Revelation 18:9 Commentary and Bible Study

She is judged because she has enveloped and brought down all rulers and kings of the earth. We know that only too well. Virtually every ruler on earth is full of pomp and circumstance. ‘The kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her.’ Somehow in the language of vision, the kings of the earth are pictured as if they are all here, watching this scene unfold with horror. They know what this smoke means. It means that Babylon is being destroyed and can never recover. Their personal fortune is bound up with her. They have committed fornication with her by serving her and their own lusts, rather than serving the one true God. They have committed spiritual fornication, as well, perhaps, as literal fornication. They have lived deliciously with her, even though they knew the cost. They hoped somehow to escape God’s judgment, but now he has targeted Babylon, and their judgment cannot be far behind. They will just have a moment to see the consequences before they themselves are judged. Look at the grief that takes place when Babylon is judged, and particularly at the end. This is the basis of anguish in hell. It is not that people will start to have earnest regrets about what they have done, but chiefly that they have lost the world, and all the pleasures that come from it. They bewail the world not their unconverted state. Hell will not contain one pang of remorse or regret for not seeking God. There will be no warm feelings towards God. The horror they experience is as a result of their godless worldview being smashed. They cannot take it in. When Christ returns and they see all they have ever believed in vanish, they say, ‘How terrible that such a city should be destroyed!’ All their sympathies are with the world. They hate the Lord for destroying Babylon.So violent is Babylon’s destruction that it is not safe to come near her. They stand at a distance, watching her burning and able to do nothing to prevent it. God wills that they should witness this scene and yet be powerless to stop it. They must see the failure of the harlot and the destruction of all they have trusted in. Again the words emphasise the speed of her downfall. In verse 8 it is in a single day; now it is in one hour.