Judgment Upon Babylon

Chapter 18 is all about the fall and destruction of Babylon—again. We've heard this song before, yet here it is just as it was proclaimed in chapter 14: 

Another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality." - Rev 14:8 ESV

And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. - Rev 16:18-19 ESV 

Babylon of Old Testament times was indeed a great and wondrous city. The Euphrates river, about 200 miles above that river's junction with the Tigris, divided the great city into two almost equal parts. The city was the capital of a great empire. It fell to Cyrus, "king of Elam." Cyrus permitted the captive Jews to return to their land in 606 B.C. and Babylon ceased to be the capital of anything. Today, all one can find are a series of huge mounds about 50 miles south of Baghdad. The complete and utter desolation of this great city, once called "the glory of kingdoms" (Isa.13:19) was foretold by the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel (Isa. 13:4-22; Jer. 25:12; 50:2-3; Dan. 2:31-38).

Throughout the Revelation Babylon is a symbol, standing for mighty Rome. Just as ancient Babylon once fell and is no more, so great Rome will fall. As a great harlot she offered herself to the nations and they "committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her" (Rev.18:9). Now she will receive the wrath of God.

Rome did, of course, continue for some centuries after John recorded the words of his Revelation. In 410 A.D. the Visigoths, led by Alaric, breached the walls of Rome and sacked the capital of the Roman Empire. Less than a century before Constantine the Great opened the way for the Christian faith to become the official religion of the empire.

Constantine the Great

One great lesson proclaimed by Revelation is that God's hand is ever at work in the events of history and all those great cities and nations symbolized by Babylon in this chapter will eventually have to face the vengeance of God. He will not permit idolatry and immorality to continue forever.

They (the kings of the earth) will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, "Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come." - Rev 18:10 ESV