Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #1 of Revelation, chapter 18, and we are going to be reading Revelation 18:1-2:

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

I will stop reading there.  At this point in the Book of Revelation, God is going to go into an in depth discussion of the fall of Babylon.  As we have seen, Babylon pictures the kingdom of Satan of this world and when Babylon falls it is the time of Judgment Day.  It is the judgment of God upon the unsaved people of the earth. 

When Babylon was in power and it was conquering other nations, as we read in the Book of Jeremiah, they came against Judah and the king of Babylon conquered the nation of Judah and took captives into Babylon.  This was language to indicate Satan’s assault against the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation period.

It is at the end of the seventy years that Babylon falls.  Babylon is defeated and the Medes and the Persians take the kingdom.  That seventy-year period from 609 BC to 539 BC typifies the Great Tribulation.  Therefore, the fall of Babylon, historically, which occurred in 539 BC after the seventy-year period, pictures the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of Judgment Day.  There are many other Scriptures that prove this and we have gone over these things many times, especially when we went over Jeremiah, chapter 50.  We will revisit some of those things, but at this time let us look at the language we find in Revelation 18:1:

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power…

The word “great” is Strong’s #3173 and it is the Greek word “megas” and it indicates just what it says.  It is “great” power.  It is the same word used in Revelation 18:2, where it says, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice.”  The word translated as “strong” is the same word.  The word for “voice” is “phone” and that is where we get our English word “megaphone” that amplifies voices and the voice is able to be heard by many more people.

That is the idea we have here as it says, “I saw another angel come down from heaven,” and we wonder who this “angel” could be.  We have seen, repeatedly, in the Book of Revelation that the word “angel” (angelos) is u often used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ because it means “messenger” and Christ is the Messenger of the Covenant.  He is the Chief Messenger of God as well as being God Himself, so Christ is this other “angel.”  For instance, we saw in Revelation 10:1:

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: When we look at the language used to describe this mighty angel that came down from heaven, it can only fit the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was “clothed with a cloud…and his face was as it were the sun,” and we know that Psalm 84 tells us the Lord God is “a sun and a shield.”  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 10:2-3:And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

Once again, we have the same two words (“loud voice”) that we found in Revelation 18, verse 1.  The Greek word for “loud” is “megas” and “voice” is “phone.”  And, here, the mighty angel has the little book open in His hand, which points to the Bible, and He cries with a loud voice.  If you remember our study in chapter 10, this was when God was bringing further information concerning the righteous revelation of His judgment.  It was information that had to do with Judgment Day, the time we are presently in.  God will use this chapter to direct us to the position that we must “prophesy again.”  It is necessary and it is God’s will and He commands: “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”   God’s people are commanded to “feed sheep” and to publish the fall of Babylon, according to Jeremiah, chapter 50.  The similarities are there in the opening statement of Revelation 18:1, when another angel comes down from heaven and cries with a loud voice.

Now it is interesting when we look at the language in Revelation 18:2:

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…

The language that “he cried mightily with a loud voice” and the fact that the cry had to do with the fall of Babylon is interesting because, as I mentioned earlier, the fall of Babylon has to do with the beginning of Judgment Day.  This is not an isolated reference because Revelation 10 also supports that idea, with a mighty angel crying with a loud voice that it is Judgment Day and these things must be published.

If we go back to Revelation 8:13, we find it is the transition verse because God had previously discussed the judgment on the “third part,” which represented the house of God, the judgment upon the churches.  Now after laying out His judgment on the churches and congregations of the world, God is going to transition in the last verse of chapter 8 (Revelation 8:13) and in chapter 9 He is going to detail judgment upon the whole world.  It says in Revelation 8:13:

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Once again, God is introducing the judgment on the world and He does so with a “loud voice,” the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Or, we can go to Revelation, chapter 11, where the two witnesses have been killed and they lay dead in the streets for three and one half days.  Then we read that they rose upon their feet, which points to the Latter Rain period which occurred after the first part of the Great Tribulation period, the 2,300 evening mornings.  They stood upon their feet, which points to the sending forth of the Word of God and once that occurred God saved the great multitude during the last 6,100 days of the Great Tribulation period.  It says in Revelation 11:11-14:

And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

The words “great voice” are the Greek words “megas-phone.”  Here, God is going from them standing upon their feet, which identifies with the last half of the Great Tribulation, to the hearing of the great voice that commanded them to come up hither; that language points to the salvation of the great multitude, as they spiritually ascended to be seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus.  Then verse 13 speaks of the “same hour” because it is Judgment Day and it talks about a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city falling.  That great earthquake is also spoken of in Revelation 16:17-19:

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

It is an indicator when we read of a “great voice” or “megas phone.”  I will not say it occurs in every place we find these words together, but in many passages it identifies with the final judgment of God upon the unsaved inhabitants of the earth.  He normally introduces it with a “great voice.” 

Here, the “great earthquake” ties in with the fall of Babylon, that great city.  It is called a great city in Revelation 17, just as it was called in Revelation 18.  It is the great city and it is the same as the “cities of the nations” and “great Babylon came in remembrance before God.”  It is the time of the world’s judgment and God typifies this with the fall of Babylon. 

We can also go to Revelation, chapter 14, a chapter we spent a good deal of time in and the word “megas phone” is found a few times.  Speaking of an angel again, it says in Revelation 14:6-7:

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Again, He speaks with a “loud voice,” the “megas-phone.” 

Then it says in Revelation 14:8-10:

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation…

Again, there is the “loud voice” or “megas-phone.”  Here is the proclamation of God concerning Judgment Day and the fall of Babylon.  It says in Revelation 14:14-15:

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

Again, there is the angel proclaiming with a “loud voice” or “megas-phone.” 

Then it says in Revelation 14:18:

And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

We see the word “loud” or “megas” here, but the word “cry” is not the word “phone.”  We know the context of chapter 14 leads us to verse 20, where the blood flows out of the winepress for the space of 1,600 furlongs.  As we search the Bible for the meaning of this, we see that the 1,600 furlongs points to 1,600 days and the “loud cry” has everything to do with the 1,600 day period, which we expect to be the duration of Judgment Day, the time of Babylon’s fall.  Babylon began to fall on May 21, 2011 and is in a fallen condition throughout the entire period of judgment upon the world.  It very likely will be a total of 1,600 days.

Let us just go to one more verse in Revelation, chapter 19.  Again, the Lord Jesus is doing battle in the Day of Judgment and the winepress is in view in Revelation 19:15-18:

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

Again, there is the “angel” or messenger who is Christ and He cried with a “loud voice” or “megas-phone.”  This passage concerns the marriage supper of the Lamb and it is yet another way that God describes His wrath upon the world and it is a good commentary on Revelation, chapter 18, when Babylon has fallen.  Again, it says in our verse in Revelation 18:1:

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

Lord willing, in our next study we will look a little closer at the phrase, “the earth was lightened with his glory,” and we will see how that relates to God’s righteous revelation in the Day of Judgment.

Again, it says in Revelation 18:2:

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…

It is doubled; it is repeated and it has surely come to pass.  The Word of God is victorious and the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered Satan and his kingdom.  He has taken the evil kingdom of darkness and He currently rules over them with a “rod of iron” as He treads the winepress of the fierceness of His wrath.  The Lord Jesus is judging the world during the time of Babylon’s fall.