Revelation 17:1-18 - Homiletics

"Babylon the great."

Our aim in this homily will be to show to what form of evil the name "Babylon the great" specially seems to point. The complexity and difficulty which have gathered round this chapter seem to the writer to arise rather from the enormous incubus of human interpretation which has pressed it down. In this passage we are shown rather a twisted rope than a tangled web. If we untwist the threads and lay them side by side, we shall not have much difficulty, specially if we exercise all that reverent and painstaking care which is due to the examination of every part of the Word of God. The main figure in the symbolism of the chapter is an infamous woman. Those who are familiar with Old Testament prophecy will know how often the terms "fornication," "adultery," etc., are used. As in Isaiah 1:21 ; Jeremiah 2:20 ; Jeremiah 3:1 , Jeremiah 3:6 , Jeremiah 3:8 , and in many other places, such terms are used of an apostate Church. In Isaiah 23:15-17 the like terms are used of Tyre; in Nahum 3:4 , of Nineveh. So that, so far as the use of such terms in Scripture is concerned, they may mean apostasy from God under the form either of secular rule or of religious corruption. Nor can we have any difficulty in seeing the propriety of such figures. As fornication and adultery are forms of false affection, and are the prostitution of the most sacred part of our nature to alien purposes, so the alienation of the heart from God, and the departure of a Church from fidelity to him, is a violation of the most sacred ties, and is the leaguing of the heart in a false alliance, which is odious to our God. Where is THIS harlot seen? There is a triple combination of expressions here.

Her being seated on the beast, or resting on the civil world power, is one form of expressing her alliance with state authority. The seven heads of the beast are so many forms of worldly dominion—five of which had passed away, viz. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. The sixth existed at the time of the apostle. This was Rome. The seventh was another which, when Rome was no more Rome, would rise up, and would be manifest in ten forms. The number ten may be a definite expression for an indefinite number, or it may be that the world powers may yet be resolvable into ten before Babylon's fall. And the beast himself—being an eighth—is also doomed to perdition. That the woman is also spoken of as seated on seven hills, and (in Nahum 3:18 ) as "that great city," again indicates a very precise reference to Rome. That she was seated on many waters indicates her sway being as wide as that of the great world power with which she was in base alliance. Seated on this earthly power, and yet controlling it, as a rider is seated on a horse and yet controls the beast. This is the harlot, Babylon the great, which made all nations to drink of the wine of her fornication. Nor must we fail to notice the several descriptive features of the harlot. She is:

(10) Presumptuous in her self security ( Revelation 18:7 ).

(11) Hated by the very powers whom she has ruled ( Nahum 3:16 ).

Hence we are bidden, by the very terms of the symbolism, to look out for some form of evil, which manifests a glaring alienation and apostasy from God—while yet putting on a form like that of the faithful Church; which at once relies on worldly power, and yet assumes its direction; which invests itself in gorgeous array, assumes pompous titles, even such as are names of blasphemy against our Lord and against his Christ; which should exert a most baneful influence on the inhabitants of the earth, and fill the air with the miasma of her pollutions and her crimes; which should be at ease in her self security, as it no power could disturb her; which should shed the blood of the saints without measure; and which should be in itself the very filth and scum of wickedness. The apostle is astonished with a great astonishment at the symbols of such an incarnation of evil. And a voice is heard crying aloud, "Come out of her, my people … that ye receive not of her plagues." Can we now point to any form or forms of evil that answer to this symbolism? We have no hesitation in saying— Yes. In so doing, let us observe that there really is not room for any great diversity in applying such symbolism as we have here, for surely there are few forms of evil so gigantic as to suit the words, "She hath made all nations drink," etc. It is, however, clear that whatever form of evil there may be, known or unknown to us, which presents all the features named here, or even the greater part of them, there is a great Babylon which is doomed to a fall that will be utter and irretrievable. Therefore observe—

