Revelation Now :
Daily Devotional Bible Studies in Revelation
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The Fall of the Great City of Babylon : Day 69 
Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth." (Revelation 18:21-24)
The Final Destruction of Rome
The picture is of the final desolation of Rome. It begins with a symbolic action. A strong angel takes "a large millstone" and hurls it into the sea which closes over it as if it had never been. So will Rome be obliterated. John was taking his picture from the destruction of ancient Babylon. The word of God came to Jeremiah: "When you finish reading this book, bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: and say, Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the evil that I am bringing upon her" (1). In later days Strabo, the Greek geographer, was to say that ancient Babylon was so completely obliterated that no one would ever have dared to say that the desert where she stood was once a great city.
No Sound of Rejoicing
Never again will there be any sound of rejoicing. The doom of Ezekiel against Tyre reads: "And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard to more" (2). The harpers and the minstrels played and sang on joyous occasions; the flute was used at festivals and at funerals; the trumpet sounded at the games and at the concerts; but now all music was to be silenced. Never again will there be the sound of a craftsman plying his trade. Never again will the sound of domestic activity be heard.
Grinding was done by the women at home with two great circular stones one on the top of the other. The corn was put into a hole in the uppermost stone; it was ground between the two stones and emerged through the lower stone. The creak of stone on stone, which could be heard any day at any house door, will never again be heard. Never again will there be light on the streets or in the houses. Never again will there be any sound of wedding rejoicing for even love will die. Jeremiah uses the same pictures: "I will banish from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones, and the light of the lamp" (3).
The End of Rome
Rome is to become a terrible silent desolation. And this punishment will come for certain definite reasons. It will come because she worshipped wealth and luxury and lived wantonly, and found no pleasure except in material things. She led people astray with her sorceries. Nahum called Nineveh "graceful and of deadly charms" (4). Rome flirted with evil powers to make an evil world. It will come because she was blood guilty. "Woe to the bloody city!" said Ezekiel of Tyre (5). Within Rome, the martyrs perished and persecution went out from her all over the earth.
Words to meditate on
How do our lives reflect the holiness and righteousness of God?
Words to pray
"Holy, holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty Merciful and mighty.
All thy works shall praise thy name, In earth and sky and sea." (6)
Notes
(1) Jeremiah 51:63, 64 (2) Ezekiel 26:13 (3) Jeremiah 25:10 (4) Nahum 3:14 (5) Ezekiel 24:6 (6)
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."
