Babylon Is Fallen, Pt. 2
Revelation 18:3-8
Revelation chapter 18 is our study for tonight, Revelation chapter 18. In this chapter the Apostle John describes the final world's system and the city which apparently is its capital, Babylon. What is described here in chapter 18 is a commercial system overseen and managed and operated in the power of Satan by the Antichrist. It is described to us in this chapter but the focus of the chapter is on its judgment, its demise, its devastation and its destruction. This then is the last chapter in the book of Revelation before the return of Jesus Christ to set up His Kingdom which occurs in chapter 19. So here we are getting a glimpse of the final form of world government under the Antichrist that exists in the time of the Tribulation right up until Jesus comes to destroy it. It is the judgment of the last of man's rule.
Now before we look at Revelation 18, just to give you a larger context in which to understand this, go with me back to the Old Testament, back to the prophet Zechariah, that's the second to last book in the Old Testament, right before Malachi. Zechariah the prophet saw this judgment. He saw it long before John saw it. And I want to call to your attention what Zechariah saw and what he heard.
Zechariah chapter 5, I'm going to read verses 5 through 11. The prophet writes, "Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, `Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.'" By the way, very much like John in his vision of Babylon, Zechariah in the vision that he's about to have was also called to look at this vision by an angel. "And I said, `What is it?' And he said, `This is the ephah going forth.' Again he said, `This is their appearance in all the land.' And behold, a lead cover was lifted up and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah. Then he said, `This is Wickedness.' And he threw her down in the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings and they had wings like the wings of a stork and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. And I said to the angel who was speaking with me, `Where are they taking the ephah?' Then he said to me to build a temple for her in the land of Shinar and when it is prepared she will be set there on her own pedestal."
Somewhat confused? I don't imagine you could understand that without some careful understanding of the background. Let me see if I can help you a little bit.
The Jews had returned from captivity in Babylon. They had been there, you'll remember, for a period of time designated as seventy years, though for some of them it was longer than that. They had been captive in Babylon since Babylon conquered Jerusalem and the land of Judah.
Now in coming back from Babylon, there was a...there was a renewal of sorts. When they were restored to their land, they gave up their pagan idolatry. It was really pagan idolatry that had brought about their captivity. I think that the primary iniquity for which they were indicted and which led to their captivity was that they were engaging in relationships with pagan gods and had forsaken the true God. And while in their Babylonian captivity they had abandoned false gods. They came back then, having given up their pagan idolatry...which by the way, the Jews have never embraced since, really, although there are different kinds of idols, they have never embraced pagan idolatry since the captivity. And lest we think that that meant that they came back spiritually vital, I would just add this, that when they came back from Babylon, while they had divested themselves of idolatry, they had embraced Babylonian materialism. They had been engulfed in a pagan culture that was highly materialistic and they had grown to acquire greed and the longing and the lusting for gain.
This passage then acts as a rebuke to that lust for gain, that acquired greed. It is, by the way, a sin which the prophet Malachi also rebukes. He defines it as robbing God in chapter 3 of his prophecy, verses 8 and 9. And so what Zechariah sees in this vision is the spirit of self-centered materialism which, by the way, you must remember was foreign to Israel when they were a shepherd people. And they had only acquired this materialistic mentality while in Babylon. In fact, the spell of Babylon had taken them over. And so it will be in the last days.
Now that's the general rendering here. Let's look at the details so that we can see how it yields that. "Then the angel who was speaking with me went and out and said to me, `Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.' And I said, `What is it?' And he said, `This is the ephah going forth.' Again he said, `This is their appearance in all the land.'"
An ephah is basically a container. In fact, they would be about one bushel or one point zero five bushels, about eight gallons or about thirty-nine quarts. This big basket, or this big container was used to carry barley or flour. And, in fact, was large enough for a small person to fit into. And the depiction here is of a large basket, this ephah, loaded with the sins of Israel. And the ephah is filled up to the brim. The sinners of Israel are seen then like pieces of grain, collected in a large basket until the basket is heaping full. And, of course, the basket and the grain was a major part of commerce and business and so the commercial aspect comes into play as well.
Here then was this new kind of sin that Israel had picked up in Babylon which had influenced them and continues to influence them even today and will influence them and the world around all of us until the coming of the Messiah. And down in verse 8 is depicted as wickedness. In fact, in the Septuagint it says it symbolizes wickedness. This is iniquity piled high. This is accumulated iniquity. Here the prophet sees the godless rich sinners of the last days. The prophet Zechariah looking forward to a future time when godless commercialism, the love of money, the love of possession, pure secular materialism will find its final and consummate form. And I believe he even sees it in its perhaps its clearest context, for us anyway, as consistent with the Babylon of Revelation 18 because you look at verse 11 and you see the land of Shinar, that's another name for Babylon...the land of Shinar...just another name for Babylon.
