20Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.' "
21Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:
"With such violence
the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,
never to be found again.
22The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters,
will never be heard in you again.
No workman of any trade
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again.
23The light of a lamp will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world's great men.
By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
24In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth."
Dig Deeper
After a short period of what was termed "shock and awe," as the United States reigned down a technologically advanced attack on Iraq, the sort that the world had never before seen, ground troops were sent in to secure the country and take down then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. When the job was finished, there were many who had benefited from Hussein’s policies and feared that they might be next in the United State’s war against those who supported terror. At the same time that they were mourning, however, there were many that rejoicing. People that had suffered under Hussein and were glad to see him go, flooded the streets of Baghdad, rejoicing that their persecutor and despised dictator had been defeated. This was hardly a day of mourning for them. For them it was a day to rejoice.
The fall of Jerusalem would be the source of much mourning and fear, but God clearly does not see this as a day of mourning for His people. Jesus had already shed tears at Israel’s lack of repentance (Luke 19:41-48), but that time was over. This was not a time for sadness but of rejoicing and praise, for God had finally vindicated His people in righteous judgment.
18:20 - As we saw yesterday, the mourners over the fate of Jerusalem were split into three groups. There is, however, a fourth response. The Saints, and apostles and prophets are told to rejoice over her. The Church, tabernacling in heaven had prayed for the destruction of the apostate city that led the world in rebellion of God and persecution of His children. Jesus had promised that the Holy Mountain would be thrown into the Sea if they had enough faith and now it was on the verge of taking place (Matt. 21:21; Mark 11:23). They have prayed and God has judged her for the way she treated you. Their destruction and removal as the Covenant people of God was the just retribution for the way that Israel had rebelled against God, rejected Christ, and persecuted His Church.
18:21 - As mentioned previously, Jesus had told his disciples to pray for the mountain of Jerusalem to be cast into the sea. He had also warned that it would be better for one who hindered the little ones from the gospel to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around their neck. Using similar language, we are told symbolically that a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea. The millstone was a common symbol in the ancient world for productivity. Jerusalem’s labor has been in vain, in contrast to the Church (1 Cor. 15:58). The image here also comes from Old Testament descriptions of the Red Sea (Ex. 15:3-5, 10; Neh. 9:9-11). Perhaps the primary source of the symbol, though, comes from Jer. 51:61-64). Jeremiah’s messenger reads the prophecy of Babylon’s destruction, then ties it to a stone and throws it into the Euphrates declaring that it will sink and not rise again. Applying those words to the great prostitute, the angel says with such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
The obvious question is how was this fulfilled in 70 AD? Jerusalem appears to be alive and well to this day. Prophecy is covenantally and ethically oriented. Jerusalem was not destroyed forever in a physical sense any more than Babylon, Edom, or Egypt were destroyed forever, even though that was prophesied. Consider Isaiah’s prophecy against Edom in Isa. 34:9-10 as an example: "Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again." Of course, in literal terms this did not happen, but the prophecy was fulfilled in terms of its actual meaning and intent. The territory of Edom still has tree, flowers, crops, and rivers, but Edom was to be stricken primarily as a people, not as a land. From this perspective, the prophecy has come true. Edom, as an enemy of God and His people, has vanished forever. This ‘forever’ destruction of Jerusalem, then, means that they will forever cease to be the Covenant people of God. The old, apostate Jerusalem has been replaced by the Bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem. There will be no salvation and no Covenant outside of the Church.
18:22-23 - Israel’s covenantal status has been removed and so has the blessing of the Covenant. These will be taken away forever, alluding to both Jeremiah’s prophecies against the rebellious Jerusalem of his time (Jer. 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; cf. Isa. 24:7-12) and to Ezekiel’s prophecy against the king of Tyre (Ezek. 28:11-19). The doom is pronounced in five parts: 1) The loss of the music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpets. There will be no more joy or celebration in the city. 2) The productivity of the land will be gone symbolized by the workman of any trade. 3) It would be the end of prosperity, which was symbolized in the ancient world by the millstone. There was a second meaning for the mill for Jews. The mill was the threshing floor, which is what the Temple land was before the structure was built there. Therefore, both prosperity and the Temple would be gone from Israel. 4) The light of a lamp will be gone. Israel would suffer the loss of God’s word and the wisdom that comes from it, as well as they would no longer be the light of the world. 5) The final symbol is the most encompassing and devastating: the prostitute had been cast out as the Bride and replaced by another so the voice of bridegroom and bride would never be heard again. Israel has been judged on two accounts. The first is that her merchants were the world’s great men, but had taken to trading men’s souls, leading them into apostasy. The second is that all the nations were led astray by their magic spell.
18:24 - As if we needed any other clues to the identity of the prostitute, the great city, John gives us the final piece. In her was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth. This is an obvious allusion to Christ’s words in his denunciation of Jerusalem in Matt. 23:34-37. This language could not be used of Rome or any city other than Jerusalem, as this was a constant charge against Jerusalem (Acts 7:51-52; Luke 13:33-34.
Devotional Thought
The early church was told to pray for the destruction of the enemies of God and His Church, and they were commanded to rejoice when that judgment finally happened. Do you ever pray for the destruction and downfall of the enemies of God that are being used Satan? Spend some time today praying for the downfall (and that may involve their conversion) of those who would choose to disobey God and His Church.
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