I. One form of Babylon the great is seen in that terrible, awful, universal departure from God which has corrupted all nations, perverted politics, poisoned commerce, and marred social life; by which, as manifested in the iniquitous pursuit of gain, many have grown rich; which has manifested itself in "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life;" which has assumed a domineering air, commanding men to bow down to it, under pain of social ostracism or petty persecution. This spirit of exaltation, against God has often puffed men up in false security. It hath been the curse of mankind; for when men are unfaithful to God, they are untrue to themselves. The cup of iniquity becomes fuller and fuller. Often the land mourneth because there is no truth nor justice, nor knowledge of God, therein. Yea, in legion forms this worldwide poison of sin, which works out in blasphemy towards God and ruin towards man, is a great Babylon, which will be smitten, and reel, and fall. And in so far as any so called Church puts itself between man and God, and usurps his rights, it is akin to Babylon the great. £

II. At the same time, we cannot fail to see that there is one special form of evil which more than anything else in the world is pointed out in the symbolism of this chapter, and that is THE APOSTASY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME . Not that we can agree with those who think papal Rome the sole enemy of God here referred to. For we shall find in the lamentation over Babylon's fall much that leads us to think not only of a huge ecclesiastical Babylon, but also of a huge commercial one. But that papal Rome is one form of this mystic Babylon we can entertain no doubt whatever. The student of history can follow out at leisure thirteen or fourteen lines of inquiry, on which we can but give a few illustrative remarks.

1 . The woman was seated on the beast as if supported by it ( Nahum 3:3 ). Rome has relied on the worldly power to put her decrees into execution by brute force; both in using temporal powers, and in herself claiming temporal power as well as spiritual.

2 . She yet rides the beast as if to govern it ( Nahum 3:3 ). We know but too well how Rome has aimed at, and does still aim at, controlling the power on which she relies; claiming even to regulate allegiance to earthly princes.

3 . She is seated on many waters ( Nahum 3:1 ). In every quarter of the world her emissaries are sent. And in many a land where the pure gospel of Christ has been preached, she sends her emissaries to undo the holy work by sowing tares among the wheat.

4 . She rules over the kings of the earth ( Nahum 3:18 ). Kings are but the "sons of the Church," to do the bidding of their "holy" (?) mother; otherwise she may absolve subjects from allegiance to their sovereign.

5 . She holds out a golden cup full of abominations ( Nahum 3:4 ). Papal Rome makes large offers of indulgences and absolutions, and positively lures men into sin.

6 . The merchants grow rich by her ( Revelation 18:3 ). Many are enriched by the ungodly traffic to which she consents in making the house of prayer a den of thieves; for her indulgences and absolutions will cover any kind and degree of sin, whether in the getting of wealth or otherwise.

7 . She is presumptuous in her self security ( Revelation 18:7 ). Papal Rome acknowledges no other Church, and looks for the time when all will be absorbed in her, while she is to be "a lady forever."

8 . She is adorned with pompous array—in gold ( Nahum 3:4 ), purple, scarlet, and precious stones. Anyone who has watched the working of papal Rome at Rome will need no words to convince him of her gorgeous display and dazzling sheen.

9 . She is drunk with the blood of the holy ( Nahum 3:6 ). What tales does history unfold! A hundred and fifty thousand persons perished under the Inquisition in thirty years; and from the beginning of the Order of Jesuits, in 1540, it is supposed that nine hundred thousand persons perished through papal cruelty. While, although it is impossible to estimate the exact number, yet it is supposed that during the papal persecutions of the Waldenses, Albigenses, Bohemian Brethren, Wickliffites, and other Protestants, those who perished are counted by the million. The same spirit exists still. In Ireland the priests keep the people in terror, and if Rome does not persecute us, it is because she dare not.

10. She is the mother of abominations ( Nahum 3:5 ). Students of history and tourists in papal districts know that this is literally true. Indulgences for an indefinite number of years may be purchased with money. No viler looking set of faces could ever be beheld than the present writer has seen surrounding the confessional boxes in St. Peter's at Rome.

11. The beast she rides is full of names of blasphemy ( Nahum 3:3 ). The proclamation of infallibility is the one fulfilment of this that surpasses all others.

