Bible Commentaries
Revelation 18

Verses 1-10

XVI

THE WAR OF HAR-MAGEDON (CONTINUED)

Revelation 18:1-19:10

This chapter closes up the longest section in the book, the war between the true church and the counterfeit church. In the preceding study I gave you but a little exposition of Revelation 17, because that chapter only identifies the woman in purple and scarlet, and because it is self-explanatory. The latter half tells the meaning of the first half.

We now consider, with more detail, the effect of the outpouring of the last bowl of wrath upon the woman in purple and scarlet, that is the final destruction of Romanism as the counterfeit church. Note carefully the change from a woman to a city. "I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried with a mighty voice, saying: Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, and is become the habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." That is the announcement sent from heaven, in the brilliance of glory and the highest extent of authority, of the doom of the mystic Babylon. The imagery of this chapter is borrowed, even to the very words, from the following prophecies of the Old Testament: Isaiah 13:19-22, which describes the downfall of the historic Babylon on the Euphrates. Then in Isaiah 34:9-15, is described the utter destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 50-51) describes the destruction of the historic Babylon. Zephaniah, (Revelation 2:13 ff) describes the destruction of Nineveh. Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 26-28) describes the destruction of Tyre, and from these prophecies we get the very word employed in this chapter, as imagery transferred to the mystic Babylon. I have the space to recall to you but one of them, the first one cited:

And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldean’s pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and ostriches shall dwell there; and wild goats [or demons] shall dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. – Isaiah 13:19.

The same language is employed by the other prophets to whom I refer, and exactly corresponding to the language which I have Just read, "is become a habitation of demons, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird." That simply means, that as the ancient Babylon, after its destruction, was never more inhabited, and wild beasts whelped in its palaces, so when God smites the mystic Babylon, the counterfeit church of Romanism, it will be wiped off the face of the earth.

Read again, now from verse Revelation 18:3: "For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness." That is the cause or reason of the destruction of the mystic Babylon; that her influence was so corrupt with the nations of the earth that she caused its kings to join in her idolatries and blasphemies, and through the merchandise of her wantonness, that is, all that part of the commerce which relates to the things employed in her service, on that account it is to be swept away.

Read verse Revelation 18:4: "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that you have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." That is to me a very precious verse. It shows that God never destroys the righteous’; that if the righteous have been associating with the evil, before the judgment falls on the evil the righteous are called out. We saw that in the case of Sodom: the angels took hold of Lot and dragged him out of the city, saying, "We cannot destroy this city while you are in it." We saw the same thing when Korah and his family were about to be swallowed up by an earthquake on account of great sin. Everybody was required to move away from him, to get away from the dangerous place where they stood, because the ground on which their feet rested would yawn, crack open, and they would be engulfed. We find precisely these words addressed to the old Babylon. Jeremiah uses the words precisely. A great many of the Israelites and people of Judah were in captivity in Babylon, and the prophet says: "Come forth out of her, my people, that ye receive not her plagues."

We see the same language when Jerusalem was destroyed. Jesus said to his disciples: "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, then you flee to the mountains, and share not in the doom that is coming upon Jerusalem," through the armies of Titus. You still see the same thing, on a much grander scale, at the end of the world. The earth cannot be destroyed by fire while any Christian is on it; their bodies are raised, they are caught up in the clouds, and when no living Christian and the dust of no dead Christian is left on the earth, then the earth will be wrapped in fire.

Another pertinent paragraph is found in 2 Corinthians:

Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for we are "ft temple of the living God; even as God said: I dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. – 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

Notwithstanding the evil of the system of Romanism, notwithstanding the heresy of its doctrines, there are multitudes of truly converted children of God on its church rolls. Some of the finest religious hymns, some of the sweetest and most precious expressions of the love of Christ, have come from the pens of individual Roman Catholics; they are God’s children. Now, before this destruction falls on that counterfeit church, God will call out from it all of his true children. Every now and then there are secessions. Millions went out in the days of the Reformation; great multitudes of the old-fashioned Catholics went out after the Council of Trent; they could not accept those decrees. All through history they have been going out. Some never were in, and I think we belong to that crowd. But I am speaking of those who were in, and I am glad when any of them come out.

