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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 21
Succession Arrangements of the Covenant Treaty Continued:
Chapter 18
Babylon is Fallen and the Lament for the Fallen City

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Lord of Heaven and Earth,
St. John heard Your voice calling from Heaven, warning him of the doom that was coming upon the land of his ancestors. Help us to listen to Your voice, Lord, when we stray from Your narrow path, calling us to repentance and restoration of fellowship with You. Protect us from the seduction of a sinful world and give us a voice to denounce sin and injustice when we see it. Send Your Holy Spirit to guide us in our lesson as we pray in the Name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh's hand; she made the whole world drunk; the nations drank her wine and then went mad. Babylon has suddenly fallen, is broken: wail for her!
Jeremiah 51:7-8a

Listen to this word which I utter against you; it is a dirge, House of Israel: She has fallen down, never to rise again, the virgin Israel. There she lies on her own soil, with no one to lift her up.
Amos 5:1-2

In the last chapter, one of the seven angels who stood in the Divine Presence of God revealed the vision of the Great Prostitute. She is the city of Jerusalem whose symbolic name is "Babylon" because she inherited the spirit of rebellion against God's divine plan like the ancient Kingdom of Babylon (Gen 11:1-9; Jer Chapters 50-51). "Babylon" means "gate of heaven, which reminds us that God chose Jerusalem to be the true "Gate of Heaven," but she followed the path of the old, false "gate of heaven" named for its tower that attempted to subvert the plan of the One, True, God in rejecting God's lordship over the peoples of the earth (Gen 11:1-9).

Jerusalem sits upon the beast in the image of the Dragon, and she is "the mystery of lawlessness" (see 2 Thess 2:7), the "Mother of Prostitutes," and the "False Bride" (see Ez 16:44-48). She recalls the woman identified by the symbolic name "Jezebel" and her "children" in Jesus' letter to the church at Thyatira (Rev 2:20-23), who perverted the true faith like the ancient queen of the same name (1 Kng 16:29-33; 19:1-1-2; 2 Kng 9:30-37)

Together, the Jews of Judea/the religious leadership in Jerusalem and Rome joined in the persecution of the disciples of Jesus Christ, beginning with the Jewish leaders orchestrating the martyrdom of St. Stephen followed by Rome joining in shedding the blood of Christians in great members after the fire in Rome in AD 64. The angel told John that Jerusalem, the Great Prostitute, and False Bride, had a cup of demonic communion that she shares with her spouse, the beast, with which they become drunk on the blood of the saints and the witnesses of Jesus (Rev 17:4, 6). It is the "wine of her fornication" and the sacrament of her apostasy from the covenant of the true faith and the ultimate unclean, polluted food forbidden in the covenant commands (Lev 17:10-14). Then the angel revealed the symbolism of the beast in 17:8-18 that identified his city of seven hills as Rome at the time of the death of Roman Emperor Otho, who only ruled for 95 days before his assassination in AD 69. In the official lists of Roman emperors, he was the seventh who was also the eighth. Then Rome, the sea-beast who is in the image of the Dragon, turned against the Prostitute/False Bride, led by the beast whose number is 666 (Nero Caesar) in the year AD 66.

In Chapter 18 of Revelation, the Prostitute/False Bride, has become like the ancient city of Babylon, the implacable enemy of God. The announcement of her final destruction is like the funeral dirge for the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (in 722 BC) recited by the prophet Amos (quoted above). The laments in this chapter over the destruction of the city know symbolically as "Babylon" should also remind us of Jesus' lament when He shed tears for Jerusalem when He first saw the city on Palm Sunday of Passion week: As he drew near and came in sight of the city, he shed tears over it and said, "If you too had only recognized on this day the way to peace! But in fact, it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all round you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and your children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you because you did not recognize the moment of your visitation" (Lk 19:41-44; also see Mt 23:37-39). "The moment of your visitation" refers to the arrival of the Redeemer-Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, whose mission was to announce His eternal Kingdom and gift of eternal salvation, which the religious authority and most of the people of Jerusalem rejected.

Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in the Gospels (Mt 24:1-25; Mk 13:1-23; Lk 21:5-24) has Old Testament references from Psalms 137:9, Isaiah 29:3; 37:33, Jeremiah 52:4-5, Ezekiel 4:1-3; 21:27, Hosea 10:14, 14:1, and Nahum 3:10. Those Old Testament prophecies referred to the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC and the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 587/6 BC. The connection to the covenant curse-judgments of Deuteronomy 28:15-68 would also have come to mind for anyone who heard Jesus' lament and prophecies against Jerusalem. Jesus was linking those Old Testament prophecies to the future destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 for rejecting Him as the Messiah, thereby rejecting God and His divine plan for humanity.

When the Romans destroyed Judea, Jerusalem, and the Temple in AD 70, it was a fulfillment of Jesus' prophecies (Mt 23:33-24:25; Mk 13:14-23; Lk 21:20-24) and Moses' warning of covenant judgment for apostasy in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 that began: Against you, Yahweh will raise a distant nation from the ends of the earth like an eagle taking wing: a nation whose language you do not understand, a nation grim of face, with neither respect for the old, nor pity for the young [...] During the siege and in the distress to which your enemy will reduce you, you will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of the sons and daughters given you by Yahweh your God (Dt 28:49-50, 53).

The Romans fulfilled all the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28 and Jesus' prophecies for Jerusalem in AD 70. The historian Josephus even records, during the Roman siege, the famine was so bad that people ate their children (fulfilling Dt 28:53), and after the final burning and looting of the city, one could hardly tell a great city had once stood on the site of the ruins. His record of the event is a key to understanding Revelation Chapter 18 (Josephus, Jewish Wars, 6.3.4 [204-14]).

Ezekiel passages that relate to this chapter:

1. Ezekiel 26:15-27, 34; 27:1-36; 28:11-19: The Lament over Tyre in Ezekiel 26:15-17 is similar to Jesus' lament over Jerusalem (Lk 19:41-44) and our reading in Revelation 18:9-19. Tyre was a city that was allied with Israel, sent materials and skilled workers to build Solomon's Temple (1 Kng 5:15-/5:1, 21-26/5:8-12), and was blessed by Yahweh as a great commercial center. It played a leading role in all the covenant people's anti-Babylonian activities before 587 BC; however, she abused her blessings, abandoned her ally Judah, and rejoiced over the destruction of Jerusalem in the 6^th century BC. In these passages, there is also a connection to the curse on the Serpent, who led Adam and Eve into sin in the Garden of Eden (see Ez 28:11-19).

2. Ezekiel 40:3a-43:2 (see the importance of the references to polus hydra in last week's lesson): and there I saw a man, whose appearance was like brass [...] He took me to the gate, the one facing east. I saw the glory of the God of Israel approaching from the east. A sound came with him like the sound of the ocean (polus hydra = many or abundant waters), and the earth shone with his glory (Ezekiel 40:3a & 43:1-2). Ezekiel's vision in 40:3a is similar to John's description of the glorified Christ in Revelation 1:13-15.

