“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” That’s what the angel in John’s vision predicts will happen to the great, godless civilization that will stretch across the globe at the end of time, corrupting all the nations and their kings with “sexual immorality” and “luxurious living.” But the angel is also quoting from a much earlier prophecy, one found in Isaiah 21:9: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”

Isaiah goes on in chapter 47 to detail what would happen to the ancient empire that dared to destroy God’s Temple and carry away God’s people into exile: they would receive the same sort of disaster and ruin that they had brought on Jerusalem (47:11). They would lose their own children and husbands. And none of their great military power, or their great learning, or their man-made idols would be able to save them (47:9).

John’s vision thus reminds us that just as God brought justice to ancient Babylon, His mighty power will bring “death and mourning and famine” on every godless culture that dares to persecute His people (18:8). Indeed, in His perfect justice, the Lord will “Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds” (18:6).

So, since God’s people are not called to take vengeance into our own hands, how should we respond to cultures bent on stamping out our faith? Isaiah told the ancient Israelites, “Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord” (Isaiah 52:11-12). In the same way, a voice from heaven tells God’s people to separate themselves from Babylon so that we might not “take part in her sins” (18:4). In short, while we may not be able to avoid persecution at the hands of the godless people around us, we certainly don’t have to participate in their perverted practices – unless we want to share in the plagues that will come upon them (18:4)

Isaiah 47:5-11 (ESV)

5 Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children”:
9 These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.

Revelation 18:1-8 (ESV)

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.
2 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’
8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”