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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 18:21 - 18:24
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The punishment completed:
v. 21. and a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all.
v. 22. And the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
v. 23. and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in the e; for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
v. 24. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Here the seer pictures inevitable doom, total and terrible desolation: And there lifted up one mighty angel a stone like a millstone, and threw it into the sea, saying, Thus with force shall be thrown down Babylon, the great city, and shall no more be found; and the voice of harpists and minstrels and flutists and trumpeters no more shall be heard in thee, and all craftsmen of every craft shall no more be found in thee, and the sound of the millstone shall no more be heard in thee, and the light of a lamp shall no more shine in thee, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall no more be heard in thee, because thy merchants were the magnates of the earth, because by thy incantations were deceived all nations, and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all those that had been slain on the earth. That is the sentence of doom, given in the form of a rhythmic song, and introduced by a symbolic action resembling that of Jer_51:63-64. The judgment of the great city, of spiritual Babylon, the kingdom of Anti-Christ, is sealed; the blow given her by the Reformation was so strong as to lay her low forever. No matter what efforts the papacy makes to regain her former absolute reign in the world, all such attempts are bound to result in failure. The glory which she formerly held is departed from her forever. The sins of spiritual adultery, of idolatry, and of the magic spells with which Rome managed to seduce the mighty ones of the earth, the blood which she has shed during the thousand years and more which she has been in existence, call down upon her the curse of the Lord, His eternal damnation.
Summary
The fall and destruction of the kingdom of Anti-Christ is here described in full, together with the wailing complaint of rulers and merchants and shipmasters that grew rich in the traffic in her goods and luxuries, while there is rejoicing in heaven over the vindication of the martyrs and prophets and apostles.