Revelation 18:7
As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.'
Sermons
The Rule of RetributionD. Thomas Revelation 18:7
BabylonR. Green.Revelation 18:1-8
National RuinT. De Witt Talmage.Revelation 18:1-8
The Degenerate ChurchW. Milligan, D D.Revelation 18:1-8
The Fall of Corrupt SocietyD. Thomas, D. D.Revelation 18:1-8
The Fall of Corrupt SocietyD. Thomas Revelation 18:1-8
The Habitation of DemonsWm. M'Kay.Revelation 18:1-8
The Influence of the Apostate BabylonG. S. Rowe.Revelation 18:1-8
The Overthrow of WickednessS. Conway, B. A.Revelation 18:1-8
The Rule of RetributionHomilistRevelation 18:1-8
The Overthrow of WickednessS. Conway Revelation 18:1-24














How much... so much, etc. The subject here suggested is man's future retribution ruled by his present condition. "How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much... sorrow give her." This, stripped of all historical and metaphorical allusions, means the present circumstances of the sinner shall rule his future suffering. I offer three remarks on this subject.

I. THIS RULE COMMENDS ITSELF TO OUR SENSE OF JUSTICE. That those of the wicked who in this world live in affluence, and have more than heart can wish, possess abundant opportunities for intellectual and moral improvement and means of doing good, should in future retribution fare alike with those who have none of these blessings or advantages, would be an outrage on our sense of right. Justice requires a balancing of human affairs - a kind of compensation for existing discrepancies, and this mankind will have in the great retributive future.

II. THIS RULE ANSWERS TO BIBLICAL TEACHING. Throughout the whole Scripture record it is taught that sinners, after they have passed through their probationary period, will be dealt with according to the mercies they have abused, the opportunities they have neglected, and the advantages they have wasted. "He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not," etc.; "Son, remember thou in thy lifetime didst receive," etc.

III. THIS RULE AGREES WITH UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE, Conscious contrast between a propitious past and a distressing present is, and must ever be, an element in mental suffering. There are two paupers equal, I will suppose, in age, capacity, sensibility, and character. The hovels they live in and the means of their sustenance are also equal; but the one is intensely wretched, and the other is comparatively happy. Why this? The wretched man has come down into that hovel from the home of opulence and luxury, and the other has never had a better home. Thus the contrast gives a misery to the one which the other cannot experience. So it must be in the future; the sinner who goes into retribution from mansions, colleges, and churches will, by the law of contrast, find a more terrible hell than the poor creature who has fallen into it from ignorance and pauperism. Far more terrible, methinks, will be the hell of the aristocracy than the hell of the struggling and starving millions. "How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her." Worldly advantages are not always transitory, but often permanently injurious. "Though the sinner's excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish forever." - D.T.

A mighty angel took up a stone.
Observe here —

1. Babylon's utter destruction represented by the type and sign of a millstone cast into the sea: like a millstone she had ground and oppressed the Church of God; and now, like a millstone thrown into the sea, she sinks into the pit of destruction. Almighty God, by this symbol, signified to St. John that Babylon's ruin should be violent, irrecoverable, and irreparable; she falls never to rise more. The casting of a stone into the sea was anciently the emblem of everlasting forgetfulness.

2. The amplification of Babylon's ruin particularised in several instances.(1) That nothing should ever more be found in her that belonged to pleasure or delight; no voice of harpers, musicians, or trumpeters.(2) Nothing which belonged to profit or trading, no artificers and craftsmen.(3) Nothing belonging to food, no noise of a millstone for grinding corn and making provision for bread.(4) Nothing to relieve against the darkness and terror of the night, as the light of a candle.(5) No means for the propagation of mankind by marriage — the voice of the bride and the bridegroom shall be heard no more. All which expressions do imply extreme destruction and utter desolation, intimating that Babylon shall be a place utterly abandoned and forsaken.

3. A threefold cause assigned for all this, to wit —(1) Damnable covetousness: her merchants were the great ones of the earth. Her sinful way of merchandising, by dealing in spiritual commodities, seems here to be pointed at; her making merchandise of the souls of men, as we have it (ver. 13).(2) Her bewitching idolatry, called here sorceries, whereby she enticed people to join with her in her superstitious worship.(3) Her cruelty and bloodshed; in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.But how can the blood shed by others be laid to her charge?

1. Because the doctrines which caused their blood to be shed were with her.

2. Because her jurisdiction gave commission to slay the saints which were slain in other kingdoms.

3. Because by the influence of her example at home much blood had been shed abroad. God will charge upon others, as he did upon Babylon, not only the sin which they have acted, but all the sins which they have been necessary unto.

(W. Burkitt, M. A.)

Homilist.
I. A symbolisation of its NATURE. If you want to see sin, or moral evil, in all its hideous aspects, in all its infernal operations, in all its damning consequences, study the great city of Babylon. The great city Babylon is in every unrenewed soul.