12. The inhabitants of the earth are led by her into sin ( Revelation 18:3 ). The papal Church notoriously leads people into the sin of idolatry. The worship of Rome is largely the adoration of a great goddess. £ Papists pronounce accursed those who do not "honour, worship, and adore the adorable images."

13. The several kings or kingdoms into which the civil power of the beast is to be divided shall "hate the whore, and make her desolate," etc. ( Nahum 3:16 ). How true! If there is an object of imperial hatred, it is papal Rome, which is hated most of all. She is regarded as the disturber of states everywhere.

14. Yet within this great Babylon there will be to the last some saints of God, who will be called on to come out of her ( Revelation 18:4 ). Even so. Fearfully apostate and adulterous as is papal Rome, there are in her pale many holy ones who are profoundly ignorant of the abominations, done by her in religion's name. The Lord will know his own in the day when he maketh up his jewels. But this great Babylon of harlotry, pomp, pride, and all abominations, is doomed to fall terribly, suddenly, completely, and forever! £ Earnestly do we press on the student carefully to follow up each of these fourteen lines on which history will be found to confirm the prophecy here couched in symbolic form. The identification is such that not one point seems lacking. How this great mystery of iniquity is to fall we have yet to consider.

Revelation 17:16 , Revelation 17:17 ; Revelation 18:4-8

Means and methods of the fall of Babylon the great.

Every great Babylon must fall; whether by such a term it be intended to denote a huge commercial or a huge ecclesiastical Babylon. A corrupt world and an unfaithful Church must both come to ruin. The name "Church" will give no security against destruction if the salt have lost its savour. If any Church allies itself with an ungodly world power, leaning on it for support, and gathering its prestige from thence, it is, so far, committing spiritual fornication. "The wine of her fornication" intoxicates men. Precisely so. It is the glamour, the glitter, the pomp, and prestige that attend a Church in her connection with the state, that lead men away into a deceptive admiration, and even intoxicate them with thoughts of her magnificence and power. In the Church of Rome, however, all the evils of spiritual whoredom are at their topmost height. In no other Church in the world is there so much pomp and yet so much carnality. And the Holy Ghost has in these chapters not only given us a sketch beforehand of what she would be, but (though with less of detail) has indicated the means and methods by which she would be destroyed, and has also pointed out the guarantees of the fulfilment of this.

I. A CONSTANT OVERRULING POWER , GOVERNING BY MEANS OF THE LAWS OF MENTAL SUGGESTION , IS AT WORK WITH THAT END IN VIEW . The impulses in human spirits are so directed as to serve God's purposes and not man's ( Revelation 18:16 , Revelation 18:17 ). "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, and he turneth it whithersoever he will;" "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposal thereof is of the Lord;" "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps." God says to Cyrus, "I girded thee, though thou hast not known me." So of another we read, "Howbeit he meaneth not so; it is in his heart to destroy nations not a few." "God bath put it into their hearts to fulfil his will, till the words of God shall be fulfilled." The right or the wrong of the willing is man's own. The issues thereof are overruled by God for his ends. Scripture abounds in illustrations of this. Joseph is cast into the pit. Man meant one thing; God accomplished another. God meant it for good, to save much people alive. Paul is thrown into prison; his bonds turn out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. Luther is imprisoned, and his castle becomes a Bethel. Bunyan is thrown into prison, and it becomes a second Patmos. Every diligent student of God's providence must have observed the like again and again. Even so, that which is made use of by man to prop up a system may be employed by God to overthrow it. Thus it is to be with Babylon the great. In spite of all that man can say and do, however imposing the names and pretensions of this harlot, however widely spread and deeply rooted may be the ramifications of the evil, however much the worldly interests of men may be bound up therein, there is a sure process of undermining going on at every hour—that undermining being none the less speedy at the moment men are taking the pains to prop it up. It was so with slavery in America. It is so with popery at Rome. The plans of men for upholding both the one and the other have issued, and will issue, in results the very opposite of those which man intended. The world is not in man's hands, after all, but in God's. He puts it in men's hearts to fulfil his will.

