Sunday School Notes: Revelation 18:20-24

²⁰ “Rejoice over her, heaven! And the saints and the apostles and the prophets! For God has judged your judgments from her.” ²¹ And one strong angel lifted up a stone like a large millstone and threw [it] into the sea, saying, “In this way–with violence–will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down. And it will never again be found. ²² And the sound of harpists and musicians and flautists and trumpeters will never again be heard in you. And every artisan of every trade will never again be found in you. And the sound of the mill will never again be heard in you. ²³ And the light of the lamp will never again shine in you. And the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will never again be heard in you. For your merchants were the greatest of the earth; for by your sorcery all the nations were led astray. ²⁴ And on her was found the blood of the prophets and saints and all those slaughtered upon the earth.”

This last section of chapter 18 is a call for God’s people to rejoice over the fall of Babylon. The ESV translation includes verse 20 as part of the cry of the shipmasters, whereas the NASB has the voice from heaven (18:4) speaking the words of verse 20. The Greek of the New Testament doesn’t use special punctuation to indicate direct speech, but relies upon certain phrases or the context to indicate when people are talking. It’s usually easy to spot dialog and identify the speaker, but sometimes it isn’t so clear and the translator has to use best judgment. This is one of those latter cases where the placement of quotation marks is at the discretion of the translator, and here I side with the NASB. The ESV considers verses 4a, 9-10, 11-13, 15, 17b-18a, and 19a as being John’s commentary on what he sees. The NASB, however, renders 4-20 as the speech of the voice from heaven, with sub-quotes from the kings, merchants, and sailors. Again, this is interpretation and doesn’t affect the meaning of the passage, but it is useful to bear in mind.

At first this passage may seem somewhat vindictive, as if Christians are being encouraged to take pleasure in the the misery of others. The ungodly city, “Babylon,” has been razed to the ground. Undoubtedly many, many people have lost their lives. And yet God’s people are being exhorted to rejoice. Aren’t Christians supposed to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44)?

First we should note that the Greek in verse 20 doesn’t translate easily into English (as my translation above makes clear). Perhaps the best way to understand the intention of the Greek is that God is bringing judgment against Babylon on behalf of His people. The NIV says this judgment is “with the judgment she imposed on you.” This brings out the idea of God judging in kind which is consistent with verse 6 (see the notes where we discuss the translation “in kind” as opposed to “double”).

God’s judgment of “Babylon” is the fulfillment of 6:10-11, where the saints under the altar are told to wait for the vindication of God. What he promised those persecuted believers is coming to pass with the fall and utter destruction of Babylon. So the “rejoicing” here is not so much relishing in the suffering of the earth-dwellers as it is celebrating the vindication of God, the defeat of His enemies, and the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people.

With regard to those lost in Babylon’s fall, we must also remember that this is a final judgment. There is no desire on the part of these people to repent, as we have seen. Their hearts are clearly hardened. While it may grieve God’s people to recognize this fact, this is a reminder that no-one is guiltless. These people don’t deserve God’s grace. Indeed, they are both enemies of God and of God’s people. The celebration here on the part of the church is, perhaps, akin to the celebrations of the Allies when Hirohito surrendered and Germany was defeated at the end of World War Two. The battle is over. The oppressors have been crushed. Evil has been vanquished.

John next sees a “mighty angel” throwing a large stone like a millstone into the sea as a picture of what will happen to Babylon. We’ve only seen an angel referred to as “mighty” twice before. The first occasion was in 5:2, prior to the judgments of the seven seals, when a “mighty angel” asks who will open the scrolls and break its seals. No-one was found worthy except the Lamb. On the second occasion, in 10:1, a mighty angel gives John a little scroll and commands him to eat it. This symbolizes John’s call to prophesy God’s word regarding many nations, which is followed by the vision of the two witnesses in chapter 11 who are persecuted to death, then raised by the Lord. This third “mighty angel” might, therefore, be the fulfillment and conclusion to all that was contained in the scroll of 5:2 and the little scroll in 10:1.

