Revelation 18: Fallen, Fallen is Babylon

After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having immense authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory.

Then, he cried out in a forceful voice, saying, “Fallen, Fallen, Babylon the Great, now become a habitat of demons, and a prison of all foul spirits, and a prison of all foul birds, and a prison of all foul and dangerous creatures, and detested.

“For they have drunk out of the wine of the passion of her sexual and spiritual immorality—the peoples and the rulers of the earth—have committed acts of spiritual and sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth became wealthy out of the power of her insolent luxuries.”

Revelation 18:1-3

Historicist

What is Babylon?

Theologians who take the historical perspective see the prophetic aspects of John’s apocalypse being fulfilled in church history, allowing for a time yet to come to pass, when human history is brought to a close at the Lord’s return. Of particular note, to the historicist, is the true church and the corrupted church—in this case, the corrupted church arose in the heart of the Roman Empire, Rome itself. The Roman church took on the pattern of governance, opulence, customs, traditions, and even superstitions of the old religion of Rome, the pantheon of gods. “Babylon,” then, is considered by historicists as the corrupted Roman Church.

The angel’s declaration that Babylon is fallen comes as prophetic past tense—in other words, Babylon’s fall is a foregone fact, Almighty God has passed judgement, there is nothing that can stop Babylon’s inexorable end, for the inner parts of Babylon, its morality, its spirituality, its purity, is already fallen. It will happen, it just has not happened yet.

And when Babylon falls, it will be utter desolation.

What Glory Illuminated the Earth?

Some point to a symbolic meaning in that the light of spiritual truth will be shed abroad.

Others point to a number of biblical passages which describe a physical light emanating from the Lord, and heavenly messengers.

“The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai”

Jesus “was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light”

“An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them”

Paul “was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him”

Exodus 24:16, Matthew 17:2, Luke 2:9, Acts 9:3 (NRSVUE, emphases added)

Habitation of Foul Things

John described the spiritual reality of what the prophet Isaiah also alluded to when prophesying of the literal fall of Babylon in Mesopotamia.

But wild animals will lie down there,
    and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will live,
    and there goat-demons will dance.
Hyenas will cry in its towers
    and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand;
    and its days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 13:21-22 (NRSVUE, emphasis added)

Wine of Wrath

Another ancient prophet, Jeremiah, had also employed the metaphor of a golden cup of the Lord’s judgement.

“Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,
    making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
    and so the nations went mad.”

Jeremiah 51:7 (NRSVUE, emphasis added)

Now, John added the detail of a double portion of judgment being mixed into the golden cup of God’s great wrath over sin that Babylon must now drink.

Preterist

Because commentators in this camp are divided over whether John’s Apocalypse is only about the Jewish War of 66-70 CE or might also include God’s judgement of Rome, there are two main views of what the fall of Babylon might be.

If Rome

John’s description of Babylon’s enticing luxuries and porneia matches well with the Rome John and his audience knew, a corrupting and corrupted culture very like the corrupting lure described in the Book of Proverbs.

With that in mind, this must be a prophecy of the fall of Rome in 476 CE, “when the German chieftain Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus.” (Britannica) Rome had already been sacked in 410 by the Visigoths, about fifteen years after the eastern and western portions of the Roman Empire had been divided into two realms, with two rulers.

If Jerusalem

The imagery of complete destruction which laid Jerusalem open to foul spirits as well as foul creatures is accurate. Jesus had also predicted Jerusalem would become a spiritual wasteland.

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it returns, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45 (NRSVUE, emphases added)

Jesus was not speaking of an individual but rather about the whole of the region.

Jesus also predicted the physical ruin of God’s holy city.

“You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Matthew 24:2 (NRSVUE)

Though the Jerusalem of John’s day was not comparable to Rome, historical Jerusalem had been indicted by the prophet Ezekiel for spiritual porneia with the gods of foreign lands. Ezekiel was predicting the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Now, John was prophesying concerning the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans.

Futurist

Those who perceive John’s prophecies as pertaining to a time still future to us are not certain who this messenger is—“angel” is a transliteration of the Greek word ἄγγελος | angelos, meaning”messenger” or “delegate,” and also “bishop” or “ruler,” and finally, “angel,” or also the “prevailing spirit” of a church, or the Church.

Is this Christ himself? Or is this an angel?

Even more importantly, why is the word “fallen” repeated? Some feel the angel was indicating there will be two phases to the judgment of Babylon.

Phase 1

The first phase concerns the spiritual system of Babylon’s false religions, spoken of in Revelation 17. Here, God passes judgment on and deals in finality with the beast and its allies who had all been involved in the destruction of Babylon.

Phase 2

The second has to do with the physical city itself, its political power, its commercial influence, even its bricks and mortar, now being addressed in this chapter. Here, it is God who brings final judgment on Babylon.

Unlike the first phase, Babylon’s demise is now mourned.

Revelation 16 also predicts a series of events which are now being revisited, at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Spiritual

There is a contrast from the glory streaming from the heavenly messenger, illuminating the earth, and the fate of Babylon, which will become the habitation of all things foul. Babylon becomes the contrast to the holiness, beauty, purity, and glory of New Jerusalem to come in the final chapters of John’s Apocalypse.

All those—the rulers, merchants, and nations—who sought their glorification through Babylon will now mourn with great grief, for Babylon’s destruction means the destruction of their glory as well, all that they had put their hopes in. Now they will be bereft, for rather than put their faith and hope in God, they had thrown their entire lot in with Babylon.

The four perspectives taken from Revelation: Four Views A Parallel Commentary, edited by Steve Gregg