Revelation 18:9, commentary and pictures

The kings of the earth have joined Babylon in spiritual unfaithfulness and shared her luxurious living, and they bewail and lament her when they see the smoke of her burning. Their lament comes when God's wrath and judgment falls on her because her iniquity is complete, her sins have reached their full measure, and her time for destruction has come. The verse belongs to the prophecy of Babylon's final condition, to be fully reached after the threefold warning of Revelation 14 is rejected and the union of the church with the world is complete, when God's people still in Babylon will be called to separate from her. The prophecy will surely be fulfilled, for the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 are being fulfilled and portray events about to take place as the next great event after the final warning message to the world. It will be fulfilled in sudden and terrible retributive judgments that God permits to fall on those who continue in sin in the face of great light, when fire turns the most costly structures into ashes as Sodom perished, man's pride is buried, and beholders think the day of judgment has come.

Kings Lament Babylon's Burning

The kings of the earth committed spiritual unfaithfulness with Babylon and lived luxuriously with her, and they bewail and lament her when they see the smoke of her burning.
Their lament comes when God's wrath and judgment falls on Babylon to destroy her, and they mourn her ruin.
Her iniquity is complete, her sins have reached their full measure, she is ripe for destruction, and her time for destruction has come.

The verse belongs to the scenes of God's judgment on mystic Babylon.
Its setting is the reckoning that follows the work of false shepherds.
Their man-made teachings oppose God's law, and the wickedness they foster reacts upon them.

Babylon is the church turned into Babylon by exalting the false and spurious Sabbath above the Sabbath the Lord blessed and sanctified for the use of man.
She so became Babylon by teaching the immortality of the soul, with kindred heresies and rejection of the truth.
She stands in corrupt harmony with kings, merchants, rulers, and religious teachers.
The mourning over Babylon in Revelation 18:9-19 does not apply to the people God has made repositories of His law who keep His commandments.

Prophetic Timing and Final Warning

The verse belongs to the prophecy of Babylon's final condition, which will be fully reached only after the threefold warning of Revelation 14 is rejected and the church's union with the world is complete, at which time God's people still in Babylon will be called to separate from her.

The prophecy will surely be fulfilled. The prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 are being fulfilled, and this chapter records the final call to the churches. The scene portrays events about to take place. It presents the next great event after the final warning message to the world.

It belongs to the very last call to the churches, the last message of warning that all are to hear and that is now to be given. It stands just before the time pictured in Revelation 19 when the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast into the lake of fire. That is followed by the binding of the dragon who instigated the great rebellion against heaven and his casting into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, then 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.

The chapter is solemn warning given from God and made known by Christ Himself to John while he was on the Isle of Patmos, describing the last events of this earth's history that will surely come. It is present truth for this time, the last great testing truth and the last work to be done for the world, the testing truths for this time and the last call of mercy to the world. The whole of Revelation 18 is to be read and then proclaimed by human agencies with a loud voice and with all its power and efficiency, so the world is not left in darkness but is lightened with glory, and a people are prepared to stand in the great day of God which is fast coming. Its truths must be read and understood by all, and the warning it gives must be sounded to all and given more fully. In mercy God holds back His judgments and forbears long while this warning work is done. The truth for this time must be presented with boldness and power, in no measured terms, with no toning down or muffling of the message.

It must be read and understood in these last days, when the perils of the last days are upon us, because Satan seeks to keep minds confused about these things to gain a great victory. It stands with the life-and-death question of the third angel's message, now regarded as of the highest importance, which must be strengthened and confirmed because Satan has devised plans and methods to bind about its proclamation and mingles deceptions with truth to create side issues that turn attention from the great issue and the test to be brought upon God's people in the last days.

Its prophecies will soon be fulfilled: during the proclamation of the third angel's message, another angel descends with great power, and the earth is lighted with his glory. The Holy Spirit empowers consecrated people to spread the knowledge of God and salvation throughout the world. The warnings contained in Revelation must be given to the people and not treated as an inferior matter. This verse is to be proclaimed together with the truth about the Sabbath of the Lord and that the seventh day is 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, and it belongs to the message Satan would have silenced.

Judgment Falls on Proud Cities

Revelation 18 will be fulfilled in retributive judgments that God permits to fall upon those who continue in sin in the face of great light. Its burning and smoke and sorrow mean fire turning the most costly structures supposed to be fireproof into ashes just as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance. Costly vessels with their treasures of gold and silver and their human freight sink into a watery grave, man's pride is buried with treasures accumulated by fraud, and the flattering monuments of human greatness crumble in the dust even before the last great destruction comes upon the world. This is God's vengeance for selfish prodigality and for widows and orphans who in hunger and nakedness cried to Him for help from oppression and abuse, and the Lord keeps a record of every action for good or evil. The time for this sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal is right upon us, and the 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, and by their attitude say they want their own way, not God's way.

The destruction it pictures is sudden and terrible, with burning and ruin so overwhelming that those who see it think the day of judgment has come. It foretells the day of God's wrath, when awful judgment falls because of the wickedness existing in the world and disobedience to God's law. The terrible judgment that fell upon San Francisco on April 18, 1906 shows the kind of destruction warned of here. The warning is applied to San Francisco and Oakland, which are becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah and facing God's judgments, while the rulers who shared in Babylon's corrupt, luxurious life mourn when they see her burning.

The scenes portrayed are yet to take place in the cities as a wonderful display of God's power in burning and destruction because of sin, lately illustrated by a city recently destroyed. Believers in prophecy must read and learn these warnings and not ignore God's special indications, show indifference, or make light of witnessed destruction. Those who have seen such destruction must not flatter themselves that they will build far greater buildings in the future. If those rebuked by God defiantly invest their means as before, God will exercise His power to counteract their efforts. Men who have abused their privileges and taken advantage of fellow men must hear God's voice and make amends for wrong done.

The warning will be fulfilled when the Lord shall arise to shake terribly the earth. Then terrible scenes will take place whose fearfulness cannot be imagined, because destruction is in the world. The great buildings built story upon story will be thrown down by the turning and overturning of God's power. One word from the Lord, one touch of His mighty power, will cause those massive structures to fall. Its destruction of a sinful city displays God's power, and the chapter's warning calls God's people not to share in its sins or receive its plagues.