Revelation 18:20-24

The Unforgetfulness of God

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on August 30, 2020 at Beacon Church.

When God’s people suffer, does it mean God has forgotten them? There’s an old short story by Edward William Thomson, set in the harsh frontier of old French Canada, in which a boy and his family run out of food and money while the boy’s father is away on a logging job. He’d been away all winter, and now their supplies and credit had run out, and the family’s hopes for survival hang on his return with wages to buy food. Then, one dark night, he returns, and the boy’s grandma says, “Did I not say… that the good God would send help in time?” But then the boy lit a lamp and what they saw shattered their hopes: “Little Baptiste lit the lamp. Then they saw something in the father’s face that startled them all. He had not spoken, and now they perceived that he was haggard, pale, wild-eyed. “The good God!” cried Big Baptiste… “Le bon Dieu has forgotten us!”[i] And he told them how his work had been for nothing; how he had been cheated by his employer; how hope was lost. But they already knew hope was lost: in the light of the lamp, they saw it on his face, and in his eyes.

Didn’t Big Baptiste have reason to question whether God is good? Didn’t he have reason to believe “Le bon Dieu,” the good God, had forgotten them? had turned His back on them? had abandoned them? Many who have read Revelation over the past 1900 years might have wondered the same thing. In this amazing book, as the first verse of the first chapter declares, God gave followers of Jesus a forecast of events that were to start happening soon—shortly after John wrote down what God told Him to write down. A prophecy. A series of predictions. A long forecast of events. Events that would include much suffering for God’s people. John wrote what he was shown, beginning with the gradual decline and collapse of the civilization of that time; sketching, next, the dark years of persecution under pagan oppressors in Rome, then a longer, darker period of apostasy, and oppression of believers who stayed true to the Gospel. Revelation 13 predicted the rule of that apostate oppressor in symbolic words later Protestants came to see as a description of the Popes of Rome:

It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them… (Rev. 13:6-7)

For a long time, believers suffered under that Roman Antichrist. Their winter lasted centuries. How many of them, believers like you and me, must have cried and prayed, “Good God, why have you forgotten us?” A couple of verses later the answer comes but it is not the answer the suffering saints hoped for: “If anyone has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” (Rev. 13:9-10) But “endurance” for what? “Faith” in what? The end of chapter 18 gives believers hope.

These verses at the end of Revelation 18 have another call for the saints, but not a call for endurance or faith—it is a call to rejoice because the time has come for God to remember what had been done to them for so long (so long that many Christians don’t remember the many wrongs done to those who remained faithful to Jesus!); to remember the blood of His martyrs that cried out like Abel’s innocent blood, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Rev. 6:10); to remember “Babylon the Great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath,” (Rev. 16:19). And now, in Rev 18:20, God’s voice from Heaven calls His people to rejoice because He has not forgotten; to rejoice because it is time for God to judge. These verses give God’s people three reasons to rejoice, not because of what others will suffer, but because God has not forgotten. First, verses 21-23a describe the fall of Babylon the Great and verses 23b-24 describe why she deserves to fall. Then we’ll come back to verse 20 and see what it means to us that God has not forgotten.

The City Will Be Thrown Down

21 Then a mighty 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 be found no more;  22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,  23 and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more,  (Rev. 18:21-23 ESV)

Verses 21-23a describe how sudden the fall of this city will be, and how final it will be. But take a moment to notice how the angel is described. The symbolism here is meaningful. This is only the third time an angel in John’s vision has been called “mighty.” The first time was when a mighty angel stood before the throne of God Himself and cried out, “Who is worthy?” (Rev 5:2) The slain Lamb of God was found worthy. The second time was when a mighty angel with His face shining like the sun, stood with one foot on the seas and the other on dry land, and swore there would be no more time: the mystery of God was about to be accomplished just as He announced “to his servants the prophets,” (Rev 10:1-7). Then we come to Rev 18:21. This book predicts a lot of astonishing things. So when two or three events are made to stand out with special significance, when “a mighty angel” enters the stage, you know this is momentous. You know that word, “re-enact”? It means to act out again, to repeat a performance. Well I’m making up a word here: This mighty angel preenacts the fall of symbolic Babylon. And the visual is worth a thousand words.

What do you see? The preenactment of the fall of the city called Babylon the Great shows that her fall will be not gradual but violent (“thrown down with violence” v21) and her fall will be permanent (“found no more” v21). Remember what we learned from chapter 17: the symbolic city called Babylon the Great stands for more than just a city (17:18 though identifies her as “the great city” that in John’s lifetime, had “dominion over the kings of the earth”). Rev 17:1 called her “the great prostitute” and the wording of that verse exactly mirrored the presentation of the Bride, the wife of the Lamb in 22:9.

