The End of Babylon

Because God is just, He must treat all sin with justice. That’s one of the truths we learned about God in our study of the Gospel. If our God were to simply sweep our sin under the carpet, He would no longer be God. He would be a moral coward. So, for God to be a Holy and Righteous God, His righteous nature requires that He must punish sin. And we also learned, that when it comes to God loving humanity this truth left God with a dilemma and left us – sinful mankind with a problem. But that’s where the gospel comes into play. The good is this: God solved His dilemma and our sin problem by sending Jesus to receive in His flesh the just punishment for our sin. Now, if you turn form your sin and turn to Jesus and trust in Him for your salvation, God will remove your sin and restore your relationship to Him. But not everyone is willing to do this. Not everyone wants to repent and believe in Jesus. So, that begs the question: What will happen to those who refuse to repent and believe in Jesus? What will happen to those who choose to live for themselves and defy God? Well, one truth that we’ve learned over and over again in the book of Revelation is this: There will be a day when God will judge this world with all its idolatry, rebellion and sin. And when His judgement comes it will be swift, it will be final, and it’s not going to be pretty. That’s what we’re going to see today in Revelation 18

But first, let me set the stage for this. In Revelation 17, God’s Word revealed for us the insidious and deceptive nature of this world. We learned that the world is seductive in that it wants to turn you away from God. We learned that The world is murderous, in that it has no real value for human life. It uses people for its own end. We learned that The world is resilient; it just keeps coming back to oppose Christ and His people. We learned that The world is powerful. It is intimidating and successful. Its message to us is “get on board or get crushed.” And finally, we learned that the world is self-destructive. It believes it can defeat God, but in the end, it will be destroyed by God. And that’s what we will see today. So, if you brought your Bible with you today, let me encourage you to find Revelation 18. For here, God’s Word records the end of the world as we know it: The swift and final judgment of the world in all its idolatry, rebellion and sin – The End of Babylon.

Now, you may be wondering: why does God take up an entire chapter of Revelation to record the world’s judgment? Why is witnessing the swift judgment of God on the world necessary for us to see?

Here’s why: With the image of God’s judgment on this world and its anti-God culture, God doesn’t simply want us to know that those who oppose God will get what their sins deserve. He also wants us to learn about the consequences of choosing to live in rebellion to Him. So, in recording the Fall of Babylon, God wants to awaken us of the futility of living for self and refusing to live for the honor God. So, let’s begin in verse one, where immediately we will see how…

God Judges Babylon: After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ 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. 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.” Revelation 18:1-3

Payday has arrived for Babylon the Great. Simply put, Babylon the Great is symbolic of the world system that stands opposed to God. It is the proud and evil system of worldly desires, pleasures and priorities. Here now, the demonic nature of Babylon is revealed. Contrary to the outward appearance of beauty, glory and wealth she projects; here we see her true nature with her fall: She becomes a dwelling place for demons and unclean spirits: a desolate, demonic wasteland, completely devoid of image-of-God life.” So then, how does God judge her?

First, She is judged for her idolatries: She is being judged for seducing the nations to embrace her idols. All the nations are drunk in their passion of these idols. The rulers of the earth have crawled into bed with her god-substitutes. They have been seduced by the alluring power of her luxurious lifestyle. And it is here that we are reminded of the dangers of being seduced ourselves by this whore of wealth – this prostitute, who seeks to turn us away from God with the lure of wealth. This is why next we read: 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; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Revelation 18:4-5

So, secondly, She is judged for her sinfulness. Her sins are not forgotten by the Lord. “God has remembered her crimes.” God sees and knows all Babylon has done. Her sins are piled up to heaven. Eugene Peterson says, “Her sins stink to high heaven.” So, it is here that God reveals to us that He does not want us to have anything to do with the world. We are to be IN the world, but not OF the world. G.K. Beale describes what can happen if we are seduced by the world. He says, To be “of” the world means that we have compromised our values to share in the world’s present wealth and advantages, but at the cost of also inheriting in its coming judgment. The worldliness both outside and inside our churches is always making godly standards appear off and sinful values seem normal, so that we are tempted to adopt what the world considers to be normal.

