Revelation 18 (Lesson 1) - Aaron Cozort - August 16, 2026

In this lesson, we explore the profound symbolism and prophetic insights of Revelation 18, focusing on the fall of Babylon, the call to God's people to come out, and the lessons from historical and biblical examples of judgment and deliverance.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Revelation 18 and its themes
02:01 The angel's authority and the fall of Babylon
04:13 The symbolism of Babylon as a spiritual and economic power
07:01 The call to God's people to come out and be separate
09:01 Lessons from Old Testament city falls: Egypt, Jericho, Babylon
11:56 The principle of divine deliverance through separation
15:04 The fall of Rome as a historical parallel
19:52 The mourning of nations and the rejoicing of heaven
24:53 The rapid destruction of Babylon and its symbolism
30:05 The spiritual significance of blood and martyrdom
35:04 The reasons for Babylon's fall and divine justice
40:03 The victory of God's people and the message of faithfulness

Creators and Guests

Host

Aaron Cozort

What is Admonition Podcast?

The Admonition podcast brings you Bible lessons and sermons from the Collierville Church of Christ with host Aaron Cozort. Each episode focuses on interpreting Scripture in its original context, exploring the background of key passages, events, and teachings. Gain deeper insight into God’s Word as we study together, applying timeless truths to everyday life.

Good morning.

Take your Bibles, if you will,

and open them to the book of Revelation.

We're in chapter eighteen as we continue
our study this morning.

If you remember, chapter 16 dealt with the
pouring out of

the seven bowls ~ upon the earth by the
seven angels.

And then chapter 17, John is told by one
of the angels who had the seventh bowl.

Come and let me show you the mystery of
the woman who sits on the beast,

who ~ is persecuting the people of God.

And chapter 18.

We find a rehashing of the defeat of the
woman,

who of course was the great city ~ that
ruled the kings of the earth in that day,

and we'll see that as we get into our
text.

But let's begin with a word of prayer and
we'll get into our study.

Our gracious Father in Heaven,

we come before you grateful for the day
that you've blessed us with,

grateful for the things that you have done
for us this day.

We know that more often we should take the
time to think through and consider

all of the things that we should thank you
for and all of the things that

you do for us that so often we overlook
and we do not realize.

Lord, we are grateful for all of them.

Lord, we pray that you be with us as we go
through this day and through

the worship that we offer you this day.

May it be in spirit and in truth.

We pray also for congregations of your
church throughout the world,

all over this planet, who this same very
day will offer worship to you.

We pray for soundness in their faith,

boldness in their speech.

And Lord, we pray that we might always be
the bride of Christ that

you speak about in the book of Revelation.

Lord, we pray these things and ask in
Jesus' name.

Amen.

Chapter seventeen ends.

Verse eighteen and the woman whom you saw
is that great city which reigns over

the kings of the earth. Chapter eighteen
verse one after these things

I saw another angel coming down from
heaven,

having great authority, and the earth was
illuminated with his glory.

Okay, so John sees the bulls poured out.

Then the angel comes to John and says,

Here let me show you the mystery of the
woman.

Let me let me unpack this for you.

When when he says this is a mystery,

he doesn't say, hey, you're never gonna
get this figured out.

He says, Let me reveal the mystery to you.

Let me reveal what was unrevealed.

That's what the word mystery means.

Let me reveal what was unrevealed to this
point about who the woman

is that rides upon the beast. But now,

John, as chapter 18 opens,

he's seeing in chapter 16 and chapter 17.

The things that pertain to the woman,

the things that pertain to the city,

the things that pertain to the beast,

the things that pertain to the persecution
of the saints.

Chapter 18 is a reversal to look

at the rejoicing of the saints.

Okay? So after these things I saw another
angel.

Coming down from heaven, having great
authority,

and the earth was illuminated with his
glory.

Before we go too much further,

just a little bit of a rehash from last
week,

~ if you have a king who has no kingdom,

what is he not? A king.

If you have a kingdom with a king reigning
over it,

then the kingdom does exist or doesn't
exist?

Does okay. Seems pretty simple,

doesn't it? If you have a king who has
authority,

does he have a kingdom?

He must, because without a kingdom,

a king has no authority. If you see a king
walking around and he has no authority,

it's because he has no kingdom.

