The great blasphemer is now receiving her retribution from a just and holy God. She was the hold of every foul and unclean bird and the habitation of demons. To the student of history the Vatican is the headquarters of the rottenest and most corrupt acts in history. Our God is seen saying, “come out of her…do not partake of her sins.” There is nothing holy about the “holy Catholic church.” God is going to pour out his judgment double unto her. The sentence is pronounced and execution is certain. She is going into hell at last. She must pay for her involvement in killing saints and prophets and trafficking in the souls of men. Well! God had a score to settle with the old “mother of harlots” and in this chapter he tells us about it. Read on brother and sister!
Unveiling the Judgment of Rome and the Great Harlot's Fall
Revelation 18:1
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
This is a different angel from the one mentioned in 17:1.
Revelation 18:2
With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil [Greek unclean] spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
This angel came to tell John about the fall of Babylon the Great–also known as church and state. Similar language is derived from the prophets:
But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged. (Isa. 13:21,22)
The desert owl and screech owl will possess it; the great owl and the raven will nest there... She will become a haunt for jackals, a home for owls. (Isa 34: 11-15)
Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives. (Jer. 51:37)
John is telling us that the desolation will be so great that it will be inhabited only by wild beasts and birds. Ancient Babylon is and always will be uninhabited.
Revelation 18:3
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.
As we have seen in the introduction the figure of fornication is repeatedly used to describe faithlessness towards God. The expression "wine of her fornication," is a repetition of that in Rev. 14:8 and is derived from Jer. 51:7. Cf. also Rev. 16:19; and 18:3.
Revelation 18:4
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.”
The harlot is identified as Babylon of which we identified in the previous chapter as the Catholic church. The Angel of verse one is calling for God's people to come out of her and not be partakers of her sins. The departure from her began at the end of the dark ages and continues to this present time. My great grand parents were once a part of her but they came out of her. The words of the Angel resemble those found elsewhere in scripture:
Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians! Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. (Isa. 48:20)
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the Lord. (Isa. 52:11)
Revelation 18:5
for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
The accumulation of her sins were so high that it appeared to reach all the way to Heaven. God had said this long ago of literal Babylon:
We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to his own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the clouds. (Jer:51:9)
Revelation 18:6
Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
The description of God's judgment is still founded on the denunciations against Babylon in Jeremiah. The legal retribution ordered in from the law found in Exodus 22:4-7.
Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs. (ISA 61:7)
Revelation 18:7
Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’
These words are an echo of Isaiah 47:7-9 regarding the "wanton creature." She forms an estimate of herself and asserted the right to rule.
Revelation 18:8
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.
The word of the Lord informs us that she will be consumed by fire. Some have thought that this is merely a figurative representation rather than an actual happening. But to the writer it seems a strong probability that God intends in this way to end the Papal power that have been so long a blasphemous power. Gibbon says:
In the opinion of a general conflagration... the country... was the best adapted for that purpose by natural and physical causes; by its deep caverns, beds of sulfur, and numerous volcanoes... (Gibbon, Vol. l p. 263, ch 15)
When Mr. Towsend made his tour of Italy in 1850 he wrote regarding the soil of Rome being tufa, with volcanic subterranean action, stating: "It seems as certainly prepared for the flames as the wood and coal of the hearth are prepared for the taper which shall kindle the fire to consume them." Dear reader do not be surprised to wake up some morning to the news that this has happened.
Revelation 18:9-10
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... Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!”
Judgment may be delayed but not forgotten! This is analogous to the fall of Tyre in Ezekiel 26.
Revelation 18:11-13
The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more... cargoes of gold, silver... and bodies and souls of men.
Such was and is the attire of the Harlot. The commentary breaks down these items:
- Articles of personal adornment.
- Articles used for furniture, etc.
- Objects of sensual gratification–smell, etc.
- Articles of food.
- Animate possessions.
- Slaves – Rome was a keeper of slaves. Slaves had no status as human beings. It is estimated that in the first century a third of the population of the city of Rome was slaves.
- Souls of men. The whole system of mass for the dead is a traffic in the souls of men.
Revelation 18:14-19
They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you...' The merchants... will stand far off, terrified at her torment... and cry out: “Woe! Woe, O great city... In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’
All the things which was dainty and splendid are perished from Babylon the Great. They are mourning because they have no sale for their merchandise. The identity of description of the woman of 17:1 and "O great city," is double proof that they are the same.
Revelation 18:20
Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.
The Roman empire had persecuted the saints for centuries and now her dooms day had arrived and the saints of God are whooping it up.
Revelation 18:21
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.
Never to be found again...thank God! Read her history and you too will see how her sins reached to heaven and now God is bringing her down like Babylon of old (Jer. 51:61-64).
Revelation 18:22-23
The music of harpists... will never be heard in you again... The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again... By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
Well! I believe this verse says it all for Rome. No harpists, no musicians, no flute players, no trumpeters, no workman. Like ancient Babylon there will be no one there. They have candles lighted on their altars in the daytime, candles are burned before the shrines of their saints and around the bodies of the dead. Untold millions of dollars are spent to lighten the dead through purgatory. Marriage ceremonies performed only by the priest of Rome will no longer be tolerated.
Revelation 18:24
In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.”
Rome was held responsible for what had happened in the empire for she was “The mistress of the world.” The Eternal has a controversy to settle with the Popes and now he is seen as consigning her to Hell at last.