Revelation 18:11-24

Revelation 18:11.     And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more.

     Not only do the kings of the earth “bewail and lament” Babylon’s fall, but also the merchants of the earth “weep and mourn” for her. “Bewail” (v. 9) is the same Greek word as “weep.” “Mourn” is the verb form of “sorrow” (v. 7) or “mourning” (v. 8). The reaction of the merchants of the earth is very similar to that of the kings of the earth.

     As a matter of fact, these merchants are also “kings” in a sense. They are not ordinary shopkeepers, but are kings of banking, shipping, construction, and communications, captains of industry, giants of commerce. These merchants are “the great men of the earth” (v. 23). Previously, during the early judgments of the tribulation period, these “kings of the earth, and the great men” had sought to hide from “the face of him that sitteth on the throne” (Revelation 6:15, 16). Now they know there is no place to hide, and they must meet Him soon.

     The word for “merchants” (Greek emporos) is used only here in Revelation 18 (four times) and refers particularly to wholesalers, those who deal in large quantities of trade items involved especially in international commerce. It is highly appropriate to list these two categories of world leaders (kings and merchants of the earth) in such close juxtaposition. Such international magnates and financiers constitute, more often than not, the power behind the throne. Kings and presidents often attain and keep their authority by sufferance of those who finance their undertakings. In turn, these great men of the earth receive land grants and trade monopolies and tax loopholes and innumerable other favors from those whom they establish in political power, all to enrich themselves still further.

     This Babylonish system of covetousness (which is idolatry, the worship of Mammon instead of God) has been the source of unspeakable evil through the ages (note vv. 23 and 24). The Apostle Paul said: “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Not only unbelievers, but countless Christian believers have also been deceived thereby. To them Paul says: “Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich [that is “desire riches”] fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Timothy 6:8, 9).

     These great merchants of the earth do not weep over their sins, nor do they mourn the violent death of their colleagues in the city of Babylon. Their crying and sorrowing is for only their own financial losses. No one will buy their merchandise any more. The well of their profits is dry. Their great industrial empire is collapsing before their eyes, and their one interest in life is being taken away, so they mourn and weep. 

Revelation 18:12.     The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble.

     Here follows a remarkable catalog of the items of merchandise which had enriched the great men of the earth. A total of twenty-eight categories are listed, fourteen in this verse and fourteen in the next. The vocabulary is one appropriate to the first century, even though John was actually seeing events of the last century of the age. The items listed, in fact, are items that have been valuable and costly in every age.

     The fact that twenty-eight commodities are itemized (that is, four sevens) suggests that the list is representative, rather than specific and exhaustive. Seven as the number of completeness and four as the number of the whole expanse of the earth (north, south, east, and west), thus combine to symbolize all the world’s items of treasure on earth. All the endless variety of materialistic possessions which men and women have sought through the ages – for which they have labored and schemed and even stolen and killed – are symbolized here as the merchandise of Babylon, the system that has suddenly vanished in a great ball of fire and pillar of smoke.

     First are listed the chief items of timeless value, the precious metals and jewels that have always served as the very measure of value and the basis of monetary systems. Especially in times of inflation, such as in the years of the tribulation, men seek to protect their savings by investing in items of intrinsic value – gold, silver, gemstones, and pearls – and trade in such commodities as these has always been and will continue to be uppermost in the plans of international merchants.

     Next are listed four kinds of valuable cloth for the apparel of the world. The two most valuable materials, fine linen and silk, and the two most esteemed colors, purple and scarlet, are listed evidently as representative of the tremendous commerce in clothing around the world.

     There is always a great demand for materials of all kinds, for all kinds of domestic and industrial uses. Six of the most valuable kinds of materials are enumerated here as of poignant concern to the merchants who can no longer trade in them. For fine furnishings and ornaments no materials have been more prized than ivory and fine woods. Thyine wood is a very hard and aromatic coniferous wood that was especially valued for such uses by the Romans. All other valuable woods are mentioned, as well as the most costly construction material, marble. “All manner vessels” is a term broad enough to include all types of furniture, housing, construction, ornamentation and other uses.

     The two most important metals for practical uses are also included. “All manner vessels of brass and iron” is a term sufficiently comprehensive to cover not only metal structures and furnishings, but also musical instruments, appliances, machinery, tools, weapons, and endless other metallic implements.