Now the Bride of Christ is the true Church belonging to Jesus, made up of all true believers from all time. So the symbol of Babylon the Great represents a city that is also a counterfeit of the true, spiritual, Bride of Christ—an apostate, adulterous church. The institution known as the Roman Catholic Church, with its headquarters in the Vatican, in Rome, fits this description exactly. Whether this is just about the fall of the Vatican, or will involve all of Rome, is hard for me to say. But these judgments suggest it is the city that falls:

22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,  23 and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more (Rev. 18:22-23 ESV)

These words are drawn from the prophecies of Ezekiel against Tyre (26:13), and of Jeremiah against unfaithful Jerusalem (25:10).

• And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. (Ezek. 26:13 ESV)

• Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. (Jer. 25:10 ESV)

They are descriptions of ancient city life coming to an end. Economic activity is stopped. Celebrations (the musical instruments), industry (the craftsmen and mills), civilization (the lamps providing light for the city at night), basic human society (the brides and grooms)—it all comes to a stand still. Robert Mounce says, “Not only has music ceased, but, second, the sounds of craftsmen plying their trade as well. The entire economy has abruptly ceased. This is intensified by a third woeful reality, the cessation of food. The sound of the millstone is heard no more.”[ii]

The suddenness and severity with which Rome is predicted to fall is compared here with the fall of the ancient Kingdom of Tyre. The devastation pictured starts with the imagery from Ezekiel’s prophecy against Tyre—the same passage featured in verses 9-19. Let me read a couple of verses from that prophecy in Ezekiel and notice the echoes here in Revelation, in what John wrote in verses 21-23:

Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.  I will make you a bare rock. …You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD." (Ezek. 26:13-14)

Hear the echoes? Stones thrown into the sea; music silenced; to be found no more. And God did this to Tyre. This doesn’t mean Rome’s fall will necessarily be a supernatural, miraculous destruction. God could have overthrown Tyre in obviously supernatural ways, and God can do anything. But when we examine history to discover how God did fulfill His Word against Tyre, we find that He did it through human agency: those words against Tyre were fulfilled by the armies of Alexander the Great. But God ordained and caused it.

Here’s the point: this isn’t going to be a random catastrophe; it will be deliberate; measured; intentional. God says He will do it because “I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD”. So why should saints celebrate when the city of Rome is brought to nothing? Not because of the suffering and loss of life it involves. But because when Rome falls, God’s people will see that He is keeping His Word; we will celebrate the fact that God is trustworthy; that God is faithful; that He does not forget. The good God has not forgotten the city that for so long oppressed, hunted, and martyred His people.

The Word of God Will Be Upheld

When the ancient city of Jerusalem had reached the bottom of her long decline into wickedness, the prophet Habakkuk cried out to God in prayer,

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you, “Violence!” and you will not save?... the Law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted. (Hab 1:2-4).

The problem he saw was that as long as evil went unpunished, it made it seem like God’s Law didn’t matter; like God didn’t care. This is also a theme in Revelation, and now in chapter 18, we learn that God has not forgotten.

Right in the middle of verse 23, John transitions from predicting the fall of the Church of Rome, to providing the reasons for God’s judgments. That’s what John means when he writes, “for”—the word in the original language is like “because” or “for this reason”—and although our translation only says “for” once, the original wording has it twice in verse 23 and the repeated word “for” introduces three reasons why God judges Babylon the Great like this:[iii] Here’s my translation of vv23-24: “for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived, and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and all those slain throughout the land.” God gave John three reasons for why He will judge the Great City with such violence and finality.

The first reason, in the middle of verse 23, is a quotation from Isaiah 23:8, about the judgment God had decreed against Tyre. Here’s the passage:

Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, [and here’s the quoted part] whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth? The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth. (Isa. 23:8-9)

You know what the Greek word is for that “pompous pride”? Hubris. By quoting this passage, John shows that the first reason God will judge Rome like this is economic hubris; the brazen arrogance of her wealth.

In 2001, the Vatican reported total expenses of 404.3 billion lire and income of 422 billion (that worked out to $202 million dollars).[iv] In 2001. This week, my brother shared an article with me from the Catholic News Agency, reporting on an interview with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, in which he responded to ongoing charges of corruption and financial scandal rocking the Vatican. The article said, “The Secretary of State’s comments come as the Vatican faces a massive income shortfall, months of financial scandal, and an international banking inspection slated for the end of September.”[v] A former correspondent for the Financial Times of Italy wrote,

Of all the mysteries of the Eternal Church, few are greater than that of its finances. The sheer geographical extent of the institution is part of the difficulty, but a bigger reason is the Vatican’s obsessive secrecy. Clearly its possessions are huge, in terms of land, art and property.[vi]

Economic hubris is reason #1, in v23, for why God will judge Rome: “…For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery,” (Rev. 18:23 ESV).

Reason #2, at the end of verse 23, is “for by your sorcery all nations were deceived.” The allusion here is once again to an Old Testament passage in Isaiah, chapter 47:9-10 (the same passage alluded to in 18:7, where Babylon says she is a queen and not a widow). In that context, “sorcery” referred to the way ancient Babylon ignored God’s Word and relied on the advice of wisemen, magi, who used astrology to predict the future: In Isaiah 47:13, God mocks Babylon’s trust in that “sorcery” of her false teachers, saying, “let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.” The allusion to “sorcery” then is not about magic; it is about the frauds in the Roman Church who led so many people astray with their so-called wisdom and knowledge.

