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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 18:1 - 18:3
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Fall and Destruction of Anti-Christ's Kingdom.
The angel's announcement:
v. 1. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
v. 2. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
v. 3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
This entire paragraph reminds one of chap. 14:6-7, where an angel was pictured as lying in mid-heaven: After these things I saw another angel descending out of heaven having great power, and the earth was lit up by his glory. The reference is undoubtedly to Luther and his co-workers in the great work of the Reformation. The Gospel which they once more proclaimed was not their own, but was the message of God from heaven, and therefore was full of power. Nor was this movement one that was done in secret, but the preaching and the writing of these men of God was done before the whole world, and gave true spiritual light to all men that accepted the pure doctrine of salvation.
The specific message of the angel on this occasion is recorded by the prophet: And He cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, and has become the habitation of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a hold of every unclean and loathsome bird; for of the wine of the wrath of her fornication all nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the power of her luxury. That was the effect of the preaching of the pure Gospel upon the kingdom of Anti-Christ, especially on the Pope and his hierarchy. Spiritually the empire of the Pope has been cast down; his show of spirituality has been taken from him, his magic is no longer as effective as formerly. To all believers that do hot willfully close their eyes the true nature of the Roman Church as such has been revealed. Since the Church of the Pope has officially rejected the preaching of the pure Gospel and declared her unwavering devotion to the fundamental errors that crept into the Church in the Middle Ages, since that time the Church of the Pope as such has hardened her heart, has become obdurate against all true reform. It has become the habitation of devils, of unclean spirits, and of loathsome birds, as the prophets describe the condition of all anti-Christian bodies, Isa_13:21-22; Isa_34:14; Jer_50:39; Jer_51:8-38. And that is a just punishment of God upon the kingdom of Anti-Christ, for the deliberate guilt of this Church as such is such as cannot be adequately expressed. She has done more to spread the anti-Christian doctrine of works than any other organization in the world, trying especially to obtain influence with the great and powerful in the world, to lead them into the ways of idolatry and to make them her willing servants. And so far as the merchants of the earth are concerned, including many of her own high officials, the luxury and pomp of this Church have brought them untold wealth. The very name of God, which the Church of the Pope piously used, was and is made a bait for the unwary, and the wrath of the zealous God is aroused to the utmost pitch.