Fallen: The Final Judgment on Babylon (Revelation 18)

Revelation chapter 18 tonight is where we find ourselves.

Revelation 18 · chapter mention

Really, I guess you could say Babylon is fallen, and that's what we're picking up at.

We've been in chapter 17 for a couple of weeks or so, and we've had a few skips

in between there due to scheduling and things going on.

But we're in Revelation 18, verses 1 through 24. That's a lot of verses, right?

Revelation 18 · chapter mention

We're going to read the passage tonight, but then we're going to attack it from

that big picture part up above, and then we'll begin to whittle it down and

focus more and more on the text.

But Revelation 18, and we'll start with verse 1.

It says, After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven,

having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.

And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying,

fallen fallen is babylon the great

she has become a dwelling place of demons in

a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird

well for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality

and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her and the

merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.

I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people,

so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.

For her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds.

And the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her, To the degree that

she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree,

give her torment and mourning.

For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and will never see mourning.

For this reason, in one day, her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning

and famine, and she will be burned up with fire.

For the Lord God who judges her is strong.

And the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality and live sensuously

with her will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying.

Whoa, whoa, the great city Babylon, the strong city, for in one hour your judgment has come.

Remember we talked about in this very brief moment of time it's come.

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargos anymore.

Cargos of gold and silver and precious stones and

pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and

every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made

from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble and cinnamon and spice

and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour

and wheat and cattle and sheep.

And cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives.

The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious

and splendid have passed away from you, and men will no longer find them.

The merchants of these things who became rich from her will stand at a distance

because of the fear of her torment, weeping in mourning, saying, Woe,

woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet

and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hour such great

wealth has been laid waste.

And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor and as many as make their

living by the sea stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning,

saying what city is like the great city and they threw dust on their heads and

were crying out weeping in mourning saying whoa whoa the great city in which

all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth.

For in one hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heavens,

and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.

Then a strong angel took up a stone, like a great millstone,

and threw it into the sea, saying, So will Babylon, the great city,

be thrown down with violence and will not be found any longer.

And the sound of the harpist and musicians and flute players and trumpeteers

will not be heard in you any longer.

And no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer.

And the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer.

And the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer.

And the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer.

For your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations

were deceived by your sorcery.

And in her was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints and all who

had been slain on the earth.

Hey, we got it. Verses 1 through 24. I told you it was a little long passage, right?

But we get this passage and it's like, wow, you know, throughout history,

the petty kingdoms and empires built by proud, arrogant, God-rejecting rebels.

Guess what? They have come and gone, right?

Come and gone. The spirit, if you will, of humanism first expressed all the

way back in Genesis, remember, at Babylon, right?

Back at Babel has permeated human history ever since then. And so.

It's like they're unshakingly, you know, optimistic despite centuries of war,

slaughter, you know, injustice and cruelty.

People still seek a utopia, if you will, to be brought about.

Here's the part here by humanity's upward scientific progress or having taken

control. So they think of their own destiny through science or whatever it is.

Sinners have basically and y'all know this looking at our world today.

Sinners have no use for God and they haughtily replace him as self-styled gods

devoted to their own sovereignty, right?

That's the oldest sin in the book. Y'all know it, right? It's called idolatry, right?

We create a God to suit ourself.

Like one of my brothers said, we create a God to suit our sins.

That's what it comes down to, right?

One who's comfortable, you know? You ever heard these people say,

you know, well, my God would never send anyone to hell.

Well, my God wouldn't, you know, he wouldn't stop this. He wouldn't do that. My God is a loving God.

And then he said, you know, you have to look at scripture and you look at what

God's word says and you say, you're right.

Your God wouldn't because he doesn't exist.

But the God of the Bible has revealed truth to us.

And idolatry comes in many forms. Like I said, it's just, We create the gods

to suit our sins, to suit ourself, to suit.

In fact, we tend to fashion gods when we turn our back on the true God that are just like us.

You know what I mean? Like, in other words, whatever we're okay with, my God's okay with.

