Revelation 18:22, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures the complete desolation of Babylon, where all music, skilled craft, and everyday labor such as grinding cease entirely under God's judgments. It belongs to the prophecy of Babylon's fall and the last warning to the world, the next great event after the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-13 is rejected. It is present truth for this time, the third angel's message and last great testing truth, part of the final call of mercy held out while God in long forbearance holds back judgments until all have opportunity to hear. That message must be given now with boldness and a loud voice and with no toning down, to lighten the earth with glory, sanctify through the truth, and prepare a people to stand in the great day of God. It will accomplish its work, for those who reject truth will be left to strong delusion while God's people still in Babylon will heed the call to separate and come out, and proud wealth and greatness gained by fraud will offer no protection when costly structures are reduced to ashes.

Babylon's Complete Desolation

The verse pictures the complete desolation of Babylon after God's judgments, when music of every kind, skilled craft of every sort, and everyday work such as the sound of the millstone cease entirely and are heard no more at all in her. Its silence of harpers and musicians and pipers and trumpeters, of craftsmen, and of milling is the end of ordinary commerce and life in the proud, wealthy powers under judgment. That ending belongs to the warning that judgments will soon fall on cities become like Sodom and Gomorrah, and that great cities will be consumed by God's wrath.

The stillness marks ruin: costly structures and accumulated treasures are brought to destruction. Costly buildings will be reduced to ashes, and ships laden with treasure will sink with their people. Human greatness and wealth cannot protect those who persist in sin despite great light, and riches gained through fraud will not protect their owners, for pride and unjust gains will perish.

This judgment follows the rejection of God's law by false shepherds and the wickedness produced by their human theories, the corrupted principles of the churches, and the wickedness existing in the world today, showing the importance of obeying God's law. The building itself is not sinful, but the human beings who commit sin in it are accountable. God keeps a record of good and evil and will avenge the oppressed, including widows and orphans who suffered oppression and abuse.

Prophetic Setting and Fulfillment

Revelation 18:22 belongs to the prophecy of Babylon's fall and the last warning to the world, the next great event brought to view after the threefold warning of Revelation 14:6-13 is rejected. When Babylon reaches the fallen state announced by the second angel, God's people still within her will be called to separate and come out. The final message will accomplish its work, leaving those who reject truth and take pleasure in unrighteousness to strong delusion while those open to truth receive its light.

It stands with the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled, as the very last call to the churches now to be given and the last message of warning that all are to hear. It stands just before the events of Revelation 19, when the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast into a lake of fire. Then the dragon who instigated the great rebellion against heaven is bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, followed by the resurrection of the wicked and the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ in this earth.

It portrays what is yet to take place in the cities and must be read verse by verse to learn and understand its meaning. Judgments will soon fall on cities that have become like Sodom and Gomorrah, depicting the complete end of their music, crafts, and ordinary work in the desolation that follows God's judgments. The warning of the whole of Revelation 18 is about what is coming on the earth, to be fulfilled when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth. Then terrible scenes will take place whose fearfulness cannot be imagined, and great massive buildings built story after story will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God's power, for one word from the Lord, one touch of His mighty power, will cause those massive structures to fall.

The terrible judgment that fell upon San Francisco and a recently destroyed sinful city is a display of God's power because of sin and illustrates the coming fulfillment, foretelling the day of God's wrath with terrible judgment and destruction upon the wickedness existing in the world today. It is a rebuke to those who abused their privileges and took advantage of their fellow men and wronged them. Believers in the prophecies must not ignore God's special indications, show indifference, or make light of the destruction, nor flatter themselves that they will build far greater buildings in the future or defiantly invest their means as before, lest God exercise His power to counteract their efforts. The calamity calls wrongdoers to make amends and calls all to hear God's voice and come out so as not to partake in sin and receive plagues. The verse gives no particular light that New York is to be swept away by a tidal wave.

Sounding the Last Call

The verse belongs to present truth for this time, the third angel's message, the last great testing truth, which all must read and understand. The whole chapter announces that Babylon the great is fallen and has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, and that announcement is the last work to be done for the world. It is part of the very last call to the churches and the last call of mercy and warning to the world, now to be given and to be given more fully. Its prophecies are connected with judgments soon to be fulfilled as the third angel's message is proclaimed with great power in a worldwide proclamation in which the earth is filled with the knowledge of God and salvation. God's mercy is shown by His long forbearance in holding back His judgments until this warning has been sounded and those who have not yet heard have opportunity to hear.

Its proclamation includes the truth about the Sabbath of the Lord, showing the seventh day to be the seal of the living God. It shows what may be expected from the papal power that has made void the law of God at the time when the Protestant churches are reaching out to grasp its hand. The warnings contained in Revelation are to be given to the people and must not be treated as an inferior matter. The truth for this time must be presented in no measured terms but with boldness and power, with no toning down and no muffling of the message. It is to be proclaimed by chosen human agencies with a loud voice, with all power and efficiency, with nothing allowed to divert minds or hinder it.

The number of workers in the ministry is to be increased, and workers must not be disqualified by another line of work from preaching this word and doing this appointed work. Revelation is revelation, and the world is not to be left in darkness but lightened with glory. The message sanctifies men and women through the truth and prepares a people to stand in the great day of God which is fast coming with stealthy, awful dread. It is a life-and-death question and the great issue involving the test to be brought upon God's people in the last days. This is one Satan would have silenced, against his plan to bind the proclamation and to mingle deception with truth to create side issues that turn attention away.

The final message will accomplish its work. Those who reject truth and take pleasure in unrighteousness will be left to strong delusion, while those open to truth will receive its light. God's people still within Babylon will be called to separate and will heed the call to come out so as not to partake in sin and receive plagues.