Revelation 18: Four Views

Because the passage is so long, please click on Revelation 18:9-24 if you would like to refresh your memory before reading how scholars have interpreted the description of Babylon’s demise.

John had witnessed the shocking portrayal of Babylon and the kings who joined with this great city in promulgating blasphemies, abominations, and idolatry (which was depicted as illicit sexual acts). Then, an angel came to explain to John the meaning of what he saw and what would be the final fate of this wicked city.

A mighty voice resounding from heaven called all God’s people to safety lest they be harmed by what was about to happen. Then, in one terrifying, horrific point in time, the judgment of God, like a refiner’s fire, engulfed the greatest city on earth (though it was the rulers themselves who threw the match). All the world’s political powers, commercial centers, and shipping magnates wailed in anguished grief over their city, for there would be nothing left of it, and no hope to rebuild.

It is a graphic and detailed depiction of disaster.

So, how do we make sense of it, two thousand years later?

Historicist

There is a marked similarity between John’s vision and the prophet Ezekiel’s description of the fall of the famed Phoenician port city of Tyre in Ezekiel 27-28. The prophet listed all the luxury goods Tyre traded in, and spoke of the merchants and sailor’s lamentation over Tyre’s downfall. Tyre, like Babylon, is portrayed as proud and defiant towards God,

So I brought out fire from within you;
    it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
    in the sight of all who saw you.
All who know you among the peoples
    are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
    and shall be no more forever.

Ezekiel 28:18-19 (NRSVUE, emphases added)

The millstone metaphor is remindful of the prophet Jeremiah’s similar prediction of Babylon’s demise.

“When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I am bringing on her.’”

Jeremiah 51:63-64 (NRSVUE, italics added)

Jeremiah also spoke of the absence of bridal voices, of the silencing of millstones’ sounds, and the darkening of lamps.

And I will bring to an end the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for the land shall become a waste.

… And I will banish from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

Jeremiah 7:34, 25:10 (NRSVUE)

Historicist scholars liken both Tyre and Babylon to religious Rome, its ties to the alliance of European nations, and the wealth of the Roman church. The description of riches, the scarlet and purple, the precious stones and pearls, all point to the extravagant vestments and cathedrals of the Roman church.

But it is the traffic in human bodies and souls through such medieval practices as indulgences, absolutions, and dispensations that convince expositors in this camp to view Babylon as the wealthy and apostate church. This explains the heavenly voice’s condemnation of poisonous sorceries that lead the peoples astray. This would also explain the rejoicing of the saints, for in this view, veneration of the saints, iconography, and praying to saints are wrong practices which must be put right.

Historicist scholars explain the Roman church’s historical persecution of those who sought to reform the church (as discussed in previous posts) as the reason for the heavenly voice’s denunciation,

“… in her blood of prophets and of holy ones was discovered and all the ones having been slayed upon the earth.”

Revelation 18:24

Some believe the fearsome burning to be figurative, but others see this as an actual fire brought about by seismic and volcanic activity, guided by God’s hand.

Preterist

Several details in this lengthy passage can point either very well to Rome’s capitulation or to Jerusalem’s destruction.

If Rome

Rome was much wealthier and more internationally connected, but there were several sackings in the centuries leading up to the western Roman Empire collapsing, when Rome was sacked and burned to the ground in 546 CE. However, many Christians were martyred in Rome, particularly apostles.

If Jerusalem

When ἡ γῆ | hē ge is read as “the land” rather than “the earth” (both are equally acceptable and suitable translations), then it can be said that Jerusalem was the wealthiest and most internationally connected city in the land of Judea. It can also be said that all the rulers, merchants, and traders in the land of Judea wept bitterly at the holy city’s disastrous end.

Jerusalem was also destroyed in one specific point in time, when even the temple was stripped and torn down stone by stone, and all those of Jewish faith and descent were banished from their holy city for centuries.

And, many prophets had met their death through Jerusalem, as Jesus famously lamented,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!”

Matthew 23:37 (NRSVUE, italics added)

Futurist

Some (but definitely not all) scholars deem it likely the great city in John’s vision will be the ancient Babylon rebuilt in what is today Iraq, restored to its former glory and grandeur. Although Babylon certainly represents all the godless cultures of earth, it will also become the citadel of a world empire, where Rome will serve as the seat of political power and Babylon will be the center of commerce.

We remember the twentieth century’s USSR annexations, and later, the several pro-democracy protests that arose among Middle Eastern nations in 2010 and 2011. During those times of ousted officials and changing regimes, as seats of power shifted, there was much wailing among rulers who suddenly had nothing and no one to rule.

The ululations of grief from merchants and traders, translated into our twenty-first century era, has the echoes of a massive, world-wide stock market crash. In this sense, Babylon becomes all the financial centers of the world interconnected by one international economy. We have already experienced a few of those disasters—the Depression that was sparked by the crash of 1929, the banking crisis of the 1980’s and 1990’s, the reverberations of international economic collapse in the days following 9/11, and another stock market crash in 2008.

On each of those occasions everyone suffered, believer and nonbeliever alike. Though we cannot be sure whether the Lord’s judgment was at work on those occasions, it is certain that when Babylon is affected, all the world will reel. Nevertheless, when the Lord makes clear that judgment has rolled down, Christians are to take joy in the Lord’s righteous action.

Spiritual

Scholars agree with the parallels seen in Ezekiel’s prophecy, and note the traffic of human bodies and souls, at the end of the long list of luxury goods, might indicate the low worth placed on human lives. A culture rife with the objectification of human life (murder; state sanctioned death through war, capital punishment, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and the like; prostitution; enslavement; death as entertainment, and so on) is certain to come under the judgment of God.

God cherishes humankind, for every person bears the image of God.

The judgment God brings is the judgment “Babylon” first leveled against human beings, and particularly God’s own: that human beings are of little worth, expendable, and often even contemptible. God will turn the tables. At the end of human history, this seductive world system, which prizes gold and luxuries far above human life, will now itself be rendered of little worth, expendable and contemptible, and will be done away with forever.

As Jesus had warned,

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.”

Matthew 5:25 (NRSVUE)

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