Chapter 18
Babylon is Fallen!

Revelation 18:1-8 ~ The Announcement of the fall of "Babylon" and the Lament of the Heavenly Messenger:
1 After this, I saw another angel come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earth shone with his glory [doxa]. 2 At the top of his voice he shouted, "Babylon has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird. 3 All the nations have drunk deep of the wine of her prostitution; every king on the earth has prostituted himself with her, and every merchant grown rich through her debauchery." 4 Another voice spoke from heaven; I heard it say, "Come out, my people, away from her, so that you do not share in her crimes and have the same plagues to bear. 5 Her sins have reached up to the sky, and God has her crimes in mind: treat her as she has treated others. 6 She must be paid double the amount she exacted. She is to have a doubly strong cup of her own mixture. 7 Every one of her pomps and orgies [glorified and luxuriated herself] is to be matched by a torture or an agony. I am enthroned as queen, she thinks [Because she says in her heart, I sit as a queen]; I am no widow and will never know bereavement. 8 For that, in one day, the plagues will fall on her: disease and mourning and famine. She will be burned to the ground. The Lord God who has condemned her is mighty. [...] = IBGE, vol. IV, page 691.

In this chapter, the angel only identifies the "fallen city" by the symbolic name "Babylon." The reason is probably because Jerusalem no longer deserves the name Jirehsalem, which means "provides peace, " as Abraham renamed the city of Salem: Abraham called this place, "Yahweh provides," and hence the saying today "On the mountain Yahweh provides" (Gen 22:14; Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 7.10,1 [438]).

After the announcement in the last verses of Chapter 17 that the "Great City" will be consumed by fire like a sacrificial offering, John saw another angel/messenger "come down from heaven."
Question: What three statements does John make about this messenger?
Answer: 1) He comes from heaven, 2) he has great authority, and 3) the earth shines with his glory.

Question: Can you identify this messenger? Compare this description with the statements John made in his Gospel. Can you remember at least one other passage from Revelation Chapter 10 where a powerful angel has these attributes? Please consider:
1. He comes from heaven (John 3:13, 31; 6:38, 58)
2. The messenger has great authority (John 5:27; 10:18; 17:2)
3. He illuminates the earth with his glory (John 1:4-5, 9, 14; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9; 12:46)
Answer: The various passages in John's Gospel which describe Jesus Christ parallel the description of the messenger in 18:1, and the description of the messenger John saw in Revelation 10:1 ~ Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were pillars of fire.

In John's Gospel: 1) The Son of God comes from heaven, 2) He has all power and authority, 3) and like the light of Christ which illuminates the earth, this angel/messenger gives glory so bright that the earth fills with light. The messenger has all the attributes of the "powerful angel/messenger" John saw in Revelation 10:1.

The word "glory," doxa, in Greek, is an attribute of only God and the Lamb in Revelation, except in the description in 18:1 where the heavenly messenger has the unique characteristic in common with God and the Lamb. This description of the messenger's glory is a near repetition of the prophet Ezekiel's description of another heavenly messenger in Ezekiel 43:2 (quoted in the introduction), and the earth shone with his glory. Then too, it is essential to consider the significance of the song of lament the messenger sings over the fallen city.
Question: Reading the angel/messenger's dirge or lament over the fallen city, do you recall a similar lament Jesus made as He stood before the walls of Jerusalem? See Lk 19:41-44.
Answer: It is like Jesus' lament for Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-44.

Question: In Luke 13:34-35 and Matthew 23:27-39, Jesus also offers a lament over Jerusalem which ends with: "I promise, you shall not see me any more until you are saying: Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!'" When do we repeat this phrase in the liturgy of the Mass?
Answer: We repeat it just before the priest speaks the words of consecration.

Question: After the words of consecration, what supernatural event occurs?
Answer: We "see" Christ because He is present with us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Most Holy Eucharist.

The messenger John sees coming from Heaven may be Jesus the Messiah, acting in His prophetic role (the Messiah came as prophet, priest, and king). If so, it is Christ Himself who brings the wrath of God down on the Prostitute City who rejected Him and, in doing so, rejected God's plan of redemption for His Covenant people.

Also, please note in the powerful angel/messenger's lament of verses 2-3 that the "Great City" is again identified with Babylon. God's messenger is consistent in this message (see Rev 14:8). The "Great City" symbolized as Egypt and Sodom (in Rev 11:8), and Babylon is not only doomed for destruction, but the angel/messenger from Heaven announces that annihilation is already completed (using the past tense).

Question: In her apostasy, what has the "Great City" (Jerusalem) become; how is she characterized in verse 2? List the three characteristics.
Answer:
1. the dwelling place of demons
2. a home for every unclean spirit
3. the home of every unclean and hateful bird

Question: How is the Old Jerusalem contrasted with the New Jerusalem, the Faithful Bride in Revelation 21:1-2 and 27?
Answer: Revelation 21:2-3, 27 ~ I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne ... Nothing unclean may come into it: no one who does what is loathsome or false, but only those who are listed in the Lamb's book of life."

The term "New Jerusalem" is symbolic language for the New Covenant Church, the True Bride of Christ. 18:2 is another identifying passage that contrasts the New Jerusalem (New Covenant Church) with the Old Jerusalem (Old Covenant Church) as well as comparing those predestined for life as opposed to those "who dwell on the land" in Revelation 17:8 who belong to the Beast with the faithful "whose names have been written since the beginning of the world in the Book of Life." Salvation only comes through Christ Jesus. In rejecting Christ, the Old Covenant Jews rejected God's gift of eternal salvation, which was offered to them before Christ extended that gift to the Gentile nations.

Question: Where is the spiritual abode of the Prostitute City/False Bride, and what are the spiritual implications of such a location? See Rev 17:3, Mt 12:43 and 4:1; and Luke 8:27.
Answer: The Prostitute City is in a (spiritual) desert wilderness in Revelation 17:3 because she has been made desolate by her sins.

Question: How does Jesus identify the desert wilderness in Matthew 12:43 and Luke 8:27 and 11:24-26? What is the connection to Genesis Chapter 3?
Answer: The desert wilderness is the place of sin and demons. There is a connection to the demon-inspired rebellion against God in the Garden of Eden that was the place of perfect communion with God before Adam and Eve's fall from grace and where God exiled them from the Garden Paradise of Eden.

