostitute are so great that they mount up to heaven, a situation which brings to mind the tower of Babel, which was intended to reach up to heaven.  The sins of Babylon seem to have gone unpunished by God for some time.  He has let them mount up until they are a pile so high that they touch heaven.  But God has not ignored the sins of Babylon at all; he remembered them.  People may imagine that their sins will go unpunished, but this is not the case.

The punishment given to Babylon fits her crimes.  “Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. 7 Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.”  Some suggest that the idea of being paid back double is just a way of saying that Babylon will be paid back the equivalent for her crimes.  However, according to the law of Moses, thieves must pay back double what they stole (Exod 22:4, 7, 9).  Whichever of these is correct, we know that God is just and that Babylon will experience torment and grief in proportion to the luxury she horded for herself at the expense of the people of God, whom she persecuted.  All the harm she inflicted will be inflicted on her.

“In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ 8 Therefore 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 is an allusion to what the original Babylon said about herself and the judgement which followed.

7 You said, “I am forever– the eternal queen!” But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen. 8 Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, “I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.” 9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells. 10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, “No one sees me.” Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, “I am, and there is none besides me.” 11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you. (Isa. 47:7-11 NIV)

Consider the vain statements made by Babylon: “I am forever – the eternal queen”; and “I am, and there is none besides me”.  Only God is eternal.  Only God can say, “There is none besides me” (Exod 20:3; Deut 4:35, 39; 5:7; 1 Kings 8:60; Isa 44:8; 45:5, 6, 14, 18, 22; 46:9).  Such a statement out of the mouth of Babylon demonstrates the arrogance and self-importance of the devil and his allies.  They are deluded into believing their own lies.  They imagine that nothing will ever come against them.  They believe that they are the gods they pretend to be and that everyone will worship them.  But the true and living God is not fooled and not powerless.  In a single day, God says, Babylon will become a widow and childless, be overtaken by fire.  The punishment that Babylon imagined would never happen will happen suddenly and totally.  In this punishment of wicked Babylon, God’s holiness will be demonstrated to all and the saints will be vindicated.

The punishment which brings Babylon to her knees may first have occurred in the fall of the Roman Empire.  But we can see it repeated throughout history as each supposed eternal kingdom falls under the weight of its own arrogance and sin.  Every society in history falls eventually but never believes that it will.  The Third Reich in Germany was supposedly going to last a thousand years.  Where is it now?  This passage in Revelation refers to the final and ultimate fall of Babylon, the wicked world system.  Nonetheless we should remember that arrogance is not fitting to a country or political system (or even us as individuals) because confidence in its own wonders will eventually come to nothing.  Only God stands forever.  Only he is eternal.  His people will share in his eternal glory, but cannot take that glory for themselves.

9 When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!” 11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore– 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes 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 human beings sold as slaves. 14 They will say, “The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendour have vanished, never to be recovered.” 15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out: “Woe! Woe to you, great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! 17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!” Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, “Was there ever a city like this great city?” 19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: “Woe! Woe to you, great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!” (Rev. 18:9-19 NIV)

There are three sets of people who mourn in this passage: the kings of the earth who committed adultery with the prostitute Babylon; the merchants of the earth, who cannot sell their goods anymore; and the mariners, who make a living by the sea.  They all mourn because they are self-interested and want Babylon to keep going so that they can profit from their association with her.

The kings of the earth needed to ally themselves with Babylon in order to advance their political interests.  They are described as Babylon’s lovers in effect.  As long as the kings of the earth willingly participated in Babylon’s idolatrous system, they shared in her luxury.  Power, glory and wealth all came from being connected to Babylon.  People in Asia Minor, the ones who originally read this book, knew that they had to swear allegiance to both Caesar and idols in order to be part of the trade guilds.  Without this they would struggle to make a living.  What does that look like for us now in Australia?  People often have to suck up to the boss in order to stay employed.  Maybe that means compromising values, lying or being underhanded to make a sale.  The question for us is what kind of compromise are we being asked to make and can we make this with a good conscience before God?

The merchants have the longest lament over Babylon because no one buys their goods anymore.  The list of goods mentioned here would have made the merchants incredibly rich.  We know that their wealth did not simply come from hard work and diligence but it came at the expense of other people.  Slaves worked in silver and gold mines and rarely lived more than a few years doing this hard work.  Roman elite spent vast sums of money on luxury food items, while the poor starved for lack of grain.  The lack of grain was the result of land being given over to farming grapes to satisfy the rich’s hunger for fine wine. Those who made money off of trading with Rome were happy to engage in worship of the imperial cult in order to further their business interests.

