We are looking at Revelation 18 as we continue to work our way through this time where God is bringing great judgment upon the world at the end of the Tribulation Period. We are finding in Revelation 17, 18, & 19 the judgment of God. Revelation 17 was God’s judgment on Satan’s religious system calling it “the great harlot” there. Revelation 18, which we are going to look at, is judgment on the political and economic system that Satan controls and the antichrist is in charge of. Then finally in Revelation 19 we will look at the military system of the devil and the antichrist that challenge the Lord Himself at His Second Coming and there we will find that also is destroyed. We have already looked at the destruction of the religious system set up probably by the false prophet. It is called “the great harlot” in Revelation 17.
Now let’s look at this political and economic system that will be under the judgment of God. In Revelation 18 there are four great announcements. The first is the announcement of judgment we see in Revelation 18:1, “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.’” In Revelation 17, the apostate religious system is called “the great harlot,” and now this corrupt political economic system is called “Babylon the great.” Whether this was the literal city of Babylon or just a metaphor of the system is debatable. There does seem to be an actual city of commerce that will be destroyed later in the chapter. So, we have this system here that has done well economically. Apparently, the world has had great benefits from the system set up by the antichrist, yet it is corrupt to its core, and we see that here and it is fallen now. The Lord is pronouncing the fallen nature, and the judgment coming upon Babylon the great. It says, “she is a dwelling place of demons and every unclean spirit and unclean birds.” We think of the church in contrast. The church is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of God . . .