     All of the items have been prized by men of both ancient times and modern times. Trade in such commodities has been the focus of human greed and the basis of the wealth of great merchants all through the ages and into the future.

Revelation 18:13.     And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

     Next are listed representative luxury items, such as spices, perfumes, ointments and incense, all costly and prized items of the export-import trade.

     Of special interest, at least to latter-day readers of the Apocalypse, is the inclusion of wine and oil in the catalog of valuable commodities. These were noted as specially important during the time of the seal judgments (Revelation 6:6). As with previous items, it would seem that wine is representative of another broad class of items, namely intoxicating beverages. Every nation in every age has been contaminated with drunkenness ever since the primeval sin of Noah (Genesis 9:20, 21). We can be certain that, in the wicked and terrifying days of the tribulation, ungoldly men will turn to intoxicants and drugs far more than ever in history. That drugs are also a major item is evident from the reference to “sorceries” in verse 23. As noted before (Revelation 9:21), this term is a translation of the Greek word from which we transliterate the English word “pharmaceutics.” The great demand for intoxicants and drugs in these coming days will surely be further stimulated by the ungodly and covetous merchants who profit so greatly from them.

     And oil is there in the listing too. In the apostolic period, a reference to oil would have been understood as olive oil, or some similar natural oil used primarily for anointing and medicinal purposes. However, “ointments” have already been listed, so it seems possible that some other type of oil is intended here. Although petroleum was essentially unknown in the ancient world (bitumen was known, but not the substance we now call “oil”), it does seem probable, in the context of the tribulation, that this is a prophetic reference to that kind of oil which would come to dominate the economies of the world in the latter times. Oil has today become a vital necessity for all the world’s transportation and industrial systems, and the oil-producing nations have become strategically able to wield great influence over other nations by exploiting their need for oil. The great oil cartels must therefore surely be included among these weeping merchants. Babylon itself had been strategically located to control the oil production and exports of the most important oil-bearing land of the globe, but now that control has been destroyed.

     Perhaps the only commodity more important than oil today in terms of international trade is that of wheat, so it is not surprising that “fine flour and wheat” are next listed. The “fine flour” (Greek semidalis) is mentioned only this one time in the New Testament, and is believed to refer to the finest grade of wheaten flour. The term “wheat” (Greek sitos) is translated “corn” as well as “wheat.” In the context here, it can best be understood as representing all kinds of agricultural products that are important in world trade.

     Not only agricultural commodities but also livestock trading is of great commercial importance, and this too has been precipitously stopped by the fall of Babylon. The “beasts” mentioned in the list (Greek ktenos) include any kind of domestic animals, whether beasts of burden or meat animals for slaughter. “Sheep” are listed separately, as are “horses.” The first is vital for its wool as well as its meat. The second is the most prized animal, traditionally as a beast of burden, giving its name to the standard industrial measurement of power – i.e. “horsepower,” but in modern times more valuable as an animal for riding, both for recreational and military uses.

     The inclusion of “chariots” in the list is also intriguing. This term connoted a certain type of vehicle to the ancient world. The Greek word (rheda) means a four-wheeled wagon for traveling, not a two-wheeled war chariot, and could very appropriately be interpreted to include modern-day four-wheeled transport vehicles. Thus this term probably refers here specifically to the great auto industry of the last days.

     Finally there is a sadly climactic reference to “slaves and souls of men” as one of the items of commerce which has been wrested from control of the earth’s “merchants” by Babylon’s destruction. The slave trade of antiquity was vital to the Romans, as it continued to be even in “Christian” nations into the nineteenth century. Furthermore slavery has not even yet been really abolished (especially in African and Asian countries) and it may well be that it will be revived in other nations during the tribulation.

     However, the reference more probably refers to the so-called “white-slave trade.” The Greek word translated “slaves” is soma, meaning “body” and usually so translated. The international traffic is forced prostitution, both of men and women, is a tragic but financially lucrative business of modern times and will undoubtedly become even bigger in the evil days ahead. These vice barons are particularly venomous “great men” of the earth, not only amassing great wealth for themselves, but destroying both the “bodies and souls” of the hapless girls and boys who come under their control. Babylon is the “mother of harlots,” both spiritual and physical, and fornication of all varieties will be rampant in these last days (Revelation 9:21). But God’s judgment on such abominations will finally and totally and suddenly fall.