But that's not the God of the Bible, and that's idolatry. In fact,

God cannot be so easily replaced, can he?

Nor his plans, y'all. I want y'all to see this tonight. Nor his plans thwarted

by the whims of sinful men.

Isaiah 43, 13 talks about that, 46, 10.

Do you really think that us sinful men can actually thwart the plans of God? Do you really think so?

In fact, in a profound, if brief statement in Acts 14, verse 16,

Acts 14:16

listen to this, Acts chapter 14, verse 16, the scripture says this,

Acts 14:16

and this ought to jump out at you hard, all right?

God, it says that God permitted all the nations to go their own ways.

What does that tell you? God is sovereign. You don't just do what you think

you're going to do unless God says, yo, it's a go, right?

God permitted it to happen. In Psalm 2, 2 and 4, the psalmist recorded God's

reaction to man's impotent fury against him. And you'll see why I say that.

Listen to what he says. The kings of the earth take their stand and their rulers

take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.

Saying, let us tear their fetters apart. Do you think they're upset with God and his anointed?

I think so. And cast away their cords from us. Listen to this part.

He says, he who sits in the heavens laughs.

The Lord scoffs at them. I mean, it's just hilarious to him, right?

That man would think that he could defort in any way God's plans.

In fact, compared to the glorious, indescribable majesty of the omnipotent God,

he's, you know, all powerful, right?

All of man's, think about it, vaunted empires are just a mere,

scripture says, drop from a bucket in Isaiah 40, verse 15.

Isaiah 40:15

In his sight, they're like a speck of dust on the scales, it says there in Isaiah 40, 15.

And it's so insignificant to God that they are, and I'm quoting scripture here,

they are as nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing

and meaningless, Isaiah 40, 17.

Y'all, we have a great, awesome guy. we're not him we're not him in fact the

inescapable reality is that God not man will have the last word in human history,

And that word, we know from his word, will be a word of judgment.

Just like I was telling my Sunday school class, you know, we've been going back

to Genesis. We're going through the Bible in four years, and we're studying

the flood account for a while here.

And just like I said then, you know, as we look back at the ark and the way

of salvation that God provided, you know, for Noah.

Noah preached. He was a herald of righteousness. He preached.

In fact, God gave him a warning, you know, like 100, I believe it was 120 years

before the flood. And then it took him, what, about 75 years or so to build the ark.

And he was all this time, he was like, you know, talking to people and preaching righteousness.

And the same way today, you know, in the Bible, in Christ heralded righteousness, right?

There was only one door in the ark for man to be saved.

And if you don't go through that door, you perish.

Jesus said, I'm the door. He's the only door. There's no other way.

There's only through Christ alone. And if you don't go through Christ,

you're not saved. You can't be saved, right? You're going to perish.

And so it's important. And I got to share again, because this reminds me of it.

You know, when God actually said there after the flood, he said, I set my bow in the sky.

It's a promise, right? And that word literally in Hebrew means war bow.

I set my war bow in the sky because God had passed judgment on the whole earth.

Everybody died, but Noah and his family, right?

And so it's you know all the air the the land

the air breathing and all that and so it was

like here I'm setting my war bow in the sky as a promise that I will never again

destroy the earth man through flood and I told him I said you notice the way

that that bow it's like the he said his war bow that's what it says in Hebrew

in the sky how's that bow pointing where's it pointing.

Towards the heavens, right? And just saying that he, God is saying,

his promise is that Jesus will absorb the wrath.

That's how he is our door. He absorbs the wrath. He takes the punishment that

we deserve on the cross and to himself.

And that's how we're offered this great salvation, right?

And so, but if we refuse that, if we refuse to go through the door,

be assured this judgment is coming, just like it did for Noah and those in his

day that Jesus talked about in the New Testament.

So this final judgment is coming, and everyone's going to perish that doesn't know Jesus, right?

There's going to be judgment. And from beginning to end, the Bible actually

warns of coming judgment on sinners who reject God and blaspheme his holy name.

Job, do you remember, declared that the wicked is reserved.

