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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Revelation 18:4 - 18:8
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev_18:4-8
4I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. 7To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.' 8For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong."
Rev_18:4 "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues" This is an OT allusion to Isa_48:20; Isa_52:11; Jer_50:8; Jer_50:28; Jer_51:6; Jer_51:9; Jer_51:45 or Zec_2:6-7. It is an aorist active imperative which speaks of the urgency of God's people not being caught up in this fallen world system.
Rev_18:5 "for her sins are piled up as high as heaven" This is an allusion to Gen_18:20-21 or Jer_51:9. God's patience was used as an excuse to sin more instead of repenting (cf. Rev_2:21; Rom_2:4).
▣ "God has remembered" Often in the Bible, when God remembers the acts of the wicked it results in judgment (cf. Rev_16:19; Psa_79:8; Isa_64:9; Jer_14:10; Jer_17:1-4; Jer_44:21-23; Hos_7:2; Hos_8:13; Hos_9:9; Amo_8:7).
Rev_18:6 "Pay her back even as she has paid" This is an allusion to the truth that we reap what we sow (cf. Gal_6:7; for full list see hyperlink). This truth is presented in many different forms in the Bible (cf. Psa_137:8; Jer_50:15; Jer_50:29; Mat_7:2; Rev_13:10).
▣ "give back to her double according to her deeds" This is an allusion to Jer_16:18; Jer_17:18, but the truth is expressed in many contexts (cf. Exo_22:4-9; Psa_75:7-8; Isa_40:2). This idiom speaks of complete and full judgment, as does the next phrase. This verse would have been very encouraging to persecuted Christians.
▣ "the cup which she has mixed, mix twice for her" "Cup" is an OT metaphor for the judgment of God (cf. Psa_11:6; Psa_60:3; Psa_75:6-8; Isa_51:17; Isa_51:22; Jer_25:15-16; Jer_25:27-28).
Rev_18:7 "for she says in her heart 'I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning'" This specifically relates to Zep_2:15 and Isa_47:7-8. It alludes to the self-sufficiency and pride, which may have been the source of Satan's fall (possibly alluded to in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28), mankind's fall (cf. Genesis 3), and this end-time world system. The problem is arrogant independence!
For "heart" see Special Topic at Rev_2:23.
Rev_18:8 "for this reason in one day her plagues will come" This is a specific allusion to Isa_47:9. The concept of grief overtaking her in a single day is repeated in Rev_18:17-19, where the Johannine term "hour" is used. This was a major encouragement to persecuted Christians.
▣ "she will be burned up with fire" This may be an allusion to Lev_21:9. See hyperlink at Rev_16:8.
▣ "for the Lord God who judges her is strong" This is an allusion to Jer_50:34.