Revelation Chapter 18 - John Karmelich

1. This lesson is called "The Danger of Stuff". When I say "stuff", I mean material possessions.

a) One of the great issues that Christians ponder is, "Is it ok to be rich? Is it ok to collect things? Is it ok to have hobbies? Do I have to get rid of everything I own to please God?

b) To answer, let's start with a fundament point: One of the 10 Commandments is "Do not steal". If it is a sin to steal, than it is ok to "own things". There is no commandment to take a vow of poverty.

c) In the Gospels, a rich ruler asked Jesus what He must do to be saved. Jesus told this guy if he wants to be "perfect", he has sell all that he had. (Ref. Matthew 19:21, et. al.) The point is that guy was obsessed with money and Jesus was testing him to see if he loved God more than money. Jesus never taught this as a general principal.

d) That is what it comes down to: Do we love God more than (material) stuff? If Jesus asked us to give up our material possessions or our favorite hobby, would we? The key is not how much money we have or what hobbies we have. The question is, "Is Jesus a priority over our stuff"? If the cost was to give up all we had to follow Jesus, would we be willing to make that commitment?

2. On that happy note, ☺ welcome to my study of Revelation Chapter 18.

a) In this chapter, we are dealing with the "Fall of Babylon". Let me recap the last few chapters and put Chapter 18 in perspective. Then I'll tie it back to my lesson title.

b) Revelation is about Jesus being "revealed" to us. It is about the events that lead up to Jesus Second Coming and that actual event of His coming, which is in Chapter 19.

c) Prior to Jesus Second Coming, the earth is judged. A major reason for this is God is making one big "last call" to see who wants to be saved and who doesn't. By the time we get to Chapter 15, one gets the impression all that who are saved are now in heaven.

d) Chapters 15-16 are specific judgments focusing on those who persecuted Christians in this time span called "The Great Tribulation". That time span covers most of Revelation.

e) Chapters 17 and 18 "backtrack" in time. They go back in time to give more details about a specific event that happens during the Great Tribulation. We are now back to a time when some Christians were still on earth during this time frame.

i) We know this because Verse 4 is a plea by God for "His people" to come out of Babylon. Well, if God's people are still there, and Chapters 15-16 were a final judgment on nonbelievers, Chapters 17 and 18 are backtracking in time.

f) An angel announced at the beginning of Chapter 17 that the purpose of that section of Revelation was to show the judgment of a woman that "rides the beast". Chapter 17 specifically stated that the "woman" was not a literal woman but a city. The "beast" refers to the antichrist and a worldwide empire that is setup during this Great Tribulation.

g) The city itself is "Babylon". The question scholars have been debating for centuries, is does this refer to the ancient city of Babylon, or Rome, or some other city. I'm not here to solve the debate. I'm here to explain that whatever and wherever this literal city of Babylon is, God will judge it. It appears to be the headquarters of this final, great world empire run by the antichrist.

h) Chapter 17 focused on the "spiritual" aspect of Babylon. The woman (city) being judged is a false-religion associated with Babylon.

i) Chapter 18 focuses on the government (i.e., power) and material aspect of Babylon.

i) Some scholars think Chapters 17 and 18 are describing two separate cities.

ii) Some scholars think they are describing different aspects of the same city.

iii) For the purpose of this study, it doesn't matter. In the last lesson, the focus was on false religion. In this lesson, the focus is on judgment of government power (that is against God), and the danger of materialism.

3. Here are some key differences between Chapters 17 and 18:

a) In Chapter 17, there is no mention of believers.

b) In Chapter 18, there is a warning to believers to come out of Babylon. (Verse 4).

c) In Chapter 17, there is no rejoicing over Babylon's destruction.

d) In Chapter 18, God commands the rejoicing over the destruction of Babylon (Verse 20).

e) What's the point?

i) Chapter 17 focuses on the spiritual aspect of Babylon, i.e., false religion.

ii) Chapter 18 focuses on the material aspect of Babylon.

iii) Chapter 18 appears to be the greater danger to believers: The danger of power and especially materialism. This is why I call this chapter, "The Danger of Stuff".

