Revelation 18:1-8

When the Word of God Is Seen and Heard

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on August 16, 2020 at Beacon Church.

If we take Jesus’ word for it, then one of the most important events during His lifetime was not something he himself did directly but something His disciples did for Him. It was such a big event He declared that it marked a new spiritual era; it was so big that He said prophets and kings in the Old Testament had looked forward to it. But even though it was a truly unique, history-making event, most people who call themselves Christians today hardly give this huge event a second thought. It was the day Jesus sent His disciples to preach. Luke 9:2 says Jesus “sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal” (my trans.). “And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere,” (Lk 9:6). When they came back, Jesus declared that a revolution had just happened in the spiritual realm: “And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you…” (Lk 10:18-19) and then Luke writes, “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it,’” (Lk 10:21-24). The day Jesus sent His chosen messengers to preach His Word was one of the greatest days in the history of the world. Its effects still ripple like water in a pool long after the rock is thrown. But even some of the greatest events in history can only be seen in the light of God’s Word.

I’m going to try and show you this morning, in the Word of God, we find a Word from God talking about the Word of God making people see. In this prophecy we see two ways the return of Christ will be heralded that call you to purify and entrust yourself to God. The prophecy in this passage in Revelation 18:1-8 has two parts to it: first, in verse 1, John writes what he saw—an angel coming down from heaven; then, in verse 4, he writes what he heard—a voice from heaven. But the second one, the voice from heaven, in verse 4, first addresses God’s people, and then in verse 6, addresses someone else. So I have two points from those divisions: 1) what John sees (1-3); 2) what John hears (4-8). 

The Lord’s return will be heralded when His decrees are seen

"After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory," (Rev. 18:1 ESV). Chapter 18 begins with a new scene in John's vision. "After this I saw…" Now if you saw an angel coming down from heaven and he was so bright that he made the night seem like noon, wouldn't you later say the first thing you noticed was his brightness?  But what does John notice first? He has "great authority." What John "saw" shows who is the Author of these final events in the world. 150 years ago, a German scholar named John Lange pointed out that the immense "authority" of this angel points to "the spiritual author" of these judgments.[i] The word for authority here, according to the TDNT, expresses "the invisible power of God whose Word is creative power." It's more than just raw internal, power and ability. It is the power to decide and to act. It refers to God's freedom to decide what will happen in the world and to cause His will to happen. It refers to God's legal sovereign ownership over all things. The TDNT says the way this word is used in the NT shows, "…the process of creation itself is an exercise of the absolute power of God and its supreme expression, since what is created owes its being to the Creator and thus bears witness in its very existence to the ἐξουσία of the Creator."[ii] Graeme Goldsworthy says, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Lord of history. History happens because of his decrees. Furthermore, history is meaningful because it involves the infallible working out of these divine decrees."[iii] If God were a painter, the Bible shows that salvation is His masterpiece and history is His canvas. The Apostle Peter called Jesus, “the author of life” (Acts 3:15); the writer of Hebrews calls Jesus “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb 12:2). The greatest authority is the authority of the Author of all. That’s what John noticed first in Rev 18:1.

The glory of his appearance, that lights up the earth, reminds us of the way Jesus was represented in chapter 1, with a face "like the sun shining in full strength" (1:16). It reminds us of the other time John saw a "mighty angel". "Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire," (Rev. 10:1 ESV). So in Rev 1, John saw One like a Son of Man representing the Lord Jesus, standing among His churches; in Rev 10, John saw Him again, representing the Living Word of God; and in Rev 18, John saw Him again, God’s Authority with His face shining like the Sun, but this time, more like the sunrise, heralding the last day.

Did you know the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel took 21 years to write? It begins with a series of bitter and tragic predictions of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, 6 years before Jerusalem was burned to the ground. But it ends with hope. It ends with a vision of a Temple bigger than any temple ever built, a sign of the coming of God to be with His people. As D.A. Carson puts it, the Book of Ezekiel ends “…with the return of the Lord to his temple, city, and land, an event that enables his people to worship him forever in an unhindered, unmediated, and undefiled relationship.”[iv] But you know how that joyful eternal day was shown to Ezekiel? In his vision, he was facing east, toward the sunrise, and he saw that the rising sun was the Glory of the God of Israel, and the brightness of God’s glory shone over the earth, filling the earth with light… "And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory," (Ezek. 43:2 ESV). "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory," (Rev. 18:1 ESV). The next thing Ezekiel saw was the glory of God entering the new, supernatural Temple. But the sunrise of God’s glory was the event that heralded His return. What John saw, therefore, is the great authority of God’s Word, heralding the return of the Lord to His people, His Temple, His Church. That’s what John saw. He saw God’s Word heralding the return of the Word of God. But what did God’s Word say?

