Revelation 18 & 19
The Fourth Angel’s Message
and the Second coming

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There are millions of people who love God, who live by faith, but they don’t know the truth about God!

 

And here is the interesting point: People who live by faith really don’t care what the truth is. They will joyfully embrace truth as they hear it because they inherently love truth!

 

Faith and truth are twin brothers.

 

This is why the Great Tribulation will be a showcase of truth and a test of faith. The truth about Jesus Christ will be revealed with great power and authority.

 

Everyone who embraces the gospel of Jesus (the truth about Jesus) will find himself having to live by faith! Persecution will demand it.

 

Thus, the fourth angel’s message, the last message to mankind is very simple: Jesus calls everyone to come out of her [the great prostitute]. Jesus calls for everyone to stand for Truth and live by faith alone. Let’s take a look:

 

Revelation 18:1   After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

 

Revelation 18:2   With a mighty voice he shouted [throughout the world]: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt [hang out] for every unclean and detestable bird [flesh eating vultures].

 

Revelation 18:3   For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. [The nations have swallowed her false doctrines – hook, line and sinker] The kings of the earth committed adultery with her [e.g., the kings of Earth used their civil authority to enforce the religious objectives of the great prostitute], and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” [The merchants of Earth are businessmen and woman, a group of people who will own and control the necessities of life and during the Great Tribulation. This group is highlighted because they will extort money from impoverished people and apportion excessive luxuries to themselves at a time when most of the world is suffering for even the most basic necessities of life.]

 

Revelation 18:4   When I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people [during the sixth trumpet, some people are still tossing back and forth on whether to receive the mark and Jesus calls them “my people.” He begs them to come out of the prostitute], so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

 

Revelation 18:5   for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes [against humanity].

 

Revelation 18:6   [Notice this declaration:] Give her back as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.

 

Revelation 18:7   Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’”

 

What does this language mean: ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow’?

 

Look at these parallel words spoken by Jeremiah concerning the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.:

 

Lamentations 1:1   How deserted lies the [ruins of the great city] city [of God], once so full of people!  {Prosperous and proud, the envy of nations – but now look at her. . .] How like a [impoverished] widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a [contemptible] slave.

 

Lamentations 1:2   Bitterly she [Jerusalem] weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

 

Lamentations 1:3   After [suffering years of] affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations [as a despised misfit]; she finds no resting place. [She is weak and defenseless that] All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. [Woe to Jerusalem, our great city has become a great ruin. . .]” 

 

The parallel point here is that “Babylon the Great” will suffer the same destiny that befell ancient Jerusalem. There is a Sovereign God who overrules the universe and He will destroy the prostitute and its evil king.

 

Revelation 18:8   Therefore in [on] one day her [seven] plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine will befall her. In the end]. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

 

[You may recall from our study on the seven bowls, that after the fifth bowl is poured out on the great prostitute, the leaders of the world will realize that they have been duped by the devil’s masquerade. At this point in time, the kings and religious leaders of Earth will turn on the great prostitute and hate her.

 

The following lament occurs after the fifth bowl occurs:]

 

Revelation 18:9   “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her [for they know (a) that her destruction precedes their own and (b) they have lost everything that they lived for].

 

Revelation 18:10   Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off [-- have you ever noticed how people will deny association and distance themselves from each other when justice is gaining ground and everything around them is collapsing? Well, the kings of Earth cannot justify their adulterous actions with the great prostitute so they are represented as “Standing far off” to avoid the condemnation and punishment that is coming] and [they] cry: ‘Woe! Woe, [cursed, cursed] O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’

 

Revelation 18:11   [Then the rich merchants of Earth will weep and wail] “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more – [notice they don’t weep over the vile behavior of the prostitute, they cry over their loss of business]

 

Revelation 18:12   cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;

 

Revelation 18:13   cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and [slaves, the] bodies and souls of men.

 

Revelation 18:14   “They will say, “The fruit you longed for is gone from you. [In other words, your objective has failed your purpose is gone.]  All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’

 

Revelation 18:15   The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off [they too cannot justify their greedy involvement with her, nor do they want to suffer in her condemnation and fate], terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn [for their financial losses]

 

Revelation 18:16   and cry out: “’Woe, Woe, O great city [who fared sumptuously and was consumed with vanity, the woman who], dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls

 

Revelation 18:17   In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’

 

“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off [they, too, cannot justify their willingness to make a living off her vanity, and they certainly don’t want to share in her condemnation and punishment].

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