What’s the significance of casting the large stone into the sea? As you might expect, there is Old Testament precedent to this. In Jeremiah 51:63-64, Jeremiah writes all the prophesies regarding the fall of literal Babylon into a book and tells Seriah to tie the books to a stone and throw the stone into the Euphrates River. This act symbolizes how Babylon will sink “and rise no more.” By performing a similar action with similar words, the mighty angel is connecting the fall of literal Babylon with the fall of spiritual Babylon. What happened to the former was just a foreshadow of what will happen to the latter.

The angel then gives John a poetic description of the extent of Babylon’s devastation. This section is clearly poetic from the form and the repetition of the phrase “will certainly not… in you again” (or a slight variation of it):

• Babylon itself will certainly never be found again
• The sound of music will certainly never be heard in her again
• There will certainly be no crafts found in her again
• The sound of the mill will certainly never be heard in her again
• The lamps certainly won’t ever shine in her again
• The sounds of bride and bridegroom, the noise of a wedding, will certainly never be heard in her again

The point the angel is making is that the fall of Babylon is not simply the destruction of a city. It’s not merely the reduction of bricks and mortar into desert sand. It’s the wiping out of an entire culture. All of its arts and crafts, its manufacturing, its ceremonies, even its street lights–there will be nothing left. This is how thorough and complete God’s judgment will be. These were all things Babylon enjoyed, things that made her rich, prosperous, and attractive. It’s possible there were guilds for each of these, guilds that had excluded Christians because of their refusal to participate in the idolatry of guild worship (see notes on chapters 2 and 3).

The angel then gives three reasons for this punishment:

• Their merchants were exalted as the greatest of the earth
• She deceived the nations with her sorcery
• The blood of the prophets, saints, and all those killed (presumably Christians) of the earth is on her

There’s a prophecy against Tyre in Isaiah 23 where the city’s merchants are described as “princes” of the earth. They are held in high esteem. It is this glorification of men and the works of men that is referred to in the first reason. The fact that these merchants are the ones considered “great” and not God shows the depravity of their hearts. Babylon should be praising God for her wealth and the ability of merchants to bring her such prosperity. Indeed, Babylon is referred to here as “the great city,” which is exactly how she sees herself. Not a city that has prospered under God’s gracious hand, but a city that has made herself great. Such an attitude landed Nebuchadnezzar in a field eating grass (Daniel 4), and it will bring Babylon to ruin under God’s judgment.

The term “sorcery” translates the Greek word pharmakeia, from which we get the English word “pharmacy.” This doesn’t mean your local pharmacist is a sorcerer, but there is clearly a connection between the use of chemicals, narcotics, and other such substances in what was then considered “sorcery.” But the emphasis here is not so much on the sorcery as it is on the fact they used this sorcery as a means of deception. That’s not to say sorcery was acceptable. John lists it along with idolatry, murder, sexual immorality, and theft as the deeds of the surviving, unrepentant earth-dwellers after the sixth trumpet in 9:20-21. But the fact that these people use things like sorcery to lead people to worship false gods brings God’s judgment upon them (see 13:13-14 where the second beast performs signs and wonders to lead the earth-dwellers into idolatry, worshiping the first beast).

Finally, the blood of the prophets, saints, and all those killed on the earth is on Babylon. Notice that Babylon is being held accountable for the worldwide persecution of God’s people. If Babylon in Revelation referred to a single literal city, that would hardly seem fair. But given that it is symbolic of godless culture throughout the ages, the judgment is more than fair. We’ve seen more than once how Babylon rejoices in the death of the saints. She is guilty of their blood–not only killing believers, but the persecution of God’s people in general.

This is a sober reminder to every culture and society that persecutes the church. Jesus loves his Bride, and he will not tolerate her abuse. One day, every nation, government, and society that persecutes God’s people will be called to account. The Lord will vindicate His name and His people.

We’ll begin chapter 19 next time.