REVELATION 18.1 After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory. 18.2 He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird! 18.3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”
18.5 for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has
remembered her iniquities. 18.6 Return to her just as she returned, and
repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she
mixed, mix to her double. 18.7 However much she glorified herself, and
grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her
heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’
18.8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and
famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has
judged her is strong. -WEB Bible
The Harlot Babylon is one of the monsters described
in the book of Revelation, but she's not the same kind of monster as the
others. Babylon is a construction of fallen humanity. She is described as a city,
because many, many people have chosen to walk her streets.
There are no boundaries for the whore of Babylon. She is
devoted to the most indulgent excess and wealth. Pleasure, vanity, seduction,
power, luxury, drunkenness, revenge, murder, cruelty, greed, corruption. She
doesn't have a husband and she's proud of it: no one can tell her what to do.
She answers to nobody. She is free of all controlling influences: Harlot
Babylon will not submit to anyone. She violently resists anyone who criticizes
her.
In addition, Babylon leads others astray. Many have catered
to her desires and pleasures, and they've become rich because of her excesses.
Revelation 18:23 tells us, "Your merchants were the world's
important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led
astray." -NIV
Babylon is so proud, callous and selfish that when she is
destroyed, people rejoice at her demise. The only ones who mourn for Babylon
are all her suppliers who got rich from her endless greed.
Because Babylon is a symbol of every human who has scrabbled
after the pleasures and power of this world, her demise is different from that
of the other beasts of Revelation. The other beasts are powerful demonic
spirits who are thrown into hell for punishment. But Babylon simply
disintegrates as her wealth is destroyed. Like the witch in the Wizard of Oz book,
there is nothing to bury: Babylon is simply gone and only the smoke of her
burning remains. Furthermore, God promises that Babylon will never rise
again.
IMAGE CREDIT: Apocalypse 28: The destruction of Babylon.
Revelation cap 18 illustration from Mortier's Bible, which is part of the
Phillip Medhurst Collection. Pieter Mortier (1661-1711) was a mapmaker and
engraver. He published an "illustrated print bible" in 1700. This image
file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
Unported license, Phillip Medhurst as author. The original file is uncolored.