Reason #3, in verse 24, is because Babylon the Great has blood on its hands. “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth,” (Rev. 18:24 ESV). Now notice that those whose blood is found in Babylon the Great are included in those who are called to rejoice when she falls, in verse 20. The call for martyrs to rejoice, and the guilt of this city who shed their blood, form the bookends, the brackets around these verses. Then there’s the end of verse 24: “…and of all who have been slain on earth,” (Rev. 18:24b ESV).This is another quote, this time from Jeremiah 51:49, which the NIV helpfully translates, “Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon,” (Jer. 51:49). God has let this guilty city get away with murder long enough. It is time for her to answer for the blood of her victims.

One application here is about how you think about God. He does not forget. Maybe you know what it’s like to be hurt by someone and then after years have passed, you sort of forget what it was all about? We have finite memories and our sense of justice is connected to what we remember. God is not like us. God is timeless. He knows all. He does not forget. God does not forget the crimes done against His people. And He does not forget to keep His promises either.

Look back at verse 21 for a moment. Picture that mighty angel throwing that great stone into the sea and proclaiming the fall of Babylon like that! Not only is there an echo of the prophecy against Tyre in that verse; there is also a direct allusion to the man God sent to preach the book of Jeremiah against Babylon. It’s an image of a preacher, preaching God’s Word in a city that wouldn’t listen.

When the prophet Jeremiah had finished writing the book we call “Jeremiah”, he sent a man named Seraiah to take the book and go to Babylon, and preach the book in the streets of Babylon.

61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words,  62 and say, 'O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.'  63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates,  64 and say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.'" (Jer. 51:61-64a ESV)

Way before anyone invented the mic-drop, Jeremiah had the sermon-drop. The preacher tied the sermon to a stone and threw it in the river to illustrate the way God’s Word would come to pass. God’s Word would be upheld; and the great city would fall. If God did not uphold His Word, you wouldn’t be able to trust Him any more than you can trust a liar. But the same God who remembers evil and holds accountable those who oppress His people, the same God who ensures that His Word will stand even when earth has passed away, that same God promises to save those who repent, those who humble themselves, those who pray for mercy, who ask for forgiveness, who trust in Jesus. And you can trust His promises.

The Faithfulness of God Will Be Exalted

At the beginning of this message I said, “These verses give God’s people three reasons to rejoice, not because of what others will suffer, but because God has not forgotten.” The city will be thrown down. The Word of God will be upheld. And the faithfulness of God will therefore be on full display—that’s why His people will rejoice while His enemies tremble. Because HE is faithful.

But maybe you wonder how we can reconcile God's kindness with condemnation? How can we reconcile what God's voice says in this verse with the words of Jesus who said, "I am gentle and lowly in heart," (Matt. 11:29 ESV)? In his wonderful book, Gentle And Lowly, Dane Ortlund offered a profound illustration. He said, "A wife may tell you much about her husband—his height, his eye color, his eating habits, his education, his job, his handiness around the house, his best friend, his hobbies, his Myers-Briggs personality profile, his favorite sports team." But then he posed this question: how can she put into words the look she sees in her husband's eye?

That look that reflects years of ever-deepening friendship, thousands of conversations and arguments through which they have safely come, a time-ripened settling into the assurance of embrace… That glance that speaks in a moment his loving protection more clearly than a thousand words? In short, what can she say to communicate to another her husband’s heart for her? [Emphasis added.][vii]

Ortlund shows that this verse in Matthew 11:29, tells us what's in Jesus' heart for His people: Jesus said,

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28-30 ESV)

Jesus Himself reveals what is in His heart for His people. For you and for me. Intense, eager, compassionate, kindness. The Church is the Bride of Jesus Christ, and our Husband has a look in His eye: It is not the look of a man disillusioned with God; it is not a look of haggard hopelessness. The look in our Lord’s eye is smouldering, protective, kindness toward His people. We do not need to reconcile the gentle and lowly heart of Jesus with His anger. How could it be any other way? The same Lord who promises peace and rest to His Beloved, will not stand by and let those who oppress and abuse His people get away with it.

Is that the way you’ve thought about God? A God who loves His Bride, who is devoted to His children with a protectiveness and commitment infinitely more intense than anything you have ever felt for your spouse, or your children? Revelation 18:20-24 is like a lamp, and in its light we get a glimpse of the face of God; we get to see the look in His eye: it is not a wild look. There is a steadiness in His eye; a firmness; a constancy; a resolute, unmovable, commitment. Look at the way Jesus looks at His Bride, the Church HE redeemed by His own blood. Look at the way He turns His eye upon the persecutor of His people, the oppressor of His people, the Impostor who claims to be His Bride. Look at that look in God's eye—what do you see in Scripture? In the justice and faithfulness, and the compassionate unforgetfulness of God, holy love is revealed. It reminds me of how Solomon put it in poetry: “…For love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD,” (Song 8:6 ESV).