The Bible Says
Revelation 18:4-8 Meaning

Revelation 18:4-8 demonstrates the extent of Babylon’s sins and the double measure of her punishment. In the beginning of the chapter, an angel came to declare that Babylon is fallen. Now, John hears another heavenly proclamation that calls God’s people to separate themselves from Babylon’s coming judgment. John writes:

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues” (v. 4).

The pronoun her refers to the harlot, who is also Babylon, the corrupt global system of commerce that preys on and exploits the people (Revelation 17:18). This command echoes God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt where He protected her from the plagues.

This call to come out might overlap with Revelation 14:7 that called on people to fear God and His judgments more than the beast and his coercive acts: “Fear God, and give him glory, because the hour of His judgement has come.” It seems that the way to fear God rather than the beast is to refuse his mark.

That the people are called to come out might indicate that the mark of the beast is something that can be renounced. Or perhaps that is not possible, but some are being tempted to participate in the system and falling into temptation to take the mark, and they are being called out.

We saw in Revelation 9:20-21 it was lamented that men did not repent of their deeds. This would indicate that there will be a window open for repentance. It seems the hearts of most are hardened. However, that God is calling His people out, so that they might not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues infers that there are still important choices to be made, and God will still be moving.

Regardless of what sort of repentance is allowed during the time of great tribulation (the last three and a half years of the seven-year period that is the seventieth week of Daniel) it is certain that God’s people have the opportunity to repent in the present time. We can recall that Revelation is written to God’s servants—those who have received the gift of eternal life by faith in Christ—so they might be blessed and rewarded by keeping the words of this prophecy.

Therefore, it is appropriate for believers in all ages to identify elements of the world system that are corrupt and exploitative, and to come out from them. To come out from Babylon delivers believers in all ages from participating in her sins. This helps believers avoid receiving the plagues that are the adverse consequences of sin. We can see the natural progression of sin God has built into His moral law in Romans 1:24, 26, 28, where sin progresses from falling into lust, then to addiction, and then to a loss of mental health (a depraved mind).

As Romans 6:23 asserts, the “wages” or consequences of sin is death. By coming out from the world, we avoid consequences of death. Death is separation, and sin separates us from God’s good design for the world. Just as the world has physical laws, such as gravity, it also has moral laws. This is because God created the world. When God calls His people to come out of the world system, it is like calling people to come out of a burning house so they won’t be burned to death.

The Greek word translated plagues is “plege.” It refers to an affliction such as a blow, a whipping, or a plague. All translations are appropriate for the adverse consequences heaped upon Babylon’s victims. The harlot abuses, punishes, and afflicts those who fall into its grasp.

Just as ancient Jews leaving Babylon were called to forsake its pagan culture, New Testament believers are urged to guard their hearts from the allures of consumerism, sexual immorality, and sensual pleasures that lead to addiction and loss. As 1 Thessalonians 4:3 reminds us, God’s will for believers is their sanctification; particularly that they live apart from immorality.

The call to come out of the world system does not mean to stop engaging with the world. New Testament believers are called to be “in the world” but not “of the world” (John 17:14–15). Believers are called on to live amidst secular systems yet resist falling prey to its temptations.

Next, the passage gives the reason that the people must come out of Babylon:

for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (v. 5).

This abuse of exploiting others for her own gain are sins that have have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (v. 5). Just as the hour of judgment came upon ancient Babylon, which was defeated by Persia, so the hour of judgment will come upon future Babylon, the global economic system and harlot of the last days.

The imagery of sin piling as high as heaven hearkens back to the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. There, humanity’s pride led them to build a tower reaching the skies. Similarly, Babylon’s arrogance and wickedness have heaped up to the point that divine judgment is ripe and will no longer be delayed.

This reminds us that God’s patience, though vast, is not endless (2 Peter 3:9). When a culture hardens itself against righteousness, consistently harming others and mocking divine standards, the eventual outcome is judgment. Just as ancient Babylon eventually fell, so will this future Babylon.

The phrase God has remembered her iniquities means that He holds Babylon accountable for a long record of abuses. Like ancient Babylon, which oppressed conquered peoples and pillaged nations (2 Kings 24–25), this end-times Babylon will likewise bear the guilt of exploiting people all over the world.

Sin does not remain hidden from the eyes of an all-seeing God. God’s delay in judging is always a window of mercy and opportunity for repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But eventually the measure of iniquity is filled, and divine justice will be dispensed (Genesis 15:16).

Next, the angel declares a pronouncement of doom upon ancient Babylon prophesied in Isaiah 47:

Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and I will never see mourning’ (vs. 6-7).

In Isaiah 47:1-6, the Lord tells ancient Babylon will be judged for mistreating Israel. Although God gave Israel into the hands of ancient Babylon to judge them for their disobedience to Him, it was not appropriate for Babylon to mistreat Israel, including overworking them.