After the rebellion, God sent Adam and Eve "out of Eden," and God also sent Cain into the wilderness after his sin (Gen 3:23-24; 4:9-12). Jerusalem, the chosen location of the Presence of God within His Temple, was a symbol of Eden restored. However, in her apostasy, she is also sent out into the wilderness of divine judgment for her sin when she rebelled against Christ. She rejected Him when she crucified Him, and after His resurrection, continued to deny Him and to persecute His disciples. Now Old Covenant Jerusalem will be condemned to the "desert," the desolate spiritual wilderness that is the abode of demons for her sins.

The reference in Revelation 18:2 to unclean birds is interesting. The intention may be to recall Isaiah's prophecy of the curse and the destruction of Babylon in the Book of Isaiah ~ But beasts of the desert will make their haunt there and owls fill their houses, there ostriches will settle their home (Is 13:21). Those are all "unclean" birds, and ritual uncleanness is associated with sin.

Verse 2, in the New Jerusalem Bible, is "a haunt of demons" and "a lodging place." The Greek text uses the words phulake ("lodging place" in the New Jerusalem translation), also translated as "watchtower," "prison," or "stronghold," and katoiketerion ("haunt" in the New Jerusalem), often translated as "dwelling." The New American Bible translates this verse: She has become a dwelling place for demons. She is a cage for every unclean spirit, a cage for every filthy and disgusting bird. Dr. J. Massyngberde Ford points out in her commentary on Revelation that to a Jewish reader the use of the word katoiketerion (dwelling) would evoke the memory of the Sanctuary of the Temple, the katoiketerion/dwelling place of the Lord God (see Ex 15:17b, 2 Chron 30:27, etc.). The contrast is that instead of being the holy dwelling place of the Presence of God, Jerusalem has become the dwelling place of demons and the watchtower or stronghold of every unclean thing!

3 All the nations have drunk deep of the wine of her prostitution; every king on the earth has prostituted himself with her, and every merchant grown rich through her debauchery.
In verse 2, the messenger characterized the city's sins in three statements. Now he states three reasons for her destruction, which repeat Revelation 14:8. Compare: Babylon which gave the whole world (nations of the world) the wine of retribution to drink (Rev 14:8) with Revelation 17:2, with whom all the kings of the earth have prostituted themselves, and 17:4, dressed in purple and scarlet and glittered with gold and jewels and pearls... filth of her prostitution, which restates her bad example to the Gentile nations.

Question: What are the three reasons for her destruction?
Answer: She has been Yahewh's unfaithful Bride by prostituting herself with 1) nations, 2) kings, and 3) merchants.

The significance of three reasons is that the number three means fullness or completion in Scripture. The description of the city fits 1^st century AD Jerusalem: instead of leading the nations to God (remember Solomon's Temple and the Temple of Jesus' time had a court for Gentiles to assemble and hear the message of the Covenant), Jerusalem has used her blessings from God to join with these three forces to rebel against Him and His covenant. She has become completely corrupted.

Question: The reference to nations (like Rome) and kings (like Caesar) seem obvious, but what is the connection to merchants? Can you remember any confrontation between Jesus and merchants? See Jn 2:13-22 (first year of His ministry), Mt 21:12-13 (Palm Sunday), and Mk 11:15-19 (the Monday after Palm Sunday).
Answer: Jesus cast the merchants selling animals for sacrifice and the moneylenders out of the Temple in three Scriptural accounts on three separate occasions.

But why did this activity make Jesus so angry? The corruption of the Temple through the traffic in goods affected the ritual purity and the witness of the Church. Everything flowed from the religious center of the Temple of Yahweh. If the core of the tree is rotten, the fruit itself is corrupted and worthless, as Jesus preached in Matthew 7:17 when He said: "a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire." Therefore, Jesus was angry with the merchants operating within the Temple precepts and performed a prophetic ot (symbolic act) in connection with His visit to the Temple during His last week in Jerusalem by cursing the fig tree (symbolic of Jerusalem and the Temple) in Matthew 21:18-22, and Mark 11:12-13, 20-22 as a prelude to Jerusalem's destruction.

The Jewish priest and historian, Flavius Josephus, characterized the High Priest Ananias as "the great procurer of money." According to Josephus, the purpose of the Court of the Gentiles was to serve as a witness and to give instruction to the Gentile nations, was the site of a flourishing trade in animal sacrifice, other items that we would call "sacramentals," and a place to exchange currency with pagan images. According to Flavius Josephus, this was a practice supported by the high priests and their families who took a cut of the proceeds.

There is another connection to the accusation that Babylon/Jerusalem was no ordinary prostitute.
Question: Under the Law of the Sinai Covenant, what was the punishment for a priest's daughter who profaned herself and her family by prostitution? See Lev 21:9. What did God ordain as the city's fate? See Rev 17:16, 18:8?
Answer: Like the prostitute daughter of a priest, she is to be burnt alive.

Fire did not destroy the ancient city of Babylon. However, destruction by fire was the same judgment that condemned Jerusalem in 587 BC; see Jeremiah 4:11-13, Chapters 30-31, and Ezekiel 16:37-41; 23:22, 25-30. Yahweh told Ezekiel: "I shall direct my jealousy against you; they will treat you with fury; they will cut off your nose and ears, and what is left of your family will fall by the sword; they will seize your sons and daughters, and what is left will be burnt" (Ez 23:25). We have two Old Testament connections to the burning of Jerusalem: the sentence for a harlot daughter of the priesthood and the punishment for a city of the covenant that turned away from God (see Dt 13:7-19). These connections are more reasons to reject the historical "Babylon," the ancient city on the Euphrates. Babylon was never in covenant with Yahweh; therefore, there was no reason for God to command her destruction for apostasy/adultery. The city of Babylon died from a lack of population when King Seleucus I Nicator built a new capital for his empire and transported the Babylonian citizens to the new Seleucid capital, Seleucia.⁽¹⁾

4 Another voice spoke from heaven; I heard it say, "Come out, my people, away from her, so that you do not share in her crimes and have the same plagues to bear. 5 Her sins have reached up to the sky, and God has her crimes in mind: treat her as she has treated others. 6 She must be paid double the amount she exacted. She is to have a doubly strong cup of her own mixture."
John heard a second voice from Heaven, probably belonging to God the Father. Notice the call to "Come out, my people" in verse 4. The call to "my people" could not be for the Romans. The phrase is covenant language (e.g., see Hosea 2:23)! While it is true that there were New Covenant people in Rome in the first century AD, and although ravaged by various barbarian hordes in later centuries, Rome was never wholly destroyed. Then too, this address is part of a series of words reminiscent of the formation of the Sinai Covenant and the Exodus experience of God's people Israel. For example, the voice calls to the people to "come out" as Yahweh called his people out of sinful Egypt. And it also recalls Jeremiah 51:44-45 in the prophecy of the future judgment on Babylon and God calling His people out from that city to end their exile and return to the land of their ancestors.

Question: In Revelation 18:4, what is the reason for the departure of "my people"?
Answer: It is one last opportunity for the innocent not to have a share in the sins and the judgment of Jerusalem.

