"And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lit up with his glory, {2} And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, it has become a habitation of demons, in the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."

This is the book of Revelation chapter 18. In this series of broadcasts, we have been painting in some of the historical background of the book of this prophecy, because it's only in, really understanding that, that you're going to understand the book itself, and what the book is all about.

Chapter 17 and chapter 18 deal with Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots. She's presented as a woman, as a prostitute, riding upon a great scarlet beast. Babylon was an ancient city state, one of the first really great empires, and Babylon had absorbed the gods of every city and state she conquered. She was the mother of many religions, every kind of idol could be found in Babylon. Babylon's own city god was a god, that had subordinated all these other gods, but she was in that sense, because you have to understand the biblical sense, other religions are pictured like women and the idols are like women in idolatry and the participation in other religions is portrayed as adultery and fornication in the Bible.

And so this great city state with its gods and its pantheon, was also seen as the Mother of Harlots, as the madam of a house of prostitution. The imagery is very strong, very powerful.

Now the ancient kingdoms are presented to us. We discussed this in the last program, as existing at two levels, the physical and the spiritual. As a physical kingdom and overlaid over it, is a spiritual kingdom as well. And in that human realm it looks like there is a civil government and yet there is also a religious government, right along side of it.

Here in the United States, we are dedicated to the principle of the separation of church and state, and we can't really quite get our mind around the fact that in the ancient world, there was no such distinction made. In fact, one of the best comparisons you will find is the modern Arab world, or Islamic nations, where church and state, or religion and state, perhaps I should say, are interwoven and in fact the governance of the country is a religious government, in a way.

But in another way, Islam does not match it, because Islam is strictly monotheistic. Babylon was not, Babylon absorbed gods from anywhere and everywhere and so consequently, spiritual Babylon is called the Mother of Harlots.

You know it's remarkable that in a book as short is Revelation, that two whole chapters should be given over to a graphic description of the destruction of the city and the religious system that she dominated. Why is this? What has this woman done that causes her to get such attention.

Remember, all of this comes after a lengthy discussion of the Dragon, that symbolizes the devil, his persecution of the woman who brought forth the man child as is described in Revelation 12, that is of Israel who gave birth to Jesus.

The whole story that we read here, is one of final justice. The Dragon has used this system, and the civil governments that it dominated, to persecute God's people down through history, whether they were Israel of old, or the church of new, and in the end, this evil system must be destroyed.

So somewhere ahead of us, there will be a final manifestation of this evil system, which will have as its object the destruction of the people of God, whether they be the people of God, as in the Jews or the people of God, as in the church.

There is not a lot of interpretation required in chapter 18. It's a poetic description full of imagery. It's is designed to evoke, not so much an intellectual response, but an emotional response. It is not put in the Bible for you to sit down and get your computer and all your Bible programs out and work your way through all the details of it and go back and forth and find meaning in it. Not at all.

What it is designed for is that, you would read it, you would think, you would come to understand.

I said earlier, that prophecy is best understood or best felt, and that's a good word for it, when it's read aloud. I was teaching a Bible class not long ago in the book of Isaiah, and in the process of explaining the book to them and working our way through it in class, I began to realize that, it was not having the impact on the students that I thought it should have. So I assigned them for the next class, each of them had a segment of the book of Isaiah, that they were to prepare to read aloud, and interpret not by explanation, but with vocal inflections, emphasis, pauses and just simply read the Scripture aloud as they would read a piece of poetry. The students told me later that it revolutionized their whole grasp and dealing with Isaiah, because in truth, those prophecies are designed to kind of reach in and touch a person at the very core of their being. It is designed to evoke an emotional response. It is designed to bring imagery to our eyes, so that we can visualize what God is going to do in the future and hopefully respond to it, and it's far more than an intellectual exercise. You ought to try it sometime.

Find yourself a version of the Bible that lays the prophets out in poetic meter. You can spot them quickly, because of the way they are designed and laid out on the page makes it obvious, and then find yourself someone, and read this prophecy aloud to them, and try to interpret it, I do not mean to explain, I mean interpret vocally the reading. Only then I think you will begin to feel what is transmitted through these prophecies.

This segment in Revelation is long and repetitious, but it is really designed, to be sung. I don't believe anyone has ever written, an oratorio to cover this passage. Someone really should. When you listen to Handel's Messiah and you hear the power of some of the great courses and you're going to run across some of them, as a matter fact, a little later in this chapter. You begin to realize that someone really should write it, because it's made up in a way, that would make beautiful recitatives and airs, and powerful courses and would fit into a great oratorio. The song, as I call it, the poem if you wish, really begins in verse two.

Babylon the Great is Fallen

Verse 2 of Revelation 18, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of demons and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. {3} For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies, {5} For her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities."

