SERMON MANUSCRIPT
Back in Revelation 13 and 14 there was a lot going on. Satan had just brought his antichrist and false prophet into the world to deceive and destroy when John sees the Lamb standing unfazed on heavenly Mount Zion. Harps are being played, songs are being sung, and gospels are being preached when, seemingly out of nowhere, an angel flies overhead declaring, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.” It seems a sudden and specific call-out, doesn’t it?
As we keep reading, we’re quickly distracted by bowls of wrath being poured out upon the earth. But, coming to the end of chapter 16, the terrible town comes up again. [16:19] Twice in three chapters this particular place is singled-out. Why?
Today we’re going to find out. But first let’s remind ourselves of what the Bible says about this place. Babylon is the second-most mentioned city in Scripture, Jerusalem being the first. One is the city of humanity while the other is the city of God and, while they are literal cities, throughout the Bible they’re also used as pictures of opposing allegiances, duelling ideologies, and, ultimately, opposite fates.
Babylon was founded in Genesis 11 where humanity, commanded by God to “fill the earth,” instead settles in Shinar. [Gen 11:4] God told them to do one thing, they did the exact opposite. Now, famously, God intervenes, confusing them, frustrating them, and scattering them.
But Babylon didn’t die. Instead, it grew in significance and wickedness until, centuries later, God would use her people to discipline his people. [2 Kgs 20:16–17] Babylon would conquer Israel, destroy Jerusalem, burn the temple, and take God’s people into captivity.
God uses of Babylon’s evil but also promises to one day judge Babylon for her evil. Passages like Jeremiah 50 and Isaiah 13 prophecy its absolute desolation and desertion. And, in 539 BC, Babylon did fall dramatically to the Persians under Cyrus the Great who would release Israel, allowing them to return and rebuild Jerusalem.
But, like a depraved cockroach, this God-hating city just won’t die. Zechariah, prophesying after Babylon’s defeat, says that a temple will be built and used again in the land of Shinar (Zech 5).
Even after its destruction, Babylon’s embers still burn and, in the future, they will be fanned to flame, reigniting its opposition to God. And, as we come to Revelation 17 and 18, that’s what has happened—Babylon is once again a bonfire of rebellion, powerfully and effectively spreading its hellish ideology over the globe.
Speaking in terms of war—and that’s what Revelation describes, really—Babylon may not be the ultimate enemy (that’s Satan), but it will be the enemy’s most significant and strategic outpost. And here, we see it laid waste in two stages: the religious fall and the final fall.
THE RELIGIOUS FALL OF BABYLON
Chapter 17 records the religious fall of Babylon. [17:1–2] Immediately we see the religious aspect to Babylon’s future influence. The kings of the earth, those in charge, are following her, the great harlot, a graphic picture of intentional, insatiable adultery, something God accused his own people of in the book of Hosea. But Israel’s past infidelity pales in comparison to Babylon’s future infidelity.
[17:3–6] This woman is dressed to impress in clothing fitting for worship. But her apparent piety hides her complete blasphemy. She’s drunk on her hatred for God and his people, an evil she represents and reproduces as the “mother of harlots.”
Notice that, after the church is removed from earth, religion doesn’t go away. It thrives, partly because human beings are created to worship and, if we don’t worship God, we’ll worship something else—ideology, idols, or ourselves. And, in the future, the city and the system of Babylon will be right at the centre of it all.
Now, the angel can tell John’s struggling with this sign. [17:7–14]
This beast, here carrying the harlot, is the same beast of chapter 13, the antichrist. He has the same heads and horns (13:1), speaks the same blasphemies (13:5), comes from the same abyss (11:7), and is headed for the same destruction (19:20). He’s also described three times as he who was, and is not, and will come, I think referring his arrival, his death, and his resurrection (13:3), something that causes the world to wonder in astonishment (17:8).
As it will be then, brothers and sisters, so it is now: impressiveness, even the miraculous, doesn’t make something true nor good. Test all things by God’s word. These people don’t and they’re duped.
We’re told, in 17:10, the beasts’ seven heads represent seven kings or kingdoms—five in the past, one present, and one in the future. The antichrist is kind of an eighth head (17:11), or a tumour on the seventh head. And when the seventh king and antichrist do take power together, they’ll give authority to ten other waiting rulers (17:12), here ten horns, who have one purpose: prop-up the antichrist (17:13).
This awful alliance won’t defeat the Lamb and his people (17:14), but it’s still powerful. [17:15] The God-hating city and system of Babylon, when rekindled in the future, will reach everyone and everywhere.
At the point of the tribulation being described, this beast is coming up in, sheltered under, and somewhat controlled by the woman. The antichrist is gaining momentum and resources in the shade of Babylon. That is, until he doesn’t need her anymore. [17:16]
The ambition of the beast will eclipse his need for the harlot. Power isn’t enough; he wants adoration and, as Revelation 13 tells us, at the mid-point of the tribulation, the beast will set himself up as god demanding worship. That’s what’s happening here. He’s out Babylon-ing Babylon, overthrowing and undercutting her, so as rise above her.
This is the religious fall of Babylon. It seems like it’s at the hands of the antichrist and, in a way, it is internal treachery, but again we see God at work, using evil to punish evil. [17:17–18] “Fallen is Babylon the great!”