This is a difficult verse. The wicked is reserved for the day of calamity.

They will be led forth at the day of fury.

Job 21 30. David noted that the Lord has established his throne for judgment

and he will judge the world in righteousness.

Psalm 9, 7, and 8. Aren't you grateful that he'll judge the world in righteousness,

in true righteousness, right?

Not by some fickle human standard, but by God's righteousness.

And by the way, that's a lot heavier than man's righteousness,

right? It's pure and holy.

Psalms 96, 13 warns us that God is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Isaiah actually wrote, according to their deeds, so he will repay wrath to his

adversaries, recompense to his

enemies, to the coastlands he will make recompense. That's in Isaiah 59.

We probably hear some of this saying, you know, I will repay.

You know, you heard this through this passage tonight in Revelation 18 about

all this stuff that this, you know, has stored up Babylon, right?

This woman has stored up symbolic here against herself, right, against this kingdom.

And in his kingdom parables, Jesus also described the coming time of judgment.

And I'm going to just share this short one here as we take the big view here.

He says, so just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire,

let's make it really clear. What are tares?

Wheat. Say wheat. Wheat.

Right. You have the wheat and then you have those tares, right?

That when they would used to throw them up, right? And the wind would carry

away all the chaff or the tares, all that stuff.

Right. And so he said, just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire,

because they aren't, they aren't any good, right? They're, they're being,

they're worthless, basically.

So shall it be at the end of the age. He says, the son of man will send forth

his angels and they'll gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those

who commit lawlessness and will throw them in the furnace of fire.

In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous, get this, then the righteous will shine forth as the sun

in the kingdom of their father, it says.

He who has ears, let him hear.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. Y'all remember this one that's hidden

in a field where a man, which a man found and hid again.

And from joy over it, it says he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls.

And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind.

And when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach and they sat down and gathered

the good fish into the containers.

But the bad they what? They threw away.

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth.

And that's what we're reading about tonight, right? In Revelation and take out

the wicked from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of

teeth that's in the gospel of matthew chapter 13 so the apostle paul apostle

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

paul actually declared to the greek philosophers that were gathered together

on mars hill in athens if you remember that god has fixed a day.

In which he'll judge the world in righteousness. Through a man,

he says, whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising

him from the dead. That's Acts 17.

Wow. I mean, as we just look all through scripture, everything confirms what

we're reading in Revelation, what we're studying.

It's all pointing to it. In Thessalonians, Paul wrote, the Lord Jesus will be

revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not

obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of

the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his

saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed.

For our testimony to you was believed.

And that's in 2 Thessalonians 1.

In fact, if you remember, Peter added in 2 Peter 2, 9, he said,

the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation.

Praise God for that, right? And to keep the unrighteous, it says,

under punishment for the day of judgment.

Y'all, again, we serve an awesome God, but nowhere in Scripture,

coming back here to this passage tonight, nowhere in Scripture is there a more detailed, really,

account or description, if you will, of the coming judgment than here tonight

through these passages we've been studying, all the way from chapter 6 of Revelation

to 18 that we're on tonight.

Those chapters describe the future seven-year period known as the Tribulation,

and summing up what they reveal about that period.

God's judgment is going to rain down. We saw that on the earth in the form of

the seal, the trumpet, the bowl judgments that we looked at.

And although those judgments, y'all, will be worldwide in scope,

they will focus particularly on Antichrist's world empire of Babylon.

And that empire will involve both a religious that we looked at and also a commercial aspect.

And at the midpoint of the tribulation, right, three-and-a-half-year point,

Antichrist will destroy the false Babylonian religious system,

which this great harlot represents, right, and which is going to be absorbed

into the commercial Babylon.

And so religion, get this, religion will not cease to exist,

but it's going to be restricted, if you remember, to the worship of who?

Antichrist alone, right? But in fact, the Babylon that's in view here,

and I know I've talked to y'all, there is a thing, the system,

like where you could say in a sense we're living in Babylon because of this

world system is like that, right?

