Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 18:4

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues:" — Revelation 18:4 (ASV)

“Come out of her, my people” forms the burden of Jeremiah’s refrain concerning Babylon (Jeremiah 50:8; Jeremiah 51:6–9; cf. Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 52:11; 2 Corinthians 6:17). Even in its OT setting, this was no mere warning to leave the actual city of Babylon, much less here in Revelation. John is burdened to exhort the churches to shun the charms and ensnarements of the queen prostitute (v.7) as her qualities are manifest in the world they live in. Wherever there are idolatry, prostitution, selfglorification, self-sufficiency, pride, complacency, reliance on luxury and wealth, avoidance of suffering, violence against life (v.24), there is Babylon. Christians are to separate themselves ideologically and physically from all the forms of Babylon (chs. 2–3). If they refuse, they will “share in her sins” and in the divine judgments. This warning is addressed to professing Christians who were being seduced by Satan through the wiles of the prostitute to abandon their loyalty to Jesus. If this occurred, Christ would be forced by their decision to blot out their names from the book of life and to include them in the plagues designed for Babylon when she is judged (cf. 3:5).

God will not forget her crimes, which are multiplied to the height of heaven (v.5; cf. Genesis 18:20–21; Jeremiah 51:9). Her punishment will fit her crimes (v.6; cf. Psalms 137:8; Jeremiah 50:15, 29; Matthew 7:2). This OT principle of lex talionis is never enjoined on God’s people in the NT but, as here, is reserved for God alone (Matthew 5:38–42; Romans 12:17–21). “Mix her a double portion from her own cup” (cf. Exodus 22:4, 7, 9; Isaiah 40:2) reflects both the ideas of the severity of God’s judgment on those who refuse to repent and the truth that God’s wrath is related to the outworking of sin (cf. Romans 1:24–32).

Babylon’s threefold web of sin is described as satiety (“luxury”), pride (“boasts, I sit as a queen”), and avoidance of suffering (“I will never mourn”). These three may be interrelated. Luxury leads to boastful self-sufficiency (Ezekiel 28:5), while the desire to avoid suffering leads to the dishonest pursuit of luxury (Ezekiel 28:18). “I sit as a queen” echoes Isaiah’s description of judgment on Babylon (Isaiah 47:7ff.) and Ezekiel’s description of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:3). As she avoided grief through her satiety, her punishment therefore is “mourning and famine.” Like ancient Babylon, this queen of prostitutes will become unloved and barren (Isaiah 47:9). In spite of her many charms (v.23c), she will be powerless to avert her destruction (v.8). The words “consumed by fire” (cf. 17:16) may refer to the destruction of a city (cf. vv.9, 18) or to the OT punishment for prostitution if the woman is a priest’s daughter (Leviticus 21:9). As strong as “Babylon the Great” is, the Lord God is stronger and will judge her.