If you see a king who has authority,

it means he has a kingdom. Okay?

In order for the angel who comes down from
heaven to have any authority,

and this angel is spoken of as having
great authority.

Who do you think he got the authority
from?

He didn't get it from the beast.

He didn't get it from the woman.

He got it from the king who has

a kingdom and who is reigning.

Okay? So he sees this angel coming down
from heaven,

having great authority.

And the earth was illuminated with his
glory,

and he cried mightily with a loud voice,

saying, Babylon the Great is fallen,

is fallen, and has become a dwelling place
of demons,

a prison for every foul spirit,

and a cage for every unclean and hated
bird.

This is again Old Testament language about
the fall of a nation.

God says, I am going to cage up everything
evil.

In this place, and I'm going to judge it.

I'm going to bring an end

to this wicked woman.

Now notice verse three. For all the
nations have drunk of the wine

of the wrath of her fornication.

The kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her,

and the merchants of the earth have become
rich through the abundance of her luxury.

Notice that this woman is not just a
military power.

And she is certainly not just a religious
power,

but she is an economic power.

One of the reasons why you know and can
have great assurance that

the city under consideration in the book
of Revelation is not Jerusalem,

because you couldn't have this description
of Jerusalem as an economic power

in the world. Jerusalem wasn't an economic
power in the first century world.

They were a significant city in their
region,

but they were not an economic power.

But this passage says that the woman,

the city that sits on seven hills,

the city that persecutes the church,

the city that rules the world in John's
day,

is an economic power, and the merchants of
the earth have gone to

bed with this woman so that they could
have abundance in her luxury.

He says, And I heard another voice from
heaven saying,

Come out of her, my people, lest you share
in her sins,

and lest you receive of her plagues.

When

The two spies went into the city of
Jericho.

And when Rahab saved them, and then Rahab
pleaded with them

to save her and her family. What was,

what were the terms, the conditions upon
which her family was going

to be saved when Jericho fell?

Two main ones.

Red cord out the window.

Everybody in the house. And the spies told
Rahab,

if they step foot outside the house,

their blood is on their own hands.

We will not be held guilty.

What is that? That is God through the
spies telling Rahab,

you have to separate yourself from the
city.

Now, in this case, they separated
themselves into a single location.

But in this example and in other examples
in the Old and New Testament,

the separation comes by a departure.

God tells

His people. Get out.

Get out before the judgment comes,

and you won't suffer through the judgment.

Notice again what he says. I heard another
angel from heaven saying,

Come out of her, my people.

In the world of investing.

There's been some times in history in the
American stock market where

the market has crashed in significant
ways.

Nineteen twenty nine, leading into the
Great Depression,

and other occasions.

Who is unaffected by the crash of the
stock market when it crashes?

Those who are not in the stock market.

Now, yes, I understand when you have
something that's a national

at a national level, there's downstream
rep repercussions,

but who doesn't experience an 80% drawdown
of the stock market?

The person who's not in the stock market.

This principle is recognized.

Who doesn't die in the famine when a
region is having a famine?

Of people who aren't in the region.

In the Old Testament, when you see Abram
and you see Isaac

and you look at the events of their lives,

you read numerous times of Abram leaving
the land of promise

for a particular reason. And invariably,

what was the reason?

There's a famine going on in the land.

So there's a famine going on in the land,

it goes down to Egypt.

When does he come back?

The famine's over. This principle is all
throughout scripture from beginning

to end. God says, separate yourself.

When you see that this is invariably going

to come, says this to the first century
church.

When you see that these things are
happening,

get out.

You say, but wait a minute, if I leave
behind everything,

if I if I leave my job and I leave my home
and I leave the the family that isn't

faithful to the Lord and that doesn't know
the Lord and I depart and I

go out to some other place, what am I
going to do?

Well, what did Abram do?

What did, let's see, Joseph do?

What did Daniel do?

What did Ezekiel do? What did David do
when he was being chased by Saul?

The answer is they went out from
everything that they knew with nothing.

Saluting Abram, he he went with what he
had.

And when they went through it,

Who took care of them?

The Lord did.

And when Abram comes back from Egypt,

when the famine's over, does he have more
or less?

Every single time comes back with more.