Revelation 18:14.     And the fruits that thy soul lusteth after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

     The dirge continues. Men and women through the ages have lusted after “dainty and goodly things,” never content, as Paul has exhorted, with “food and raiment.” Achan so coveted a “goodly Babylonish garment,” when the Israelites conquered Jericho, that it cost his life and the lives of all his family (Joshua 7:21, 25). Especially the kings and great men of the earth, instead of using their wealth for purposes that would honor God, have squandered fortunes on costly foods and wines, on lavish homes and furnishings, on personal adornment, expensive statuary and paintings, on stables of horses or chariots, cars or yachts or airplanes, and innumerable other perquisites of wealth and luxury. That which they could not spend on themselves, or their families, or their mistresses, they have reinvested to attain even more wealth. The “soul” of Babylon, age after age, “lusteth after” things, and is never satisfied. It “saith not, ‘It is enough.’ ” 

     But now Babylon and all her effete luxuries are gone forever. The great city Babylon, both in ancient times and in future times harboring the world’s greatest accumulation of wealth and power ever assembled in one place, has been weighed in God’s balance and found wanting. And with her, the entire Babylonian complex of world commerce and idolatrous humanism, wherever it is found all over the world, must soon perish too.

     The conflagration has consumed everything. In former times, great merchants and kings, great corporations and conglomerates, when suffering financial losses, could always hope to gain them back again. At least their successors or usurpers could take over their wealth, and the basic system could be perpetuated. But this time the loss is total and the damage irreparable. Everything, everything, is “departed from thee” and Babylon“shall find them no more at all.” Not only the adulterous religious system of Babylon, not only the great capital city of the beast’s kingdom, not only the world’s great empire of trade and finance, but everything connoted to God and men by Babylon is gone, never to be seen again as long as time exists.

     Furthermore, the destruction has come suddenly, before they had tasted the anticipated results of man’s great project. The “fruits” are actually the “ripe-fruits,” to be plucked at summer’s end, but the judgment fell with the fruit yet on the vine. The “dainty things” are, literally, the “plump and lusty things,” and the “goodly things” are more precisely the “gorgeous, sumptuous things,” but destruction has come with these sought-for products of the Babylonian system still found only in their covetous souls, never realized in actual experience.

Revelation 18:15.     The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing.

     The enormity of their losses presses more and more upon the merchants of the earth. The kings of the earth had been quicker to realize the hopelessness of the situation and its ominous implications for their own future. They are standing afar off for the fear of her torment (v. 10). Now the merchants are also seen standing afar off. All over the world the news travels and in every troubled, fallen city of the nations, financiers tremble and cry.

     “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” the Lord had said (Matthew 16:26). Men accustomed to dealing in profit-and-loss calculations should have spent more care with that calculation. They had carelessly added wrong, mistakenly thinking they had been made rich, placing far too small a valuation on God and on their own souls. Now that these are lost forever, the enormous deficit in their accounts confronts them and they know they have entered eternal bankruptcy, never to rise again.

     Wall Street (if it still exists at this time) will panic, and so will Fleet Street, and the Sorbonne, and the bankers of Zurich.  The Rockefellers and the Rothschilds will see their supranational corporate empire collapse before their eyes, and they will weep and wail.

     “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl…. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you” (James 5:1, 5, 6). This prophecy of the Apostle James is set in the context of the last days and, most likely, is anticipating this very event. His admonition to believers, in contrast, is: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door” (James 5:7-9). The impatient Babylonians will perish before the fruit can be plucked. The believers, in “the patience of the saints” (Revelation 14:12), will one day enjoy all the precious fruit of the earth which was lost by Babylon. The great Judge is soon to enter the door.

Revelation 18:16.     And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

     Like the kings, the merchants also cry, “Ouai, ouai!” (Greek for “woe”). Yet, with all their agony and mourning, there is not a single note of repentance or of sorrow for sin, or even of acknowledgment that Babylon’s destruction is a divine judgment. There is no regret for the bodies and souls of the multitudes of men whom they had abused in their insatiable worship of wealth and power.

     All they can think about in their great mourning is the loss of their wealth and luxury. The beautiful apparel and bejeweled ornamentation, both of Babylon as a whole and her proud residents in particular, are all suddenly lost and this is their only concern. The genius of sin is such that it becomes its own judgment.

