After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven…and he cried with a strong voice saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and has become the dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean bird and a prison of every unclean and hated beast, because of the wine of the wrath of her fornication all nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become wealthy through the power of her luxuries.”
And I heard another voice from heaven saying: “Come out of her, my people, that you might not share in her sins, and that you might not receive of her plagues, because her sins have accumulated unto heaven, and God has remembered her unrighteous acts. Pay her back as she has given, and pay her double according to her works, in the cup which she has mixed, mix a double portion for her; as much as she has glorified herself and lived luxuriously, give torture and mourning to her, because she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen, and am not a widow, and I will never see mourning.’ Therefore, in one day her plagues will come, and she shall be burned with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is strong.” Revelation 18: 1-8
Chapter 18 gives more details about end-time Babylon’s judgment; a judgment that’s investigated her acts and that’s determined her sentence. An angel announces Babylon’s sentencing for all to hear. It is a repeat of the warning given in the three angels’ message by the second angel (Rev. 14: 8). The sentence is that the world-dominant, oppressive Babylon is a fallen, apostate religious system.
She is condemned for four reasons. First, she has seduced and deceived with the wine (doctrines and persuasions) she pours, causing God’s commandments to be ignored (2nd and 4th) and her religious demands to be accepted. Second, she has also enticed the kings of the earth – the governing political powers of earth – into having immoral, illicit affairs with her. Third, her seductive, intoxicating influence that unifies the religious and secular governing authorities creates an economic security that lures the merchants of the earth into also getting into bed with her. Fourth, she has glorified herself. “I sit as a queen.” Glory is a prerogative that only belongs to God (Rev. 14: 7; 15: 4; 19: 1).
Before the sentence is carried out, John hears another voice from heaven. It is God’s voice calling for His people to come out of Babylon. It is said that Jesus has many sheep in many folds, but that He calls on them to come into the one flock under the One Shepherd (John 10: 16). Apparently, God has many sincere people in the Babylonian apostate system who have called on His name. The problem, though, is that they have been deceived into worshiping and following Satan. What can break that satanic spell is the fact that His sheep knows His voice (John 10: 4). They will especially hear it in God’s Word contained in the three angels’ message (Rev. 14: 6-12).
Upon hearing God’s voice in this matter, understand that He is making a last appeal. Don’t reject it; don’t resist it. Instead, rejoice in this, His mercy. He wants His people to flee Babylon so as to not partake in the execution of her sentencing, part of which are the seven last plagues. Her destruction, her end, will be as final as being burned in fire.