J Philip Bible Readings

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
    She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
³ For all nations have drunk
    the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
    and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

“Come out of her, my people,
    lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
⁵ for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
    and God has remembered her iniquities.
⁶ Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
    and repay her double for her deeds;
    mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
⁷ As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
    ‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
    and mourning I shall never see.’
⁸ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
    death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
    for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

“Alas! Alas! You great city,
    you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgement has come.”

¹⁴ “The fruit for which your soul longed
    has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendours
    are lost to you,
    never to be found again!”

¹⁶ “Alas, alas, for the great city
    that was clothed in fine linen,
        in purple and scarlet,
    adorned with gold,
        with jewels, and with pearls!
¹⁷ For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”

“What city was like the great city?”

“Alas, alas, for the great city
    where all who had ships at sea
    grew rich by her wealth!
For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
²⁰ Rejoice over her, O heaven,
    and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgement for you against her!”

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
    and will be found no more;
²² and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
    will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
    will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
    will be heard in you no more,
²³ and the light of a lamp
    will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
    will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
    and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
    and of all who have been slain on earth.”

This chapter needs to be read through in its entirety in order that the full import of its message might be realised. What strikes one very forcibly is the impression of wealth, opulence and luxury, with all the voluptuousness that goes with these things, that runs through the whole passage. The weeping and the mourning are for the passing of an age of godless materialism and prosperity, and it is this that underlines the message of the chapter for us today. We have already pointed out that there are dangers in a too specific and particularised identification of Babylon, and even when we insist that it refers to a principle that is repeated in different ages, the tendency is to think of modern equivalents of John's or Luther's Rome. And, grim though the reading of these horrific prophecies is, there is a certain comfort in being able to point the finger at this or that manifestation in history or in the contemporary scene. But here we come much nearer home, and find it to be much more uncomfortable and ominous than we might have supposed. It is true that Babylon is identifiable in any age as anti-Christian power in its seductive aspect, as it beguiles men. Now it is certainly true that Communism is utterly materialistic in its creed and outlook, and blatantly proclaims this as its gospel to men. And in this it fulfills the pattern unfolded here. But surely this does not exhaust the application. What of the 'Christian' West? What of Great Britain? It can only be our almost incredible complacency that makes us think that this is straining interpretation. Babylon is not bound or confined by iron or bamboo curtains!