A Commentary in Simple English on Revelation

CHAPTER 18:

A death song for Babylon [18.1]

The whole of this chapter is a 'death song'. We would call it a 'lament' or a 'dirge'. In verse 4, the voice of God breaks in and He speaks to His people. Verses 4 to 8 speak as though God has not yet destroyed Babylon. In those verses it is still in the future. The rest of the chapter speaks as though Babylon has already fallen. [18.2] Another voice breaks in at verse 20. This voice does not seem to be the voice of God.

Verses 1-3: The voice of an angel

In verse 1, an angel comes down from heaven. We do not remember the 'ten kings’ now. The end of Babylon is God's work. The angel is a great angel because he brings a great message. The light, which shines from the angel, lights up the dark world. After the dark night of God's judgment, the light of the day of Christ begins to dawn (Ezekiel 43:2). He shouts out twice that Babylon fell! This means that the fall of Babylon is final (14: 8). The temples are broken down, and they are now a prison from which the false 'gods' cannot escape (Verse 2). The people who once worshipped in the temples have gone away.

The 'unclean' birds, which everyone hates, may be the 'vultures', which eat the flesh of dead animals and men. In verse 3 the angel says that it was right that God should destroy Babylon. All the nations have drunk the wine of God's anger. God's anger came because the nations joined in the worship of false 'gods'. [18.3] But the last part of the verse brings a new thought to us. The traders have become rich. But their trade at 'Babylon' has not been in things that are needed. The trade has been in things which cost a great deal of money but which are not much use. They were 'luxury' goods. People bought them just to show how very rich they were.

Verses 4-8: Come Out!

John hears another voice, but this one comes 'from heaven'. We think that it is the voice of God. God calls to His own people to come out from Babylon. (See Genesis 19:12-17; Isaiah 48:20; 52:11; Jeremiah 50:8; 51:6; 51:45; 2 Corinthians 6:17.) There are two dangers for the people of God. The first is this. If they stay in the city they may share in her sins (Matthew 24:12). The Christian shares God's love and goodness. He has no desire to share the sins of this world. The second danger is that when God punishes Babylon, we shall share in that punishment. Now all Christians need to be very careful and wise about this teaching. There is a need for balance. We must be separated to God. The Christian is not to go out of the world (1 Corinthians 5:10). Jesus sent His followers into the world (John 17:18). He told us to go into all the world (Mark 16:15).

Now all this is not easy. There are two things we can say.

1 We must not make up a lot of rules and then expect other Christians to keep them. It is not right to say to other Christians: 'You must not mix with those people. You must not go to that place'. The Christian life is not about such rules.

2 Christian love must guide us. We may say: 'I can mix with those people and tell them about Jesus. I can live in that city and preach the word of God there.' But if we would feel too ashamed to talk about Jesus and the Good News there, then we are probably in the wrong place. If we are frightened to speak about Jesus, maybe we mix with the wrong people.

Then in verse 5 we read that Babylon's sins are stuck together one on top of another until the top reaches the sky or heaven. God does not forget her sins. But now God remembers and will do something about it. (Jeremiah 51:9). Verses 6 and 7 call on God to punish her because she has been so cruel to other people. It is God's way with men to bring down the proud. She speaks proudly in her heart. But it is God who knows what is in our hearts. He will bring her down and (verse 8) it will all happen in one day. In verses 10, 17 and 19 instead of one day, we find it is in one hour. It is sudden. See 17:16 for 'she shall be burned with fire'. Babylon had great power (verse 10). But God had far more! Babylon's power could not save her from God, the Judge of All.

Verses 9-20: Kings, Traders, and Sailors.

These three groups of people in turn sorrow and cry tears when they see that Babylon has fallen.

The 'kings of the earth' come first (verses 9 and 10). They destroy her (1716). They are sorry then at what they have done, but it is too late. They are frightened. So they should be. It is only those who are 'kings' with the King of Kings, Jesus, who need to feel no fear.

Then in verses 11-17, we have the traders. They are 'traders of the earth'. In 3:18 we met Jesus, the heavenly Trader. What He sells to us is really worth having. It is not luxury goods. But these traders do not really feel sorry at the fall of Babylon. They are only sorry because their chance to make money has come to an end.

The list in verses 12 and 13 is a real list of the trade of Rome. Cinnamon and silk came from China. Pearls came from India. Chariots came from what is now France. Spices came from Arabia. Slaves came from every part of the Empire. The trade covered a great part of the world.

The list is set out in groups like this: -

1 Gold, silver, jewels, pearls

40,000 slaves worked and died in the silver mines in Spain. Many of the jewels would come from India. Pearls came from the 'oyster', a shell-fish that lives in the sea. Men dived deep into the sea to get the 'oysters'. There was danger in this. And when the pearls reached Rome, a rich Roman might grind them to powder and then drink it in his wine. This was just to show how rich he was. Each year 120 ships sailed from the Red Sea to what is now Sri Lanka to trade in silk, jewels and other goods. Such a long sea journey was full of danger in those days. 'Jewels' here may mean high-cost building stone like 'marble'.