4. The point is for Christians to understand that a much bigger risk to our Christian faith is the danger of power and the danger of material wealth.

a) Remember Satan's goal: He can't take away your salvation. He can make us ineffective witnesses for God. Satan's time on earth is limited. There are only "x" people who go to heaven. When that "x" number is reached, Satan's time is up. Therefore, Satan wants to make us ineffective witnesses for God as to not reach number "x".

b) One way to make us ineffective is persecution. Dead Christians can't share their faith. The "problem", from Satan's standpoint, is persecution draws us closer to God and makes us pray more. Historically, Christianity has grown during such persecution periods.

i) A greater and more effective weapon for Satan is to get us to care about things other than God. Thus, we are tempted with power and "stuff". Since there is only so much power to go around, material blessings are the greatest weapon.

c) This leads us back to some of the opening questions about material blessings: Is it ok to be rich? Is it ok to own things? The answer to that question is an individual one. The real answer is, "How does that "stuff" affect your relationship with Jesus Christ? Does it help or hinder your ability to be a good witness for God? Are we telling the truth? ☺

i) Some people are blessed with great incomes and support major ministries. Such people may not give every dollar they owe, but they do give large amounts of their wealth to help other ministries go.

ii) Christians are called to "give". An issue of giving is to trust God with providing us with our future financial needs. Giving is an example of "faith" in action.

d) In this chapter, we are going to read that Babylon is materially and politically wealthy.

i) Kings got their power from Babylon.

ii) Businessman got wealthy from the success of Babylon.

iii) In this chapter, God tells "His people" to get out of Babylon.

a) This chapter also spends time predicting Babylon's destruction.

b) What's more, this chapter calls for us to praise God for its destruction!

iv) The key to this chapter is not to look at a globe and guess which city is really Babylon. The key is to look at our lives today and ponder, "Is my witness to God being ineffective due to power or money? Where is my priority in life?

e) Now that we're all (myself included) properly guilt ridden, ☺ I can start the lesson.

5. Chapter 18, Verse 1: After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

a) Chapter 18 begins with "After this". We should then wonder, "After what"?

i) The answer is the events of Chapter 17.

b) Chapter 17 was about the judgment of a woman called a prostitute, which was really a city. Near the end of that chapter, we read the city was burned with fire. That is why some people think there are "Two Babylon's": The one burned with fire in Chapter 17 and the one being described here in Chapter 18. The other theory is that Chapter 18 backtracks in order to emphasize the governmental and material power of Babylon as opposed to the spiritual aspect emphasized in Chapter 17.

c) The next phrase is John saying, "I saw another angel coming down from heaven".

i) In Chapters 15-16, John saw seven angels that had the final seven judgments on the earth. In Chapter 17, one of those seven angels gave John a "guided tour" of the judgment on Babylon.

ii) Here in Chapter 18, we have a "new angel". It is not one of the seven from the previous chapter.

iii) Here is something interesting we can conclude about angels: They don't all look alike. John knew this one was different from the previous seven.

d) The last sentence says, "He (this angel) had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

i) How did John know this angel had great authority from heaven? Don't know. Maybe John wrote this in hindsight based on what the angel did. Maybe John saw this angel's authorization papers from heaven. ☺ Somehow, John just knew this. What I suspect it means is because this angel is "illuminated", John assumed the power that given to this angel. Either that, or the angel gave off a lot of light.

ii) Here's the important part: "The earth was illuminated by his splendor.

a) What's happening is this angel is about to make an announcement.

b) God wants to get the world's attention, so this angel is illuminated.

c) The way I personally see this is the angel flies over one part of the world, and then satellite television picks up the event and the world sees it. I could be wrong, but that's how I visualize this happening today.

iii) Verse 2 is the message itself.

6. Verse 2: With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.

a) Let's discuss "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!"

i) When a word is repeated twice, it is done for emphasis. It is like when we say in English, "this food is very very good".

ii) Notice the word "is". That is present tense. In Verse 4, this same angel will tell believers in effect to "Get out of Babylon". My point here is this angel is telling the future as if it has already happened. This angel is giving a prophecy (prediction) about the fall of Babylon as if it is already done.

b) In the second sentence the angel says, "Babylon has become a home for demons…"

i) Remember that the city of Babylon will be the capital of this final empire. It is lead by the antichrist. The antichrist is a human that is influenced by Satan himself (E.g., Rev. 16:13). The idea here is Babylon is heavily demon possessed.