We can see much of this excess in our own society in which people buy chef-cooked meals for their pets[1] and are willing to spend thousands to save their lives.[2]  Australia is obsessed with fancy food, luxurious holidays, endless fashion items and more and more electronic gadgets.  At the same time the Australian government spends less and less on overseas aid.  We know what happened during the pandemic, with all the wealthy countries scrabbling to get supplies, while poor countries were left without oxygen tanks or vaccines.  Human trafficking is alive and well.  We don’t generally keep slaves here but do rely on poor countries to make all of our consumer goods so that we can have it all with less expense.  Studies suggest that buying luxury goods makes people less generous.[3]  Indulging ourselves is not a neutral activity.

The merchants “will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendour have vanished, never to be recovered.’”  What Babylon has and what it offers are only temporary; it promises something more than it can deliver.  The luxury and splendour of Babylon are a worldly substitute for the glory of God and thus cannot last.  The desires that Babylon puts in front of us choke out our desire for the word of God if we let them (Mark 4:19).  But they are shiny and we want them.  The devil promises glory but it turns to dust.  We have to look further for the glory of God than simply material goods.

The mariners, the ones who either owned ships or made a living as sailors, were the backbone of transportation for luxury goods.  Without them, the Romans would not have so easily transported the luxury items they craved.  These mariners are complicit in Babylon’s system and they mourn the loss of her greatness.  Like the kings and merchants, they mourn because of their own loss.  The kings and merchants also “stand far off” because they are afraid that what happens to Babylon will happen to them.  None of them consider that they need to repent.

Babylon is given the title Babylon the Great (18:2) and also called the great city (18:10, 16, 18, 21).  But greatness rightly only belongs to God (15:3; Ps 48:1; 77:13).  This is the problem with Babylon, that she is called great and believes herself to be great.  Such a great city feels no need to submit her choices or actions to the Great God of the universe.  Her autonomy from God is the most heinous of sins.  She does not acknowledge God’s sovereignty.  Instead, her seeking after wealth led to the crushing of the poor and the persecution of the saints.  God does not put up with Babylon forever.  “In one hour she has been brought to ruin.”

In contrast to those who mourn over Babylon’s demise, the people of God are told to rejoice.  “Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Rev. 18:20 NIV).  The saints rejoice because God’s judgment is righteous and is the answer to their prayers (6:10).  Babylon judged the people of God as unworthy of being part of the world.  This judgement meant persecution and sometimes death.  But God judges his people based on Christ and vindicates them.

21 Then 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. 22 The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No worker of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. 23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.” (Rev. 18:21-24 NIV)

The angel throws a millstone into the sea as a huge visual demonstration of the violent end to Babylon.  This picture comes from Jer 51:63-64, in which the scroll with the oracle against Babylon is thrown into the Euphrates.  In Revelation 18:21 the stone has become a boulder-sized millstone, presumably to bring to mind the saying of Jesus “If anyone causes one of these little ones– those who believe in me– to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt. 18:6 NIV).  Babylon deceived the nations of the world and will be hurled into the sea.  False teachers in the church also deceive people (2:14, 20) into compromise, idolatry and immorality.  Without repentance they will share Babylon’s judgment.

There is a list of things which Babylon will no longer enjoy: music, work, light, weddings.  This is payback for all that the saints have been deprived of by Babylon’s persecution.  The physical Babylon deprived Israel of these things (Jer 25:10).  God’s punishment fits the crime.

In conclusion, I want to say that of all the chapters we have gone through so far, this one has been the one most personally challenging.  This chapter has raised a number of questions for me.  How much is too much?  When does meeting my economic needs turn into indulgence in luxury?  What kind of compromises have I made in order to avoid persecution and to make myself better off?  Have I become satisfied with the earthly glory of wealth and material things instead of seeking the glory of God?  How much do I need to compromise before being considered part of Babylon?  I have been pondering these things and cannot say that I have adequate answers.  I do not know that I have not been seduced by the earthly glory which we have all around us.  The only answers I have found so far for keeping away from Babylon are to continually give thanks to God for all he has given me and to be generous with what I have.