II. A symbolisation of its OVERTHROW. The moral evil of the world is to be destroyed; it is not to exist for ever.

1. It is to be overthrown by superhuman agency. "A mighty angel"; a messenger from heaven. Was not Christ a mighty Messenger sent from heaven for this purpose? Yes, He came to "destroy the works of the devil." It has been said that good alone can overcome evil. True, but it must be good in a supernatural form, and in this form the gospel brings us the good.

2. It is to be overthrown in such a way as never to appear again. Babylon is thrown like a great millstone into the sea. As Pharaoh sank like lead in the mighty waters, and rose no more to life, so shall moral evil, like a "mighty millstone," fall into the fathomless abysses of eternal ruin.

(Homilist.).

People
John
Places
Babylon
Topics
Administer, Boasts, Degree, Deliciously, Enthroned, Equally, Evil, Freely, Glorified, Glorify, Glory, Grew, Grief, Heart, Herself, However, Luxuriously, Luxury, Measure, Mourn, Mourning, Pain, Played, Queen, Revel, Revelled, Saying, Says, Seated, Sensuously, Sit, Soever, Sorrow, Torment, Wanton, Waxed, Weeping, Widow, Wise, Woe
Outline
1. Babylon is fallen.
4. People commanded to depart out of her.
9. The kings of the earth, with the merchants and mariners, lament over her.
20. The saints rejoice for the judgments of God upon her.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Revelation 18:7

     5016   heart, fallen and redeemed
     5487   queen
     5584   torture
     5743   widows
     5793   arrogance
     8804   pride, examples

Revelation 18:1-8

     5305   empires

Revelation 18:1-10

     4125   Satan, agents of

Revelation 18:1-24

     4215   Babylon

Revelation 18:2-24

     5407   merchants

Revelation 18:4-8

     4843   plague

Revelation 18:6-7

     5562   suffering, innocent

Revelation 18:7-8

     5776   achievement
     5961   superiority
     8805   pride, results

Revelation 18:7-9

     5399   luxury

Library
Death Swallowed up in victory
Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory! D eath, simply considered, is no more than the cessation of life --that which was once living, lives no longer. But it has been the general, perhaps the universal custom of mankind, to personify it. Imagination gives death a formidable appearance, arms it with a dart, sting or scythe, and represents it as an active, inexorable and invincible reality. In this view death is a great devourer; with his iron tongue
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Northern Iron and the Steel
That being the literal meaning, we shall draw from our text a general principle. It is a proverbial expression, no doubt, and applicable to many other matters besides that of the prophet and the Jews; it is clearly meant to show, that in order to achieve a purpose, there must be a sufficient force. The weaker cannot overcome the stronger. In a general clash the firmest will win. There must be sufficient firmness in the instrument or the work cannot be done. You cannot cut granite with a pen-knife,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

War! War! War!
At the present crisis, the minds of men are exceedingly agitated with direful prospects of a terrible struggle. We know not whereunto this matter may grow. The signs of the times are dark and direful. We fear that the vials of God's wrath are about to be poured out, and that the earth will be deluged with blood. As long as there remains a hope, let us pray for peace, nay, even in the time of war let us still beseech the throne of God, crying, that he would "send us peace in our days." The war will
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

"If So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now if any Man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is None of His. "
Rom. viii. 9.--"If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?" 2 Chron. vi. 18. It was the wonder of one of the wisest of men, and indeed, considering his infinite highness above the height of heavens, his immense and incomprehensible greatness, that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and then the baseness, emptiness, and worthlessness of man, it may be a wonder to the
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Seventh (And Last) vision "On Earth"
We must get a complete view of these in order to embrace them all and view them as a whole. The Structure shows their true sequence: E^7., xix. 17-- 15. The Seventh (and Last) Vision "on Earth." E^7 A^1 xix. 17-21. MEN. The Judgment of the Beast and the False Prophet. B^1 xx. 1-3. SATAN. The Judgment of Satan (Before the Millennium). A^2 xx. 4-6. MEN. The Judgment of the overcomers. The "rest of the dead" left for Judgment. B^2 xx. 7-10.
E.W. Bullinger—Commentary on Revelation

The Sun Rising Upon a Dark World
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon then hath the light shined. C ontrasts are suited to illustrate and strengthen the impression of each other. The happiness of those, who by faith in MESSIAH, are brought into a state of peace, liberty, and comfort, is greatly enhanced and heightened by the consideration of that previous state of misery in which they once lived, and of the greater misery to which they were justly exposed.
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Covenanting Adapted to the Moral Constitution of Man.
The law of God originates in his nature, but the attributes of his creatures are due to his sovereignty. The former is, accordingly, to be viewed as necessarily obligatory on the moral subjects of his government, and the latter--which are all consistent with the holiness of the Divine nature, are to be considered as called into exercise according to his appointment. Hence, also, the law of God is independent of his creatures, though made known on their account; but the operation of their attributes
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon
OF THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. That part of Palestine in which the celebrated mountains of Lebanon are situated, is the border country adjoining Syria, having Sidon for its seaport, and Land, nearly adjoining the city of Damascus, on the north. This metropolitan city of Syria, and capital of the kingdom of Damascus, was strongly fortified; and during the border conflicts it served as a cover to the Assyrian army. Bunyan, with great reason, supposes that, to keep
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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