In Revelation 18:5 we read the reasons of this final sweeping judgment: "For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." The language of the Bible on that point is very impressive. God does not strike until the measure of iniquity is full; but when it is full he strikes. The sins of the Canaanites got so rank that they smelt unto heaven, then God destroyed them root and branch; when Sodom’s sin cried unto heaven, God swept it away without pity and without mercy. We get impatient, oftentimes, at God’s patience, his long-suffering with evil, and we say: Why doesn’t he hurl his lightning; why doesn’t he strike down the wicked? God says: "Wait, I am giving everybody an opportunity for repentance. At the right time I will strike, and when I strike there will be no need to strike again. It will be complete." Whenever that time comes, God remembereth iniquities.

I preached a sermon once on this text: "When he maketh inquisition for sin, he remembereth." Men do evil because judgment is not speedily executed. But after a while God will make inquisition, that means a search like a sheriff with a search warrant The day I preached that sermon I described God’s coming to the sinner and entering into his heart and shining with the light of his truth into the most secret chambers of his soul, and unmasking, and revealing, and bringing out into the white light of infinite holiness every foul thing that man ever did: "When he maketh inquisition for sin, be remembereth." That great sermon of Jonathan Edwards that started a series of meetings in which a quarter of a million people were converted, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," from the text: "Their feet shall slide in due time," applied this thought.

Revelation 18:6: "Render unto her even as she rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works; in the cup which she mingled, mingle unto her double." Now, I do not think the "double" there means twice as much. It is according to the old law of retaliation: "Like for like: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; as ye judge ye shall be judged; as ye measured to others it shall be measured unto you." The punishment shall correspond to the sin. And now, as that iniquitous counterfeit church was drunk with the blood of the saints; as she filled her cup with idolatries, God gives her a cup to drink with his undiluted wrath. The punishment shall correspond to the sin. The same principle of righteousness is expressed in the next two verses.

"How much soever she glorified herself and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning; for she saith in her heart: I sit a queen and am not a widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. Therefore, in one day shall her plagues come, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her." In other words, as led by her pride, she took the high seat and spoke great swelling words of blasphemy, and put her foot on the neck of kings and oppressed the saints, and relied upon her infallibility, saying: "I am a queen, I am not subject to the law, and no mourning shall come to me," so shall be the depth of her fall. It shall be as deep as her presumption was high.

Revelation 18:9-10: "And the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying: Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city I For in one hour is thy judgment come." This is copied directly from the prophets; in fact, nearly every word in this chapter is.

They had an agreement, the kings and the Romanist church: "You buttress me in my kingly authority, and I will buttress you in your papal chair." There was a trade, a very convenient arrangement. Just like a municipal sin is committed by a grafter who offers? to support a certain man for mayor or alderman, or chief of police, or some other civil office, on the condition: "You let me put my finger into the pie and take out my plum, and I don’t care how many plums you take out." And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; [and this is her merchandise] merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious atones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood [or sweet scented wood], and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble; and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and the souls of men. – Revelation 18:11-13.

Ezekiel 26-28, foretelling the downfall of Tyre, represents all who lived by her merchandise as bewailing her. Understand that this merchandise here is not to be considered as merchandise in general, but is that part of the merchandise past for so much; then there were fees for officiating at birth, which was used up in supporting this counterfeit church, or in its ceremonies, or vestments; there would be "Peter’s pence" enough to build a cathedral; there would be the profit from the sale of indulgences, as when Tetzel traveled over Germany and sold the privilege of sins in the future as well as in the marriage fees, and the fees to get your father or mother out of purgatory, fees for everything. Then there were the great donations given by the conscience-stricken dying, donations of lands, and large sums of money. It is related that on one occasion a Pope led a visiting friend into the treasure house of the Vatican, and showed him the silks and purple and laces and fine linen, opened the coffers and showed him the jewels diamonds, pearls and rubies, the gold and silver; and said: "There has been a great change since the first Pope, Peter, for he said: ’Silver and gold have I none,"’ and the friend re marked: "We have what Peter had not, and we have not what Peter had, for he could make the lame man walk without the silver and gold, and we cannot."