What about you? Have you heard God calling you to salvation? Have you been "called out" and set apart by Him from this world? Where does your allegiance lie? If we do not head the call and remain trapped in the sins and seductions of this world, what is the price we will pay?

St. Paul characterized the Jews of the Old Covenant who rejected Jesus the Messiah in 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16. He wrote: Their conduct does not please God and makes them the enemies of the whole human race, because they are hindering us from preaching to Gentiles to save them. Thus, all the time, they are reaching the full extent of their iniquity, but retribution (from God) has finally overtaken them.

Verse 6 recalls the message of a third angel after the seventh Trumpet Judgment and after a second angel referred to Jerusalem symbolically as "Babylon" for the first time in Revelation 14:9-10. The angel announced: All those who worship the beast and his statue or have had themselves branded on the hand or forehead, will be made to drink the wine of God's fury which is ready, undiluted, in his cup of retribution, and now the voice from Heaven proclaims "She is to have a doubly strong cup of her own mixture" (18:6). Drinking the "cup of God's wrath" is from the curse-judgments of the prophets for apostasy from Yahweh's covenant in the "Drinking Wine" imagery:

In 18:5-6, God not only calls for religious separation but physical and geographic separation from apostate Israel. The righteous Judge of Heaven demands full restitution, saying, "treat her as she has treated others. She must be paid double the amount she exacted. She is to have a doubly strong cup of her own mixture."

Question: How is this judgment on the city connected to Biblical Law? See Exodus 22:3/4.
Answer: It was the required restitution according to Biblical Law.

To the degree the city indulged in sins, to double that same degree, she must give restitution. It is the law of lex talionis, the principle of equivalence in life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise (Ex 21:23-25). The double payment is also reflected in God's judgment on Babylon in Isaiah 47:6-11 for her mistreatment of God's covenant people during the conquest of Judah and the exile. Judea/Jerusalem mistreated God's covenant people, His prophets, and His saints (Mt 23:37-39); however, Rome persecuted the saints but not the prophets. Jerusalem persecuted both.

The voice from Heaven continues: 7 "Every one of her pomps and orgies [glorified and luxuriated herself] is to be matched by a torture or an agony. I am enthroned as queen, she thinks; I am no widow and will never know bereavement. 8 For that, in one day, the plagues will fall on her: disease and mourning and famine. She will be burned to the ground. The Lord who has condemned her is mighty."
The New American translation of the beginning of verse 7 reads: In proportion to her boasting and sensuality, repay her in torment and grief. Since Jerusalem was Yahweh's holy city, her religious authorities believed they were untouchable. They obviously forgot the lesson of the Babylonian conquest and exile of 587/6 BC and the seventy-year exile judgment for apostasy against the covenant with Yahweh (Jer 25:11-12; 52:28-30).

7 Every one of her pomps and orgies [glorified and luxuriated herself] is to be matched by a torture or an agony. I am enthroned as queen, she thinks [Because she says in her heart I sit as a queen]; I am no widow and will never know bereavement.
The voice tells John that the city made two declarations about herself, and she used an interesting choice of words to begin her statement in verses 7b-8. The first statement announces her high rank among the nations of the world because God chose Israel as His holy nation. The second statement reflects her belief that she remains the covenant Bride of Yahweh.
Question: What is the significance of the words "I am" in the first statement? See Ex 3:14; Is 43:11 and Jn 8:24, 28; 18:8 and Rev 1:4.
Answer: These words recall God's holy covenant name Yahweh = I AM who I AM, revealed to Moses at the event of the burning bush and again in Isaiah 43:11 and claimed by Jesus.

The apostate city has, in effect, repeated the sin of Eve, who committed fornication with the Serpent in seeking to make herself equal with God in Genesis 3:5. When the city says, "I am," she contradicts the declaration of the One True God who said: "I even I am Yahweh; and there is no Savior besides Me" (Is 43:11). Just as the law condemned a priest's daughter who became a prostitute to death by fire, Jerusalem would suffer the same punishment in July of AD 70 (Lev 21:9).

Revelation 18:9-24 ~ The Second Voice From Heaven Continues the Lament
9 "There will be mourning and weeping for her by the kings of the earth who have prostituted themselves with her and held orgies with her. They see the smoke as she burns, 10 while they keep at a safe distance through fear of her anguish. They will say: Mourn, mourn [woe, woe] for this great city, Babylon, so powerful a city, in one short hour your doom has come upon you.' 11 There will be weeping and distress over her among all the traders of the earth when no one is left to buy their cargoes of goods; 12 their stocks of gold and silver, jewels and pearls, linen and purple and silks and scarlet; all the sandalwood, every piece in ivory or fine wood, in bronze or iron or marble; 13 the cinnamon and spices, the myrrh and ointment and incense; wine, oil, flour and corn [grain]; their stocks of cattle, sheep, horses and chariots, their slaves and their human cargo. 14 All the fruits you had set your hearts on have failed you; gone forever, never to return again, is your life of magnificence and ease. 15 The traders who had made a fortune out of her will be standing at a safe distance through fear of her anguish, mourning and weeping. 16 They will be saying: Mourn, mourn [woe, woe] for this great city; for all the linen and purple and scarlet that you wore, for all your finery of gold and jewels and pearls; 17 your huge riches are all destroyed within a single hour.' All the captains and seafaring men, sailors and all those who make a living from the sea kept a safe distance, 18 watching the smoke as she burned, and crying out, Has there ever been a city as great as this!' [who is like the Great City]! 19 They threw dust on their heads and said, with tears and groans: Mourn, mourn [woe, woe] for this great city whose lavish living has made a fortune for every owner of a sea-going ship, ruined within a single hour.' 20 Now heaven, celebrate her downfall, and all you saints, apostles, and prophets: God has given judgment for you against her. 21 Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again. 22 Never again in you will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels, the music of flute and trumpet; never again will craftsmen of every skill be found in you or the sound of the handmill be heard; 23 never again will shine the light of the lamp in you, never again will be heard in you the voices of bridegroom and bride. Your traders were the princes of the earth, all the nations were led astray by your sorcery. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth." [...] IBGE, vol. IV, page 692;

Verses 2-3 were the first of five laments sung over the burning city. See verses 2-3, 9-10, 11-13, 15-16, 17-19, and 20-24:
#1 by the heavenly messenger
#2 by kings
#3 by traders/merchants
#4 by ship owners and sailors of the whole world and in the 5^th lament, the chapter will end with the Saint's song of doom. The last lament is prefaced in verse 21 by a powerful angel's symbolic action of throwing a large stone into the sea and announcing "Babylon's" destruction.

