Revelation 18:6, commentary and pictures

Reward her double means Babylon is to be repaid in full for what she did to others, with punishment matching her works and doubled back upon herself. Fallen Babylon is the churches that refused the warnings of the first, second, and third angels and corrupted others with false teaching, above all by exalting a false sabbath above God's Sabbath. She is repaid double because she persecuted God's commandment-keeping people with imprisonment and death, tore down God's memorial of creation by changing rest to the first day, glorified herself and lived in luxury and fraud and oppression, and practiced cruelties such as slavery. Her judgment comes swiftly when her sins have reached unto heaven and filled their measure, and her plagues of death and mourning and famine come in one day and she is utterly burned with fire. This word belongs to the third angel's message to be proclaimed with great power in the loud cry, calling God's people still in Babylon to come out of her that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues.

Language and Imagery

The command is retributive: Babylon is to be repaid as she repaid others, with punishment matched to her deeds and then doubled according to her works. The doubling is not arbitrary excess but measured justice, filling back to her twice over in the cup she filled. It falls on mystic Babylon as a persecuting power and on Babylon as the symbol of the apostate church, so that oppressors who inflicted pain on God's people must answer for every pang and tear. Though the Ruler of the universe bears long with perversity, He keeps a record of works and punishes in proportion as pain was caused to others. That coming reckoning belongs to a worldwide crisis in which every nation is involved and authorities impose religious control after the pattern of the papacy.

The cup she filled is what she mixed for others and made them drink, and she must drink its contents back double. It means suffering and sin returned: the punishment matches the sins she caused others to drink. This is the mighty angel's message that Babylon the great is fallen, joined to the heavenly call to come out of her, a message to be proclaimed with power and not treated as unimportant or inferior. Fallen Babylon here is the churches that reject the warning messages of the first, second, and third angels and accept a lie. The same measure is applied to the nation and to religious bodies that sanctioned or engaged in slavery, whose oppression and cruelty toward enslaved people, especially by professed Christians, bring God's wrath upon the land.

God remembers iniquities and does not forget; He keeps a record of every action for good or evil and will repay. His long forbearance holds back while He bears with perversity, but His storehouse holds retributive judgments permitted to fall on those who continue in sin in the face of great light. Great Babylon has come up in remembrance before God and will soon receive from His hand double for all her sins and iniquities, at the present time when the last message of warning and the last call of mercy are being given while Satan works with great power and all deceivableness of unrighteousness in every place. The double reward includes the destruction of proud, costly, supposedly fireproof buildings turned to ashes as Sodom perished in the flames of vengeance, and the sinking of immensely costly vessels with their gold and silver and human freight into a watery grave. Man's pride will be buried with treasures accumulated by fraud, for God will avenge the widows and orphans who in hunger and nakedness have cried to Him for help from oppression and abuse. It means a time right upon the world of sorrow that no human balm can heal, when flattering monuments of human greatness will be crumbled in the dust even before the last great destruction comes, a description enough to cause all who read to fear and tremble, yet 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 their own way and not the Lord's way.

Her sins have reached unto heaven and reached their full measure, so she is ripe for destruction when judgment comes swiftly. This is part of the plain and clearly defined message of Revelation 18:1-8: Babylon that has fallen is the churches that would not receive the warnings of the first, second, and third angels, who refused truth and the messages of truth and accepted a lie, and the command to repay is God's judgment upon them, so that anyone who reads the chapter need not be deceived. Her self-glorification and luxurious living are answered with torment and sorrow. In a fearfully corrupt time when iniquity abounds and moral power is weak, prevailing sins fast pile up the cup of iniquity of those who practice them, and its filling brings the wrath of a pure and holy God to fall in judgment upon sinners who have polluted the earth by transgression. When a watchman shows that those polluting sins have attractions for him, his crime is very aggravating and fearful retribution awaits him unless he humbles his heart, sincerely repents before God, and makes the rest of his life a life of repentance.

Babylon Identified

Fallen Babylon is the churches that will not receive the warnings given in the first, second, and third angels' messages, who refused the truth and refused the messages of truth and accepted a lie. The message of Revelation 18:1-8 is plain and clearly defined and need deceive no one who reads it. This corruption of the churches is the reason the messages of Revelation 14 must be proclaimed in the last days. The command to repay her double according to her works is God's judgment upon them when their sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered their iniquities.

