Sermon 235

SERMON 235 – THE FALL OF BABYLON

Text: Revelation 18:1–24
Date: August 17, 1941
Preacher: G. S. Kok

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 17 pictured the great harlot, her seductiveness, wicked nature, and destruction. Chapter 18 takes the same subject from another angle, emphasizing the fall of Babylon. Babylon and the harlot are one and the same. The fall is announced, the reaction described, and the completeness of her destruction set forth.

Subject: The Fall of Babylon — The Collapse of the Ungodly World

I. ITS ANNOUNCEMENT

A. Made by a glorious angel
1. He proclaims the collapse of the ungodly world.
2. He speaks of it as past, showing its certainty.
3. Babylon is declared in complete ruin.

B. All its glory is gone
1. Instead of habitation for men, it becomes a prison for unclean spirits and hateful birds.
2. A city of death.

C. An urgent appeal to God’s people
1. God’s people are still in her, as Lot in Sodom.
2. They are urged to flee; they have grown too close to the world and its luxuries.
3. Warned not to partake in her sins lest they share in her plagues.
4. Her wickedness has reached full measure.

II. THE REASON FOR ITS FALL

A. The world has been corrupted by its influence
1. Kings and rulers corrupted by greed, lust, and pride.
2. Merchants enriched through wantonness; business becomes corrupt.

B. Her sins have reached unto heaven
1. They have reached the limit.
2. God must act. He remembers.

C. She became proud of her shame
1. She rejoiced while offering the golden cup of poison.
2. Though men perished, she boasted she was no widow.
3. She believed she would never see judgment.

D. The Almighty God has judged her
1. She cannot escape.
2. God throws her down.

III. THE REACTION TO HER FALL

A. Lamentation from kings
1. They weep and wail.
2. They lament because all their hopes were in Babylon.
3. With her fall, all is lost.

B. Lamentation from merchants
1. They also weep and wail.
2. They mourn the loss of worldly wealth.
3. No man buys their merchandise anymore.

C. Lamentation from shipmasters
1. They prospered through Babylon.
2. Now they share her ruin.
3. Their shameful prosperity is gone.

D. Rejoicing from the saints in heaven
1. They rejoice.
2. Babylon was never any good for them.

IV. ITS COMPLETENESS PICTURED

A. Symbolized by the millstone cast into the sea
1. Completely gone.
2. Never to rise again.
3. In one hour, suddenly.

B. Deprived of all life and joy forever
1. No more music.
2. No more business.
3. No more candlelight.
4. No more happiness.

C. Completely exposed
1. Her true character revealed.
2. The blood of martyrs uncovered.
3. Exposed as the persecutor of the church, though pretending to be its friend.

CONCLUSION

This is the picture of the passing of the world that opposes Christ and His church. The antichristian world, living for luxury and pleasure, will be wiped out. Heaven calls: Come out of her, My people. Her pleasures are deadly. The glory of the world fades; all who live for it will lose everything and weep. Flee from Babylon as Lot fled from Sodom.