But its influence is going to be worldwide in that end time. Notice that this basket filled with wickedness, the wickedness of secular commercialism in verse 11 is set on a pedestal in a temple in the land of Shinar. And there you have a prophetic image of the commercial wickedness of the final system of Babylon.
Then in verse 7 it says, and by the way, it says at the end of verse 6 that this is their appearance in all the land or in all the earth. In other words, this thing is going to extend across the world. This is the picture of this accumulated bushel-basket full of iniquity that is worldwide, and it says in verse 7 it has a lead cover on it. It simply means a lid. And the cover was lifted up just ever so briefly in order to reveal a woman sitting inside. And again in prophetic imagery, a woman is used frequently, symbolically in Scripture for religious evil. We hate to have to admit that but nonetheless it's the case. It may take us back to the fact that it was a woman, after all, namely Eve, who led the human race into iniquity. And it may also encompass the reality...and mark this one...that God has designed leadership to be in the hands of men, so Satan ever and always is trying to reverse that. And as I've told you in past studies, in the developing mystical religions of the world, women always rise and goddesses always rise to the supremacy.
So the woman may simply indicate the corruption, the evil. It may even indicate that Satan himself, of course, is personally involved in this. There is a woman, you'll remember, who is consummate with evil in Revelation chapter 2. So here you have then a collective symbol of sin. You have the bushel basket filled with sinners who are engaged in commercial evil, and you have this woman sitting in the midst of it and the whole thing, verse 8 says, is wickedness. And it's as if...it's as if when the lid is cracked the woman may try to get out and he threw her down, says verse 8, in the middle of the ephah and shut the lid. The indication is that these sinners and all their wickedness will not be able to escape until the final judgment.
The picture then goes on to another set of images in verse 9. "I lifted up my eyes and looked and there two women again were coming out of the wind...out with the wind in their wings, they had wings like the wings of a stork," which, by the way, is an unclean animal, according to Old Testament law. "They lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens."
Now what is this? It's no doubt a description of demons, two again women who come out with the wind in their wings, lift up the ephah from the earth into the heavens. And so then says the prophet, where are they taking this? And he says to the land of Shinar.
Demons then become involved in taking this evil system, putting it in the land of Babylon, setting it on a throne so that it can function. Demons are protective of the system. Demons set up the final Babylon system. Storks, as I noted, Leviticus 11:19, Deuteronomy 14:18 are unclean birds. And we know from the book of Revelation and we could assume, even if it wasn't there, that demons will be engaged in the final setup of the final world kingdom. They are women because they are in association with the woman inside the ephah who is wickedness. So the prophet literally sees demons setting up the final commercial world system in the land of Shinar, a system of materialism.
Now with that as a background, let's go to the book of Revelation...and with the hope, too, that you get a bit of the drift of that text. John is given a much more comprehensive picture, a much more comprehensive vision of this final stage of the earth under Satan's control. Remember now, it is called Babylon, this final world system, it is called Babylon the Great in verse 2. It is a system but it is a system centered in a city. And we've suggested that it is reasonable to believe that the city of Babylon, an actual rebuilt city, could be the capital city of this final world empire. Remember now, from chapter 17 there was a religious system also called Babylon that was destroyed by the commercial system which now absorbs all the religious components of the former religious system, becomes Babylon the Great and the mother of violence, the mother of false religion. Babylon started it all and in the end it will all go back to Babylon again.
So here you have the final form of Satan's world government under the power and authority of the Antichrist who has wiped out the false religious system and remains alone in control of the world and having the world worship him as if he were God.
Now it is predicted back in chapter 14 of Revelation and verse 8, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality." There we learn that the whole world is involved with this Babylon system, the whole world is engaged in this commercial, materialistic, secular enterprise. The whole world is worshiping the Antichrist. All the nations are caught up in the lust of the passion of materialism. And the prophecy of 14:8 has literally come true here in chapter 18 as the judgment predicted in chapter 14 unfolds.
Now in working through this judgment there are at least seven different components that I want to give to you, and we gave you one last time and that was in the first three verses...judgment pronounced. Let me just read them. "After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority. And the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice saying, `Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great and she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.'" There is the declaration of judgment...judgment pronounced. An angelic messenger comes to pronounce the judgment. The judgment is fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, it's a statement, by the way, of established ruin as if it has already happened. Like Babylon of old which became a haven for scavenger birds and unclean animals in the years of its desolation, so Babylon of the future will be the haven of demons.