"And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east,"  (Ezek. 43:2 ESV). We need to see that John describes this not as if the angel is reporting the news, but as if the angel is making things happen. The "mighty voice" of an angel who has the authority of God (v1) is a voice that shapes reality by what he says. So when he says "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great!" even though it's in the past tense, it's like the way the Hebrew prophets predicted the future using words in the past tense because, since the Word came from God, it was as good as done. The words are taken from Isa 21, and that’s how Isaiah prophesied the fall of the ancient city of Babylon more than a century before it happened: ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.’ O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you."  (Isa. 21:9-10 ESV)

In John's vision here, 1900 years ago, he saw the divine glory of God announce with the authority of God Himself, that this symbolic Babylon the Great had already fallen because nothing could stop the Author of Creation from making it come to pass. It's decided. It's done. And even though it hasn't happened yet, the certainty of this decree should affect how we respond when we hear it, as though nothing had ever been more real. Is that how you think about prophecy in the Bible? You should think of it like when God spoke, and light came to exist for the first time; like when God spoke, and the Universe blinked into existence; like when God spoke and created everything that exists, by His Word; like when God spoke, and the sea became calm; like when God spoke, and Lazarus came out of the tomb alive; like when God spoke, and you believed, and your sins were forgiven, and you were born again. Bible prophecy is God speaking reality into existence before it happens. So if there's one thing we can count on in verse 2, since we know this is the authority of God speaking, Babylon is fallen.

The next words are drawn from Isa 34:11 and they tell us that Babylon is abandoned. "And he called out with a mighty voice, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast," (Rev. 18:2 ESV). During the early months of the Coronavirus lockdowns, I saw news reports that in cities around the world, with all the people shut inside their homes, wild animals were being seen in downtown city streets and squares. It doesn't take long, when a city is abandoned, for wildlife to take over. That's the origin of what is pictured here. Isa 34:11 says, "the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it." (Isa. 34:11 ESV) The next verse spells out what that means: "Its nobles-- there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing." (Isa. 34:12 ESV) By saying Babylon has become a home for wildlife, we can see that the Lord has decreed there will be nothing left of the Great Prostitute sitting on the Seven Hills of Rome, nothing left of Mystical Babylon, nothing left of the institution we know of as the Roman Catholic Church. But whereas Isaiah's prediction about literal Babylon foresaw literal desolation, John's prediction of spiritual Babylon (the Roman Catholic Church) foresees spiritual desolation--that's why John adds spiritual language in place of wildlife language. Verse 3 tells us why.

"For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living," (Rev. 18:3 ESV). Because Christ, the Author of All, is about to punish her. The words of verse 3 are drawn from Jeremiah 51:7 about ancient the overthrow of ancient Babylon's vast empire, including its idolatrous religion and economy. Remember the idolatrous religion of ancient Babylon? Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's giant idol? Today, what is left of that ancient city’s economy?—of its financial ties and trade with its vassal cities and provinces stretching from the Persian Gulf to the shores of the Mediterranean, and from the Red Sea almost to the Black Sea? It’s all gone. And like that Babylon fell suddenly by God's decree, this figurative Babylon, in spite of the size of her following, and in spite of her wealth, will fall just as suddenly by God's decree. The next verse in Jeremiah 51:8 says, "Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken…" So, to put all that together…

Verses 1-3 are the first way this passage shows us the return of Christ will be heralded before He comes. Like John "saw" this angel come and call out the decree of God, Christians will "see" these things happen and know it was by God's "great authority" they happened. The angel representing the glory of God returning to dwell in His Temple, among His people, reminds us that when we see these prophecies being fulfilled, we need to prepare ourselves for His coming. Shouldn't the Temple of the Lord be holy like He is holy? Are there things in your life that you need to get rid of, in order to be holy like the Lord is holy? Beacon Church, are we too compromised with the world? As the Word of God shines the light of His holiness and glory on us, what does it expose in your life? Don't you feel that we are living in the last days and that now is the time when we must rededicate ourselves to be a holy Temple for our God?

