Then
a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the
sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and
will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute
players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any
craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in
you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice
of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were
the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And
in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of mall who have been
slain on earth.”
(Revelation 18:21-24 ESV).
Various nations turn on Babylon, that is, Rome, when her end finally comes because it represents the end of their subjugation to her. However, not every person celebrates once Babylon falls. In fact, for many people, the collapse of Rome as a great cultural and economic power is a cause for lament, as we see in our reading today. Rome’s fall is a great economic calamity, and that is the reason for the lamenting. The loss of Roman dominance means a loss of trade in all manner of goods and services. With the imperial government no longer functioning, safe travel becomes impossible. Merchants and traders can no longer move as freely as they once did, and economic collapse destroys the market for luxuries and other things. Bede, an early medieval church father comments that “they bemoan the loss of all the spectacles of the world and those things that are pleasant to the senses of the body and that are suitable for external use.”
The prophesied fall of Rome, then,
matches what the other visions in Revelation have shown us about what happens
when judgment falls on those who are committed to wickedness. Instead of
repenting and returning to the Lord, they bemoan the loss of worldly comforts (cf.
9:20–21; 16:8–11). Of course, we do not want to minimize the real problems of
economic calamity, poor health, and the other things brought on by the divine
judgments in Revelation. The point is that these problems are not ultimate.
Those who lament the loss of earthly goods while their hearts are far from the
Lord are missing the point of suffering as God’s wake-up call to the
impenitent.
When Rome falls, however, there is
rejoicing on the part of those whom she has persecuted. Believers are exhorted
to rejoice, for Rome receives the destruction that she has inflicted on others
(v. 20). Rome will be destroyed as surely as Babylon, the earlier “Rome” that
persecuted old covenant saints, fell. Jeremiah told another official, Seraiah,
to record the prophecies of judgment against ancient Babylon in a book, tie it
to a rock, and cast it into the Euphrates River as a sign that Babylon would
likewise fall (cf. Jeremiah 51:63–64). Our reading borrows this imagery,
likening the Babylon of the first century—Rome—to a millstone that will be cast
into the sea. Just as ancient Babylon’s sure fall happened in history, so would
Rome fall, ending its threat to believers. This vision of John ought to
encourage every believer today. The victory over evil has already been written.
God will bring it to pass!
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