II. THE VERY POWERS ON WHICH BABYLON RELIED WILL TURN ROUND AGAINST HER TO HATE AND HARM HER . ( Revelation 18:16 , "The ten horns … shall hate the harlot," etc.) How truly is this being fulfilled! Not one of the European powers that has not in some period or other been relied upon by Rome. And now there is not one of the main kingdoms of the world that is not "hating" her. They are working in their own defence against papal intrigue. £ Historical incidents of the last twenty years are a startling fulfilment of the Apocalyptic word. Thus "the Word of prophecy is made more sure" ( 2 Peter 1:19 , Revised Version).

III. THERE WILL BE JUDGMENTS AND PLAGUES THAT WILL CONSUMMATE HER RUIN , ( Revelation 18:8 , Revelation 18:10 ; Revelation 16:18-21 .) Regularity and continuity combine with catastrophe to advance the world. There is a long period of orderly, even, and regular sequents. Then there comes an upheaving, and effects in one hour that for which ages have been preparing the way. In the blasting of rocks we see the slow boring and undermining; then the laying of the train of powder. So far all is done deliberately. Then a match is applied; a spark is fired; there is a moment of suspense; then a small curling wreath of smoke, followed in an instant by a mighty blast, and lo! the rock is rent, and reels and falls. So there are wondrous works going on unobserved in the bowels of the earth—that storehouse of molten flame. For years the crust is undisturbed; then comes one mighty heaving, and lo! in one awful moment cities and palaces, temples and towers, are overthrown. So shall it be at last with Babylon the great. The issue alone can explain the detail. But some six or seven words are sufficiently significant—"A great earthquake" ( Revelation 16:18 ); "a great hail" ( Revelation 16:21 ); "death, and mourning, and famine," "plagues" ( Revelation 18:4-8 ); "burned with fire" ( Revelation 18:8 ); and at the last her judgment shall come "in one hour" ( Revelation 18:10 ).

IV. THE ATTENDANTS OF HER RUIN WILL BE RETRIBUTION AND DESOLATION , Retribution; for she is to be rewarded as she rewarded others. She trifled with and even trampled on the temporal powers in time past, and now of her temporal power she herself is shorn. Desolation: the description of this is taken from the corresponding passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon of old ( Isaiah 13:19-22 ; Jeremiah 51:37 ). Those words have come to be literally fulfilled. £ Like words are on record concerning papal Rome. They too will be fulfilled. The time will come when no priests shall minister at her altars. The walls of her mighty temples will be shattered, and the shrieks of many an unclean bird shall reverberate from column to column of her dilapidated pile.

"Thus terribly shall Babel fall,

Thus—and no more be found at all!"

Note:

1 . The amazing extent of the dominion of papal Rome may well fill us with wonder. It is terrible indeed to see this harlot committing fornication with the kings of the earth, seated upon many waters, intoxicating the nations with her greatness, and carrying her corruptions and abominations to the ends of the earth. But all is forewritten, that we might not be alarmed, however we may be distressed. Therefore:

2 . We ought not to be dismayed, as if some calamity had unawares befallen the world. It has not come otherwise than was foretold to the apostle in Patmos. The fourteen outlines of the ground plan described in the preceding homily show an exact correspondence between the Word of God and the events of history.

3 . Nor should we fear for the final issue. The word which forecast Babylon's rise has foretold its fall.

4 . Meanwhile, be it ours not to be caught by appearances. To this day the harlot is bedecked and bedizened in gold and silver and precious stones. Her pomp and pride and the prestige of her ancient date charm many into a blind compliance with her amours. Many wish to drink of the golden cup which is in her hand. But ah! even apostasy may be covered with pearls, and the beast may be clad in scarlet. What is beneath?

5 . Even when, however, the fall of Babylon the great shall come, that will not be the end; one more conflict will await the Church. The ten horns that have turned round on the harlot will make war with the Lamb. There will remain the war between the beast and the King of kings and Lord of lords.

6 . Therefore, finally, be it ours to be among those who are with Christ, and to whom the three epithets may be fitly applied—"called," "chosen," and "faithful." All tawdry show and carnal blaze are doomed. Only what is true and real will live on unharmed for ever. Laus Deo!