In this episode, we delve deep into the cataclysmic prophecies of Babylon’s fall as depicted in Revelation chapter 18. Join us as Pastor David Hawking guides us through the compelling narrative of the ultimate fall from grace and power, highlighting the stark contrasts between earthly mourning and heavenly celebration. In an era of vast opulence and spiritual decadence, we see how swift and decisive the divine judgment can be. We take note of the wealth and influence accumulated by Babylon — an empire whose judgment comes shockingly within the span of an hour. Additionally, we explore the rich imagery
The wall of Babylon shall fall. My people, go out of the midst of her. That’s also said in Revelation 18. Come out of her, my people. Really fascinating. Verse 49. As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.
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Thank you.
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The world is watching in horror as Babylon, the center of man’s arrogance and Satan’s power, goes up in flames. The kings who once praised her, now they’re standing far off, terrified. The merchants who got rich off her, they’re mourning the loss of their empire. In one single hour, one single hour… Everything they built, everything they worshipped, everything they trusted in is utterly destroyed. But while earth weeps, heaven is celebrating because God’s justice is final. His truth, it’s prevailed, and the kingdom of His Son is right at the door. This is day two of our study here on Hope for Today, The Fall of Babylon, found in Revelation chapter 18. And Bible teacher and author David Hawking is here to continue our study of these powerful words of Scripture. Again, Revelation chapter 18. And we’ll be back there in just a moment. First, Matt, we’ve got a wonderful letter here from Penny, and she listens on what station? KKXX. Yeah.
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What does she have to say? She says, Thank you for your Bible teaching that really explains God’s Word and brings the whole Bible together. I trust what you teach and preach because you are well-researched and know the depths of God’s Word that helps me want to understand and do what God wants. God bless you and hope for today. I love that. That is so from the heart.
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And we’ve told this story before, Matt, growing up. How many hours a day average did your dad spend in the Word of God? He spent four hours every day.
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Four hours every day. From 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock, and then he would come to the office, study more, and he’d go preach somewhere, study more. Wow, wow.
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It was nonstop. Awesome. What a blessing that is, that God’s work in and through your life. We give God all the glory. Your dad gives God all the glory for what has come through his heart and life into the ministry of Hope for Today, out to our listening family and friends. If you have a testimony, maybe a prayer request, get in touch with us. We’d love to hear from you, and we’ll tell you later how to do that. And here’s David with day two of The Fall of Babylon, Revelation 18.
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Beginning in verse 1. And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was made bright or was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works, in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double, how much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come.” And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore. The merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and all thean wood and all manner of vessels of ivory, all manner of vessels of most precious wood and of brass and iron and marble and cinnamon and odors. and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things who were made rich by her shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hour so great riches are come to naught. And every shipmaster and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city in which were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness, for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers and musicians said, and some say this of pipers is like flute players, and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsmen of whatever craft he be shall be found any more in thee, and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee, and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee, for thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. I want you to see at least six things and a number of things under that, but at least six things from this chapter to kind of organize it together. In the opening three verses, we have the prediction of the fall of Babylon. And there’s several interesting things here. We have the reappearance of another angel. Verse 1, it says, After these things I saw another, meaning another of the same kind, not a different one, another of the same kind come down from heaven. We’ve seen angels intervening all along. And what was the seven last plagues? It was seven angels pouring out the bowls of wrath to bring God’s judgment on the earth. Now the judgment’s coming on the great whore, and it’s another angel of the same kind who is exercising the judgment of God. The results of the fall of Babylon, which are described in verse 2, are all quotations from the Old Testament. Turn, please, to Isaiah chapter 13. Revelation quotes voluminously from the Old Testament. And in Revelation chapter 18, we have quite a number of quotations. This is coming in Revelation 18, too, from Isaiah 13, as well as Jeremiah, which we’ll look at in just a moment. Isaiah 13, verse 19. Now, mind you, this is a prophecy about the ancient empire of Babylon. It says, and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited. Neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there. Neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures. That’s interesting, isn’t it? And owls shall dwell there, and satyrs, some say these are male goats, shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. And her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged. Now, it should be obvious without trying to explain all these terms that this is quoted in Revelation 18 too, a prediction about ancient Babylon, its destruction, and the fact it will not be inhabited, and it hasn’t been. And then the fact of Revelation 18 talking about the woman being Babylon and taking that prophecy and using it of that woman. You have the same thing in Jeremiah 51. Turn there, please. Jeremiah chapter 51. There’s several verses in this chapter. And again, Jeremiah’s predicting the destruction of the southern kingdom of Judah by Babylon. And then he predicts the destruction of Babylon. Jeremiah chapter 51, verse 36. Therefore thus saith the Lord, behold, I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee, and I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry, and Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons. an astonishment and a hissing without an inhabitant. See, same kind of thing that is quoted in Revelation 18, verse 2. Look at verse 41. How is Shishak taken and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised? How is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations? The sea has come up upon Babylon. She’s covered with a multitude of its waves. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, a wilderness, a land in which no man dwelleth. neither doth any son of man pass by it. And I will punish Bel, who’s head of the Babylonian religious pantheon. I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up, and the nation shall not flow together anymore unto him. Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. My people, go out of the midst of her. That’s also said in Revelation 18. Come out of her, my people. Really fascinating. Verse 49, as Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. Verse 53, though Babylon should mount up to heaven and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord. A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans, by the way, is the religious group, the priestly caste that ran Babylon. They were the religious system which has infected all religious systems of the world. Because the Lord has spoiled Babylon, verse 55, destroyed out of her the great voice. When her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered, because the spoiler has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Every one of their bows is broken, for the Lord God of recompenses shall surely requite. Verse 59. The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Sariah, the son of Neriah, the son of Masaiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign, and this Sariah was a quiet prince.” So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Sariah, when thou comest to Babylon and shalt see and shall read all these words, then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever. And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the what? Euphrates. And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I’ll bring upon her, and they shall be weary thus far, are the words of Jeremiah. One major point, of course, is that these passages are quoted in Revelation 18. But here is my point. The prophecy is either true or it’s not. Heaven and earth will pass away. My words will never pass away. The fact is that this is a fulfilled prophecy. It’s still that way. It’s still a wilderness. And there are wild animals still running around there. And it is the most desolate, barren place imaginable. And it has not been inhabited. And God says it won’t be. So then this view that somehow there’s going to be a restored political city in Babylon that somehow will make the Euphrates again the center of commercialism around the earth, I just don’t believe it, folks. Especially if you see the aerial views of the area, it’s not what it once was. Much of that Euphrates has been reduced down from what it was in ancient time as it flows into the Persian Gulf and then into the Indian Ocean. We do know it’s a major waterway. We saw that in the Persian Gulf War. But I do not believe the city is going to be rebuilt. And that is the point of Revelation. I think when he said Babylon is a mystery and a mother of abomination and harlots and that she’s committed fornication with all nations and all kings of the earth, that it’s something much more than a political city being rebuilt and becoming a commercial center of the world as it once was in the past. I just don’t believe it because the prophecies are clear about it. Come back to Revelation 18. Verse 3 gives us the reason for the fall of Babylon. We’re still talking about the prediction of the fall of Babylon. And it gives us the reason. And there’s several things involved here. I would say one of the reasons is the extent of her influence because verse 3 says, For all nations have drunk of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. So this is really extensive. The extent of her influence is certainly one of the reasons. For all nations, it says. You also have the explanation based on her seductive ways. It says that they have drunk. the wine of the wrath of her fornication. They’ve committed fornication with her. This same theme was back in chapter 14, verse 8, where it says she made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Same thing as in chapter 17, verse 6. I saw the woman drunk, and here it describes it. with the blood of the saints, with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. She has influenced nations. This religious corrupt satanic system has influenced nations to kill believers. You know, when you really find out what goes on sometimes after the fact, it amazes you. But when you read this, boy, I’ll tell you, it’s easy to read this, close your Bible and walk away and not think about what you are reading. Whatever this religious system is, it has influenced all the nations of the world to drink the cup of the wine of her wrath and its fornication. They’re committing fornication, adulterous, not being loyal to the faith. They’re compromising and going along with this woman who in the name of religion is doing terrible things. Well, that wine represents blood. In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints who have lost their lives. I found a little booklet I had in my library and didn’t know it was there, and it was called The Blood Line. And so I opened it up, and what it was was a historical analysis from the time of Jesus to this century of how Christians have been killed in the name of religion. Historical evaluation, every single century, just right straight down the line. In this century, the 20th century, now Christians have been killed all the way through, but in this century, more Christians have been killed than all previous 1900 years combined. In her was found the blood of prophets and the blood of the saints. It’s just remarkable. I think the effect of her seductive ways is also a reason, too, for her fall when we read in verse 3 that the merchants of the earth have waxed rich. through the abundance of her delicacies. The Bible says that they that desire to be rich fall into many a temptation and a snare, into many hurtful, harmful, foolish lusts, which drown men in destruction. 1 Timothy 6.10. Do you know how much wealth there is in religion? I mean, it’s incredible. It’s incredible. And the pagans of secular society know it. But the wealth is incredible. It’s not just the Roman Catholic Church. It’s everywhere all around the world. There’s incredible wealth there. And it’s interesting how Christians often… in the name of convenience or compromise or economics or even the health-wealth gospel or whatever, are profiting off the gospel in wicked and seductive ways. I was going to give you a parade of all that I saw on television and all that. I thought, hey, there’s plenty of books out. You can read about it, The Agony of Deceit and many others. But I’ll tell you, aren’t you all embarrassed and ashamed at what we have seen in this century? the corruption of the millions of dollars, people being ripped off and all of that. And, you know, there comes a time when we have to confront. It’s just like Christians admitting what we did wrong in Germany and confessing to dear Jewish people that we were wrong and we’re sorry and we repent of it. A lot of us don’t want to do that. And maybe we should repent also corporately for the whole church of Jesus Christ that’s been enamored, obsessed by, and controlled, dominated by a desire for money, for fame, importance, and money. It’s everywhere. And you can understand why this chapter bothers a lot of people, why liberal preachers especially don’t want to read it or study it or look at it. It’s very serious.