Of course, the commercial spirit will always "hurrah" for anything that makes trade. They will if it be whiskey; they will if it be prostitution; they will if it be idolatry, if you can only sell the images of the great goddess Diana and make a big pile of money by it. But when all that is broken up they will stand off and wail: "Alas, Babylon is fallen, and all of our trade is broken up."

But look at that last item, will you? "And merchandise in the bodies and in the souls of men." What was Luther when he went to Rome, and on bended knees climbed the stairway to find expiation of sin, but a slave? Slaves and the souls of men! And how joyously he leaped to his feet when he saw that man is justified in the sight of God by faith and not by works from condemnation forever, without dependence on any priest’s "I absolve thee"; God does the absolving. Slaves and the souls of men! Millions and millions have been slaves, slaves to the blindest superstitions, treasuring up the cut-off toe nails of some so-called saint, or put-ting in a vial or bottle the tears of some other saint, or preserving an image that seems to wink the eye. You might as well imitate the Negro, who puts a rabbit’s foot in his pocket for luck, or nails up a horseshoe to keep off the witches; it is the same principle, exactly. It is slavery, the worst form of slavery. Mental slavery is much worse than body slavery.

Revelation 18:14: "And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all." Now, when a man works hard and lives hard, it does not hurt if occasionally he eats short rations, but if one be pampered, feeding at a banquet every day, having every luxury in the world, then if God sweeps all of it away, and turns out that glutton barefooted and bankrupt, oh, how he feels ill Whenever that is the prop you lean on, and it breaks, then you are in a hard case. But if the spirit of happiness be in you, and not in the things about you, and you rest in the eternal joy of hope and peace and love, then the devil cannot bankrupt you; no money panic can make you a pauper. But notice the crowd that is weeping over the downfall, those who had shared in the profits of the idolatrous business.

Then look at Revelation 18:20, and see who rejoice: "Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her." She has passed her judgment on you, she imprisoned you, burnt you at the stake; through flames your soul took its exodus to heaven. Now, up in heaven, look down and see your judgment, that they put on you, see it put on her. That is the crowd that rejoices every time an evil power is put down. The good people are glad; it is the evil people who are sad. Every nation that doeth righteousness maketh the righteous glad.

Revelation 18:21: "And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all." Now, that is borrowed outright from Jeremiah. When he pronounced the doom on the ancient Babylon, he wrote it and said to one of his friends: "Go to Babylon and tie this writing to a great stone, and hurl it into the Euphrates and as it sinks out of sight you say: Thus shall Babylon disappear forever." It is a very significant correspondence.

And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute players and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more in thee; and the voice of a mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. – Revelation 18:22-23.

What a description of ruin! If you were to walk amidst the ruins of Palmyra or Karnac, or stand in the ruins of Nineveh or ancient Babylon, never hearing the laughter of a child, never seeing a friendly light shine in a window, never hearing a strain of music) but all desolation, and the only voice the voice of a wild beast, or the hoot of an owl, you would get a conception of the judgment that God sends upon that counterfeit church.

Last verse of the chapter, Revelation 18:24: "And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth." That used to puzzle me, just like it puzzled me in Matthew 23:25 when Jerusalem was destroyed: "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zachariah, son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar." Now, that apostate church did not kill all the people of the Old Testament days, for it did not exist. Then, what is meant by saying that upon it shall come all the righteous blood? The idea is this: That the principle of persecution is the same, and that you may pursue that principle until you have identified yourself with every persecution that ever has been, you get in you the spirit of all past persecutions. It is the solidarity of sin.

After these things I heard, as it were, a great voice of a great multitude in heaven. [We have heard the earth voices, howling and complaining now, let us listen to heaven] "Hallelujah; salvation and glory and power belong to our God; for true and righteous are his judgments; for be has judged the great harlot, her that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. – Revelation 19:1-2.

Think about that, will you? To which song is your soul attuned? Will you weep with the wicked, or rejoice with the saints? In the book of the Psalms there is a division called the "Hallelujah Psalms," and on Passover occasions what is called the "Great Hallel" is sung; Jesus and his apostles sang it at the observance of the Lord’s Supper. That is one of the most striking portions of the Psalms; it denotes the highest expression of joy and praise.