ii) Remember that Satan knows his time on earth is now limited by this point. One reason Satan organizes this final world empire is "one last ditch effort" to stop or slow down God's plans for mankind. The City of Babylon is the headquarters. It would make sense that it is a demon-heavy location.

iii) I've believe there is much more demonic activity in places that "lack God". Show me a city or country with little Christian influence and I'll argue that city is "demon infested". I'm convinced prayer is the great enemy of this influence.

c) The last phrase says, "A haunt for every unclean and detestable bird".

i) The word "unclean" is not about bathing. This is a Jewish term. In Leviticus Chapter 11, animals, fish, insects and birds were separated into types the Jewish people were and were not allowed to eat. The word "unclean" refers to the ones they could not eat or touch. That word "unclean" is used 23 times in Leviticus 11.

ii) If you look at the "unclean" birds in Leviticus, what they have in common is they are all predators and meat-eaters. These birds attack other living creatures. My point is Rev. 18:2 is not a condemnation of certain birds. It is written to the Jewish person who understands that birds are a "word picture" of demonic creatures.

7. Verse 3: For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

a) Let's start with the purpose of what is going on here:

i) An angel who is illuminated (Verse 1) and has a loud voice (Verse 2) is making this proclamation to the world. In Verse 4, we learn the message is to believers to come out of Babylon. The angel's speech goes from Verses 2 through 4.

b) The first sentence is, "All the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries".

i) We know this is not literal. People cannot get drunk from adultery.

ii) The word "her" in Verse 3 refers to Babylon. If you recall from Chapter 17, Babylon is compared to a female prostitute. The idea is this city, or this system "enticed" the world to follow whatever temptation(s) Babylon is offering.

a) In Chapter 17, the emphasis was on Babylon's religious system.

b) In Chapter 18, the emphasis will be on Babylon's power and wealth.

c) The next phrase is, "The kings of the earth committed adultery with her."

i) What does that mean? It means kings (presidents, dictators, etc.) grew in power by aligning themselves with Babylon. Verse 3 compares this act to adultery.

ii) Remember that "idolatry" and "adultery" are synonyms in the bible. In both cases, one is turning away from the one to whom we are committed.

iii) Whatever Babylon is, understand that 1) God is against it and 2) God sees it as a temptation to draw away from Him. It is about the temptation of power.

iv) It is interesting to contemplate that Revelation does not spend a lot of time describing the actual sins of Babylon. It simply describes it as a bad thing and most of the verses focus on the punishment. The question is, what is Babylon and why does God hate it so much? What it most likely refers to is rebellion against the God of Bible in every way imaginable. The idea of this verse is that kings and other leaders are tempted to turn from God in exchange for more power.

v) My theme of this chapter about "what it takes" to turn one away from God. Remember Satan's goal is to make us ineffective witnesses for God. One of the things Satan offers is power. Leaders are offered more power over people in exchange from turning from God.

vi) Why does Satan focus on such leaders? Because those leaders influence those under them. That is why it is essential for Christians to pray for those "over us" in power. Satan does focus his efforts on those in power as he knows they can then pass laws to make more Christians ineffective. (When immoral laws are past by our government, now you know the forces behind such laws!)

d) The last phrase is "The merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries".

i) If Satan can't get us with power, he goes for the wallet! Here we read of the businessmen of the world thinking, "OK, this city is rich. Let us advertise our goods on the Babylon Home Shopping Network!" ☺

ii) If I had to pick Satan's most effective temptation-weapon against believers it is that of "wealth". That ties back to my lesson theme of "The Danger of Stuff".

iii) The sin is not about earning a living. The sin is to compromise one's trust in God in order to earn a living. Babylon is an organized rebellion against the God of the bible. To "make a living" off of Babylon is just a sinful as whatever Babylon is.

a) The danger is that of "compromise". The idea is in order to "get rich" people compromise their morals. If I could only pass on one line from this lesson it would be, "Never compromise your principals for anyone or anything". I get the impression that this verse is about people who "sold out" their belief in order to make money off of Babylon.