That charge does not apply to the people God has made the repositories of His law, who keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus. Those commandment-keepers are instead the object of her wrath, for mystic Babylon fallen from her high estate has become a persecuting power distinguished for persecution of His people. The wine of her fornication by which she corrupts and turns a church into Babylon is the exalting of the false and spurious Sabbath above the Sabbath the Lord Jehovah blessed and sanctified for man, together with the kindred heresy of the immortality of the soul. Her work is transgression of the law by disregarding the commandment that points out the true God, tearing down the Sabbath as God's memorial of creation, and changing rest from the seventh day to the first day, which the churches and the world accept and exalt and drink. That same work turns people from God's law to human theories, and it will react upon themselves in punishment for their deeds.

Mystic Babylon has fallen to become the habitation of devils and of every foul spirit and unclean bird, shown in her wicked character and seductive influence. All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, with the kings of the earth committing fornication with her and the merchants grown rich through her luxury and riches. In the decisive last-day time the so-called Christian world becomes the theater of great and decisive actions, when every nation is involved. She is the apostate church-and-state power that makes all nations drink and persecutes God's commandment-keeping people. In that time men in authority enact laws controlling conscience after the example of the Papacy, and compel worship of the beast's image through the spurious Sabbath.

Grounds for Retribution

Double repayment is given because she persecuted God's commandment-keeping people and tried to force their consciences to transgress His law and worship an idol sabbath and the beast's image. Those who hated them because they could not be forced indulged in false accusations, derision, imprisonment, the chain gang, stocks, fetters, banishment, burning, torture and death. Those who judged and punished them must themselves be judged and punished and made to suffer torment and sorrow, answering for every pang of anguish, every tear shed and every drop of blood drawn. The cup she filled for others is filled double to her in death and mourning and famine and burning with fire, for having drunk the blood of the saints and become intoxicated with exultation she is rewarded double in punishment.

Her work calling for this is transgression of the law by disregarding the commandment that points out the true God, tearing down the Sabbath as God's memorial of creation, and setting up a false sabbath by changing rest from the seventh day to the first day. Churches and the world accept and exalt this spurious Sabbath and drink the wine of her fornication, while she compels others to work on the seventh day and rest on the first. Continuing to exalt the spurious Sabbath brings complete destruction upon cities, with even the most expensive and thoroughly constructed homes crashing and breaking up, a warning now to go to the people in places like Los Angeles and not to be passed by unnoticed.

The double reward falls because in the face of great light she continued in sin, glorified herself, accumulated treasure by fraud, and oppressed widows and orphans who in hunger and nakedness cried to God for relief from oppression and abuse. God keeps a record of every action for good or evil and will avenge the oppressed, burying man's pride with the treasures and fraudulent gain he accumulated. This is seen in proud, costly, supposedly fireproof buildings turned to ashes as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance, immensely costly vessels with their gold and silver and human freight sunk into a watery grave, and flattering monuments of men's greatness crumbled in the dust even before the last great destruction. Torment and sorrow are given in proportion to how much she glorified herself and lived deliciously while saying in her heart that she sits a queen and is no widow and shall see no sorrow, so that her plagues of death and mourning and famine come in one day and she is utterly burned with fire because strong is the Lord God who judges her when her sins are full and she is ripe for destruction.

God in His high and holy place will repay double for every act of injustice and robbery and oppression against human beings formed in His image and purchased by the blood of Christ. He is not inactive or indifferent or silent and solitary, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands of thousands of holy intelligences waiting to do His bidding and taking cognizance of every wrong, in active communication with every part of His dominion, speaking from His throne through unseen channels, bending earthward, listening to every sound from the lips of the oppressed, observing the movements of every human being, approving or condemning every action, and raising up the afflicted whom Satan seeks to humiliate and destroy. Everyone who takes advantage of others cooperates with the great enemy while Satan drives his work with terrible vindictiveness and men join evil angels in wounding and bruising souls, but every such act is written in the books and shall receive double at the hand of God, and those who manifest little unselfish interest in Christ's purchase in trouble will be treated by the Lord as indifferently as they treated their fellow men. The prevailing sins of a fearfully corrupt time when iniquity abounds and moral power is weak are fast piling up the cup of iniquity until the wrath of a pure and holy God falls in judgment upon sinners who have polluted the earth, and when a watchman shows those polluting sins have attractions for him his crime is very aggravating and fearful retribution awaits him unless he humbles his heart, sincerely repents and makes the rest of his life a life of repentance. The same measure applies to the nation and to religious bodies that practiced or sanctioned slavery, whose cruelty and oppression of enslaved people, especially by professed Christians, fill the cup with suffering that is filled to her double, for the cry of the oppressed calls for the oppressors to be repaid and the nation that tolerated slavery is foretold to be humbled into the dust under God's wrath.

