Season 6 Podcast 20 Book of Revelation “Opening of the Seven Seals, Chapter 18:1-13 “Babylon.”Last week we studied Revelation 17 “The Mystery of the Woman.” This week we shall continue with Revelation 18, Babylon.” Revelation 18:1“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.”The angel who comes down has great authority insomuch that his glory lights the entire earth. Christ will soon come the second time, but before he comes, the saints are given one last chance to come out of Babylon. Babylon was once a formidable city of great wealth. The hanging gardens of Babylon even today are considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It was also a great political power. During the days of Daniel and the Babylonian Captivity, around 586 BC, it reached its peak with Nebuchadnezzar II the emperor. He destroyed Solomon’s Temple and exiled the Jews to Babylon. Babylon has become the symbol of the world with its emphasis on wealth and power and sin rather than the worship of God. We are reminded of Christ’s words in The Intercessory Prayer.John 17:11-17“And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”Just as the temporal Babylon, which appeared indestructible, fell in a short time so will the spiritual Babylon fall. John records.Revelation 18:2-3“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”Again, John refers to the power of the angel. He speaks with a “strong voice.”  The angel describes the state of Babylon. It is the habitation of devils, meaning, of course, evil spirits. It is the “hold of every foul spirit,” meaning that it contains all the evil allurement of Satan found in the world. It is eviler than Egypt. Eviler than Sodom and Gomorrah, Eviler even than the days before the flood for it has every foul spirit. A striking image is that it is “a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” It is like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. In the very next chapter, we learn of the Supper of the Great God.”Revelation 19:17-18“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.”

Season 6 Podcast 20 Book of Revelation “Opening of the Seven Seals, Chapter 18:1-13 “Babylon.” Last week we studied Revelation 17 “The Mystery of the Woman.” This week we shall continue with Revelation 18, Babylon.”  Revelation 18:1 “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.” The angel who comes down has great authority insomuch that his glory lights the entire earth. Christ will soon come the second ...