1After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendour. 2He gave a mighty shout: “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. 3For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.”
Revelation 18:1-3
4Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. 5For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds. 6Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her. 7She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’
8Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.” 9And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. 10They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.” 11The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods.
12She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood; and bronze, iron, and marble. 13She also bought cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies—that is, human slaves. 14“The fancy things you loved so much are gone,” they cry. “All your luxuries and splendor are gone forever, never to be yours again.” 15The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out, 16“How terrible, how terrible for that great city! She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls! 17In a single moment all the wealth of the city is gone!” And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance. 18They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as this?” 19And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for that great city! The shipowners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas. In a single moment it is all gone.”
Revelation 18:4-19
20Rejoice over her fate, O heaven and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for your sakes. 21Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again. 22The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again. 23The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries. 24In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”
Revelation 18:20-24
Many of you are aware that it has taken some time for this next Gem to emerge. Readers have queried what is going on? “Why have we not got the next Gem covering Revelation 18?” “Why have you written two Nuggets instead of continuing with the Gem series on Revelation?” “Ian, You are strangely silent. I have not had a Gem for a while? How is your health?” There are two reasons for the delay.
One concerns the passing of our most remarkable intercessor, about which I have written a two Nugget series on Sherry Chapman. In addition to that I have also included a new God Story related to God giving me the perfect name for X. The other reason for the delay is due to the time taken to get a new bank card to me due to bank fraud, during which time this website went into a temporary shutdown until I could make monthly payments. Oh, the challenges of modern life! All that is now passed so let’s settle back into Revelation mode. During the pause on Gems there have been a number of new readers added to those who receive their Gems and Nuggets via MailChimp. Thus a number of you have not been given the password for accessing the password protected material. I will send it when I MailChimp this latest Gem. If you still haven’t got it and want it, email me – [email protected].
A number of readers have asked me why Revelation Chapter 18 is like it is. It’s like it repeats what John has seen before but this new vision and explanation is very different. It takes a bit of getting your head around it. So I had planned to give you time to do just that. Take the time to read this new chapter which I have included in its entirety, and ponder the similarities and the differences together. It does seem that we are getting more of the same. Yet at the same time it has a different tone to it; a different flavour.
Take note we have the same introductory elements John has used before:
- I saw [18:1]
- I heard [18:4-8]
The bulk of this segment (chapter) is made up of the combination of what John saw and heard. But then it concludes with a closing segment [18:20-24] which is different again in that it’s a call to those in the heavenly realm, for the people of God and apostles and prophets to rejoice. At the same time it’s a rebuke to the great city of Babylon, giving the reason why this disaster has come upon her.
Why is this and what is the reason for the similarities and differences in the content? The reason is why John continues with the theme and the out-pouring of wrath that he does. It seems that something has changed. The content and the text at this point cites different reasons for the judgement. But then the great city of Babylon is still in focus. Why, when the judgement really ought to be upon Rome? Surely that is the main point as to why John is giving this warning to the seven churches in the Roman Province of Asia! And why is the text here in Chapter 18 so different from what has gone before in the previous chapters? Compare the flow of the whole letter in order to determine the purpose for the change in the tone of chapter 18.
We will pick up these elements in the following Gems. I know there are those of you who want the time to ponder these things for yourselves, but that doesn’t include all of you. Others just want “to be given the answers”. You are aware are you not, that digging for the answers yourself will mean the enlightenment or revelation will stay with you for longer? So take the time before the next Gem, which won’t be as long, in order to see what you can find.
Real enlightenment and true revelation comes when we learn to ask the right questions.
Ian
I think John has deliberately written this in the way he did in order to get his readers attention; that includes us. Let’s play the game.
Ian
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.
Henry Ward Beecher
Nothing is ordinary. Life is an endless series of little miracles. The difference between living and existing is noticing.
Louie Giglio
Come on! Play spot the difference with me.
Ian
Hey there. We all know that Babylon is a pile of dust in the desert. We also know that USA isn’t mentioned in end time profesy. Could USA be the modern Babylon. I think that I may have heard this before. Please don’t shoot me .
Kevin