Time and Manner of Punishment

Her judgment comes swiftly when her sins are full and ripe for destruction, with death and mourning and famine coming in one day and utter burning with fire, because strong is the Lord God who judges her. The torment and sorrow are given in proportion to how much she glorified herself and lived deliciously while saying in her heart that she sits a queen and is no widow and shall see no sorrow. Though the Ruler of the universe bears long with human perversity, He keeps a record of every work and remembers iniquities, and will repay in proportion as pain was caused to others, doubled according to works.

Though He bears long, a time just before us will make a stir in the world as never before. His long forbearance holds back judgments while waiting for the message of warning to be sounded to all, because many have not yet heard. The judgment is fulfilled in the coming crisis when the judgments of heaven are poured out and the day of the Lord is at hand for wickedness and disobedience to God's law. It is the next great event after the final warning message to the world, belonging to a chapter that will surely be fulfilled before the last great destruction.

The destruction falls on cities and costly human greatness, with houses set on fire that no human effort can put out, fire falling like balls full of arrows, the earth quaking, homes falling with a crash, and cries and prayers and confusion everywhere. Proud, costly, supposedly fireproof buildings are turned to ashes as Sodom perished in the flames of vengeance, and immensely costly vessels with their gold and silver and human freight are sunk into a watery grave. Great buildings and massive structures, story after story, will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of power, by one word from the Lord and one touch of His mighty power, and flattering monuments of greatness will be crumbled in the dust even before the last great destruction comes. The terrible judgment that fell upon San Francisco on April 18, 1906 is a representation of the same kind of destruction to come, shown beforehand in night representation of what will occur in the day of wrath. The chapter gives only general coming destruction and no particular light that New York is to be swept away by a tidal wave.

The last call stands within the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 being fulfilled, as the very last call to the churches and last message of warning now to be given to all. It comes before the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast into the lake of fire, the dragon who instigated the great rebellion is bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, then follows the resurrection of the wicked and the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth.

Proclaiming the Final Message

Revelation 18:6 is part of the third angel's message to be proclaimed with great power by those who give the final warning against the beast and his image, and it is part of the message to be sounded forth in the loud cry of the third angel. It belongs to the second call to the churches that will soon be made again in stormy times, to be revived and proclaimed with great power under the Holy Spirit's unction together with the messages of the first, second, and third angels. Its fulfillment takes place during the proclamation of the third angel's message, when another angel descends with great power and the earth is lighted with his glory, as part of prophecies soon to be fulfilled. In that mighty cry the fall of Babylon the great is announced, her becoming the habitation of devils and every foul spirit after all nations, kings and merchants shared her fornication and riches, the call for God's people to come out of her so they do not partake her sins and plagues because her sins reached heaven and God remembered her iniquities, the requirement of double repayment in the cup she filled, torment and sorrow matching how much she glorified herself and lived deliciously while saying she sits a queen and will see no sorrow, and her plagues of death and mourning and famine coming in one day with utter burning by the strong Lord God who judges her. The whole of Revelation 18 is to be read and proclaimed by the chosen human agencies with a loud voice, with all its power and efficiency, with nothing allowed to divert minds or hinder the message, for revelation means revelation and the world is not to be left in darkness.

It belongs to the testing truths for this time and to the last call of mercy that must be read and understood by all and given more fully to the world, while God's long forbearance holds back judgments waiting for the warning to be sounded to all because many have not yet heard. It is the very last call to the churches recorded in Revelation 18, part of the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 being fulfilled, to be given now to all as the last message of warning. Great Babylon has come up in remembrance before God and will soon receive from His hand double for all her sins and iniquities according to her deeds, and this punishment is presented as soon and as part of the final warning to the world. This applies to the present time when the last message of warning is now being given to the world and the last call of mercy is now being heard, while Satan has come down with great power working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in every place. It comes before the time when the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast into the lake of fire, the dragon who instigated the great rebellion against heaven is bound and cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, then follows the resurrection of the wicked and the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth.