Question: In these passages, three classes of people will sing a song of lament for the destruction of the city. Who are they?
Answer:
1. The kings of the earth, who are the leaders of the nations of the Roman empire who conspired with the faithless Covenant people in their apostasy for God.
2. The traders or merchants of the land who will no longer share in the wealth promised Jerusalem in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
3. Every shipmaster and everyone who sails and every sailor and man who makes his living by the sea. Judea had become one of the wealthiest trading centers in the Roman Empire but was no longer profitable after AD 70.

Verses 9-19 contain the triple lament of the people of the earth:
9 "There will be mourning and weeping for her by the kings of the earth who have prostituted themselves with her and held orgies with her. They see the smoke as she burns, 10 while they keep at a safe distance through fear of her anguish. They will say: Mourn, mourn for this great city, Babylon, so powerful a city, in one short hour your doom has come upon you."

Question: The kings who mourn see the smoke rising from the burning city, which is a symbol borrowed from the destruction of what Old Testament city? See Gen 19:28.
Answer: The city of Sodom.

Question: Each lament from the people of the earth ends in the same words; what are they? See 18:10, 16, and 19.
Answer: "Mourn, mourn (woe, woe) for this great city."

Josephus mentioned a very similar lament made by a man of Jerusalem named Jesus son of Ananus before the destruction of Jerusalem that began in about AD 62 and ended with his death from a Roman catapult stone in AD 70: "A portent still more alarming had appeared four years before the was at a time when profound peace and prosperity still prevailed in the city. One Jesus, the son of Ananias, an uncouth peasant, came to the feast at which every Jew is expected to put up a tabernacle for God; as he stood in the Temple courts he suddenly began to cry out: A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the Four Winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the Sanctuary, a voice against the Bridegroom and the Bride, a voice against the whole people!' Day and night, he uttered this cry as he went about all the alleys... Throughout this time, until the war broke out, he never approached another citizen nor was he seen talking to any, but daily like a prayer that he had memorized, he recited his lament: Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!'" (Josephus, The Jewish War, 6.5.3).

The voice from Heaven continued: 11 "There will be weeping and distress over her among all the traders of the earth when no one is left to buy their cargoes of goods; 12 their stocks of gold and silver, jewels and pearls, linen and purple and silks and scarlet; all the sandalwood, every piece in ivory or fine wood, in bronze or iron or marble; 13 the cinnamon and spices, the myrrh and ointment and incense; wine, oil, flour and corn [grain]; their stocks of cattle, sheep, horses and chariots, their slaves and their human cargo. 14 All the fruits you had set your hearts on have failed you; gone forever, never to return again, is your life of magnificence and ease."

Jerusalem was one of the great crossroads of the ancient world. Historians write lavishly of the wealth that passed through Judea and Samaria on its way to the ends of the Roman Empire. Ancient Jewish writings allow us to identify no fewer than 118 different articles of imported goods from foreign lands. In Alfred Edersheim's extensive work, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, he records: "In these streets and lanes everything might be purchased: the production of Palestine, or imported from foreign lands, the rarest articles from the remotest parts. Exquisitely shaped, curiously designed and jeweled cups, rings and other workmanship of precious metals; glass, silks, fine linen, woolen stuffs, purple, and costly hangings; essences, ointments, and perfumes, as precious as gold; articles of food and drink from foreign lands—in short, what India, Persia, Arabia, Media, Egypt, Italy, Greece, and even the far-off lands of the Gentiles yielded, might be had in these bazaars." (Vol. I page 82).

The list in Revelation 18 verses 11-13 seems rather mundane until you come to the last item in verse 13; in Greek, it is psyche anthropos, literally "souls of men/humans." That final phrase "slaves and souls of men" may be related to the description of the Phoenician city of Tyre's traffic in slaves in Ezekiel 27:13, but the Revelation passage suggests not just slaves but also the "souls of men," which is a condemnation of the Great City's/Jerusalem's spiritual bondage of men's souls. St. Paul made this comparison in his allegory of the Old versus the New Covenant contrasting Hagar and Sarah when he wrote in circa AD 54: There is an allegory here: these women stand for the two covenants. The one given on Mr. Sinai—that is Hagar, whose children are born into slavery; now Sinai is a mountain in Arabia and represents Jerusalem in its present state, for she is in slavery together with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and that is the one that is our mother (Gal 4:25-26). If the "Great Prostitute City" is Jerusalem, then instead of fulfilling God's plan to become "the mother of all humanity," Jerusalem had prostituted her blessings, led her children into demonic bondage, and finally to destruction.

The voice from Heaven continued: 15 "The traders who had made a fortune out of her will be standing at a safe distance through fear of her anguish, mourning, and weeping. 16 They will be saying: Mourn, mourn for this great city; for all linen and purple and scarlet that you wore, for all your finery of gold and jewels and pearls; 17 your huge riches are all destroyed within a single hour."
The "single hour" reference should not be understood literally. This term represents a particularly critical period, especially by John (see Mt 25:13; Mk 14:41; Jn 2:4; 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 17:1; and 1 Jn 2:18). There is, however, in the passage a sense of sudden stunning disaster that was a shock to the world, which happened in AD 70 with the destruction of this rich Roman province and her world-famous capital city and magnificent Temple.

Question: What is significant about the description of the great city's dress in verse 16?
Answer: These are the colors used in the liturgy of worship in the Temple's textiles and the high priest's vestments.

Once again, this description indicates the city's identity as apostate Jerusalem clothed in the glory of the Temple and the garments of the righteous Bride and priestly authority (see comments in Rev Chapter 17).

Concerning the traders or merchants, remember that the voice accused the city of trading in "human souls' (Rev 18:13). There is also an interesting reference in Ezekiel 28 to "trading" in the lament over Tyre in the passages that symbolically point to the Serpent in Eden: Your behavior was exemplary from the day you were created until guilt first appeared in you because your busy trading has filled you with violence and sin (Ez 28:15). It is interesting that both passages mention sin and commerce together.

17b "All the captains and seafaring men, sailors and all those who make a living from the sea kept a safe distance, 18 watching the smoke as she burned, and crying out, Has there ever been a city as great as this [who is like the Great City"]!' 19They threw dust on their heads and said, with tears and groans: Mourn, mourn for this great city whose lavish living has made a fortune for every owner of a sea-going ship, ruined within a single hour.'"

Question: What is the significance of throwing dust on one's head? Hint: see Josh 7:6; Lam 2:10; Ez 27:30.
Answer: Putting dust (or ashes) on one's head was a sign of grief and mourning.

Question: Who makes up the third group of mourners for the fallen City in these verses?
Answer: Every captain and seafaring man, sailors, and everyone who sails anywhere and makes a living from the sea.

All employed through sea commerce would indeed be affected by the loss of such a wealthy province, but it is likely that the ships and seamen point to the nations of the world connected to Judea through the buying and selling of goods and to whom the Jews were supposed to be God's witness. However, the sea in general, Biblically, usually refers to the Gentile nations to whom God called Israel to instruct and convert to belief in the One True God.