The Lord’s return will be heralded when the Word of God is heard

“Then I heard another voice from heaven…” (Rev. 18:4 ESV). First John saw an angel, who spoke with divine authority in vv 1-3; now he hears another voice from heaven. The change of speaker is an important detail you need to notice. Especially because of what the voice says. Let me explain. Remember that what the angel said, in verses 2-3, are loose quotations from Jeremiah 51. But Jeremiah 51 has echoes here in verses 4 and 5 as well. But those verses are spoken by “another voice from heaven.” Two voices, but their words share the same connection to Jeremiah 51! Two speakers, one topic. Rev 18:2 about Babylon being fallen alludes mainly to Isaiah 21:9, adding “the great” to make “Babylon the Great” which alludes to Daniel 4:30, but it’s very similar as well to Jeremiah 51:8. Then Rev 18:3 alludes to Jeremiah 51:7; verse 4 alludes to Jeremiah 51:6 and 45; and verse 5 alludes to Jeremiah 51:9. John wrote down what he heard two voices, the voice of the angel descending from heaven lighting up the whole world like God in Ezekiel 43, and the voice from heaven, but both voices have Jeremiah 51 on their mind. So if both the angel and the speaker from heaven share the same message from Jeremiah 51, then why are there two speakers? The fact that there is a change of speaker, from the angel to the voice from heaven, in verse 4, is very important. More so because the two voices are speaking with one message.

So turn to Jeremiah 51 and let me quickly show you how Rev 18:1-5 keeps alluding to Jeremiah. When the angel cried out that Babylon the Great is fallen, in verse 3, the wording alludes to Isaiah 21:9 and Daniel 4:30 but it’s very similar to Jeremiah 51:8. So here’s Jeremiah 51:8 which is similar to verse 2: "Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; wail for her! " (Jer 51:8 ESV) And here's Jeremiah 51:7, which is alluded to in verse 3: "Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine;" (Jer 51:7 ESV). Why do both speakers keep alluding to the same chapter in Jeremiah? Or rather, the other way around, why did God make sure that this string of references to Jeremiah 51 was seen by John to come from the mouths of two speakers instead of one?

The Word of the Lord speaks mercy to His people

Let me tell you why I think this is. Mercy. You see, we already know that the Great Prostitute John saw in chapter 17 is condemned and judged by God. In 17:1, the angel told John, “Come I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute…” and then the angel showed John the woman we have come to understand as a symbol for the Roman Catholic Church, or possibly the Vatican in a more specific sense. But then in chapter 18, when the glorious angel with great authority descends from heaven like God in Ezekiel 43, announcing that Babylon is fallen, it is a prediction of the events that God will use to bring about her destruction. Judgment. But the second voice, the voice speaking from heaven, though still talking about the doom of the Roman Catholic Church, extends mercy to Roman Catholics who hear God’s Word and repent. The change of speaker in verse 4 draws attention to a change in who is being spoken to. In the last couple of episodes, I explained that these passages predict God will bring about the punishment of the Vatican, or the Roman Catholic Church, largely at the hands of the European governments. But in this episode, I’m saying that God intends this prophecy to show that many people in the Catholic system will hear God calling them to come to Him and be saved. The change of speaker comes with a change of theme—from one of judgment to one of mercy.

…Saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;  5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.  (Rev. 18:4-5 ESV)

The fact that a voice speaks from Heaven, like when God spoke at Jesus' baptism, and at His transfiguration, makes me think this must the voice of God. When Jesus was baptized, "behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."" (Mat 3:17 ESV) John the Baptist heard that voice and therefore testified about what he heard for the sake of the people he preached to: "I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God" (Joh 1:34 ESV). And when Peter, and James, and John saw Jesus on the mountain, talking with Moses and Elijah, the voice they heard was for their benefit: "behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."" (Mat 17:5 ESV) When Jesus was troubled and prayed, “Father, glorify your name,” "Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."" (Joh 12:28 ESV) And Jesus said to the people around him, ""This voice has come for your sake, not mine." (Joh 12:30 ESV) So the voice John heard—the second voice—speaking from heaven, speaks for the sake of people God describes as His people, who still need to come out of the Roman Catholic religion and repent and receive His mercy. And for everyone who reads and studies this and understands it, this teaches us to bless the God who saves sinners from His own wrath.