8. Verse 4: Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

a) Verse 4 opens with "another voice". From Verses 4 to 11, this unnamed voice is speaking.

i) Apparently, the "illuminated angel with the loud voice" in Verses 2 and 3 is now done and has gone back to heaven.

ii) The text doesn't say who is this speaker is. We know it is not God the Father because this speaker refers to God in the third person in Verse 5.

b) Notice who this voice is speaking to: "My people". This voice is urging "My people" to get out of Babylon and not "share in her sins" and avoid her judgments.

i) Some suspect the speaker is Jesus Himself due to the "My People" reference. It could be an angel with a message from God.

ii) This verse is an indication that whenever this event takes place, it is a time when there are still believers in God on earth. God wouldn't be "wasting his time" with this proclamation unless there were still believers on earth.

iii) My personal view is that this message is directed toward Jewish believers. That is based on Verse 2 where it refers to "unclean" birds. Only a Jewish person would understand the reference to "unclean".

iv) One can speculate all day about this voice. How was it audible? How did people hear it? Was it broadcast on the news? We don't know. The point is Revelation says that some sort of audible voice got this message out, and assumedly, it reached the people God wanted it to reach.

v) Remember Revelation is written to believers. The "hearers" of this message are also you and me, as well as people living at that time. This is meant as a warning to Christians to avoid compromising our belief in God for the sake of money.

c) It's hard not to read this and think of the "Sodom and Gomorrah" story in Genesis.

i) In that story, Abraham raised his nephew named Lot. They were both being blessed by God and growing rich. They decided to part company as the grazing land for their animals was not big enough for both of them. Lot then picked to live in Sodom as the "land looked good". (Ref.: Gen. 13:10). In other words, Lot didn't care about the sins of Sodom. He just saw that place as "good for business".

ii) Like this story of Babylon, Sodom and Gomorrah are judged. In both stories, we get little information as to why it is judged. We are just told in effect that Sodom has become so wicked, God says He is going to wipe it out. (Ref. Gen. 18:20).

iii) What is interesting is that in all the time Lot lived in Sodom, he didn't influence anyone for God. Within that story is a part where Abraham talking to God. Abraham asks God to spare Sodom if there are "righteous" people living in that city. What is implied is that there is no one "righteous" (i.e., seeking God) and Lot was not an influence on anyone. (Ref. Genesis 18:23-33).

iv) A key point of the Sodom and Gomorrah story is Lot lived among them, but failed to influence them. Lot became an "ineffective witness" for God living among those people. Another key point is that God could not destroy those cities until Lot was out of there. Even though "righteous Lot" was saved (Ref.: 2nd Peter 2:7), he was an ineffective witness for God. Lot was one of "God's people" living in Sodom, which was destined to be destroyed for wickedness. Here in Revelation, God is telling "His people" to get out of Babylon before God can judge it.

d) OK, John, all of this is interesting. What does it have to do with my life?

i) Think of this chapter as a warning not to be too "entangled" in the commercial world. There is nothing wrong with Christians working among nonbelievers. The danger is if our job is causing us to compromise our faith. Then we too, need to "Get out of Babylon before it is destroyed".

e) Meanwhile, a voice in heaven is still condemning this place. ☺

9. Verse 5: for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

a) Remember there is an angel "predicting" the fall of Babylon. It is being described as if it has already happened and is a done deal.

b) As I stated in the last lesson, Babylon the literal city is the same location as the "Tower of Babel" from Genesis 11. That tower was on the "Plain of Shinar" (Genesis 11:2), which is the flat terrain where the City of Babylon was built.

i) In the Tower of Babel story, the idea was to build a tower that "reaches to heaven". (Genesis 11:4) The implication was to build a place where man can get organized without God.

ii) My point of all of this is an angel says in Verse 5, "Her sins are piled up to heaven".

a) I believe it is an intentional pun as to compare it to the tower of Babel.

c) The idea is God is patient, but there is a limit to God's patience before judging sin.

i) When it says, "God has remembered her crimes", it is not as if God has memory recall issues. ☺ God did not say, "Oh, yeah, I've got to go deal with Babylon!"

ii) The idea is to read this from our perspective. It appears as if Babylon is getting away with this sin. The actual destruction event has not happened yet. The idea of "God remembering" is a poetic way of saying the time has come for judgment.

10. Verse 6: Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.

a) In the Book of Exodus, when someone was guilty of stealing, the punishment was the criminal had to pay back double what he stole. (Ref: Exodus 22:4, 7 and 9). I believe the same idea is applied here.