Now you ought to remember here, that when it speaks in verse 3 of "the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth committing fornication with her," He's not talking so much in this case about sexual sins. He's talking about religion. Bear in mind that in the Old Testament, particularly, in all the prophets that when God spoke of fornication in a spiritual sense, He was talking about relationships with other gods, and the fact is that these nations when they entered into treaty relationships, their god entered into a relationship with the other nation’s god, and so all of these things, all of this ebb and flow of religion through the ancient world, God calls fornication, because they were worshiping gods other than Him. They are having nothing to do with Him. They are following after their idols.

In verse six of Revelation 18, the song continues, "Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works, in the cup, which she has filled, fill it to her double."

The cup that she has filled, is a cup full of blood. {7} "How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her, for she says in her heart, "I sit a queen. I am no widow. I shall see no sorrow." {8} Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. {9} And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning."

This woman is finally going to be judged, finally going to be dealt with. Actually the beast apparently winds up being the instrument in God's hands that burns this woman with fire.

Revelation 18 verse 10, All these kings "stand far off for fear of her torment." They don't want to come close to it, "saying, "Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is your judgment come," {11} And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore."

When you think about it, the store down at the corner who provided all of the silk and all the jewels, all the clothing for the harlots in the house down on the corner down there, and the house is burned down and the harlots are gone. No business anymore.

Verse 12 of Revelation 18, "The merchandise of gold and silver, the precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk, scarlet, all the precious woods and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all vessels of most precious wood, and of brass and iron, and marble, {13} And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. {14} And the fruits that your soul lusted after are departed from you, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from you, and you shall find them no more at all. {15} The merchants of these things, that were made rich by her, shall stand way off for the fear of her torment."

Oh, they feel sorry and they weep and they moan, but they don't want to come close, because they're afraid.

They are weeping and wailing and saying, {16} "Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls!" {17} For in one hour, so great a riches is come to nothing, and every ship master, and all the company and ships, and the sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood way off. {18} And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, "What city is like this great city!""

Now mind you, the city and the woman are both types, models, symbols of a great religious system.

And {19} "All the sailing masters, cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, and saying, "Alas, alas, that great city, where we were made rich, all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! For in one hour She was made desolate.""

Every merchant, every sea captain, people were shipping goods to this woman by the carload and the boatload and she's gone.

"Rejoice," {20} "over her, you heaven and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her."

Yeah, vengeance! God says, "Vengeance is mine!" We must never take vengeance in hand to avenge ourselves, but vengeance is the central core value of justice. Rejoice, God has avenged you on her.

Verse 21 of Revelation 18, "And a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon be thrown down, and should be found no more at all." {22} And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in you, and no craftsman, of whatever craft he be, shall be found anymore in you, and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in you. {23} And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you, for your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorceries were all nations deceived. {24} And in her was found the blood of the prophets, and the saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."

Radio doesn't really allow for a moment of silence, but I don't feel much like saying anything after that. When you consider what happened, when you consider the collapse, the fall, the vengeance that is taken, and then you consider, why? In this woman was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. She symbolizes a great religious system, an evil system, that dominates kings and princes, and uses nations to work her will. A great religious system that is an economic force in the world, because when she's no longer there, the economy is collapsing and people wail and moan because of the wealth she created, which is no more.

Evil Does Not Look Like You Think It Looks!

But remember evil does not look like you think it looks. Jesus in the Olivet prophecy warned that one great evil would look perfectly Christian. God also calls on His people to come out of her. This means, since He says, "Come out of her my people" (Revelation 18:6), that He has people in this false system, in this false religious system, but they cannot stay there.

You know, it mentions earlier, this cup that the woman holds. What has this woman been drinking? When we clean our fish, we sometimes open them up to find out what they have been eating? You know we find what? Bugs, larva, and what type of minnows they have been eating, and we go match our fishing lures to what the fish has been eating.

When they open this woman up, they find blood, the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. ALL THAT WERE SLAIN UPON THE EARTH! She is responsible for all of it, all the wars, and haven't you heard, that all wars at the root are religious. And that there is religion somewhere at the root in the basis of the wars that rage back and forth upon the face of this earth, that a great religious system would have something to do with pulling down kingdoms and turning one kingdom against another, and causing the death of thousands, millions of people. She's responsible for all of it, this woman, and God's judgment upon her is right and fair and just.

In fact, God cannot claim to be a just God, unless he finally judges this great first cause of all war and destruction. This great first cause that looks like a beautiful woman, clothed in the finest clothes and decked with gold and jewels. But remember, she represents a religious system, and it's a religious system that may look very similar to God's religious system.

Now you may not realize this, but this attempt on the part of our adversary the devil, to make his religion look a lot like God's religion, is very very old. If you remember your Old Testament, NO, if you have just seen the movie, the Ten Commandments, you know that while Moses (played by Charlton Heston) was up on the mountaintop receiving the two tablets of stone that had God's Commandments on them. The children of Israel were down below and they decided to get back involved in idolatry again.