Question: There is a connection between all the people mentioned to the water or the sea. What did the angel tell John the water represented related to "Babylon"? See Rev 17:15.
Answer: An angel told John that the waters upon which the city sat as she rode on the beast are all the peoples: the populations, the nations, and the languages of the earth.

In this chapter, the voice from Heaven lists three classes of people affected by the Prostitute City's destruction: the kings of the earth, the merchants of the land, and all who had ships at sea. These seem to correspond to the threefold designation of those who had commerce with the Prostitute City in verse 3 (note: these are all Gentile peoples):

The addition of the seafarers may be related to Psalms 107:23-24 ~ Voyagers on the sea in ships, plying their trade on the great ocean, have seen the works of Yahweh, his wonders in the deep, and Ezekiel 27:10-32 in the lament for Tyre: Every seagoing ship and crew frequented you to guarantee your trade (Ez 27:10) and "When they hear the cries of your sailors the coasts will tremble. Then the oarsmen will all desert their ships. The sailors and seafaring people will stay ashore. They will raise their voices for you and weep bitterly (Ez 27:28-30).

When Israel was in fellowship with God, she was rich in His spiritual and material blessings. The nations of the world came to her for both commerce and spiritual wisdom (Dt 28:12; 1 Kng 10:23-25). However, instead of Israel converting the Gentile nations, they began to corrupt her! Trade became a snare by exposing Israel to foreign goods, foreign ideas, and foreign gods. Instead of spreading the worship of the One True God, ecumenism and the tolerance of pagan ideology led Israel/Judea to polluting the beliefs of her own people to such an extent that the admiring seafarers cried out: "Who is like the Great City?"

Question: Where have you heard the admiring "cry" in 18:18b before in Revelation, and in what context? See Revelation 13:4
Answer: It is the same cry as the worshipers of the beast in Revelation 13:4 when they called out, "Who can compare [Greek = who is like] the beast?" But because Israel (Judea/Jerusalem) had embraced the beast, she was judged, and in "one hour" all her riches and word influence was destroyed, she was "ruined," never to again be the Great City!

Jerusalem, after AD 70, was never again the "Great City" and the "Bride of Yahweh." She lost her place as the center of covenantal worship. From then now on, Rome became the home of New Covenant believers. Christians didn't want to destroy Rome; they wanted to convert and conquer Rome. It is the reason Jesus called Peter the "son of Jonah" in Matthew 16:16-18. We know from other Scripture passages that Simon/Peter was the son of a man named John (John 1:42 and 21:15, 16, 17). Jesus called Peter the "son of Jonah" because, like Jonah, God would send him to convert the capital city of the world superpower. Jonah converted Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire (Jon 3:3-8), and Peter converted Rome, the capital of the world superpower, the Roman Empire!

Question: Can you give some examples from the Old Testament of the spiritual "pollution" of foreign gods? See 1 Kng 11:1-8; 12:26-33; 14:21-24; 16:29-34; etc.
Answer: For example, in 1 Kings 11:1-8: King Solomon loved many foreign women (1 Kng 11:1), and when Solomon grew old his wives swayed his heart to other gods, and his heart was not wholly with Yahweh his God (1 Kng 11:4), and Then it was that Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab (1 Kng 11:7).

Proponents of the "Rome as the great city" theory will point out that Jerusalem is not on the coast but is an inland city. The text says the sailors "watched" from their ships. True enough, but Rome doesn't qualify either. You cannot see the sea from the city of Rome, and ships on the sea cannot see the city of Rome! These seafarers could be the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee, but they also suffered in the destruction from the rebellion (see last week's passage on blood in the Sea of Galilee). The phrase, "watching the smoke as she burned," is used figuratively. It does not mean that the "seafarers" literally watch Jerusalem burn. The whole Roman world in AD 70 heard of the terrible destruction of the "Great City" of Jerusalem, including the seven Christian communities who received John's Book of Revelation. They all "watched" or stood by; no one came to her rescue.

The Lament of the Church
20 "Now heaven, celebrate her downfall, and all you saints, apostles and prophets: God has given judgment for you against her." 21 Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again.'" 22 Never again in you will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels, the music of flute and trumpet; never again will craftsmen of every skill be found in you or the sound of the handmill be heard; 23 never again will shine the light of the lamp in you, never again will be heard in you the voices of bridegroom and bride. Your traders were the princes of the earth, all the nations were led astray by your sorcery. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth."

Question: Who is speaking?
Answer: It is "another voice from heaven" from verse 4.

Question: Why do the Saints and Prophets celebrate? In Revelation 6:10, what petition did the Saints cry out to God?

Answer: They cried out: "Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of (those who dwell on the land) the inhabitants of the earth?"

As you may recall, the formula "those who dwell on the land" appears twelve times in Revelation. Once for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, this formula statement refers to apostate Israel.

Question: Do you remember the statement Jesus made about judgment on Judea? See Matthew 23:33-36. What is the connection between Jesus' statement in Matthew 23 to Revelation 6:10? Jesus said: "and so you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth....it will recoil on this generation." And in Revelation 6:10, They shouted in a loud voice, "Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on those who dwell on the land?"
Answer: Jesus' statement in Matthew is the judgment for which the Saints cried out in Revelation.

Question: Which city do you think Jesus and the Saints were referring to in Matthew 23:33-36 and Revelation 6:10? Is it Rome or Jerusalem? Which city was in a covenant relationship with Yahweh? What did the 1^st century AD Christians want for Rome? Was it destruction or conversion?
Answer: The city was Jerusalem for destruction and Rome for conversion.

Question: Do you remember the judgment the Law demanded for a city of the covenant people that turned away from Yahweh? See Dt 13:12/13-16/17.
Answer: The judgment was destruction by fire.

Jerusalem burned to the ground in AD 70, but Rome was never entirely destroyed by fire. The key to understanding Revelation 18:20-21 lies in the cry of the Saints for justice and vengeance in Chapter 6 and at the same time in the song of lament in Chapter 18:22-23. Verses 20-21 are Yahweh's answer to the cries of the Saints for judgment and vengeance in Revelation 6:10.

Question: How is the angel identified in Revelation 18:21?
Answer: John identifies him as a "powerful angel."

Question: This is the third and final occurrence of the expression "a powerful angel" in Revelation. Do you recall the other two times this description appears for an angel, and in what context? See Rev 5:2; and 10:1
Answer:
#1 Revelation 5:2 when the powerful angel called for someone to open the scroll, declaring God's covenantal judgments on the "Great City."
#2 Revelation 10:1ff when the powerful angel is seen as the Witness to the New Creation and is holding the "little scroll," which speaks of the New Covenant and the Church's role in the history of redemption, in the plan of implementing in the "Last Days," and "the mystery of God" revealed to the prophets.