Every time you see one

of God's people delivered from hardship,

they come out of it looking like a bed of
roses.

They come out of it with more than they
ever had to begin with.

Not because they went in and manipulated
the situation and they strive strove

to fulfill everything that they personally
wanted,

but because they were faithful to the
Lord.

When Jacob flees his home and goes up to ~
the land of Laban,

when Jacob returns, does he return with
the same amount he left with?

No. He returns with wives.

And children and livestock and men
servants and maidservants and all

of these things to where there is a
company of people returning back from
Laban.

Now, is that because of what Jacob so
shrewdly manipulated

as to get for himself? No,

that's what he had when he left.

That was the thing that he shrewdly got
the birthright.

Everything he came back with was what the
Lord gave him.

Eddie, do you have a

Absolutely. So ~ to Eddie's point,

nothing that we're saying indicates that
leaving and that the inter interim time

and going through it is easy. The
difference is the alternative.

And here's the other picture.

Think about Lot's family and Sodom and
Gomorrah.

Here's a person who didn't leave.

When they saw all the signs of what was
going on.

Here's a person who didn't leave when they
saw the corruption and they

saw it infecting them and their own
people.

Here's a person who struggled to leave
even when the

two angels are at the house saying,

you get out now, and when you cross the
border,

essentially.

This entire valley is gone. And Lot says,

Well, can we just instead of going up to
the mountains,

in instead of going to a barren place,

let let us just go to this little city,

Zoar. Let let's the can can can you spare
the little city and we'll go there.

And even in that.

What do we learn if we were to quote
Jesus?

Remember Lot's wife.

You see, the message to the Christians

is you leave and you don't look back.

You leave and you understand that they
were given,

the city was given, the people were given
opportunities to repent,

and they would not.

And we are reminded of what John has
already written

to the church.

First John, love not the world,

neither the things that are in the world.

For the one who loves the world,

the love of the Father is not in him.

So John writes to the first century church
in chapter 18 as he sees in the vision,

as he hears the call from the angel,

and the angel says, You get out.

Come out of her.

But notice the not this this is a slight
difference.

When the angels came to Sodom,

they said, Go out.

This angel says, Come out. What's the
difference between the two?

All right. One is the angels are there in
the city,

and they're telling you, depart from us
and the city.

You go away. The other is,

hey, ~ we're out here. What why don't you
come join us out here?

They're calling them,

and there's going to be this ~ occasion
and numerous ones all the way

to the very end of the book, chapter 22,

verse 18. Notice what we read.

For I testify to everyone who hears the
words of the prophecy of this book.

If anyone adds to these these things,

God will add to him the plagues that are
written in this book.

And if anyone takes away from the words of
the prophecy of the book,

God shall take away his part from the book
of life and from the holy city

and from the things which are written in
the book.

Notice here's the description of the
plagues.

But notice what you read in verse 20.

He who testifies to these things says,

Surely I am coming.

Quickly. Amen. Even so come,

Lord Jesus, as the expression here

is delivered saying Christ is saying,

this this isn't a long way off.

I'm gonna judge this city,

I'm going to judge this woman,

I'm going to judge this harlot,

I'm going to judge this people that is
persecuting my people,

and your prayer ought to be,

Lord,

Speed it up. Come quickly. Sooner rather
than later.

But you go back into the earlier text.

We read I, Jesus, have sent my angel,

verse 16, to testify these things to the
churches.

I am the root and the offspring of David,

the bright and the morning star,

and the spirit and the bride. Say what?

Come.

And let him who hears come.

And let him who thirsts come.

Whoever desires, let him take the water of
life freely.

There's ~ a spiritual call there,

yes. But the spiritual call is connected
to a call going all the way back where

God says get out.

Because their judgment is coming.

You come out, because Christ says,

I'm coming in. And when I do, you don't
want to be there.

Chapter 18. I heard another voice,

verse 4, from heaven, saying, Come out of
her,

my people, lest you share in her sins,

lest you receive of her plagues,

for her sins have reached to heaven.

And God has remembered her iniquities.

Render to her just as she rendered to you,

and repay her double according to her
works in the cup which she has mixed,

mix double for her.

God says, I saw what's in your cup,

and it was the blood of my saints.

And I saw what you did,

and I'm going to double what comes back on
you.