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That’s Bible teacher David Hawking pulling no punches here on Hope for Today. And David will be back in just a bit to close out today’s time. And there were some additional thoughts in teaching, so stay right there. Right now, Matt’s here, and together we’re going to share a resource that will truly open your eyes about some of life’s most important questions and the answers from God’s Word. Matt?
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Turn on the TV, surf the net and social media, drive down the street, talk to neighbors and colleagues any day of the week, and it doesn’t take long to see examples of a culture and a world seemingly gone mad.
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Yeah, Matt, down is up, evil is lauded as good, logic is tossed out the window. Many believe that there’s no such thing It’s the absolute truth. And they believe that absolutely. Exactly, exactly. You know, Matt, we’ve discussed this before, but when you make sin your identity and a fantasy your reality, your heart becomes a breeding ground for delusion.
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Well, our featured resource this month is my dad’s dynamite book, Life’s Greatest Questions.
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Inside, David Hawking brings readers into the truth of God’s word for answers on origins. How did our world come into being? What is unique about humans? What’s gone wrong in our culture? Am I good, bad, or both? What should I think about myself? What happens when I die? How do I respond to the chaos in today’s culture? And how do we show godly compassion while standing steadfast in biblical truth? That is so important. Get a copy of David’s book, Life’s Greatest Questions, and discover the wonder of biblical truth that answers each of these questions thoroughly and many more as well. And you can secure a copy for just $10. And Matt, I’d like to add that Life’s Greatest Questions is going to be a marvelous encouragement to our listening family as we face increasing pressures in our day and time. And life’s greatest questions again, just $10 from Hope for Today. And when you purchase, please consider, prayerfully consider adding an extra amount, a donation to Hope for Today, or perhaps make a donation by itself. And please pray for Hope for Today. To get your copy of Life’s Greatest Questions by David Hawking, call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And if you’d like to dig even deeper into what we’re studying currently in Revelation, including more on Babylon and the prophecies we’re looking at today, visit our website, davidhawking.org. You’re going to find additional resources there on these very topics, teachings that are going to help you understand these crucial end-time events from a biblical perspective. And before David returns to close out our study, let me share this from my heart and the heart of everyone on the Hope for Today team. Every day, Hope for Today is reaching people who are confused, hurting, searching for truth in a world that’s falling apart and awash in deceit. When they tune in to Hope for Today, they hear the Word of God clear, strong, and full of hope in Jesus Christ. This is what you support when you give to this ministry. Your donation keeps this broadcast on the air. It keeps us streaming programs online. It puts Bible teaching into homes where darkness has been winning for far too long. And your gifts help bring the gospel to those who may be hearing it for the very first time. So if God is using this ministry to bless you, would you prayerfully stand with us today to help us continue bringing the ministry to you and to others around the world? You can give securely online at davidhawking.org or call us at 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And if you prefer to write a note, we love reading your letters. Our address in the U.S., Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 8P1. And thank you for your prayers and prayerfully considering joining with us in ministry. Let’s get back to David for his closing thoughts.
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We’re teaching the book of Revelation, and my, what a chapter we’re studying now. It’s Revelation 18, the fall of Babylon the Great. Babylon has been dominating the political systems of the world ever since the beginning of time. But it’s going to come crashing down, and I hope you’re ready for that. Interesting that a voice comes from heaven saying, come out of her, my people. that you be not partaker of her sins, and you receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. And that woman says, I sit as a queen. I’m no widow. I’ll see no sorrow. Well, she better guess again, because she’s going to experience a terrible awakening. Her plagues are going to come in one day, death, mourning, famine. She’ll be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And all the kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, and they will stand aside and say, Alas, alas! that great city, Babylon, the mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come. God bless you as you continue to study with us this amazing chapter, Revelation 18.
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Thank you, David. Well, next time we’re going back to Revelation chapter 18 to continue our look at how the world that loves Babylon is going to watch her burn. The religion of rebellion, the empire of greed, the city that called evil good and good evil. Well, we see a lot of that today, don’t we? Well, it’s going to be erased in one terrifying moment. The kings who praised her will stand in shock and the merchants who got rich off of her will are going to cry as their kingdom of luxury turns to smoke before their very eyes. Well, don’t miss day three in our study of Revelation chapter 18. The fall of Babylon continues right here on Hope for Today.
