Fallen Is Babylon: Revelation 17-18 (selected)

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.

The prostitute. The image of unfaithfulness—political, economic, spiritual adultery against God. Sitting by many waters—ruling many peoples.

With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.

Kings and inhabitants alike. Adultery—alliance with the world system against God. Intoxicated—drunk on the pleasures she offered.

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman rode the beast. Scarlet—blood and luxury. The beast—the same from chapter 13. She rode the system of evil, supported by it, controlling it.

The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.

Wealthy. Luxurious. Purple and scarlet—royal and rich. Glittering—the shimmer of accumulated treasure.

She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.

A golden cup—precious container for poison. Abominable things. Filth. The exterior was gold; the interior was corruption.

The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The title. Babylon—not the ancient city but the system it represented. Mother of prostitutes—source of unfaithfulness. Mother of abominations—origin of corruption.

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

Drunk on blood. The saints' blood. Martyrs' blood. She had consumed the witnesses.

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

Another angel—radiant with authority. Earth illuminated. What he announced would shake the world.

With a mighty voice he shouted: Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!

Fallen. Past tense. Already accomplished in heaven's view. Babylon the Great—brought down.

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.

The great city becomes a ruin inhabited by demons and unclean creatures. The palace becomes a wasteland.

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.

The global entanglement. Nations drunk. Kings adulterous. Merchants enriched. All implicated.

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 call to separate. Come out. Don't share her sins. Don't receive her plagues. God's people must disentangle.

For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

Sins piled high—a tower of transgression reaching heaven. God remembered. Nothing forgotten.

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.

Double payment. What she did returns doubled. Her own cup poured back—overflowing with judgment.

Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.

Proportional judgment. The glory she took—torment returned. The luxury she enjoyed—grief repaid.

In her heart she boasts, I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.

The arrogance. Queen enthroned. Not a widow. Never mourning. The pride of the system.

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.

One day. The fall swift. Death, mourning, famine—all at once. Fire consuming. The mighty Lord judging.

Babylon falls. The system that looked unshakeable collapses in a day. The prostitute who rode the beast is consumed by the beast. The golden cup spills.