Revelation 18:10, commentary and pictures

Babylon's judgment comes suddenly and decisively in one hour when her sins have reached their full measure and she is ripe for destruction. The kings who shared in her sin, prosperity and luxury stand afar off in fear of her torment and burning and lament the fall of the great, mighty city. She is mystic Babylon in her final fallen condition, the churches whose principles have become corrupted by exalting the false Sabbath above God's Sabbath and by holding falsehood with rejection of the truth. This belongs to the time when the church has fully reached the condition announced by the second angel after rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-12, giving the final call for God's people still in Babylon to come out that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues, proclaimed in the loud cry when the earth is lighted with his glory. The truth for this time must be presented boldly and powerfully with no toning down or muffling to strengthen the third angel's message, yet the one hour sets no date for judgment or the close of probation and calculations built on it rest on false premises.

The Judgment Described

In one hour the judgment of Babylon comes suddenly and decisively as the outpouring of God's wrath. Her sins have reached their full measure, her iniquity is full, she is ripe for destruction, and her appointed time for destruction has come.

The kings who shared in her wrongdoing, sin, prosperity and luxury stand afar off, at a distance, in fear of her torment and burning as they see it. From afar they lament the fall of that great, mighty city brought under judgment in a single hour.

Babylon is mystic Babylon in her final fallen condition. She is the churches whose principles have become corrupted, in whom the fall is declared and upon whom God's judgment falls, where the consequences of the work of the false shepherds against God's law are seen.

Churches are made Babylon by exalting the false and spurious sabbath above the Sabbath which the Lord Jehovah blessed and sanctified for the use of man, and by holding the immortality of the soul with rejection of the truth, those kindred heresies. Kings, merchants, rulers and religious teachers are all joined with her in corrupt harmony under that torment and judgment. That message of Babylon does not apply to the only people whom God has made the repositories of His law, who keep His commandments.

Prophetic Setting and Proclamation

The verse belongs to the time when the church has fully reached the condition announced by the second angel, after rejecting the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-12. Its prophecies will soon and surely be fulfilled in the closing crisis of earth's history, with the scenes it records about to take place. The prophecies of Revelation 12-18 are being fulfilled, and the chapter brings into view the next great event after the final warning message has been proclaimed to all nations. During the proclamation of the third angel's message another angel descends from heaven with great power and the earth is lighted with his glory.

The verse is part of the testing truths for this time and part of the last call of mercy to be given more fully to the world. That judgment is now held back by God's long forbearance and mercy, waiting until the message of warning is sounded to all because many have not yet heard it. The chapter was made known by Christ Himself to John on Patmos to remind of things which will be, and its truths with Revelation 19 must be read and understood by all in these last days when its perils are upon them. Satan seeks to keep minds confused about it in order to gain a great victory.

The chapter gives the final call for God's people still in Babylon to separate from her communion and come out that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues. When the last message is given, all who are open to truth and remain there with open hearts will heed it. It is proclaimed in the loud cry, when the church spreads the knowledge of salvation through every city and town and the earth is filled with the light of present truth. The truth for this time must be presented boldly and powerfully with a loud voice, patiently and with all power and efficiency, in no measured terms, with no toning down, weakening or muffling. The number of workers in the ministry is to be increased rather than diminished, and minds are not to be diverted into hindering lines.

Its message is to strengthen and confirm the third angel's message, which is now a life-and-death question of the highest importance and the last great testing truth that sanctifies, the last work to be done to prepare a people to stand in the great day of God fast coming with stealthy, awful dread so the world is not left in darkness. It includes proclaiming the truth about the Sabbath of the Lord, showing the seventh day to be the seal of the living God, showing what may be expected from the papal power that has made void God's law, and showing that the time has come when the Protestant churches are reaching out to grasp its hand. It is the message Satan would have silenced, and he has devised a state of things to bind about its proclamation, to mingle his deceptions with truth, and to create side issues to turn attention from the great test to be brought upon God's people in these last days.

Warning, Judgment and Misuse

The chapter warns of coming events on the earth and displays God's power in destruction. The warning will be fulfilled when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth. Great buildings in the cities will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God's power, and one word from the Lord, one touch of His mighty power, will bring massive structures story upon story to fall. The judgments fall upon the wicked world because of existing wickedness and disobedience to God's law, in awful, sudden destructions whose fearfulness cannot be imagined. They will be so dreadful to behold that those who see them will think the day of judgment has come, like the terrible judgment that fell upon San Francisco.

The recent destruction of a sinful city is a special indication of that coming judgment and a rebuke from God, pointing to the scenes yet to take place in the cities when the judgment of that great city Babylon comes in one hour. San Francisco and Oakland are warned of coming judgments, and the truths of Revelation 18 and 19 are to be read and understood. Those who believe the prophecies must not ignore the calamity or show indifference, make light of what they have witnessed, or flatter themselves that they will build far greater buildings in the future. If those who have felt the rebuke defiantly invest their means as before, God will exercise His power to counteract their efforts. The calamity calls men who have abused their privileges and wronged their fellow men to make amends, and to hear His voice calling His people to come out of her that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues.

The verse reveals retributive judgments permitted to fall upon those who continue in sin in the face of great light. The most costly structures erected and supposed to be fireproof will become ashes just as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance. Vessels costing immense sums, wrestling with mighty waters to breast the angry billows, will sink into a watery grave with all their treasures of gold and silver and their human freight. Man's pride will be buried with the treasures he accumulated by fraud, and proud, wealthy powers will learn that their costly works and accumulated treasures cannot save them from God's judgments. God keeps a record of every action for good or evil and will avenge the widows and orphans who in hunger and nakedness cried to Him for help from oppression and abuse. The flattering monuments of men's greatness will be crumbled in the dust even before the last great destruction comes upon the world, in a time of sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. This description should cause all who read it to fear and tremble, but those who do not love the light and will not come to the light lest their deeds be reproved will not follow on to know the Lord, saying by their attitude that they want not God's way but their own way.

The one hour does not set a date for judgment or for the close of probation. It does not mean God will do His final work and seal a remnant in fifteen days, and does not fix the end of probation in October 1884. Calculations built on it to propose such a timetable were founded on false premises and are not from God. They are refuted because probation had not closed and the saints had not been sealed.