Thursday
Thursday
Babylon Identified and Destroyed
Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.
Revelation 14:8
So far in Revelation “Babylon” has been mentioned very briefly only twice, but neither text tells us what it symbolizes. So now two whole chapters are devoted to the phenomenon “Babylon.” Chapter 17 identifies it for us, while chapter 18 describes in graphic detail its destruction.
The identification of Babylon we owe to one of the seven angels who volunteered to instruct John. The angel both showed him a prostitute and then went on to explain to John what he had seen. The woman was sitting on a scarlet beast (readily recognizable as the beast from the sea). Thus, wrote Richard Bauckham, “Roman civilization, as a corrupting influence, rides on the back of Roman military power.” John also saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of martyrs (17:6). In conclusion, the angel said to John, “The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (17:18).
Now that the identity of Babylon has been established, John goes on at once to describe her overthrow. The literal sack of Rome under Alaric the Goth would not take place for more than another 320 years. Yet John used the prophetic past tense, expressing the certainty of God’s judgment as if it had already taken place. “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!” (14:8). Three groups of human beings are singled out for mention in chapter 18, namely the kings, the merchants, and the seafarers of the world. Each group is heard lamenting the destruction of Babylon: “Woe! Woe, O great city” (18:10). The chapter concludes with a combination of celebration and lament—a celebration of the justice of God in judgment and a lament over the disappearance of all good aspects of culture—the sound of music, the skill of craftsmen, the preparing of food for the family, and the joyful laughter of bridegroom and bride.
In the first century, “Babylon” was Rome. But Babylon has flourished throughout history and throughout the world. Babylon is Vanity Fair. Its profile can easily be drawn from this chapter—idolatry, immorality, extravagance, sorcery, tyranny, and arrogance. The urgent call still summons God’s people to come out of her in order to avoid contamination.
For further reading: Revelation 18:21–24