This would be a real city which acts as the capital of Antichrist’s kingdom. But despite the repeated warnings: including 144,000 Jewish evangelists, the 2-witnesses and an angel flying in the heaves and proclaiming the gospel message, the people of this world would refuse to obey God and repent for their sins. Finally God’s judgement will fall on Babylon. There are several scenes or events takes place before God’s judgement on Antichrist’s commercial empire.
- John sees another angel. He came down from heaven with “great authority.”
- The earth was illuminated with glory as it was darkened by the fifth bowl angel (16:10). This was an awe-inspiring sight to the shocked and terrified earthly people.
- The angel cried out in authority. It was a woe for the Antichrist and his followers: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” The judgement prophesied in (14:8) will now be carried out with far reaching effects. This judgement takes place when the 7th bowl is poured out.
- Babylon has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison for every unclean spirit. It was in the vicinity of Babylon that 200-million formerly bound demons were released at the sounding of the 6th Trumpet (9:13-16). They along with other demons released from abyss at the sounding of the 5th Trumpet (9:1-11), those cast out from heaven with Satan (12:4,9) and those previously on earth will be confined in Babylon.
- Babylon destruction will come because 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 have rich by the wealth of her sensuality. Antichrist’s evil empire will spread its influence to all the nations of the world.
Clarion call for separation: (18:4-8):
In every age, believers have to separate themselves from worldly attractions and the ways of the world. Even when God called Abraham, He ordered him to get out of his country (Gen 12:1). God separated the Jewish nation from Egypt and warned the Israelites not to go back. Similarly the church today is commanded to separate itself from the ungodly (Rom. 16:17-18; 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1; Jer. 50:8; 51:6,45).
John offered some reasons for God’s people to separate themselves from the diabolical system.
- God’s people should disentangle and avoid pollution, becoming “partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). “Neither be partaker of other men’s sins” (1 Tim 5:22). There is a good partnership in the Lord (Phil. 4:1-14:21), but there is also an evil partnership that we must avoid (Eph. 5:11).
- God’s people might be spared the terrible plagues He will send on Babylon. God had patiently endured the growing sins of the evil system, but now the time had come for His wrath to be poured out. He would treat Babylon just as she treated His people.
- God’s people should refrain from being proud: “She hath glorified herself” (Rev 18:7). She saw herself as a queen who could never be dethroned, and this false confidence and pride could never be accepted by the Lord.
- God’s people should refrain from the worship of pleasures and luxury. To “live deliciously’ (Rev.18:7) is to live proudly in luxury while others go without. It means to make possessions and pleasures the most important things in life, and to ignore the needs of others. John summarized this attitude as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 Jn. 2:16).
- God’s people must not delay in separating themselves from this evil system, because God’s judgment will come suddenly and Babylon will be destroyed in a single day. Sometimes God’s judgments work silently “as a moth” (Hos. 5:12), but at other times they are “as a lion” (Hos. 5:14) and spring suddenly, and there is no escape. In one day, the entire economic empire will collapse! But those who have their citizenship in heaven will rejoice at the judgment of God.
The 3-plagues caused Babylon for complete devastation. 1) Death, 2) mourning and 3) famine. After the 3-plagues that have run their course, Babylon was burned up with fire.