But this Babylon here in chapter 18 is Antichrist's worldwide commercial empire,

which will rule the world during the last three and a half years of the tribulation.

And that Antichrist will be able to build the greatest commercial empire the

world has ever known in the midst of the devastating judgments of the tribulation just reveals, y'all,

his incredible power that God has allowed him to have.

I mean, wow, God's destruction of the commercial Babylon is actually the theme

of this chapter we read tonight in chapter 18 of Revelation.

It's a very somber chapter when you think about it isn't it you know I could

even say it's a requiem you know what a requiem is.

Yeah, it's like a death song, she said, or a dirge for the funeral of humanity, really.

And with the destruction of the satanic last and greatest empire,

the stage, y'all, this is what's exciting.

The stage is set for the triumphant return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wow. And though some commentators, let me just say this again,

some commentators do view this as

a symbol for antichrist whole godless

system just as a symbol across the board but the

babylon if you look in chapter 18 and you

look at the evidence of scripture itself and what it

says it's most likely here in this

reference referring to an actual city

and it's called what reason i say that it's called

a city five times in the chapter verses 10

16 18 19 and 21 all of

them and other features in the text itself here

actually imply that a literal city right here in chapter 18 is in view and since

the text plainly describes babylon as a city here there's no like allusion to

something else it doesn't say it's symbolic or doesn't seem to point that way in this passage here.

There's nothing in the context that we have to indicate otherwise.

Now, you can choose to believe something different. That's fine in this particular instance.

But I don't think we have much ground to stand on if we let Scripture speak for itself.

But I think it's safest to view it as a real city here in this chapter.

There will be a commercial Babylon empire.

And the specific Old Testament prophecies of Babylon's destruction and their

perpetual just desolation all throughout the Old Testament is yet as yet unfulfilled.

Also here, they would argue from the Old Testament that chapter 18 describes an actual city here.

And but while Babylon will be an actual city in view here, its influence will be worldwide.

As Antichrist's capital city,

it will be the hub and represent his commercial empire, in other words.

So the judgment and destruction of Babylon will actually kill the head,

and the rest of the body of Antichrist's whole world empire is going to follow in death.

Babylon here will have received plenty of warnings, y'all. This is a theme all

the way through the book of Revelation, really all the way through the Bible.

But they will have received plenty of warnings of its impending doom by the

occurrence of the events of chapter 18, what some of those warnings they've already received.

Help me remember as we wrap up the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, right?

The two witnesses, the rest of the redeemed proclaiming Jesus and sharing their faith.

An angel flying in the mid heavens, actually claiming the gospel to the whole world.

I mean, come on. You know, I have people today make all these excuses.

Well, you know, if God came down or an angel came down and proclaimed the gospel,

we believe. Well, here they don't.

Or not all do, right? Not many do, right? And the message also includes the

truth that God will judge those who refuse to repent.

In addition to that, actually earlier in the tribulation, an angel actually,

if you remember, specifically warned of Babylon's impending doom, crying out.

If you remember these words, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.

She who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.

That was back in chapter 14. So the angel spoke of Babylon's yet future fall

that we're seeing come about here in this chapter. as if it had already happened.

That's how sure God's word is, y'all, as if it's already happened.

I mean, that's how sure. You can't thwart his word.

And in fact, the impending doom, the certainty of this is sealed.

But despite those repeated warnings, the people of the world,

y'all seen this, we saw it already, will still refuse to repent.

And God's judgment is going to fall on Babylon.

Chapter 18 that we're in tonight, we're going to dig deeper into.

It actually records seven aspects of that judgment on Antichrist's commercial empire.

Judgment is pronounced on it. Judgment avoided.

There's judgment defined in it. There's judgment lamented in it.

There's judgment, believe it or not, enjoyed in it.

And there's judgment that is completed and judgment that is justified.

Because God is just, amen? He's holy. He's just.

If there's one thing we can say, y'all, it is we serve because we look back

at the attributes of God.

We look at what he reveals about himself in scripture.

We know he cannot lie. He is holy. That means there's no evil in him whatsoever.

All of this, he is just, he is righteous, all of it.

