chapter seventeen

(v. 1)—is seen coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and crying with a mighty voice, “Fallen! fallen is Babylon the great!” and recounting the story of her crimes as the abundant cause of her ruin.

(2) The Warning to God’s People, Ch. 18:4‐8

Yet another voice from heaven bids the people of God come out of her before the final retribution, that they be not made partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached even unto heaven; and urges the executors of her judgment to reward her double, i. e. to exact full legal retribution for her sins (Ex. 22:4‐7). And she shall be utterly destroyed, shall be “burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judged her”.

(3) The Lament of the Kings of the Earth over Her Doom, Ch. 18:9‐10

The rulers of the world‐powers who have shared in her sin are seen standing afar off for fear of her torment, witnessing her fall; and their cry is heard, “Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour [i. e. in a short time or suddenly] is thy judgment come”,—mourning over her ruin which is sudden and complete.

(4) The Lament of the Merchants, Ch. 18:11‐17a

The merchants of the earth also weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise or cargo any more. The articles of merchandise enumerated are many, indicating her wealth, and seem to be arranged in a progressive order of importance, and to fall naturally into six classes, (Babylon’s number, the symbol of evil—ch. 13:18), which may be divided as follows, viz. (1) those of personal adornment; (2) of furniture; (3) of sensual gratification; (4) of food; (5) of animate forms; and (6) of souls (i. e. persons) of men.(528) All have perished; and the merchants cry aloud, “Woe, woe, the great city! ... for in one hour so great riches is made desolate.”

(5) The Lament of the Seamen, Ch. 18. 17b‐19

All those who gained their living by the sea, ship‐masters, mariners, and every one that saileth any whither, stood afar off and cried, “What _city_ is like the great city?” And they cast dust upon their heads, weeping and mourning, the sign of their deep though worldly sorrow, saying, “Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.” In this triple mourning of the kings of the earth, of the merchants, and of the seamen, is shown the wide relations of Babylon, too wide in fact for any single city. The darkly shadowed terms of poetic description used throughout the chapter, set forth the completeness of her destruction, and are an echo from the Fall of Tyre in Ezekiel’s prophecy (chs. 26‐28).

(6) A Call to Heaven and to the Church to Rejoice, Ch. 18:20

By a voice, evidently from above, the holy are bidden to rejoice, i. e. heaven with its inhabitants, and the saints or the church, and her two highest orders of ministers in the past, the apostles and the prophets, are called upon to rejoice because God hath judged Babylon with the judgment which is her due for her treatment of the saints. This invitation to the “saints, the apostles, and the prophets”, to rejoice over the judgment of Babylon, which to that age doubtless meant Rome, is regarded by some as a possible allusion to the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul who met death under Nero.(529)

(7) The Symbol of Her Irretrievable Ruin, Ch. 18:21‐24

A strong or mighty angel, taking up a stone like a great millstone, casts it into the sea as the sign of her total extinction, and rehearses the fate of the city in the ominous words of ancient prophecy, which are here enlarged and made more terrible (cf. Jer. 51:61‐64). The symbolism used throughout this chapter, it will be noted, is largely drawn from the Old Testament prophecies concerning the ancient cities of Babylon and Tyre. “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.” Thus in terms that are as wide as the earth and as far‐reaching as history, is set forth the sin of the godless and unbelieving world in all ages, which concludes the pronouncement of the judgment upon Babylon; and the judgment seems to belong properly in seven parts as a sign of its completeness.

B The Triumph of the Redeemed, Ch. 19:1‐10

A hymn of praise (the Hallelujah Chorus), such as follows each crisis in the Apocalypse, and forms a relief to the sombreness of the visions, is sung in heaven by a great voice of a great multitude as the sequel to the fall of the city and the lament of the world—the seventh and last great chorus in the Revelation (see App’x C): and then the marriage supper of the Lamb is announced for the delight of the redeemed in heaven. The final triumph, it will be seen, is here viewed as a whole, without distinction of parts such as are found in the succeeding section which treats of the last things.

1 The Choral Song of Hallelujahs, Ch. 19:1‐8

In response to the heavenly summons to rejoice (ch. 18:20), a thrice repeated note of victory, the Hebrew “Hallelujah”, Praise ye Jehovah! is heard in heaven; first from the voice of a great multitude, who say a second time, “Hallelujah”, and then from the four and twenty elders, the representatives of the redeemed church, together with the four living creatures, the representatives of all created life, who reply, “Amen; Hallelujah.” After this again, in response to a message from the throne (v. 5), another “Hallelujah” is heard from the voice of another multitude (v. 6‐8), as the sound of many waters, the voice of those who are praising God in full and joyful chorus because he has avenged the blood of his servants, and who are now rejoicing with exceeding gladness (v. 7) because “the marriage of the Lamb is come”, i. e. the complete and final union of Christ with the redeemed church, for his wife, the church, hath made herself ready. The word “Hallelujah” occurs four times in this passage, and is not found elsewhere in the New Testament: it should be noted, too, that it is used here, as it is chiefly used in the Old Testament,(530) in connection with the punishment of the wicked. The first voice in this chorus of hallelujahs (v. 1f) is apparently that of the great multitude of the angelic host in heaven, which is responded to by the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures; while the second voice (v. 6f) is that of the multitude of the universal church who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The description of the pure array of the Bride (v. 8), which is the symbol of her righteousness and is in such marked contrast with the clothing of the Harlot, may be an explanation added by the Apostle, as indicated in the text of the Revelation given in the preceding part of this book by including the verse in a parenthesis, though it was apparently regarded by the American Revisers as part of the words of the redeemed church.

2 The Blessedness of the Marriage Supper, Ch. 19:9

John is directed by the angel to record a blessing upon those who are bidden to the marriage supper, i. e. who are invited to share in the nearer fellowship of the redeemed with Christ, and to partake of the rich and abundant spiritual food that awaits them in the new relations of the heavenly life—a further symbol of the spiritual union of the church with Christ added to that of the bride and the marriage, setting forth the joys of the heavenly life under the familiar figure of a marriage feast, the great social event of the East, and the popular type of the highest enjoyment, as well as the public acknowledgement of the consummation of the union. The marriage of the Lamb is put in vivid contrast with the fornication of the Harlot, in the usual method of the Apocalypse.

3 Worship Refused by the Angel, Ch. 19:10

The Apostle is so overwhelmed by the impression of the vision that he falls at the feet of the angel to worship him—probably the interpreting angel of the opening verse of the book, though some think identical with the vial‐angel of