So, then, God’s judgment upon Babylon is meant to awaken us to the seductive dangers of wealth. God’s Word reminds us of this danger: Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9 God is not saying that to have wealth is sinful. He is the giver of every good gift. He does bless many with wealth. But what He is saying, is that the pursuit of wealth can turn us from God, it can cause us to compromise our values and cause us to fall into a trap that will lead to ruin. Wealth is the idol of Babylon, and the pursuit of such wealth can lead us into the very sins in which God judges Babylon. Babylon is judged for these sins. But also,

She is judged for her pride: Verses 7 announces her judgment: Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, “I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.” Revelation 18:7 She will be punished to the same degree that she sinned in obtaining glory and luxury. By seeking glory, the world teaches us to seek glory for ourselves. That’s our world in a nutshell today. Everyone lives to glorify themselves: “You do you.” “You do what’s best for you.” “Make much of yourself.” “Show the world how brilliant, successful, how awesome you are.” But there’s a huge problem with this! Self-glorification is at the heart of sin, since glory can be rightfully given only to God. Here we see the result of such sinful pride: “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. Revelation 18:8

Now, I find it interesting, that her pride and self-sufficiency are the very things that lead to her swift judgment. Scripture says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 A humble person doesn’t pride themselves in their self-sufficiency. And yet our culture champions the self-made man. A humble person is not ashamed to admit their dependence upon God. But our world ridicules dependance on God as something weak, something to be despised. If you don’t have your act together, you’re a loser in the world’s eyes. So, we are constantly being discipled by our world to make much of ourselves and give no credit to God. However, God does not share His glory, God will bring swift judgment upon those who steal His glory.

So, there it is: Payday has arrived for Babylon. There is no longer any opportunity for her to repent. God has given the world opportunity to turn back to Him over and over again throughout Revelation. But now, God holds the world accountable for its idolatries, its sin and rebellion. Judgment has come. And the result of God’s swift justice is this: The Earth Mourns Babylon!

First, we see how the Rulers weep over her judgment: “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Revelation 18:9 The rulers of the earth were seduced by the prostitute and were intimate with her. What she offered they wanted. She satisfied their earthly desires with her idols, and they lived luxuriously with her. But now, in a single moment Babylon is reduced to ashes. What they had trusted in is suddenly gone and gone forever. And so, they weep and mourn over her.

Notice something about their mourning. Verse 10 says, Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour, your doom has come!’ Revelation 18:10 The mourners keep their distance. They stand back. They don’t come to her rescue. Why? It’s because their grief is entirely for themselves – over what they are losing, and not for Babylon, and not for her people. They do nothing to stretch out a hand of mercy to help. Richard Phillips makes a profound observation here. He says this: “This demonstrates that the more worldly you are, the less real fellowship you will enjoy in relationships.” William Barclay notes: “It is one of the laws of life, if people place all their happiness in material things, they miss the greatest things of all-love and friendship with others.” These mourners had abandoned the true riches of love for God and friendship with their fellow man for the sake of mere material riches. And now these worldly rulers weep over Babylon’s demise. They weep because they’ve played the fool and lost everything. But it’s not just the rulers who grieve…

Businessmen mourn their loss: “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves. Revelation 18:11-13

With the fall and destruction of this worldwide economic system, chaos ensues. New York, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing – all the markets of the world – tank and bottom out. Stuff is available, but no one has the resources to purchase it. All “the merchants of the earth” all the Wall Street Wizards, can do is “weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore.” Malls are empty. Amazon Prime goes belly up. And now one saw it coming. Their loss is the same as the rulers of the earth. They don’t grieve for Babylon but grieve for themselves because everything they’ve invested in is now gone. So, the businessmen of the world mourn their loss.

Businessmen mourn her destruction: “Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour, she has been brought to ruin!’ Revelation 18:17-19 Like the rulers who stood far off, these merchants express their grief at her destruction. But then they ask a new question: “Was there ever a city like this great city?” She was glorious but now she is gone. She was rich, now she’s in ruins. She had everything but now she has nothing. Wealth is great while it lasts but it does not last. And so, they are devastated.

