Free Bible Commentary
“Revelation 18:21-24”
Categories: Revelation“Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ‘So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer. And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer; and the sound of a mill will not be heard in you any longer; and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
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“A great millstone” was thrown into the sea to symbolize the great “violence” and destruction that will be levied against the great city, Rome (verse 21), because of all of its violent aggression against “the prophets and… saints” (verse 24). Jesus’ words of Matthew 18:4-6 come immediately to mind: “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” The “children” of the kingdom are so held in the protected status of their Great Sovereign, that to bring harm against those who believe in Jesus is to engulf yourself in the Lord’s fury and plunge headlong into certain destruction.
Rome would be reduced from the habitation of “all things that were luxurious and splendid” (verse14) to the rubble of decay and despair. No longer would the merriment and amusement of the “sound of the harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters” be heard within her borders (verse 22). The industrial prosperity of the “craftsman” and his venerated “craft” would be no more. The ordinary “sound of the mill” stone grinding out daily bread would be but a faint memory. “The light of a lamp” (verse 23) would no longer be seen burning to illuminate the extravagant evening festivities of the wealthy, or the burning of a candle in the hovel of the destitute. One of the typical signs of the unsuspecting living out their in lives pleasure and prosperity is “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” (Matthew 24:38). But, within the confines of Rome, “the voice of the bridegroom and the bride will not be heard” any longer. Robert Harkrider wrote, “Those who possessed the mark of the beast would no longer be able to enjoy the lifestyle of the rich and powerful ‘queen’ of the world.”
“For the merchants were the great men of the earth” and “all the nations were deceived by” her sorcery (verse 23). When business tycoons and captains of industry are ascribed the greatest and most revered status of society, the general populace places its misguided adulation upon the idol of materialism and the god of greediness. Homer Hailey wrote that John “offers two reasons for the desolation which had come upon this modern Babylon: (1) Her merchants had made the accumulation of wealth and its luxuries their goal in life. In doing this they had provided themselves with incentive to deception and avarice for the harlot’s greatness. (2) And with her sorceries—deceptions—the harlot had caused all the earth to drink of the cup of the wine of her fornication. She had deceived, enticed, and seduced by her magic wiles and influence to bring all under her power.”
Please read Revelation 19:1-6 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
-Louie Taylor