And this, by the way, is also indicated as we saw in the vision of Zechariah, where the women flying with the wings of a stork representative of demons, it is also, I believe, indicated by the words of the prophet Isaiah. Let me just remind you of Isaiah 13 verse 17 and following. In Isaiah 13, I'll start reading at verse 17, and maybe read down to verse 22. "Behold, I'm going to stir up the Medes against them who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. Their bows will mow down the young men. They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, nor will they...their eye pity children. And Babylon the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation." And there you see the prophet skips from the historical fulfillment of the defeat of Babylon by the Medes to the ultimate destruction of Babylon when it is totally overthrown, never to be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation. "Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But desert creatures will lie down there and their houses will be full of owls, ostriches also will live there." And here's a fascinating term here, "And howling creatures," translated in the NAS shaggy goats will frolic there. Howling creatures. What are howling creatures? I'm sorry, howling creatures refers to owls. Shaggy goats is really the word that refers to some kind of demon. Some have translated it "goat demons." So you have the howling creatures which here is translated owls. You have the ostriches and then you have these whatever they are, shaggy goats, goat demons, "Hyenas, jackals, her fateful time will soon come and her days will not be prolonged."
Now remember, there is often a double fulfillment. When the prophet writes he's looking historically and then he's looking eschatologically. And so the allusion there is not just to unclean birds and hyenas and jackals and scavenger kind of animals that only eat carrion, but there is that little interjection of that word that has to do with some kind of demon. That you have as well in the text that we just read, where you have Babylon as a place of demons and unclean spirits, as well as unclean and hateful birds.
Like literal Babylon, then, which became desolate and was occupied by birds who ate carrions, so will final Babylon be the cage of hell's winged spirits. Verse 3 tells us that this judgment is coming about because of the worldwide influence of this satanic system. The whole world allies with this system of commerce that includes the worship of the Antichrist. It says the nations of the earth have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality. The people of the world are involved in it. It sweeps across the world. The kings of the earth are involved in it. The merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. So it is a prosperous system.
And I told you last time, there's something quite remarkable about the fact that it prospers, given what's going on in the world during the period of the Tribulation which starts with seven seal judgments, followed by seven trumpet judgments which really heat up at the midpoint of the Tribulation and followed finally by seven-bowl judgments which come at the very end. But at least the system has been subjected to the trumpet judgements and the trumpet judgments in and of themselves are quite fierce judgments that alter the whole character of the world.
If you go back earlier into the book of Revelation, for example, in chapter 8, you find hail and fire mixed with blood thrown down to the earth, a third of the earth burned up, a third of the trees burned up. The green grass burned up. A great mountain with...burning with fire thrown into the sea. A third of the sea becomes blood. A third of the creatures in the sea that had life died. A third of the ships were destroyed. And then a great star fell from heaven like a burning torch, it fell on the third of the rivers and the springs of the waters and the name of it was Wormwood. It's quite amazing to think that the world can still be commercially prosperous in the midst of this kind of devastation. Maybe there's a word in there for the environmentalists who think that the little bit that we're doing in the world today is going to wipe the earth out. They haven't seen anything until they take a look at what is yet to come. And apparently even in the midst of all of that, there is some level of prosperity that can be maintained. You even have in verse 12 a third of the sun, a third of the moon, a third of the stars smitten so that a third of them might be darkened that they might not shine for a third of it. Tremendous demonic powers begin to go across the earth that are described there in chapter 9. There are other things that come, devastating earthquakes, of course we know about the collapsing of the sky that occurred in the listing of the seal judgments.
This commercial materialistic system is going to start to collapse but it manages to hang on to some prosperity for a while. Its prosperity will obviously diminish as it tries to survive the period of the Great Tribulation. The system depends on the sea for trade and for cargo. It says that right in verse 3, the merchants of the earth are moving things about. We know something about those merchants because they're described to us as people who are engaged in sailing, engaged in moving things on the sea, ship masters and sailors described there in verse 17, and cargoes back in verse 12. The system will depend on the sea. The system will depend on the land for transportation, for factories, for natural resources. But the natural resources are going to be destroyed. The forests are going to be destroyed and part of the land will be destroyed, the water will be destroyed. The system is going to depend on air. The air is going to be devastated with all the smoldering, burning smoke of all of these terrible tragedies that are going on. And when the plants and the grass are destroyed, that's going to...that's going to affect the balance of carbon monoxide and oxygen, or carbon dioxide, rather, and oxygen.