It is a message soon to be borne by all the angels of heaven on behalf of God's commandment-keeping people against fallen Babylon, given on the eve of the greatest work the world has ever witnessed, declaring that Babylon is to be repaid even as she has rewarded God's people, with double repaid double according to her works and double filled into the cup she has filled. God's representatives must take hold of this work, keep these truths before the people, do the work intelligently, and wake up so the day of the Lord does not come upon them as a thief in the night. Those who take part in this last work to be done for the world are to understand that the message prepares a people to stand in the great day of God which is fast coming upon the world with stealthy, awful dread.

The warnings contained in Revelation must be given to the people with the truth about the Sabbath of the Lord, showing that the seventh day is the seal of the living God, and showing what may be expected from the papal power that has made void the law of God at the time when the Protestant churches reach out to grasp its hand, and this part of the message Satan would have silenced must not be considered an inferior matter. It belongs to the mighty angel's message that Babylon the great is fallen and to the heavenly call to come out of her, showing Babylon is to receive back what she gave with double punishment according to her works and double measure in return for what she mixed for others, a message opposed and to be proclaimed with power rather than treated as unimportant. 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 for this time, as part of the life-and-death question of the third angel's message which is now of the highest importance with everything at stake and which must be strengthened and confirmed. Satan has devised a state of things to bind about the proclamation of the third angel's message, and his plans and methods must be guarded against, for he will mingle deceptions with truth to create side issues that turn attention from the great issue, the test to be brought upon the people of God in these last days.

Call to Come Out

Revelation 18 points to the time when the church has fully reached the condition foretold by the second angel, and at that time God's people still in Babylon are called to separate from her. Its final message will be heeded by those whose hearts are open to truth, and all of God's people remaining in Babylon will answer the call to come out. A voice from heaven calls His people to come out of her that they be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues, because her sins have reached unto heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Retribution is then required upon her even as she rewarded God's people, double unto her double according to her works, filling to her double in the cup she filled. The issue is followed by the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with the 144,000 redeemed from the earth as firstfruits without fault who follow Him.

Fallen Babylon has become the habitation of devils and every foul spirit and every unclean bird, after all nations, the kings of the earth, and the merchants shared her fornication, luxury, and riches and grew rich by her. She is to be repaid as she repaid God's people, with torment and sorrow matching how much she glorified herself and lived deliciously while saying in her heart that she sits a queen and is no widow and shall see no sorrow. Her plagues of death and mourning and famine come in one day, and she is utterly burned with fire, because strong is the Lord God who judges her. The terrible picture shows how completely the powers of earth will give themselves over to evil in the closing scenes of this earth's history through wicked character, seductive influence, and persecuting power. It warns those given the sacred work of proclaiming the third angel's message to search the Scriptures diligently, and warns all who have received the truth how dangerous it is to link up with secret societies or join in any way with those who do not keep God's commandments.

The scenes of the chapter are presented as important living reality for understanding events still to take place in the cities, and they will surely happen. Destruction is coming with fire falling like balls full of arrows, houses set on fire that no human effort can put out, the earth quaking, homes falling with a crash, and cries and prayers and confusion everywhere. That destruction is God's power displayed in rebuke for sin, as seen in a city recently destroyed, and it is a special indication that believers of the prophecies must not ignore, treat with indifference, or make light of. None are to flatter themselves that they will build far greater buildings in the future, and if those who have felt God's rebuke defiantly invest their means as before, God will exercise His power to counteract their efforts. The verse calls every soul to know where the world stands in earth's history, to put away magazines and fictitious reading, to believe and practice the Word of God as the only hope of the world, and to refuse to be deceived by Satan's sophistry. Those who have abused their privileges, taken advantage of fellow men, and wronged others are called to make amends for the wrong they have done, for the Lord has spoken and men must hear His voice.

In a fearfully corrupt time when iniquity abounds and moral power is weak, the prevailing sins are fast piling up the cup of iniquity of those who practice them until the wrath of a pure and holy God falls in judgment upon the sinners who have polluted the earth by their transgressions. When a watchman gives evidence that those polluting sins have attractions for him, his crime is very aggravating and a fearful retribution awaits him unless he humbles his heart, sincerely repents before God, and makes the rest of his life a life of repentance. The chapter stands with Revelation 3, Revelation 16:13-21, Revelation 21, and Revelation 22 as solemn warning from God for these last days. It reveals the last events of this earth's history as made known by Christ Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos, to be read and understood now because the perils of the last days are upon us and minds are sought to be kept confused about these things.