Verse 4 is a call to the people God knows by name, the people God has chosen to be His children, a call for them to flee from wrath and fly to mercy; to turn from Rome and come to Jesus. And the reason God is about to destroy the great Prostitute, Babylon, a.k.a., the Roman Catholic Church, is spelled out in verse 5: “for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities,” (Rev. 18:5 ESV). Babylon’s sins are “heaped high as heaven,” alluding this time to Jeremiah 51:9 - "We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country, for her judgment has reached up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies." (Jer 51:9 ESV) The source of the wording in verse 5, Jeremiah 51:9, is bittersweet because there people say, “we would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed.” Like people have said for centuries now about the Roman Church. People who see her sins and who know about the scandals of her abuses and crimes and the ways she has perverted the Gospel, has been driven by greed, has been ruled by wicked men—but who, even after seeing all that, still think they can save her, reform her, fix what is broken. That’s what people said about ancient Babylon in Jeremiah 51:9.

And what does God say? “Come out of her my people…” Forsake her. Quickly now. Like Lot, get out of Sodom while you can because her time is up. Who are you going to love and cherish in the end? The religious customs of Rome you grew up with, the ceremonies and traditions you are fond of, the heritage and beauty you have found comfort in? or God? If you knew a married man who was flirting with a prostitute, who justified his flirtations by pointing out how beautiful the prostitute is, how good she makes him feel, how it’s not just about sex, she really listens to him and appreciates him, what would you say to your friend? “My friend, I’m happy for you”? Wouldn’t you say, “You are being deceived by the sinfulness of your own heart. Leave her, and go home to your wife, and love the woman you married. Cherish her. Appreciate her. Be faithful to her.” It is no accident the vision God gave to John displays the Roman Catholic Church as a prostitute. Don’t be deceived by what you find beautiful about her, that’s the deceitfulness of your own sin blinding you to the truth. Verses 4-5 show God calling His people to forsake the Roman prostitute. Verse 6 shows the prayers of her many victims.

The Word of the Lord decrees justice for His people

“Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed,” (Rev. 18:6 ESV).  It might not seem obvious to you that this is God’s people praying. But this is another allusive reference to the OT, to Psalm 137, which begins with the Jewish exiles weeping beside the waters of the ancient city of Babylon (not the symbol but the literal Babylon). In Psalm 137, Jewish victims of Babylon’s violence lament what has befallen them, and then in verse 7 they say, “Remember, O LORD…” They pray to the Lord. And they lay their very raw anger and pain before the Lord God and ask Him to avenge what wicked Babylon did to them. Feel that pain and loss. The armies of Babylon had slaughtered countless Jewish babies and children in horrible ways.[v] These Jewish believers in Psalm 137 are reaching out to God in the raw anguish of their bereavement, asking God to “balance the scales of justice” (as Norman Geisler put it) to make Babylon “reap what they had sown.”[vi] But they don’t take matters into their own hands. They entrust their grief to God in prayer. The prayer of God’s people in the words of verse 6 are a blend from Psalm 137:8 and Jeremiah 50:29.

• O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! (Ps. 137:8 ESV)

• Repay her according to her deeds; do to her according to all that she has done. For she has proudly defied the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. (Jer. 50:29 ESV)

Remember, verse 5 said her sins are heaped up to heaven. Think of the millions slaughtered by Roman Catholic armies, the countless preachers and church members martyred on account of the gospel, not to mention the horrific numbers of those who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of priests and the children kidnapped and forced to live in residential schools. When verse 5 says her sins are heaped as high as heaven it is not literal. It is a picture to help you envision what too many people wish to forget; to expose what has been covered up for so long.

But time is running out for the Great Prostitute. “For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her," (Rev. 18:8 ESV). I think we should understand that when these predicted judgments on the Roman Catholic Church are fulfilled, it won’t merely be an answer to the prayers of people in the 21st century who have been wronged by the Roman Church—it will be God’s answer to prayers of martyrs and victims going back 1500 years. She is beyond helping. Beyond reforming. Many have tried. All have failed. Like Jeremiah 51:9 said, “she was not healed.” She would not change.

“As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, 'I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.' (Rev. 18:7 ESV). The allusion in verses 7-8 is to Isa 47:7-9, which begins, "You said, ‘I shall be mistress forever,’ so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.  8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children’:  9 These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day…" (Isa. 47:7-9 ESV)

“For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire…” (Rev. 18:8 ESV). “For this reason” tells us why all of this will happen to Babylon the Great. Because she and those who follow her did not hear God’s Word, did not listen to God’s Word, did not lay these things to heart, and did not repent. Tom Schreiner says, “the sin pursued by the harlot will come cascading suddenly upon her… ‘in one day.’”[vii] Whether it’s a literal day or not, it will be fast, and it will be fair. But it will be final. “…For mighty is the Lord God who has judged her," (Rev. 18:8 ESV).