The Story

Our chapter in Revelation tells of the overthrow of Babylon, which is described as a great and wicked city. Do you remember the name Babylon? It was the name of the great city where the proud king Nebuchadnezzar lived, where the people from Jerusalem were taken as captives, where the three friends of Daniel were thrown into the fiery furnace, because they would not worship the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and where Daniel was thrown into the den of lions because he would not pray to Darius but to the Lord. The Bible calls any great selfish city Babylon, which is proud of its power and loves to rule over others and is cruel to those who oppose it.

No doubt when John in his vision learned of the destruction of Babylon he thought of Rome, the great city which was then so proud and strong and was ruling the world. It was especially cruelly persecuting the Christians, because like Daniel they worshiped the Lord and would not worship the Roman emperors. The vision promised the destruction of the great proud city and the deliverance of those who had been in its power and suffering its persecutions. There would be wailing by those who had been enjoying the evil power, and there would be great rejoicing by those who had suffered and would be set free.

The book of Revelation gives most beautiful promise of life with the Lord in heaven and in this world when the evil things which separate us from the Lord are removed. In the vision shown to John, the evil things were pictured especially by the dragon and the city, Babylon. No doubt John and the churches in Asia thought of the dragon as meaning for them the evil spirit prompting the idolatries that were so hostile to the Christian faith, and Babylon as the great city, Rome, so proud in its power and so cruel in its persecutions. John's visions told them that these powers were being overthrown in heaven and would lose their strength in this world. This gave hope and patience, and the vision brings us the same encouragement, for our dragon is a conceited mind which thinks it is enough to know things without living a good life, and our Babylon is a selfish heart which loves to rule over others. We can think of Rome and we think of the proud, selfish spirit which often has ruled us, as we read Revelation 18.

The great voice means that the Lord shows how foul and hateful the proud, selfish spirit, represented by Babylon, is in His sight. The call, "Come out of her," is the Lord's call to all who will to get free from the hateful spirit of selfish pride. At verse 5 we begin to read of the selfish pleasures which the proud spirit enjoyed when it was ruling over others, but now its pleasure and its power are taken away. The kings (verse 9) are those who have especially ruled over others with selfish power. The merchants (verse 11) are those who have profited in higher and lower ways by selfishness. The sweet odors (verse 13) are the showy worship of the selfish heart, which now is seen to have no worship in it. The shipmasters and traders (verse 17) are those who have profited by serving the proud spirit in others and have received their selfish favors. All this is gone when the wickedness of the proud spirit is exposed and its power is taken away.

The evil spirit is sad to have its evil pleasures taken away, but heaven is glad and all in us that is on the side of good is glad when it is set free from the evil power. The great millstone cast into the sea means the great mass of falsity and false reasoning by which the proud selfish spirit has justified itself. This spirit and its falsities flee from the presence of the Lord and heaven, and find their place in hell, as the devils cast out by the Lord into the swine rushed into the sea. (Matthew 8:32) Verses 22 and 23 give a graphic picture of a deserted city from which all life and signs of life are gone. No more the sound of the little millstones, with which every woman in an eastern city grinds her meal. The desolation pictures the spiritual desolation of one who has lived in pride and selfishness when his pride is exposed and his selfish pleasures are taken away. Who will tell us the meaning of the last verse of the chapter? We must read the chapter. It is very powerful and dramatic.

1. What great city of the world in John's day would be thought of as "Babylon"?

2. What is the Lord's call to all who desire to be free from the spirit of selfish pride represented by "Babylon"?

3. What universal lesson does this chapter teach us regarding the Lord's power and purpose? Does it have application also to ourselves?

Spiritual Study

The 18th chapter of Revelation has close relation with the chapters of Isaiah and Jeremiah on the destruction of Babylon (Isaiah 57, Jeremiah 51), and with Ezekiel's chapter on the destruction of Tyre (Ezekiel 27) which teach a similar lesson.

The two great obstacles to acceptance of the Lord's invitation to blessed life extended in chapters 1-3 of Revelation are seen in John's vision as the dragon and Babylon, which represent pride of intellect or faith alone, and self-love with delight in ruling over others. The association of Babylon with pride and self-love has been well established in earlier Scriptures, especially in the account of the Tower of Babel and in Daniel. It has the same meaning here.

John and the churches of his day saw the spirit of the dragon, called also the devil and Satan, especially in the hostile idolatries about them, and they saw the spirit of Babylon in Rome, with its proud rule and cruel persecutions. The Apocalypse Revealed describes the relation of Revelation to the judgment in the spiritual world, of which Swedenborg was a witness. In that judgment the dragon spirit was seen especially in the spirit of faith alone, as developed in the Reformed Churches, and the Babylon spirit was seen in the love of rule by the use of holy things, as developed in the Roman Church. Both these evils had reached a terrible development before the judgment. By the judgment they were exposed and removed from power. This was represented in John's vision by the overthrow of Babylon in Revelation 18 and the casting out of the dragon in Revelation 20. What persistent enemies of mankind these two had been! The dragon spirit, called also "that old serpent," appeared in Eden (Genesis 3), and the spirit of Babylon appeared in the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) ; and it is almost the end of Scripture before these enemies are cast out. By the judgment the skies were cleared of these storm clouds, and the same evils will be overcome more slowly but surely in this world. "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever." (Revelation 11: 15) "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." (Revelation 21:3) When we find the Revelation interpreted in Apocalypse Revealed with special reference to the judgment in the spiritual world, we are not to think of this as its only application. A strictly spiritual interpretation of Scripture is not limited to one time or place, but is of universal application. The chapter describing the fall of Babylon declares the Lord's power and purpose to expose and condemn the evil of pride and self-love in any city or in any church or in any heart. Read Revelation 18, with its application to ourselves in mind, giving special attention to the verses to which I have directed the thought of the juniors. Find help in R. 753-802 and E. 1090-1194.

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