THE FINAL FALL OF BABYLON
But, like I mentioned before, Babylon is like a depraved cockroach that just won’t die. And, even though its religious chokehold over the world during the first half of the tribulation has been severely weakened in chapter 17, it still has cultural influence. That is, until chapter 18, in which we find the final fall of Babylon.
[18:1–3] While Babylon seems to be on her last legs, full of evil and controlled by demons, look at its legacy: exported global immorality and wealth, sensuality and debauchery. It’s dead but not yet dead.
[18:4–8] Notice there are saints living in Babylon—in the city and under its system—people who came to faith during this chaos. And God speaks to them, “Get outta there!” Why? Because his wrath is coming, a wrath that will be in perfect proportion to the wickedness and pride of Babylon through the centuries and in perfect proportion to the torment it has caused through the ages.
While her founders failed in Genesis 11, Babylon finally reaches heaven but by stacking not bricks, but her sin. And, enough’s enough.
[Prov 15:3; Jer 16:17] While it may seem that some people “get away with murder,” that’s not true. All is seen and all will be accounted for. Every corrupt thought, selfish deed, and evil plan. Every negligence, harshness, and violence. The bill comes due for every person. [Heb 9:27] And that would be—and should be—a terrifying thought if it wasn’t for the fact that God paid that bill for us. [Gospel]
Back in Revelation 18, the bill comes due for Babylon. And listen to the hard-hearted people as they mourn judgement: [18:9–13] Even after religious Babylon had been crippled by the beast, commercial Babylon kept on ticking! Idolatry comes in all sorts of sneaky shapes and sizes.
But now it’s all gone, and gone in an instant. [18:14–19] They should have been mourning their sin, idolatry, and rebellion. But instead, these people are broken up over the destruction of the source of their sin, the token of their idolatry, the hub of their rebellion.
In contrast to the weeping on earth, [18:20]. This is the answer to [6:10]. Here it is! They’re being avenged. Their persecution, their earthly suffering, is all being made right. So, rejoice!
[18:21–24] And here we find the full fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies of the complete destruction of the great harlot, the death of the depraved cockroach, the defeat of the enemy’s chief military outpost, the final fall of Babylon.
God uses two stages, treachery from within and wrath from above, but, at the end of the day, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” preparing the path for the defeat of the ultimate enemy and paving the way for the coming of the King.
REMINDERS FROM THE FALL OF BABYLON
We’ve seen the religious fall of Babylon and the final fall of Babylon. I want to close by suggesting some reminders from the fall of Babylon.
Reminder #1: Sin is powerful. Christians can be lulled into a sense of comfort with sin, an apathy or indifference. Maybe it’s because we’re so surrounded by it all the time that we become numb to it, start tolerating it, accommodating for it, justifying it, participating in it, defending it, and, finally, maybe even celebrating it.
But, as we have been reminded so many times in Revelation, we see again today: sin is powerful and it must not be underestimated.
It has a capital city that just won’t die, a city described as “great” no less than nine times. It’s powerful and influential. The judgement is severe because the sin is severe. It’s forcefully evangelistic, making people all over the world drink the wine of its immorality, blasphemy, abominations, and harlotry.
Sin is also deceptive. [18:7] Babylon is convinced she is something she’s not. In fact, the dragon is convinced that he’s going to usurp the Almighty! Talk about delusion! But that’s what the sin of pride does, it twists things and stops us from seeing reality.
As followers of Christ, we must be reminded that sin is powerful. It quenches the work of the Spirit (1 Thes 5:19), robs us of joy (1 John 1:4), excitement (Ps 51:12), and peace (Phil 4:7). Sin in our lives hinders our walk with Christ (1 John 1:3, 6) and our experience of his blessings, light, guidance, and comfort (1 John 1:6). When we sin, it stops prayers from being answered (Ps 66:18) and stops us from anticipating Christ’s return (2 Cor 5:8). Sin is seductive, idolatrous, and powerful.
As one puritan wrote: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Why? Because sin is powerful. Don’t play with sin.
Reminder #2: Separation is necessary. [18:4–5] This command here is, in some ways, the touchpoint of two themes throughout Revelation.
On one hand, God’s people are to reach into a dying world with the testimony of Jesus Christ. [1:9b; 2:13; 6:9; 12:11, 17; 19:10; 20:4] Those faithful to Christ are to hold fast the testimony of Christ and share the gospel of Christ with those who are opposed to Christ. We are to be in the world, going after the world, pleading with the world to join us out of the world.
On the other hand, to do that well, separation is necessary. [2:2, 20, 24; 3:17–19; 14:9–10] To reach the world for Christ, those who belong to Christ must look like Christ.
So, when the voice from heaven tells God’s people to come out of her, it doesn’t mean physical separation (that’s kind of impossible), but moral distinctiveness.
And, let’s face it, the church today could use that reminder. Are we calling one another to separation, to christlikeness? Or do we allow one another to dabble in the things of the world a little too much? I’m not calling for legalism here but for wisdom. Are we exposing our children and grandchildren, unthinkingly, to the things of this world? Are we filling our minds with that which the world celebrates? Separation is necessary, brothers and sisters. That takes courage, but the rewards are great.
Reminder #3: Christ is victorious. [18:1–2a, 8b, 20] Sin is powerful, too powerful for us sometimes and we fall into it, don’t we? Separation is necessary, but sometimes I’m thoughtless, ignorant, or rebellious. If this war was up to us, it would be hopeless. But, thanks be to God through Christ Jesus, he is victorious. [17:14]
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” Christ is victorious.
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