He says, In the measure that she glorified
herself and lived luxuriously

in the same measure, give her torment and
sorrow,

for she says in her heart, I sit as queen
and am no widow,

I will not see sorrow. There's a number of
examples of nations

in the list here ~ that's on the screen.

Isaiah thirteen, Isaiah forty-seven,

Zephaniah two, Ezekiel twenty-seven,

Tyre.

and other nations in the old testament all
said,

listen, I'm sitting up above, I'm
untouchable,

I sit as a queen, I am exalted,

nobody can touch me. And God says,

The more you speak about yourself,

the more you say you're untouchable,

the more torment I'm going to bring.

Therefore, verse 8, her plagues will come
in one day,

death and mourning and famine,

and she will be utterly burned with fire,

for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

Now remember, this is picture language.

Does this mean that Rome was going to fall
in one day?

No.

What was the city that was named in the
picture?

Babylon. According to the historical
record

in Daniel chapter six, when when Babylon
fell,

how did it fall?

In one day. Now the nation was conquered
through a series of events,

but the city fell in a night.

And it was the very night that God wrote
on the wall and said,

You're judged.

It was that very night that Cyrus diverted
the river Euphrates from

out from under the Babylonian walls and
took his nation and his people

up through the the the riverbed and
conquered the city while the feast

of debauchery and sin and iniquity was
ongoing.

And yet, notice the clear separation.

Daniel, by the way, who was not commanded
to get out,

different, different scenario.

Daniel.

Is elevated that very night to being third
in the kingdom of Babylon.

And by the end of the next day,

he's a governor in the king ~ under the
king of Babylon,

who's under who's Darius, who's under
Cyrus,

the king of the Medes and Persians.

In Daniel's old age, because Daniel would
have been probably in his

80s at that point. In Daniel's old age,

God's still delivering Daniel from the
events that surround him.

Because Daniel is still being faithful.

I think it was I said Daniel chapter 6.

Daniel chapter 6 is the lion's den Daniel
5 is when Babylon falls.

So.

Verse nine.

Here in verses 9 through verse 20,

the nations are going to weep and they're
gonna mourn.

They didn't like the woman, but they sure
liked what they got out of her.

They didn't like the way she acted and the
way she ruled,

but boy, did they sure like her benefits.

Verse 9: the kings of the earth who
committed fornication and live luxuriously
with

her will weep and lament for her when they
see the smoke of her burning.

Standing at a distance for fear of her
torment,

saying, Alas, alas, the great city
Babylon,

that mighty city, for in one hour your
judgment has come.

They are astounded at how quickly she
fell.

They are astounded at the precipitous fall
of this nation.

You think back to what was so ~ visible
for the nations around Egypt.

When the nations around Egypt watch what
happens in Egypt,

they see a world power, they see a great
and mighty nation,

and then they see plague, plague,

plague, plague, plague, plague,

plague, plague, plague until this nation
is handing all their riches

to another nation and say, Lee,

please. They have no economy,

they have nothing left.

Their crops are destroyed, their flocks
are destroyed,

their herds are destroyed, their children
are destroyed.

Everything's decimated.

And it is that that Rahab says to the
spies,

We forty years later.

Are still trembling because we know that
your

God has promised this land to you.

The merchants of the earth, verse eleven,

will weep and mourn over her. For no one
buys their merchandise anymore.

Again, this isn't Jerusalem. This is the
merchants of the globe.

Who have no one to sell to anymore?

Because their market was Rome.

The endpoint for their caravans,

the end point for their ships,

the endpoint for their merchandise was
Rome.

He says merchandise of gold and silver,

precious stones and pearls, fine linen and
purple,

silk and scarlet, every kind of citron,

wood, every kind of object of ivory,

every kind of object of most precious
wood,

bronze, iron and marble, and cinnamon and
incense,

frankincense or fragrant oil and
frankincense,

wine and oil, fine flour and wheat,

cattle and sheep, horses and chariots,

and bodies and souls of men.

The fruit of your soul longed for,

~ the fruit that your soul longed for has
gone from you,

and all the things which are rich and
splendid have gone from you,

and you shall find them no more at all.

The merchants of these things who became
rich by her will stand at

a distance for fear of her torment,

weeping and wailing, and saying,

Alas, alas, that great city that is
clothed in fine linen,

purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold
and precious stones and pearls,

for in one hour such great riches came to
nothing.

