Revelation 18 The Fall of Mystery Babylon

Alas, Babylon 

John sees yet another angel coming down from Heaven. This angel announces that Babylon (i.e., Rome) has fallen. So, high fives all around. However, some of the non-believers on Earth are too busy mourning the loss of Rome for high-fiving. Kings are sad because Rome was so mighty. Plus, they were kind of digging that whole Whore of Babylon thing. Merchants and shopkeepers are bummed, too, because they really liked selling their goods to Rome. Now, what are they going to do with all these unused chariots? Sailors are also feeling a bit melancholy because they were making a lot of money by working with Rome. Sniff. Think of all the lonely gold coins that won't be jingling in their pockets. The angels aren't swayed much by this. One of them picks up a giant stone and throws it into the ocean. Ha, ha, Rome! You got crushed! Nothing is ever going to come out of you again. Not music, not art, not goods and services, not anything! All this happened because Rome had to go and kill the saints. That'll teach 'em. 

A movement of mighty power is symbolized in these verses. The chronology of the events described in the preceding chapter brings us down to the time when the ten horns turn against the Papacy by depriving her of her temporal authority. This, as we have already seen, was completely fulfilled in 1870 and constituted the fifth plague. In the description of the sixth plague which followed, it was shown that the great city which was invaded was composed of three parts--Paganism (the modern form of the dragon power), Catholicism, and Protestantism. The same great city is here brought to view, and the angel from heaven, with a mighty voice, cries, "Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen." This fall of Babylon can not signify a literal destruction; for there are certain events to take place in Babylon after her fall which entirely precludes that idea; for instance, the calling of God's people out of her, in order that they may not receive of her plagues. In these plagues is embraced her literal destruction, or complete overthrow. The fall is therefore a moral one; for the result of it is that Babylon becomes "the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Protestants who make any attempt to interpret these prophecies usually limit the designation "Babylon the Great" in these verses to the church of Rome, because the woman symbolizing the apostate church in the preceding chapter is denominated "Babylon the Great." Ver. 5. But the same verse also declares her to be the "_Mother_ of harlots;" and if she as a degraded woman stands as the representative of a corrupt church, her unchaste daughters, also, must symbolize churches that are her descendants; and if the real name of the _mother_ is Babylon, as stated, the proper name of her harlot daughters must be Babylon also. Whether, therefore, the mother or the daughters are referred to, it is all "Babylon the Great," because it is all the same family and is a part of that "GREAT CITY which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Chap. 17:18.