     With consciences seared as by a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2), men who repeatedly repudiate the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit will one day find He no longer strives with them (Genesis 6:3) and they have no more desire or ability to do righteousness. “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still!” is the awful declaration of God as men depart into hell (Revelation 22:11). Ruled solely and entirely by self-interest, and by the things which they can amass to satisfy their own covetous lusts, they are utterly confused and desolate when the things are gone.

     “Thou fool!” said the Lord; “this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be?” (Luke 12:20). Multitudes of rich men and great men and mighty men will hear such a voice from heaven in that day of gloom and darkness, and loud and bitter will be their cry. All their cherished gold and jewels are going to another city. “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land” (Zephaniah 1:18).

     The brilliant apparel and bejeweled adornment of the burning city had also been the trappings of the old harlot of Babylon (Revelation 17:4) and the trade in these same commodities had enriched the merchants of the earth (v. 12), but now it is all in ashes. One day, however, there will be established another City, with pearly gates, and golden streets and jeweled foundations, whose inhabitants dress in fine linen, and it shall never pass away. Instead of “Woe, woe!” the echoing cry will be “Alleluia; amen!”

Revelation 18:17.     For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off.

     Men had, not many years before, marveled at the rapid rebuilding of great Babylon, resurrecting it from a thousand-year sleep, as it were, and paralleling the seeming resurrection of its proud ruler, the beast, after his professed descent into Hades. Little did they know how brief would be their glory! In one hour the one is utterly burned with fire, and shortly the other will be translated into an unending burning in the lake of fire.

     The mourning cries heard thus far have been chiefly from the kings and great merchants of the earth, whose political and international commercial empires had suddenly collapsed with Babylon. But now multitudes of others join in the great lament, as they also begin to realize the enormous loss they have suffered. Most obviously affected are those who have their employment in shipping-related industries, since Babylon is the central focus of all trade and the repository of global wealth.

     The captains of ships cry, and the officers of shipping and warehousing firms cry, and then the officers of all the mercantile and longshoremens’ unions begin to cry, and all those who travel by ship cry (probably “ships” here also includes “airships,” since much international travel and trade is now centered in the world’s vast airline industries). Soon all the sailors and shipping clerks, as well as importers and brokerage houses – all whose profits and wages stem from international commerce – as they watch the awful scene on television screens set up amidst the rubble of their own quake-devastated cities, sob and weep with a great and bitter cry. 

Revelation 18:18.     And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

     These also, like the kings and great men, were filled with amazement and fear as they watched, from all over the world, the awful mushroom of smoke ascending high over burning Babylon into the statosphere. A few days earlier, their own cities had reeled and crumpled under the mighty global earthquake, but their proud capital had survived, giving its assurance that the beast would yet be victor in the coming cosmic confrontation.

     But now Babylon has not merely fallen in ruins, it is burned to ashes, and all hope is gone. If Babylon cannot endure, then no city can, because there never was a city like this great city.

     God has spoken clearly. It has never been His plan that men would congregate in great cities. They were to spread out and “replenish [fill] the earth” (Genesis 1:28), tilling the ground, enjoying and using God’s great creation for man’s greatest good and for God’s glory. After the Flood, God again had given commandment to fill the earth (Genesis 9:10). In both cases, rebellious men had chosen rather to settle in great cities and to make a “name for themselves, rather than calling on the name of the Lord.” Cain had built the first city (Genesis 4:17) and Nimrod had built Babel (Genesis 10:10), and the great urban centers of the Cainitic and Nimrodian civilizations, before the after the Flood, respectively, had led men away from God. Finally Babel, the greatest city of all, had fallen completely, along with all the other cities of the nations, and the world is ready at least to receive another city, that “city” which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

Revelation 18:19.     And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

     The extremity of their despair is indicated by this bizarre expression of agony, gathering up handfuls of dirt from the ground and pouring it on their heads. This was a practice in ancient times (as in Lamentations 2:10, Job 2:12), but would seem strange today. Nevertheless it is appropriate, proclaiming symbolically their fear that the earth shall soon cover their own dead bodies, and they will go back to the dust.

     This is the final verse of this final and unique lamentation of Scripture (vv.9-19). Containing four references to bewailing their awful fate (vv. 9, 11, 15, 19), and three references to the unprecedented destruction in “one hour” (vv. 10, 17, 19), this mournful elegy expresses perhaps better than anything in all literature the hopeless lament of souls who know they are lost and doomed but are unable even to acknowledge or care about the sin of unrepenting unbelief which put them there. Their only thought is one of lost wealth and power.