As you will recall, the "Last Days" are the same "Last Days" spoken about by St. Peter in his homily in on Pentecost Sunday in Acts Chapter 2 and refers to the "Last Days" of the Old Covenant.

Question: In the third use of the words "powerful angel" in 18:21, what action does this angel perform in 18:21-22? What does his action recall from Jesus' preaching in Mt 18:6; Mk 9:43, and Lk 17:2?
Answer: He throws a millstone into the sea. It is the punishment for anyone to leads a child away from God, which can refer to anyone who was potentially open to becoming "a child of God" through faith and baptism.

Refer for a moment back to verse 8. In Revelation 18:8, the Prostitute city's punishment appears to be in the future, but all the laments are in the past tense (see verses 10, 17 & 20). In Revelation 18:21, the angel speaks first in the future and, after throwing the millstone into the sea, in present tenses. His action of throwing the millstone is a prophetic ot (Hebrew), a dramatic and symbolic act, which brings to pass a future event (for example, see Jer 25:10-14, 51:63; Ez 26:13; Dt 32:43; Mt 18:6). This passage also recalls the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:5 when the song describes Pharaoh's chariots and men as going down into the sea like a stone. It may help to know that a millstone was two round, flat stones. It came in two types: a small millstone that could be used by hand but also a huge millstone that became popular during the Greco-Roman period and had to be worked by donkeys. The word in Greek refers to the larger millstone, which indicates the strength of "the powerful angel" of destruction!

There may be a connection to Jeremiah 51:63-64 where Jeremiah performs an ot by writing what Yahweh ordered the prophet to tie a stone to a book and then to throw them both into the Euphrates river while saying: "In this way, Babylon will sink to rise no more because of the evil that I am going to bring upon it." But there is another, more significant connection to this prophetic millstone and the Temple in Jerusalem.
Read about Jesus' two prophetic actions in Matthew 21:12-22 that enlighten our understanding of Revelation Chapter 18. The Matthew passage is an excellent example for why you cannot take verses out to context to interpret them correctly. The Temple, the fig tree, and the mountain are all connected. The location of the Temple of Yahweh was on the top of the mountain of Moriah (sometimes called Mt. Zion in connection with the redemption of God's covenant people), and the fruitful fig tree was a prophetic symbol of Israel in covenant with Yahweh, while a barren fig tree represented the spiritual failures of the covenant people.
Question: Looking at Revelation 18:21, do you recall a statement Jesus made in the Gospel of Matthew passage after He drove the merchants out of the Temple in Jerusalem, and after He had cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit that prophesizes this action of the angel of destruction?
Answer: Jesus cleansed the Temple on the mountain (Mt 21:12-14). The children acknowledge Him as the Messiah (Mt 21:15-16). In verses 18-20, He cursed the fig tree/Judea by saying, "May you never bear fruit again" (verse 20), and then He told the amazed disciples: "In truth I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt at all, not only will you do what I have done to the fig tree (Judea/Israel) but even if you say to this mountain, Be pulled up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done" (Mt 21:21).

Question: What was "this mountain" in Matthew 21:21?
Answer: God's holy mountain upon which sat Jerusalem and the Temple.

Question: When was this fulfilled in the Book of Revelation and historically? In necessary, refer to the notes on Revelation 8:8 concerning these passages and the use of the word "mountain" in Scripture.
Answer: The prophetic fulfillment was in Revelation 18:21 and historically by the Romans in July of AD 70.

Question: Revelation 18:21 does not refer to a "mountain" but a "millstone." What is the connection between the Temple in Jerusalem and a "millstone'? Hint: for what is a millstone used? Also read 2 Sam 24:16-24; 1 Chron 21:15-28; 2 Chron 3:1; and Dan 2:35
Answer: God commanded David to build His Temple on what had been a threshing floor for separating the valuable wheat grain from the worthless outer covering. The wheat kernels were saved, but the worthless chaff was destroyed by fire. A millstone would later ground the wheat grains into flour need to make bread to feed the people.

Question: Do you see any connection between the wheat and the chaff versus the redeemed and those who reject salvation?
Answer: A millstone represents productivity. The Temple of Yahweh became the "threshing floor" of the earth. Here the righteous "wheat" of humanity was separated from the worthless/sinful "chaff."

We will see more symbolic comparisons to this in the following verses. The Temple "ground out" the redeemed of the earth. You might also think about the connection to Christ's passion and Holy Eucharist.

Revelation 18:21b, the great city...never to be seen again, causes some confusion. Of course, Rome was never wholly destroyed (although she was "ravaged" many times by invading barbarian tribes. Jerusalem suffered destruction about many times, historically.⁽²⁾ She was utterly destroyed in 587 BC, AD 70, and AD 135 after the Second Jewish Revolt when the Romans rebuilt her as Aelia Capitolina. Jerusalem was not any more destroyed "never to rise again" than Edom or Egypt. In Isaiah 34:9-10, the prophet, using evocative language, associates the destruction of Edom with Sodom and Gomorrah the same way the "Great City" is associated with those earlier disasters. In a literal and physical sense, the prophecy about Jerusalem's everlasting destruction was unfulfilled, but in the spiritual sense, concerning the old Sinai Covenant with Yahweh, that break was never repaired.

The destruction refers not to the physical city but instead to Israel (Judea) as the covenant people. That is the "forever" desolation of Jerusalem. The Old Covenant, having been fulfilled and being announced no longer valid, "will not be found any longer." No longer will Israel be a distinct, holy nation of special priests. They can join the saved multitude of the earth with no distinction between "Greek and Jew" as St. Paul writes in Galatians 3:28 (also in Ephesians 2:14), and as Isaiah prophesized in Isaiah 19:19-25. The New Israel has become the New Covenant Church, the Bride of Christ (see Gal 3:26-29 and Eph 2:11-22). There is no salvation outside of Christ and the New Covenant Kingdom of the Universal Church! See Acts 4:12, 9:14, James 2:7, and also CCC 432, 845-6, and 847-8 (for the salvation of those who never heard the gospel message).

21 Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, "That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again. 22 Never again in you will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels, the music of flute and trumpet; never again will craftsmen of every skill be found in you or the sound of the handmill be heard; 23 never again will shine the light of the lamp in you, never again will be heard in you the voices of bridegroom and bride. Your traders were the princes of the earth, all the nations were led astray by your sorcery. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth.
Some commentators do not list this "song" as one of lament but instead as a shout of victory and praise. It is both. There seems to be great sadness and regret in this song of the heavenly assembly and also a connection between the five laments and the symbolic significance of the number 5 in Scripture. The number 5 is symbolic of the grace and power of God. Israel's destiny was to bring all nations of the earth into God's abundant grace. When she rejected Jesus as her Redeemer-Messiah, she lost her place as the conduit of God's grace and salvation; instead, the New Covenant Israel spiritually "fathered" by twelve Jewish Apostles of Jesus Christ would take her place. We can be further convinced of this connection because the lament of the Church falls into five parts. It is significant that the laments for the fall of the "Great City" begin and end with a call from heaven.

