Verse 1: “After these things I saw another angel coming down from the heavens. He had great authority, and the world was illuminated from his glory.”

God’s judgement is necessary for His glory to be manifested. It is only through judgement that the whole world will be full of His glory.

Verse 2: “And he called with great power, and a strong voice, saying: ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. She has become a habitation for devils, a prison for every unclean spirit and a cage for every unclean and repulsive bird.”

Babylon is synonymous with exile. God is going to bring exile to an end. Babylon became a cage for all things unclean, impure and connected to death. The birds spoken of here are scavengers – those that eat up dead things.

Verse 3: “For from the wine of the wrath of her harlotry all the nations drank. And the kings of the earth fornicated with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich from the abundance of her delicacies.”

Her harlotry/fornication speaks of her idolatry. False religion. This is a religion that is based on the indulgence of the flesh. This kind of religion brings about the wrath of God upon all nations – those who have no covenantal relationship with God.

The merchants of the earth wanted wealth in order to fulfill the desires of their flesh. They chose according to the flesh, and they are going to get the outcome of the flesh – death (Romans 6v23).

In Exodus 4v24-26 God moved to kill Moses because he had been careless in carrying out the law of circumcision. Circumcision results in the death of the physical flesh. Moses had failed to put to death the flesh.

Redemption is a choice that also involves death – the death of our fleshly/carnal nature, through the sufficiency of the cross. Redemption teaches us that there always has to be death (Romans 6v11).

Verse 4: “And I heard another voice from the heavens saying: “Come out from her, My people, lest you become partakers of her sins, lest you receive her plagues.”

In Hebrew, the word for ‘come out’ is also where we get the word ‘exodus’ from. It is only through redemption, by the blood of Messiah Yeshua our redeemer, that people are enabled to be set free from their sins, to ‘come out’ of Babylon. There is a connection between sin and plagues. When we live in sin the outcome is going to be the judgement of God.

Verse 5: “For her sins have come up into the heavens and God remembered her iniquities.”

God is going to respond. When God ‘remembers’ it is always followed by action from Him. God was silent in Exodus until he saw the faithfulness of the Hebrew midwives (Exodus 1v15-21) Then He remembered and began to move.

Verse 6: “Visit upon her the retribution that she placed upon you (the people of God), and do to her double according to her works: in the cup which she has mixed, mix double to her.”

Isaiah 40v2 tells us that Israel paid twice (double) for her sins. God is also going to cause Babylon to pay twice for hers.

Verse 7: “She exalted herself and she lived luxuriously, and they shall give to her both pain and sorrow. For she said in her heart: ‘I will sit as a queen, and there will not be to me any widow. Mourning I will not see.”

Babylon is going to be enthroned as a queen. In Judaism, the Sabbath is called ‘queen’. Shabbat is related to the Kingdom – the queen looks toward The King.

Here we have the opposite – this queen is not looking for the king. She has determined in her heart that she will not become a widow and will not be under anyone’s authority. She stands alone and does what she wants. She has a false belief – she thinks that there will be no end to her reign. Satan, too, thinks that he is going to triumph over God and that there will be no sorrow for him?