"And a second time they say, Hallelujah." Notice right after that: "And her smoke goeth up for ever and for ever." Hallelujah up yonder, smoke down here; the burning of the counterfeit church and the glory of the saints in heaven over its disappearance as a persecuting agency.

Notice who participate in the Hallel: "And the four and twenty elders," those who represent the continuous priesthood of God’s people on earth. "And the four living creatures," that is, the four Cherubim that constitute the chariot of God on his messages of mercy. "They fell down and worshiped God, saying, Hallelujah, amen." That is not all of it: "And a voice came forth from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God, all ye his servants, ye that fear him, the small and the great," not only the Cherubim and the elders, but Jet everybody rejoice. Now, let us see what response was made to that:

And I heard it as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying: Hallelujah; for the Lord, our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory unto him; for the marriage of the lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready, and it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Back in Revelation 12, we saw that radiant woman driven into the wilderness, the world despised her, pagan power persecuted her, papal power persecuted her. Here we have seen the purple woman go down in smoke. I told you that this whole section was a war between these two women. The radiant woman not only comes out of the wilderness, but arrays herself for marriage to the Lamb. There are two pertinent parables in Matthew: (1) the parable Of the marriage of the King’s Son, which relates to the time of the espousal (Matt. 22); (2) the wise and foolish virgins which relates to the consummation of the espousal: "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him" (Matthew 25:6).

The church, conceived of as an institution, a time institution, now becomes the glory church, wedded to the Lamb in heaven. I have explained what the righteousnesses of the saints mean, in the chapter on the promises, and I will not discuss it now.

Revelation 19:9: "And he saith unto me: Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb." Blessed are they, I give you a general question: What are the beatitudes of the book of Revelation? Everything that commences with "Blessed" is a beatitude. Compare them with the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. I will call them off to you: The first beatitude is chapter Revelation 1:3, then Revelation 14:13, then Revelation 20:6, then Revelation 22:7. You write out all of these, take each one of them into your heart, and you will see that our Lord did not get through speaking beatitudes when he delivered his Sermon on the Mount.

And he said unto me [that is, the interpreting angel]: These are the true words of God; and J fell down before his feet to worship him. And he said unto me: See thou do it not; I am a fellow servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

What a glorious thing the fellowship of the different servants of God I We do not worship the church, we do not worship any one of these ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of shining angels of God; they are servants of God; you are a servant of God. "See thou do, it not." They are working for the same cause for which you are working. Their lot, for the present, is higher than yours, but don’t forget that it is only for a little season, and then you will be higher than they. So do not worship any one that one day you will be above. The biggest preacher in the world ought to be glad to join in the fellowship of worship with the poorest ragged little street urchin that ever found peace in believing in Jesus Christ. They stand together on a plane of equality before an impartial God. And, brethren, it has been one of the joys of my life that I have not despised any one of the little ones that believe on Jesus Christ. I would not turn on my heel for the difference between the poor dying beggar that loved Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of John D. Rockefeller. They stand exactly even, the rich and the poor, for in Christ Jesus there are no rich and no poor. We are all one, and we are all one with the angels in service.

QUESTIONS

1. From what Old Testament prophecies is the imagery of Revelation 18 borrowed?

2. What is the chief sin of the counterfeit church, causing her downfall?

3. Are there true children of God among the Romanists?

4. How do they escape her doom?

5. Give historic instances of God’s people leaving the counterfeit church.

6. Show from both Old Testament and New Testament analogues that God does not destroy the righteous with the wicked.

7. Cite Paul’s pertinent exhortation to the Corinthians,

8. What is the meaning in Revelation 18:6 of "rendering double"?

9. Cite some of the merchandise of the counterfeit church.

10. Who will bewail the downfall of the counterfeit church? And who rejoice?

11. How do you account for the expression in the last verse of the chapter that "in her was found the blood of all that had been slain upon the earth," and what parallel expression in Matthew concerning Jerusalem?

12. What distinction do you make between the parable of the marriage of the king’s son in Matthew 22 and the parable of the wise and foolish virgins in Matthew 25, and on what Jewish custom are both founded?

13. Which of these parables is parallel with Revelation 19:6-9?

14. What the beatitudes in Revelation?

15. Why is angelolatry a sin?