Question: Looking at the lament of the Church, what five parts do you see in the song?
Answer: The loss of
1. Music: harpists, minstrels, flute players, trumpeters
2. The productivity of the people: craftsmen
3. The productivity of the land: millers
4. God's word: the light of the lamp in you
5. Covenantal union: the voice of the Bridegroom and the Bride

These five classifications correspond to the functions of the Temple in Jerusalem:
1. Music: The musicians of the Temple's Levitical orchestra and choir (1 Chron 25)
2. Craftsmen: Bezalel, Oholiab (Aholiab), and Hiram who were the craftsmen in charge of building the desert Sanctuary and the Temple (Ex 31:1-11; 35:34; 36:1-2; 38:23; 1 Kng 7:13, 40, 45)
3. Mill: The Temple built on an ancient threshing floor (see 2 Chron 3:1)
4. Lamp: The Lampstand(s) that symbolized the Presence of God in the desert Sanctuary and the Temple's Holy Place (Ex 25:31-40; 2 Chron 4:19-22)
5. Marriage: the covenant/marriage of Yahweh and Israel (Ez 16:1-14)

Question: The desolation of "the City" is the judgment for two reasons. What was the first reason? See the last line of Rev 18:23.
Answer: All the nations of the world were led astray and deceived by her sorcery/witchcraft. The practice of sorcery was associated with Satan, and the punishment under the Law was exile or death.

Question: The question is, if this city is the capital of Israel/Judea, what were her merchants trading? Rev 18:13 and Mt 23:15
Answer: They should have spread the word of their God to other nations; instead, they traded not only in slaves," but in "human cargo" that may refer to the souls of men their bad example influenced and separated from the One True God.

Jesus spoke about this crime when He condemned the scribes and Pharisees and called them hypocrites (seven times). He said in Matthew 23:15 that they travel about on sea and land to make one convert, and then they made him twice as much a son of the devil as they were themselves. Jesus said: "Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are.'"

Question: What is the second reason of the city's punishment? See Rev 18:24; Ex 22:17/18; Lev 20:6, 27; Dt 18:9-14; Mt 23:35-36.
Answer: She murdered the prophets and the saints and was accountable for all the bloodshed on earth.

God called Israel at Mt. Sinai to bring the "light" of Yahweh to the world and to offer up sacrifices on behalf of Israel and the nations of the earth in the twice-daily Tamid sacrifice. The result of this should have reached fulfillment in their presentation of Jesus the Messiah to the nations of the earth as the "Light of the world" (Jn Chapter 1) and the true sacrifice for their sins (Jn 1:29; Mt 26:28).
Question: What happened instead, and what was the result?
Answer: The Old Covenant people rejected Jesus the Messiah: the sum, the focus, the fulfillment of Salvation History, and in doing so, rejected the New Covenant while still trying to hold on the formal structure of the Old Covenant.

In doing this, the children of Israel turned from a true prophet nation to a false prophet nation in league with Satan by contriving to withhold Christ from the world. Jesus twice called the Jewish assembly the "Synagogue of Satan in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 for preaching falsely about Him. In the end, Israel/Judea was torn apart by what she attempted to create.

Revelation 18:24 is the final proof that this city is Jerusalem and John's final clue to the city's identity when the angel says, "In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth." This verse is the sum of Jesus' condemnation of Jerusalem at the close of His final Temple discourse before His passion: "Look, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes: some you will slaughter and crucify, some you will scourge in your synagogues and hunt from town to town; and so you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. In truth I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you!" (Mt 23:34-37, bold added).

You must discern the identity of the city symbolically identified as Egypt, Sodom, and Babylon. This language cannot apply to Rome or any other city in the ancient or modern world. Only Jerusalem was guilty of all the righteous blood shed on earth (Jesus in Mt 23:33-36). Throughout Biblical history, it was always Jerusalem who became the great Harlot, the False Prophet, and the False Bride, continually falling into false teaching, apostasy, unfaithfulness to the covenant, and persecuting God's holy prophets (see Acts 7:51-52).

John has fulfilled his mission as the prosecutor of God's Covenant Lawsuit against Israel (Judea)/Jerusalem. She has been judged, and the Saints, their blood poured out around God's altar, have testified against her. The verdict is: guilty as charged. In AD 70, the sentence was carried out: the destruction of Jerusalem by fire and left desolate. She lost her title "Bride of Yahweh," and a New Universal Covenant, a remnant of the Old that was set aside and was "grafted in," took her place as the Bride with the hope that all of Israel would eventually turn from the fruitless Old and come into the eternal New Covenant in Christ. The Bride of Christ continues, in faith, to show the light of Christ to all the nations of the earth! But Paul also gives this warning to Christians: You will say, "Branches were broken off on purpose for me to be grafted in." True, they, through their unbelief, were broken off, and you are established through your faith. So, it is not pride that you should have, but fear: If God did not spare the natural branches, He might not spare you either. Remember God's severity as well as his goodness: His severity to those who fell, and his goodness to you as long as you persevere in it; if not, you too will be cut off. And they, if they do not persevere in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for it is within the power of God to graft them back again (Rom 11:19-23; bold added).

A passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a fitting way to close this lesson. The quote refers to what Christ told John in Chapter 1: "The Revelation of what must soon take place,' the Apocalypse, is borne along by the songs of the heavenly liturgy but also by the intercession of the witnesses' (martyrs). The prophets and the saints, all those who were slain on earth for their witness to Jesus, the vast throng of those, who having come through the great tribulation, have gone before us into the Kingdom, all sing the praise and glory of Him who sits on the throne, and of the Lamb. In communion with them, the Church on earth also sings these songs with faith in the midst of trial. By means of petition and intercession, faith hopes against all hope and gives thanks to the Father of lights,' from whom every perfect gift' comes down. Thus, faith is pure praise" (CCC 2642).

Endnote:
1. At the time John received his vision, Babylon had ceased to be an influential city. The constant turmoil in the 3^rd century BC virtually emptied the city. A tablet dated 275 BC records the transportation of the inhabitants of Babylon to the newly built capital of the Greek Syrian Empire, Seleucia. With this deportation, Babylon became insignificant, a ruin inhabited mostly by wild animals.

2. During her long history, Jerusalem was compeltely destroyed at least twice (587 BC and AD 70), besieged 23 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, and attacked 52 times.

Catechism references for this lesson (* indicates Scripture is quoted or paraphrases in the citation):
The Old Law (CCC 1961-64)

The New Law of the New Covenant (CCC 1965-74)

Rev 18:24 (CCC 2642*)

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