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Fallen Is Babylon the Great!  |
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| [ Revelation 18:1 - 18:8 ] |
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1. After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
2. With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
3. 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."
4. 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;
5. for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
6. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
7. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.'
8. Therefore 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.
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Reflection |
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Judgment upon Babylon (18:1–3)
Revelation 18 is a declaration of judgment upon Babylon in the style of Jeremiah 50–51. She is described in desolate language. Babylon has become a place where no one lives (Jer. 51:29, 37) and a “dwelling for demons” (v. 2). The reason for this is explained in verse 3; instead of giving life, she takes it. Only a few people benefit from her wealth. Like a drug lord, she benefits from the community at its expense. Like a neighborhood gone bad with boarded-up houses where rats live and drug dealers and prostitutes make deals, Babylon is emptied of its beauty to reveal the degradation within.
Come out of Her, My People (18:4–8)
You belong to God, but you live in this world (John 17:15). So how do you “come out of her”? Babylon is not a geographical city but a spiritual kingdom—the enemy’s counterfeit of the new Jerusalem (21:2). You have three enemies: the flesh, the world, and the Devil. Satan will use the flesh to blind you spiritually so that you pursue your selfish desires in this world. Every day, Jesus calls you to come out of Babylon and invites you to Himself. Obey this call because the judgment against Babylon is fierce. She is repaid “double for what she has done” (v. 6) because she is the “land of Merathaim” (Jer. 50:21), meaning “double rebellion”—she rejected both God’s natural revelation (Rom. 1:20) and Jesus’ special revelation (John 12:47–48).
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Application |
- As you mourn the evil in this world, know for sure that there will come a day when the sinful world that John calls “Babylon” will be destroyed for good.
- Let the loving voice of the Holy Spirit reveal to you how you need to come out of Babylon, but be careful of the enemy’s voice of condemnation (Rom. 8:1).
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A Letter to
God |
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Heavenly Father, You search me and You know me. Help me obey Your call to come out of Babylon and find my rest in You. Protect me from the evil one as I live for You in this world. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
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