Chapter 18 is like a funeral song for the great city. An angel having great authority comes down from the sky, and the earth is illuminated with his glory. He cries with a mighty voice, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, words echoing the prophet Isaiah. She has become a habitation of demons and every unclean spirit. All the nations have drunk of her passion, the kings of the earth were unfaithful with her, and the merchants grew rich from her luxury.
Another voice from heaven says, Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues. The call is not only to leave a place but to refuse the values of a proud, greedy world. Her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. She boasted, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning. Therefore in one day her plagues will come.
The longest part of the chapter records three laments. The kings of the earth stand far off saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour. The merchants weep because no one buys their goods any more, and the list of cargo runs from gold and fine linen to horses, chariots, and even people. The sailors throw dust on their heads. Their sorrow is mostly for their lost profits. Heaven, though, is told, Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets, for God has judged your judgment on her. A mighty angel throws a stone like a great millstone into the sea. Music, craftsmen, the sound of the mill, lamp light, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in her no more. Her merchants were the princes of the earth, and with her sorcery all the nations were deceived.