Joel’s Commentary on Revelation: Revelation 18-19–Flee Babylon, Come to the Lamb’s Wedding Banquet, and Don’t Get Caught Being the Supper of God!

Fortunately, Revelation 18 does not need much explanation. Most of what is said in chapter 18 repeats the things said in the previous 17 chapters.

Revelation 18:1-8—The Call to Come Out of Babylon
Verses 1-8, the declaration that Babylon the Great has fallen, echoes many passages in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:1-14:23; 21:1-10; Jeremiah 25:12-38; Jeremiah 50-51; Ezekiel 26-28). The idolatrous/adulterous Babylon will be laid waste by the hand of the LORD.  So too will idolatrous/adulterous Rome; so too will any city or nation that stands against the LORD and persecutes his people.

Verses 4-8 are particularly interesting. First: “Come out of her, my people.” This echoes passages such as Isaiah 48:20: “Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say ‘The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!’” And also Jeremiah 51:45: “Come out of her, my people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD!” In both passages there is judgment pronounced against Old Testament Babylon and redemption for God’s people. The declaration to the seven churches is the same: Rome will eventually be laid waste, and the children of God will be vindicated and redeemed from this evil world.

Finally, verse 8 is interesting. The plagues obviously echo the plagues of the Exodus against Egypt. The fire also not only echoes the judgment of Sodom, but many early Christians would have undoubtedly seen the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in 70 AD (just 25 years before Revelation was written) as a sign of God’s judgment of Jerusalem for their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.

Revelation 18:9-23—The Lament of Commercialism
In this section consists of the laments by the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth, and the sailors of the sea. In every case, they weep and mourn, stand far off, and are terrified by Babylon’s torment. Why? Because all three represent the commercialism, commerce, and materialism that Rome supported.  In a modern context, John might very well tell Christians in America to “come out of her” and “don’t commit adultery with her”—meaning don’t get wrapped up in the materialism, commercialism, immorality, and sex-driven consumeristic society that we live in. Instead of kings, merchants, and sailors, there would probably be CEOs, Wall Street bankers, business moguls, lawyers, UPS workers, and people who do business on the internet. Just as Rome was the superpower back then, so too is the USA the superpower today. It is worth contemplating what Revelation is saying to America today? No, there is not a persecution of Christians going on, but my oh my is there the seductive temptations of materialism.

One final thing to notice is the list of cargoes of the merchants—the last cargo mentioned is “the lives of men.” Although it is first and foremost referring to slavery, I think we can also see it as a reference to the dehumanizing effect materialism and commercialism has on society.  Back then there was forced prostitution in pagan temples, gladiator games in the coliseums, as well as flat-out slavery. In America we still have prostitution, and we have sweatshops in third world countries, making goods for American citizens to buy cheaply.  America too has its own cargo of human lives.

Revelation 19:1-10—Heaven Rejoices Over Babylon’s Destruction/The Wedding
In contrast to the merchants’ lament over Babylon’s destruction, Revelation 19:1-10 gives the rejoicing in Heaven over Babylon’s destruction. Specifically, in 19:7-8, we are told that the wedding of the Lamb has come, and that his bride has made herself ready with fine linen, which is the righteous acts of the saints. This picture of a weeding supper is very important.

Back in Genesis 1-3, the picture we have is that of a banquet: God and mankind together in a garden of food—it was a picture of communion of God and mankind. Also, in the gospels, one of the things that Jesus did that was so scandalous was that he shared table with the kind of people who were not considered to be particularly religious. “Sharing table” had incredible significance in that society—it meant that you accepted that person’s love and fellowship. The fact that Jesus accepted the love and fellowship of tax-collectors (seen by the Jews as traitors to Rome), prostitutes, and common “sinners” (and not the Temple priests and Pharisees!) was one of the reasons why Jewish religious authorities wanted him killed. He was saying that the Kingdom of God was being offered, not to the outwardly religious, but to the people the religious leaders had deemed to be “sinners”!

Jesus was always sharing table with people. He was enacting what the Kingdom of God was about. The Last Supper was a meal, after all, not just a strict religious ceremony. In other words, Jesus was giving a glimpse of what the ultimate Wedding Supper of the Lamb would be like (Mark 2:15-20). Simply put, the Wedding Supper of the Lamb points all the way back to Genesis 1-3, and Jesus’ sharing table with “sinners” (including the Last Supper) points forward to the Wedding Supper here in Revelation 19.

Revelation 19:11-21—The Defeat of the Beast
Verses 11-21 give us the picture of the defeat of the beast and the kings of the earth at the hands of Christ. The way in which Christ, the rider on the white horse, is described reflects the way he is described in the very beginning of Revelation—both in John’s vision of 1:12-16, and in the seven letters to the seven churches.

A number of things should be pointed out. First, his name, the Word of God, echoes John 1:1-18, where John says that “the Word was made flesh.” What did he mean by this? He meant that God’s Spirit, who promised salvation way back in Genesis 3, who bound himself to the promise in the covenant with Abraham, who expanded it through Moses and David, and who inspired the prophets to prophesy about a New Covenant—was “fleshed out” in the person of Jesus Christ. God promised salvation and “gave his word,” so to speak. He then made good on that promise, kept his word, and fleshed it out in the person of Jesus Christ, who initiated the promised New Covenant.

Given this fact, one thing should be clarified. When Paul (Eph. 6:17) or the writer of Hebrews (4:12) refers to “the word of God,” they are not referring to the Bible. At the time they wrote their letters, there was no such thing as the New Testament yet. They are referring to the power of the Spirit of God himself. When Jesus began his ministry, he read Isaiah 61:1 and 58:6 in his hometown synagogue: “The Spirit of YHWH is upon me…” God’s Holy Spirit was not fleshed out in Jesus. Then, after Jesus’ ascension, at Pentecost, his followers were filled with that same Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God came through Christ, and was spread through his followers, by means of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore,  as we get back to Revelation 19:11-21, we notice that Jesus, the Word of God, strikes down the nations with a sharp sword from his mouth. The sharp sword is the power of the Holy Spirit. We also notice that the rider on the white horse—Jesus Christ, the Word of God—is the one who treads the winepress of God’s wrath (see Rev. 14:17-20). This rider on a white horse is very different from the rider on Rome’s white horse from the first seal.

Next, we see a reference to the Great Supper of God in 19:17. But this isn’t the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. This verse echoes Ezekiel 39:17, in which the beasts of the earth are called together to feast on the flesh of God. The point is simply that everything in Revelation seems to come in pairs of two:

• The Heavenly Jerusalem vs. Babylon the Great
• The Woman clothed with the sun vs. the Great Whore and the Dragon
• Christ vs. the Beast
• The woman’s offspring vs. the Dragon’s offspring
• And now, the Wedding Supper of the Lamb vs. the Great Supper of God

Finally, in 19:19-21, we have the defeat of the two beasts and the kings of the earth by the rider on the white horse and his armies (i.e. the saints). The two beasts are thrown into the Lake of Fire, and the kings of the earth are killed by the sword that comes out of the mouth of the rider on the white horse. So, the oppressors of God’s people are gone, and their leaders—the two beasts—are thrown in the Lake of Fire. There is one enemy left to be conquered: the Dragon, Satan himself. And with Revelation 20, we see his end.