The Judgment of the Babylonian Harlot | Revelation 17:1-18 | J. Allen Mashburn

In chapter 16 we witnessed the final judgment of God against this world. We saw God destroy this world through a series of powerful plagues. We also witnessed the defiance of fallen man. Even in the face of judgment, man refused to repent. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us; man refused to repent in the face of Law and man has refused to repent in this age of grace. Man is an incorrigible sinner, and apart, from the grace of God, mankind is hopelessly lost! The last plague in Rev. 16:17-21 brought about a great earthquake that destroyed the cities of the world. This final, great quake devastated all the places that man had created. This earthquake destroyed everything that represented the greatest accomplishments of humanity. All of mankind’s centers of pleasure and profit are wiped out. Since the dawn of time man has been in the business of trying to get by without God. Man rests on his power, his accomplishments, his ability to produce and his ability to enjoy pleasure. In that last great judgment, everything man trusts is taken away. We are also told that “great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath,” Rev. 16:19. Babylon is a city, but it is also a system. Babylon represents everything mankind has accomplished apart from God. This system is judged in the seventh bowl judgment. What we have in chapters 17 and 18 is another parenthetical passage. These two chapters give us the details of the destruction of the Babylonian system. In chapter 17 we will see the destruction of religious Babylon. In chapter 18 we will see the destruction of economic Babylon.