Year 0, Day 27: Revelation 18

Understanding the Basis for Revelation 18

Here at last we have come to the final revelation of God’s perspective on the world.  This is certainly not the final judgment – the ultimate judgment of Satan and those with him is yet to come.  But here we have the culmination of God’s judgment upon humanity.

Doom Songs are common in the OT {See Isaiah 13:19-22, Isaiah 34:11-15, Jeremiah 50:39, and Zephaniah 2:13-15 as examples}.  These songs do not have much in common with traditional Christian views on compassion and forgiveness.  However, they do have much in common with the heart of a persecuted victim.  That is precisely why John would include this doom song here in this work.  He desires to use a traditionally Jewish form of bringing hope to a people under persecution.

The Message of the Angels

There is some debate as to whether or not this first angel is Christ.  Clearly, this angel can be seen as the “light of the world” but in no place does John refer to him as Christ.  The message of the angel is that Babylon is the home of all things that are outside of God’s creation.  The message is clear: sin leads to being unclean which leads to inviting other things in to our life as well.

The second angel calls out to those who still follow God.  Symbolically, this is God calling his people out of a sinful world so that they do not get mixed up in the sin and led away from God.  This could also be God calling His people out of Babylon so they might be spared from the final judgment that God sends upon her.  God does not want His people to suffer more than they already have.  Christians are most often referred to as God’s Holy Ones.  Remember that Holy means separated, this is a reminder to us that when we follow God we are separate from the world.  We are in, but not of, the world.

Note that the call to pay back Babylon in Revelation 18:6-8 is not a call given to mankind.  We are not the arbiters of God’s wrath.  Vengeance belongs to God alone.  On a deeper level, this passage portrays a very Hebrew belief about reward and punishment that we often hear in the New Testament.  We can read that “we reap what we sow” in Matthew 7:2. We can also see in Exodus 22:4-9 that the consequence for sin is often repayment of what was lost in double. 

Additionally this passage gives a message about pride.  Pride is usually considered the deadliest of the seven deadly sins.  Here we can see that Babylon is first and foremost guilty of pride.  Her pride leads her into many other sins.  In many cases, this concept of pride can be called Hubris, which is a Greek word for arrogance.  Hubris is ultimately pride taken to its greatest level: that one has no need for another, even God.

Lament of the Kings

After the call to pay back Babylon – John’s Rome – we have the lament of the kings.  Rome is often thought of as the seat of opulence.  Never again has so much wealth been concentrated in one small place.  The leaders and governors surrounding Rome lament because not even her wealth and pride could ultimately save her from her sinfulness.  This is a message that should ring true to us today.  Regardless of the name of the city, who form of opulence can save us from the consequences of our sin?

Also note that the kings stand far off and watch.  They do nothing to help her as she ruins herself in sinfulness.  They are not bound to her – only reveling in the luxury that she provided.  If that message doesn’t also ring true into today’s world, I don’t know what does.  How rare is it to find a person who is more than a “fair-weather friend?”  How many people are friends so long as they can ride our coattails but when the gravy train dries up they are off to bigger and better things?

The Lament of the Merchants

The lament of the merchants that follows is purely selfish in nature.  They are not lamenting over Rome as much as they are lamenting over their own inability to increase their own wealth.  Pride often leads to greed.  They are mourning their inability to take advantage of their fellow mankind and turn a profit.

Of all the valuable items listed in this passage, the two at the end have special meaning.  It could be here that John is speaking of bodies and souls in terms of slavery.  Rome sold many slaves in its marketplaces (The Roman Empire often had as many as 60,000,000 slaves within it at any given time with as many as 10,000 slaves sold across the Empire on any given day).  John may well be making an analogy to slavery as a spiritual bondage of Rome as Rome leads them away from God.

Verse 20 gives us a perspective of rejoicing in the midst of the lament. As was stated in the beginning, this is not the voice of the compassionate Christian.  Rather, this is the voice of the persecuted and the oppressed.  This is a voice that we find in the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 32:43 and Jeremiah 51:48 as examples.  How can we justify this voice in the midst of the final irrevocable judgment of Babylon?  The joy expressed is regarding the faithfulness in God that God is just and His judgments are righteous.

Desolation of Babylon

The last verses of this chapter give us a description of the final desolation of Babylon.  The act of throwing a millstone into water is symbolic.  Justas water can swallow up large objects and cover them over as though they never existed, so God will do (and has done) to ancient Rome.  Most of the common aspects of life will be wiped away forever: 

• music,
• jobs,
• preparation of food,
• lights (hope),
• marriages (life).

This desolation comes because the people were so selfishly focused on their own material things that they gave no consideration to God or their fellow mankind.  Although God may have buried Rome under layers of history, certainly Rome’s legacy continues to live on.  To this day people continue to selfishly pursue their own desires and give such little consideration to mankind around them.