When you don't understand the ways of God, you just remember what he's revealed about himself.

God is not corrupt. He's not corrupt.

And God's judgments are all just. He's always right because he is God Almighty.

And there's nothing impure, nothing at all in him.

Well, we'll break down over these next times that we do get to meet.

We'll start with judgment pronounced to start with as we deep dive a little

bit more into this chapter 18.

I think it's a good stopping point tonight.

You know, the brain can receive what only the seed can endure, right?

So, any thoughts tonight, though, so far, just in this big picture view of this chapter?

Yep. Chapter 12, I always went back and thought about Jezebel.

You know, how to hold on for the dog day. Yeah.

And it sort of sounds like we were in the hotel. Yep. Yep. That's for sure. Anybody else?

It's interesting that God takes care to describe the fall of Babylon in more than one chapter.

Yep. It really underscores just how upset he is.

I think sometimes, even I, sometimes wonder, does God even care?

I mean, look at all the Christians that are being tortured and murdered for their faith.

And it's just like nobody cares nobody

does anything it just seems like they the bad guys are getting away

with it and here it just points out that God is seriously ticked off and he

loves the bad guys too you know and he's giving them opportunity to repent which

you know in this case they don't take some do but a lot of them don't yeah but

we can be sure that he will do what's right in the end.

And that is truly everyone that does not repent and come to him.

And I hate to say it this way, but it is in Revelation described this way,

even as we saw at the wine press, you know, how you trot out those grapes, right?

It's like he's going to literally grind them to powder, if you will, or squish.

You know, you see that grape juice we studied about the blood running out.

I know that's graphic imagery, but it's true. God is serious, y'all.

I mean, today, I think we could use a little more healthy fear of God and a way less fear of man.

I really do. And we have too much fear of man today and very little fear of God.

And it just, you know, my friend, I think I've shared this with y'all before,

once said, you know, how many people would you share Jesus Christ today with

if I gave you a thousand dollars for every witnessing encounter you had today?

It's amazing how we can overcome our fear of man for the love of money,

but we can't overcome our fear of man for the love of God, right?

And it just shows us that a healthy fear of God and knowing what He saved us

from, and I think that's the key, y'all,

is when we actually experience salvation and we realize that we were filthy,

dirty sinners that needed a Savior,

that I had nothing good to bring, but only to the cross I can cling,

right, to his righteousness.

When I realize that, y'all, how can I be prideful like I earned anything, right?

I'm just wanting to tell, as one brother said, one beggar how I found food to another beggar, right?

I mean, I'm just wanting to share that great salvation that was given to me so undeservedly.

And so it just really, y'all, truthfully, as D.L. Moody said,

the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

I mean, status, all that, nothing matters. I mean, we're all sinners in need of a Savior.

Richest profit not, it says in Scripture, in the day of wrath,

but righteousness delivers from death.

And that is so true, y'all. Don't forget it. Don't forget we have an opportunity this week.

And yes, I'm bringing in this morning's theme as well, to pick up your towel.

An opportunity to unroll it, Ms. Lynn, to actually use it. Don't just pick it up.

Unroll it to use it, right? I mean, there's action there and there's a blessing,

y'all, promised even from Jesus himself.

He said, blessed are you or happy are you if you actually do it.

If you actually obey, and I know y'all probably like me, you know,

you've probably been in church long enough through the years where,

you know, sometimes you're in church settings where you see people that look

like they'd been baptized in sour vinegar or whatever,

you know, and it's like you're singing the joy of the Lord is my strength.

And it's like, you know, they don't look like it. Right.

And we all have bad days. Y'all I know we do look every one of us do,

but one thing we can be assured in is that we can have joy and victory in the salvation we received.

Because even on my worst day, that makes me smile.

That makes me have a heart of gratitude, even on my worst day,

that Jesus loved me enough to bend down and save me.

Because I'll be honest, I'm filthy dirty. And it's only because of Jesus' blood,

only because of his righteousness that I can even stand before a holy God.

It's nothing to do with Judd.

It's all Jesus. All of it.