So, God addresses Babylon, speaking to her as a woman, and says:

“Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’
These things you did not consider
Nor remember the outcome of them.”
(Isaiah 47:7)

Revelation 18:7 quotes Isaiah 47:7, with future Babylon also saying I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning. Just as ancient Babylon considered herself unassailable, so does future Babylon. Both are arrogant and both will fall. Future Babylon will be given torment and mourning to the degree she has glorified herself and lived sensuously.

The “These things” of Isaiah 47:7 refer to the abuse ancient Babylon invoked upon Israel. It appears the Babylonians were so hardened to the suffering of captured peoples that their suffering went unnoticed. Babylon took for granted that it would always be the greatest empire, a “queen forever.”

Future Babylon has glorified herself in the same way as ancient Babylon: by believing she was entitled to live in luxury at the expense of others. She also glorified herself by believing she was entitled to remain the dominant power indefinitely. That she lived sensuously by exploiting captured peoples like the Israelites showed the depth of her corruption. Thus, the fate of ancient Babylon will foreshadow the destruction of future Babylon.

Ancient Babylon was an amazing, fortified city. The Euphrates River came under its walls, giving it a constant source of water and supply, making it exceedingly difficult to siege. We see evidence of its mentality of invulnerability in the book of Daniel. There, the king was hosting a feast the night Babylon fell. We see from Daniel 5 that there was no sense of pending doom until the people saw God’s handwriting on the wall. We know from history that the Persians camped outside Babylon’s walls while the Babylonians feasted. The Babylonians apparently had no fear of the Persians. They trusted their walls. They did not know the Persians were damming up the river in order to come under the wall.

Because of Babylon’s arrogance, the city was taken with little resistance. As Daniel 5:30-31 states, it was taken the same night of the great feast. In like manner, the destruction of the latter-day Babylon of Revelation will come swiftly; the plagues will come in one day and the judgment will come in “one hour” (Revelation 18:10).

A similarly exploitative system of commerce that deals in the lives of men will be quickly destroyed. Since the beast has the power to deny commerce to any who do not take his mark, perhaps he will seize the avenues of commerce and divert the revenue streams away from the merchants and kings just as the Persians diverted the river (Revelation 13:17).

Because of future Babylon’s arrogance and exploitation—the same attitudes and actions of ancient Babylon—God will now judge her. And the judgment will be according to the divine golden rule; God will give unto them what they gave to others. The additional voice from heaven declares a judgment sentence: Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her (v. 6). Babylon the harlot gets given back to her what she doled out to others, but in this case, her repayment is double.

In the Old Testament law, paying double was a standard of restitution for intentional sin or gross negligence with respect to property crimes. For instance, we see in Exodus 22:4 that if a thief is found with stolen goods in his hands, he is to give back what he stole plus that much again. We can infer that since the harlot of Babylon’s exploitation was a form of theft, so in its divine judgment it is paying in the same degree but paying double.

Similarly, to the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning (v. 7). We see the principle of God doing to us as we do to others throughout scripture. As Jesus asserted in the Sermon on the Mount:

“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”
(Matthew 7:2)

In this case, those who perpetrated the evil economic system will receive the same treatment they gave to others, and the result is torment and mourning. This agony will be to the same degree.

Finally, we see the plagues announced in verse 4 come to bear in verse 8:

For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong (v. 8).

The judgment will come swiftly. It will come in one day (v. 8). This highlights how swiftly God’s hand of justice can act once a civilization’s sins have ripened to their full measure. The phrase in one day mirrors the same phrase in Isaiah 47:9, which speaks of the predicted swiftness of ancient Babylon’s demise. Just as the prediction of Isaiah 47:9 came true as written, so will this prediction of the future system that is Babylon.

The triad of pestilence and mourning and famine in verse 8 underscores the devastating impact of the economic collapse. The Greek word “thanatos” translated pestilence is often translated “death” as in Revelation 20:6, 13, 14, 21:4, 8. We can imagine that the economic system is disrupted such that the distribution of food and capacity to farm is toppled, resulting in famine and death. When added to the other judgments upon the earth, this is a severe blow.

The mention that she will be burned up with fire ironically refers to the economic system being judged by the beast and his alliance of ten kings (Revelation 17:16). That he will be the instrument of God’s hand also reflects the ancient judgment God wrought on Belshazzar’s Babylon. God used the pagan kingdom of Persia to take down ancient Babylon. He will use the beast and his kingdom to take down the economic realm run by an alliance between the merchants and kings of the earth.

The concluding phrase of verse 8 reminds us why this judgment has occurred: for the Lord God who judges her is strong. The beast and his ten-king alliance burns down the economic system, but it is God’s strong hand that caused the judgment. We can recall that the word “throne” appears over 40 times in Revelation, and God’s throne is always occupied by God Himself. Further, all events that transpire in Revelation are authorized by the throne. This is because God is strong—His will is done regardless of the efforts of heaven or earth (Matthew 6:10).