2 Fine linen, purple silk and scarlet cloth

This is all high cost clothing. One piece of clothing made from fine linen would cost £50. A short coat made from purple cloth would cost more than £100.

3 Things made from a sweet-smelling wood, ivory; from brass, steel and marble

'Ivory' is the horn-like 'tusk' of the elephant. This would mostly have come from Africa or India. There is today a real danger that the elephant will die out because people kill them just to get their 'tusks'. 'Marble' is a fine stone, which is sometimes white.

4 Cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense

Cinnamon cost about £140 for a kilogram. Like spice it would be used to add taste to food. Incense, myrrh and frankincense are all things that smell good.

5 Wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat

This group is made up from food and drink. A great number of ships brought grain from Egypt and North Africa to Rome. A Roman writer tells us that in AD.62 nearly two hundred grain ships were destroyed by a storm when they were in harbour. Fire destroyed another hundred ships in the river Tiber near Rome at about the same time. [18.4] There was a problem. But Rome did not starve. Three hundred ships were lost, but there were plenty more!

6 Cattle and sheep, horses and chariots

The cattle and sheep would be mainly for food. A good horse might cost up to £2000.

7 And bodies and souls of men

What John says here is that the trade in slaves was not just a trade in human bodies. A slave had a soul like anyone else. The number of slaves in the Empire was very large. At the end of one war, the Romans made 150,000 people slaves. Some masters were not cruel to their slaves. But many were cruel. But what hurt any slave was the loss of his right to be free. John puts the slave trade at the end of his list. He wants us to know how much he hates the trade in slaves.

In verse 14 it is still the traders who speak. Still they complain that they will not be able to make so much money. One Roman Emperor, Vitellius, is said to have spent £7 million on food in less than a year. The 'nightingale' is a little bird with a most beautiful song. The Romans had 'nightingale' tongues brought from Egypt and ate them. Such was the waste of money, the 'luxury', which made the traders rich. It is all over now. Like the 'kings of the earth' in verse 10, they stand a long way away from Babylon. They watch as she is destroyed. They will do nothing to help her (verse 15). They do not want to share her loss! In one short hour all that pride and 'luxury' has been made into a 'wilderness' (verse 17).

Then in verse 17, it is the turn of the captains of ships. With the captains are everyone who goes from one sea port to another, and the sailors. Although the Romans built good roads, it was easier to send goods by sea. The Empire was all round the Mediterranean Sea. And except in the winter, the Mediterranean Sea was quite safe. So a great number of people did work and earn their money in the trade on the sea. They shout out (verse 18) but they do nothing to help. They are very sorry that Babylon has fallen. But this is only because they can no longer make money.

Verse 20-24: Heaven's Joy

We do not know whose this voice is. It is not likely that this voice is the voice of God. The voice calls for joy because Babylon has fallen. It calls to heaven; this may mean the armies of angels. And it calls to the leaders of the church, who have suffered because of the cruelty of Babylon. 'Prophets' here means prophets like those who spoke the Word of God in the churches in Asia.' Babylon' was cruel to such people. Now God had punished' Babylon' and this was right.

Now (verse 21) a single angel picks up a great stone. Women ground much of the grain to flour using two small stones. This was a 'hand mill'. But sometimes animals turned great stones. So this stone would be much too big and heavy for anyone to pick it up. With one quick swing, the angel threw it into the sea. At once, it sank to the bottom of the sea. And the angel says that the great city of Babylon will be destroyed with a quick rush like that.

Verses 22 and 23 tell us about some of the things that go on in a city. They will not happen any more in Babylon. There will be no more music. There will be no more sad or very happy events, so there will be no need for music. Nothing will be made. Where before there was the noise of work, there will be only silence. No one prepares food. No one will grind grain to flour. There will be no bread, nothing to eat. There will be no light. No one will marry. There will be no children. So there will be no hope. The New Jerusalem, the City of God, will not be like that (Isaiah 65:17-25).

In the City of God, there will be music (19:1-5). The people who live there will be busy. They will serve God all the time (22:3). There will be no hunger (7:16). There will be light (21:23). And the voices of the bride and her husband-to-be (or Bridegroom) will be heard. That is the voices of Christ and His Church (19:7; 21:2; 22:17).

The traders of 'Great Babylon' were this world's great men. They were proud. But they were not great men of God! Babylon led all the nations away from God's ways by the poison which she made seem so pleasing to them (Isaiah 47:9).

Verse 24 is rather like Jeremiah 51:49. What John means is this. It is not only Christian leaders who have been killed. Some of the prophets who spoke in the churches in Asia, and some of God's holy people, the 'saints' have been killed. But many others who were not Christians have died too. They have 'had their throats cut'. They have been killed as though they were only animals. (See Romans 8:36; Psalm 44:22.) But now Babylon has been destroyed. And Babylon was to blame for these deaths.