You may remember in Exodus 32 that they had to break off all their ear rings and gather up all their gold and Aaron cast them into the fire and melted them and made a covering for a great bull and he covered it with gold and set it up before the people and said "These are your gods O Israel that brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

What you may have forgotten, and I don't think it was in the movie, is that Aaron said, 'Having made this golden calf," he said "Let's worship this golden calf." He declared the day a feast to, not the calf, to Jehovah, to God. The name of the God that brought them out of Egypt, that name of that God, he attached to the worship of the golden calf and right here at the very beginning of Israel's history, we have a mixture of religions that come together and it's like the old Babylonian system that was to follow. You absorb other religions and call them by whatever name they want to call themselves as long as their symbolism, as long as their practices point them in the direction of the god of Babylon

And so God has told us, what we need to know about this woman, this great first cause that looks like a beautiful woman, clothed in the finest clothes and decked with gold and jewels and yet who is evil at the core. It is up to us to watch for her, and come out of her and look for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's now continue into Revelation chapter 19 and verse 1, "And after these things, I heard a great voice of a multitude of angels in heaven saying, "Hallelujah, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God, {2} For true and righteous are His judgments, for He has judged the great whore, who did corrupt the earth with her fornication and idolatry and has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand."

You know I just don't think we realize, how many people have been put to death? How many religious, faithful people have been put to death in the history of the world, by other religious people? I think as far as persecution of the church, for example, in the first century, it wasn't really all that much the civil government that gave them so much trouble. It was religious people, in the provocations of religious people and down through history that many good Roman Catholics were put to death by other Roman Catholics, who didn't agree with them or felt that they were wrong or felt that they were heretics or what have you, and so consequently down through the history, although churches, Protestants, Catholics alike, have killed one another right and left, and so the corruption of a false religious system, pervasive as it is in the minds of many people, who even name the name of Christ is full of blood itself.

And so, this multitude of angels in heaven says in verse 2 of Revelation 19, "True and righteous are His judgments for He has judged the great whore, who did corrupt the earth with her fornication and idolatry, and He has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand, {3} And again they said, "Hallelujah," and her smoke rose up forever and ever, {4} And the four and 20 elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne saying, "Amen, Hallelujah." {5} And a voice came out of the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants, and you that fear Him, both small and great," {6} And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters (like Niagara Falls) coming down, and the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigns."

That's the words for the 'Hallelujah Chorus' which you probably have heard many times in your lifetime.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah," that means, by the way, in Hebrew, "Praise you the Lord, Praise you for the Lord God omnipotent reigns."

Verse 7 of Revelation 19, "Let's be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready."

The marriage of the Lamb. We've been introduced to this Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world, who really gave himself for His church and the time is going to come for the marriage of the Lamb, when he will be married to the church.

"And to her," {8} "was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. {9} And he said to me, "Write, "Blessed are they which are called under the marriage supper of the Lamb."" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." {10} And I fell at his feet," John says, "to worship him and he (the angel) said to me, "Don't you do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, you worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

This angelic type being did not allow John to worship him. He was like a brother or servant as it were of John.

Verse 11, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness does He judge and make war."

Whenever Jesus makes judgment, whenever He makes war, whenever He condemns, whatever He chastises is true and it is faithful and is right.

"His eyes" {12} "were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. {13} And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called: The Word of God."

To know who that is, you must go back and read the first chapter of the Gospel according to John. This is the one that you and I know as Jesus Christ, The Word of God, who has finally returned.

Verse 14, "And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, {15} And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron."

The time of man's misrule in this government of the world is over! As I said in the beginning of the series on the book of Revelation, it is about the end of history, that is of human history, and the beginning of a history which God will write, upon this planet with the survivors of what's going to happen here, and with the resurrected saints.

And so, verse 15 of Revelation 19, "Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron, and He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, {16} And He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

It's the risen, resurrected, returning, Jesus Christ coming to put down those people who have destroyed the earth, coming to avenge the blood of His servants, coming to put a stop the destruction of the planet as man has so given himself to. Christ is about to wreak havoc, with all the armies that will come against Him, but that will have to wait for next time.

Meanwhile be sure, drop us a line and ask for the series on 'History and Prophecy'. You really have a hard time with prophecy unless you understand the background and the historical basis for it. This series of CDs will help you understand. Write or call for the introductory CD at Christian Educational Ministries.

Remember this is Ronald Dart saying, You were Born to Win!

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This article was transcribed with minor editing from a Born to Win Radio Program by: Ronald L. Dart Titled: 
The Book of Revelation -Program #25 
Transcribed by: bb 05-27-25

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