     And their last sad comment about the great city Babylon still deals with her opulence and the riches that her centralized world commerce and finance had made possible for the materialistic multitudes. “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness” (Psalm 52:7).

     The great system Babylon, seducing multitudes through the ages through her humanistic religion and her promise of wealth and luxury and delicious licentiousness, has finally been brought to utter desolation, suddenly and totally.    

Joy in Heaven

     The Lord Jesus had said long before: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). When a lost man or woman turns in repentance and faith to the Savior, heaven indeed rejoices with great joy, because a sinner has thereby been delivered from hell and assigned eternally to heaven.

     But if such sinners become instead irrevocably hardened and unbelieving, leading many others to perdition with them, then there is also another kind of joy in heaven when such as these are finally brought to judgment. Neither saints nor heavenly angels of course, delight when men are consigned to hell, but they must rejoice when such people are thereby constrained from causing still others to turn away from God. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11). Yet the Scripture also says: “When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting” (Proverbs 11:10).

     There is thus a remarkable change in tone at this point. From the mournful dirge of the earth-dwellers over Babylon’s sudden demise, the mood shifts instantly to one of joy and thanksgiving in heaven because of that demise. The last five verses of Revelation 18, in contrast to the elegy of verses 9-19, constitute a paean of triumph and answered prayer.

Revelation 18:20.     Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

     This exhortation presumably comes from the same heavenly voice heard earlier by John (vv. 4, 8). Or, possibly, it is John himself who utters it, caught up in the excitement of mighty Babylon’s demise.

      In any case, the cry is one of exultation, addressed to all the saints assembled at the throne of heaven. The specific salutation is simply to “heaven,” used here in a generic sense including all who are in heaven, both angels and resurrected men and women from all the ages. Men on earth lament the fall of Babylon, but those in heaven rejoice.

     Though all in heaven are included in the exhortation, there are two classes who will experience special joy, the “holy apostles and prophets.” These have borne a special ministry for God on earth, and have suffered special privations and persecutions. Their heavy burdens are lifted now, and their testimony vindicated, for Babylon is fallen.

     The word “holy” (Greek hagios) is the same as “saint,” with the basic meaning that of being “set apart,” or “consecrated.” Many manuscripts include an extra conjunction here, so the phrase is frequently translated “ye saints and ye apostles and ye prophets.” However, this might seem redundant, since the “apostles” and “prophets” are also “saints.” Roman Catholic ecclesiology may distinguish “saints” as a particular category of unusual Christians, but the Scriptures make no such distinction. In the Bible all true believers are “saints.” Also, as noted above, the term “heaven” itself surely includes the saints.

     Thus it is probable that the King James Version has the best rendition, “ye holy apostles and prophets,” just as it stands. In fact, this same phrase, “his holy apostles and prophets,” had been used by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:5, in reference to the new revelations given by the Lord in the Church Age to His holy apostles and prophets, in that they had both been “set apart” for this special ministry of receiving God’s new revelation in the establishment of Christ’s Church in the New Testament dispensation.

     All of the apostles had suffered great persecutions and finally (except in John’s case) martyrdom; the same was undoubtedly true of the New Testament prophets (Stephen, for example, was a “prophet,” receiving a marvelous revelation from God as well as a divinely inspired message, in the great sermon of Acts 7, before he was stoned to death). They had all preached faithfully and forcefully against “Babylon,” that is, the humanistic idolatry and covetous materialism of the world system, when they were on earth, and yet had seen it apparently triumph over them as it hounded them all to a martyr’s death. Thus their joy was great as they could now observe from the vantage point of heaven the final and complete and permanent destruction of Babylon, both the capital city and the system it stood for through the ages. The great prophets of the Old Testament must likewise have shared their triumphant rejoicing, and for the same reason.

     “Vengeance is mine,” the Lord had said (Romans 12:19). As the Lord had promised concerning the false religionists even among His own people back at the beginning of their history: “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste” (Deuteronomy 32:35).

Revelation 18:21.     And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

     Here yet another angel comes upon the scene, with another testimony concerning Babylon. The second of the six angels in Revelation 14 had conveyed a prophetic warning to the earth concerning the imminent fall of Babylon (Revelation 14:8), so perhaps this is the same angel.