The system depends on man power. But already millions and millions of people have been slaughtered. The system is going to depend upon consumption. And as people are killed, the consumer pool gets smaller and smaller and smaller. And so the system is successful and it shows the ingenuity of Satan and the ingenuity of the Antichrist, and yet it is systematically being dismantled as all of its necessary components, the sea, the land, the air, man power, consumers begin to die off.
Our world is getting ready for Antichrist's great commercial bonanza. But God is also getting ready to systematically destroy it. This is why we can take the words of James in chapter 5 and stretch them even to the end of the age, "Come now you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted. And their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure. Behold the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields and which has been withheld by you cries out against you, and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter, you have condemned and put to death the righteous man, and he does not resist you." There is a description that could well describe not only the time of James but the time of the end. And well it could be the time of the end because verse 7 says, "Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." Be patient. Riches are going to do them no good in that time. The world is blind at that time and will not turn to the true riches.
So we saw the judgment pronounced. Let's go secondly to the judgment avoided...the judgment avoided. The judgment of God on this morally bankrupt but prosperous society, though its prosperity is in rapid decline and when the seven bowls are poured out, certainly is finally devastated. But God's judgment on this society living in arrogant luxury and self-indulgence is something that can be avoided and must be avoided.
Notice verse 4, and herein is the call to avoid the judgment. "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, `Come out of her, My people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues.'" I heard another voice, allon, another angel, similar to the angel described in verse 1, "Come out of her, My people." And God is calling to His own to disentangle themselves with this system. Remember now, all through this time of judgment God is saving people. God is saving an innumerable host of people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation described in chapter 7. God is saving Israel. Jews are certainly turning to Christ, a hundred and forty-four thousand of them are already preaching the gospel. The angel flying across the sky is preaching the gospel.
And by the preaching of that gospel there will be the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever known. Many of them will be martyred for their faith in Christ. They will refuse the mark of the beast and pay with their lives.
Some of them will, obviously, survive. And the temptation for the survivors may be to get caught up in the system. Not unlike the temptation for us who are reminded not to love the world nor the things that are in the world, who are reminded to be not conformed to this world, but be being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Family and friends may apply pressure to these believers in the time of the Tribulation. And then there is the need to live and the need to eat and the need to buy and sell. And all of that may apply some pressure. And some of them may get caught up in this and some of them may be even involved within the confines of Babylon. And God is warning them, "Come of her, My people."
And there may also be a evangelistic call there, for God's people can genuinely be called God's people from the sovereign side of salvation. And it may well be that He is saying to those who have set apart from eternity past, "Come to faith in the Savior and come out of that system." But the point is to get out of it before it falls, to get out of it before you get caught in it because if you get caught in it, you're not going to be able to enter into the Kingdom and experience the coming of Christ which, of course, would be a glorious reality. Get out before you get caught in the fury. Get out before you get caught in the wrath that's going to fall on that place.
By the way, the prophets of old had said the same thing to the people leaving Babylon before the judgment fell. Isaiah 48:20, "Go forth from Babylon," said Isaiah, get out of there. The judgment of God is going to fall.
And then there is Jeremiah chapter 50 and 51 which deals with Babylon. Listen to what Jeremiah says in, I think it's chapter 50 early in the chapter, yes.."Wander away from the midst of Babylon and go forth. Get out from the land of the Chaldeans," verse 8. Over in chapter 51 and verse 6, "Flee from the midst of Babylon and each of you save his life." And I believe this looks historically at the destruction of Babylon, but I believe it looks prophetically at the end as well. "Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the Lord's time of vengeance. He's going to reckon recompense to her. Babylon has been the golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine. Therefore the nations are going mad." That sounds so much like the Babylon of the end time that engulfs the world. "Suddenly Babylon is fallen and been broken, wail over her, bring balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. We applied healing to Babylon but she was not healed. Forsake her and let each go to his own country for her judgment has reached to heaven and towers up to the very skies." The judgment is so severe. Get out.
Chapter 51 of Jeremiah, verse 45, "Come forth from her midst, My people, and each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord." You can see how much this vision in chapter 18 of Revelation draws upon the warnings of the Old Testament prophets about the final destruction of Babylon. Do not allow yourself to get caught up in that judgment.
And so back to verse 4, "Come out of her, My people, that you may not participate in her sins." That's the first thing. Get out of there so that you're not caught up in the iniquity of the place, first of all. So that you're not engulfed in the sin that is there. Be separated.
And secondly, "So that you are not caught up in the plagues that come when God brings final judgment."
Separate yourself from her sin, separate yourself from her all together that you may not receive her plagues. Now some wou