David Platt is right when he says, “If you love this world, it will pass away, and it will take you with it. You will not only lose true pleasure, you will lose your life… You will perish with this world.” This is why they grieve with the destruction of Babylon. The end of Babylon means the end for them. They have put their hopes in the riches of this world, and now they have no hope. It is devastating to them. To them, they have lost it all. Babylon has been brought to ruin and so have they. They are beside themselves with grief. But in their grief, they are oblivious to a greater loss than the loss of their wealth. They are oblivious to their own impending and eternal judgment. That is the sad reality to those who are consumed with the riches of this world.
Which lead us now to the end.

The End of Babylon This litany of Babylon’s completed and utter annihilation is now recorded for us, and it begins with a violent image of destruction: Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. Revelation 18:21 A “mighty angel” appears for the third time and throws a large millstone into the sea. This symbolizes the utter ruin of the evil world, which now perishes forever because of her idolatry and sin. She is violently thrown down never to be found again. She is gone forever. There will be no record of her!

Next, we read: The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. Revelation 18:22a All music ceases. Song and dance stop because there is nothing for the earth dwellers to celebrate. An eerie silence envelops the fallen world. There will be no rejoicing over her

It gets worse: No worker of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. Craftsman no longer practice their trades. Everyday labor ceases. No one works. Industry is at a standstill. The economy has collapsed with an economic depression unlike anything the world has ever seen. There will be no rebuilding of her

No one will have to turn out the lights on Babylon because “the light of a lamp will never shine in you again.” Revelation 18:23 Darkness will drape the destroyed city as she is abandoned and forsaken. No one will visit her. Turn out the lights, the party is over. A bleak darkness is all that remains. There will be no reflection of her glory.

Then this sad phrase is uttered: The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. No one falls in love anymore. Weddings are a thing of the past. The joyful sounds of bridal festivities are forever silenced. There will be no recovery for her.

Babylon’s judgment is just. Her merchants were filled with arrogance and pride as “the nobility of the earth.” But not anymore. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. All were deceived and led astray by her sorcery. She bewitched them and led them into destructive foolishness. So now that she is exposed, There will be no respect for her And finally,

There will be no redemption for her! She is familiar with blood, but not the saving blood of Christ. For In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.” But her day of violence and opposition to God’s holy is done. For judgment and destruction has come upon her once and for all. Oh, God gave her chances to receive His mercy and repent. But now the end has come. Babylon has fallen, God’s judgment is final, and she will never rise again.

God has defended the honor of His name. God who has shown enduring patience with this idolatrous and rebellious world, swiftly imparts His justice. And He justice reduces Babylon to ashes. She will never rise again.

And so we see now, the one Scripture that I have failed to read until this moment: Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” Revelation 18:20

What are we seeing with this command to rejoice over the End of Babylon? We are seeing God answer the prayer of the martyred saints recorded earlier in Revelation: “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Revelation 6:10 This is the moment their prayer is answered. And all the saints are called to rejoice at her judgment. This is not a call to rejoice over the death of the lost souls of Babylon; it is a call to rejoice in the justice and righteousness of God’s judgment. For it is God who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”

Today we have witnessed God’s payday on Babylon. We have witnessed God’s righteous judgment and the avenging of God’s saints. Up to this point in Revelation, God has been patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance. Over and over again, God gave this idolatrous and rebellious world the opportunity to turn from their sin and turn to Jesus. But they continually defied His mercy and slaughtered His people. But now the end has come. God’s judgment is just. God’s judgment is swift. And God’s judgment is final. That’s the message of Revelation 18. The evil of this world comes to an end. And God wins!
So then, my question for us, in light of God’s coming judgment on our idolatrous world, how is the Holy Spirit calling us to respond to what we’ve seen today?

1) Trust that God is in control. Trust in Him when evil seems to be having its day. For there is coming a day, when God will end the evil of this world once and for all with His swift and righteous justice.

2) Keep yourself in the love of God. Don’t be seduced by the ways of the world. And live not for yourself, but for the glory and honor of our God. And if you’ve never trusted in Jesus:

3) Repent and believe in Jesus today! Don’t wait. Today is the time to escape God’s judgment. God’s Word says: “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 Don’t put it off. Listen to what God is saying to you. Turn from your sin and self, and turn to Jesus, trust in Him and you will be saved from the coming day of God’s Wrath and judgment!