     The action described here is evidently some days, or even weeks, after the burning of Babylon. Enough time has elapsed for Babylon’s ruins to become the habitation of wild animals and demons, as described in the prophecies of Isaiah 13:20-22 and Jeremiah 50:39, as well as in Revelation 18:2. But then even the very remembrance of Babylon is finally to be cut off so that not even her ruins can be found. As a heavy stone thrust into the sea will sink to the bottom never to be seen again, so Babylon also will be thrown down to everlasting oblivion. This is pictured by the casting of a great stone by the angel into the sea, possibly the Persian Gulf, into which Babylon’s Euphrates empties.

     John particularly noted that the appearance of the stone was like that of a millstone. The casting of a millstone into the sea is such an unlikely figure of speech that it suggests a special reason why John would use it. Possibly he was reminded of the day many years before when the Lord Jesus had used a similar figure of speech in instructing His assembled disciples: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). Babylon, the greatest offender of all, though once arrayed in scarlet and decked with gold, now has nothing but a great millstone for her apparel, hanging around her neck and carrying her headlong deep beneath the sea.

     A similar fate is described at the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning Babylon: “And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah 51:63. 64).

     Probably this will be brought about by an aftershock of the global earthquake that had occurred just a few days or possibly weeks before. Suddenly the whole Mesopotamian plain will drop down, as a great chasm opens in the deep crust. The entire Euphrates valley will be inundated as the waters of the Persian Gulf roar up into the gaping hole. Babylon will thus sink into both the Euphrates and the encroaching sea, and all her proud buildings will lie unseen far below the waves as long as the world endures.

     “How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof” (Jeremiah 51:41, 42). Darkness and demons, fire and flood, then everlasting death. Not only has Babylon been slain in the sea; very soon now “he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1).

Revelation 18:22.     And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee.

     The angel’s message of judgment continues. As verses 12 and 13 had given a remarkable insight into the former commerce of Babylon, so verses 22 and 23 give a picture of the former daily life of Babylon. It had been a place of much music, probably loud and sensual music, of the type that had become so influential in the latter days. The specific categories listed – harpers, pipers, trumpeters – are undoubtedly meant to be typical rather than exhaustive. The harp represents stringed instruments, of which there are many. Pipers, probably synonymous with “flutists,” and trumpeters represent the even more numerous wind instruments. The “musicians” probably refer especially to singers.

     Babylon was also a city of skilled artisans, as indicated by the terms “craft” and “craftsman.” This reflects the desire of its inhabitants for luxurious living. The reference to millstones suggests the manufacture of “fine flour” (v.13) and perhaps other costly products.

     There is another striking passage in Isaiah which seems to refer to this unique and climactic event. “The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in” (Isaiah 24:7-10; see entire chapter, in fact).

     Although Babylon is not mentioned by name in this chapter, the entire context seems to fit perfectly, and the reference to “the city of confusion” seems to confirm it. There also are parallel references to the mirth and music. In addition to the stringed and wind instruments noted in the chapter of Revelation, here in Isaiah percussion instruments (“tabrets”) are also mentioned. The abundance of wine and drunkenness is emphasized as well.

     But all of Babylon’s activities – whether lucrative commerce or opulent living or raucous pleasure – are still and silent. None will ever be heard or seen any more. 

Revelation 18:23.     And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

     The terminal refrain continues: “No more!” No more sales of profitable merchandise (v. 11), no more dainty and goodly things (v. 14), no more Babylon (v. 21), no more music or fine crafts or sound of industry (v. 22) and now (v. 23) no more light and no more social affairs. The phrase “no more” or its equivalent occurs eight times in this sonorous passage.

     For some time prior to this final judgment, Babylon had been in darkness. Under the judgment of the fifth bowl of wrath (Revelation 16:10), the throne of the beast and his kingdom had been plunged into unrelieved darkness. No doubt the city will have been designed with ultramodern illumination facilities, but the probability is that the power stations serving the city will malfunction under the impact of the plagues. Any hydroelectric plants will be helpless as the water supplies are exhausted, climaxed by the complete drying up of the river Euphrates. Solar-energy plants will be useless with the city in perpetual darkness. Nuclear and oil-driven plants will be unable to function without a copious supply of cooling water. Transmission lines from other regions will probably be rendered inoperative by the intense heat of the fourth plague and then will completely collapse under the shocks of the global earthquake. Thus the city of Babylon, for some period of time at least, will finally have to rely strictly on candlelight or kerosene lamps for its illumination. It will be a miserable and desperate place during its final days.

     But now, not even the light of a candle shines in Babylon. To Babylon and its doomed inhabitants “is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 13).

     When Babylon had been first restored in all its gaudy glory, it had been the pride of the nations. Its citizenry soon boasted the elite from every nation, men and women of wealth and intellect and power. Marriages uniting prominent world families would be common, and Babylon would naturally become a real meltingpot of nations. Wedding customs of a wide variety of cultures and religions would be freely integrated under the aegis of the world humanistic religious system (Mystery Babylon) which now had its headquarters in the great capital of the beast and the false prophet. At last the world had achieved a truly “United Nations” and a truly humanistic culture, with all nations, tribes, races, and creeds fully integrated, Babylon itself being the prototype showplace of this greatest achievement of mankind. Probably the wedding ceremonies of its citizens would provide the finest opportunities for ostentatious display of its wealth and revelry. Marriage vows would mean little in terms of fidelity, since sexual license was common everywhere (Revelation 9:21; 14:8), but they would mean much in political and economic and cultural terms.

     But now all weddings and other social and cultural events have ceased forever in Babylon. The “beautiful people” are dead, the powerful families are broken, the palatial homes are burned, and the city itself has disappeared under the onrushing sea. Her citizens had been earth’s elite, the greatest merchants and financiers and intellectuals and rulers that an ungodly culture could produce, but now their greatness is past.

     Long ago God had used Babylon to execute a similar judgment against His own people, who had gone after other gods, calling Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, “my servant” (Jeremiah 25:9), and saying: “Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle” (Jeremiah 25:10). Eventually, however, after the full judgment on His own people, God would give the same cup of fury to Babylon and all the nations (Jeremiah 25:15). “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth” (Jeremiah 25:32, 33).

     Finally the twofold reason for Babylon’s awful judgment is repeated. First, it was by her sorceries that all nations had been deceived. The harlot of Babylon, with her false religion of satanic evolutionary humanism, had corrupted literally every nation in the history of the world since Nimrod. It was through her that Satan had deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). All earth’s inhabitants had, to one degree or another, been intoxicated with her corrupting wine (Revelation 17:2)

     Furthermore, as noted before (see Revelation 9:21) the “sorceries” actually involve inducement of religious visions and states of altered consciousness by use of drugs. The Greek word translated “sorcery” and “witchcraft” is pharmakeia, meaning “drug” or “potion” or “medication.” Thus this verse states in effect that all nations have been drugged by Babylon, deceived into believing a lie. Whether using actual hallucinatory drugs in the modern revival of occultic superhumanism, or the intellectual soporific of evolutionary humanistic scientism, the Babylonian harlot had deceived all nations into worshiping another God.

Revelation 18:24.     And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

     The harlot’s golden cup was outwardly beautiful, but the contents were a filthy mixture of blood and abominations, and Babylon herself was drunk with blood (Revelation 17:4, 6). This is the second reason for Babylon’s fearful destruction. Not only was she the mother of harlots, spawning every false religion and philosophy in mankind’s history of apostasy from the Creator, but she was also the mother of persecutions. Whom she could not deceive and corrupt, she would pursue and slay.

     In every generation, the people of God have been persecuted by the enemies of God. Sometimes this has been done in the name of a pagan pantheistic polytheism, such as in the kingdoms of ancient Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Rome. Modern pagan nations have done the same (as Japan, China, Tibet, and Mongolia). Even more severe have been the persecutions of the pseudomonotheism of the Islamic nations. Not infrequently some form of corrupt Christianity, compromising with paganism, has been the instrument of persecution (such as the Romanism of the medieval period and the Anglicanism of later British history). Most vicious of all have been the mass executions instigated in the name of humanistic socialism, whether the system of a totalitarian fascism (as Hitler’s Germany) or of revolutionary communism. It is estimated that, since Marx, more than one hundred million people have died in communist purges. This monstrous fruit of the bitter root of evolutionary atheism has, of course, destroyed multitudes of people who were not Christians at all, but it is God’s true witnesses who have been the objects of its special hatred.

     All of these systems and many others have their roots in Babylon. The terrible indictment has been written: the source of human murder and warfare and all other “slayings” in the long, sad saga of earth history, and particularly the killing of God’s own saints and prophets, is Babylon. The Babylonish system, and now its mighty capital, have been judged, condemned, and finally consigned to everlasting destruction and oblivion. “All these things shall come upon this generation” (Matthew 23:36).