That ought to be a lesson for us,

shouldn't it?

So many perspectives about America are
we're the richest nation,

we're the most powerful nation,

we've got this, we've got that.

We can't possibly fall.

And yet the reminder is, how did Rome
fall?

From the inside.

It was the focus on riches. It was the
focus on earthly things.

It was the debauchery. It was the sin.

It was

the entire self-interested mentality

of Rome that led to her fall.

And here's all the merchants on the
outside.

If you could do the mental image.

Here's the caravan going, uh-uh,

nope, not going that way anymore.

Here's the here's the captain of the ship
off the off the coast of Italy going,

not docking here. Turn around.

He says, For in one hour such great riches
came to nothing.

Every shipmaster, all who travel by ships,

sailors, and as many as trade on the sea,

stood at a distance, and cried out when
they saw the smoke of her burning,

saying, What is like this great city?

They threw dust on their heads and cried
out,

weeping and wailing, and saying,

Alas, alas, that great city in which all
who had ships on the sea became rich

by her wealth, for in one hour

She is made desolate. Rejoice over her,

O heaven. Now watch the direct shift.

All the merchants of the earth are weeping
and wailing and crying

and miserable and unimaginable concerning
the their situation and

the desolate state that they're gonna be
in because that was their economy.

And then you, as it were, pan,

maybe instead of panning left,

you you pan up. And those who dwell in
heaven,

the Christians, the faithful,

the church, the persecuted ones,

the ones who were crying out under the
altar,

how long, O Lord, faithful and true.

You pan up and you see rejoice over her,

O heaven, and you holy apostles and
prophets,

for God has avenged you on her.

If think back to tradition and historical
information,

the vast majority of

the apostles died at the hand of Rome.

Peter is, ~ we're told,

crucified upside down, for he refused to
be crucified in the same way his Lord was.

So he is crucified upside down by Rome.

Paul is put to death.

by Rome. Others throughout the apostles
are killed

at the hand of Rome.

And here in Revelation, as John is writing

There's a high likelihood that John may be
the only

one left of the apostles.

And John gets to write.

For his brothers.

For his fellow apostles who have been put
to death by Rome.

You were vindicated.

Their judgment was brought. You find verse
21.

Then a mighty angel took up a stone,

like a great millstone, and threw it into
the sea,

saying, Thus with violence the great city
Babylon shall be thrown down,

and shall not be found anymore.

~ look. Here's a city that's fairly near
the coast,

because the angel throws the

The stone into the sea to wipe the city
away.

Are you supposed to look for when ~ in
history an asteroid hit the earth,

happened to crash in the ocean right near
Italy and wiped out the city of Rome?

Is that what you're supposed be looking
for?

No.

Is it an asteroid that gets thrown into
the sea?

No, what is it?

A millstone.

Must have been a mighty big millstone.

Sound of the harpists, musicians,

flutists, and trumpeters shall not be
heard in you any more.

No craftsman or any craft shall be found
in you any more,

and the sound of a millstone shall not be
heard in you any more.

The light of a lamp shall not shine in you
any more,

the voice of the bridegroom and bride
shall not be heard in you any more,

for your merchants were the great men of
the earth.

For by your sorcery all the nations were
deceived.

Now, as you're in this picture,

you see the first angel come forth and
make a pronouncement.

You see the second angel come forth and
make a pronouncement.

You see the third angel come forth and
cast the millstone and wipes the city
away.

But like often happens when great
catastrophes occur.

People come back later and they start to
look and see what happened.

Can we find any evidence of how this
happened?

What caused this great catastrophe?

And that's kind of what you get in verse
twenty four.

As if in the aftermath of the city
falling,

of the the nation falling, of the
merchants of the earth standing off

the shore and and and just decry crying
out and wailing,

and after all these things, and after all
the music stopped,

and after all the marriages have stopped,

and after all the things that were so
great and wonderful about

the city have stopped, somebody comes in
and goes,

Why did it happen?

And what they found?

And they found the blood of prophets

and saints of all who were slain on the
earth.

God says, I'll tell you why.

You go look deep in the heart of that
city.

You go look buried under the great
structures.

You go look under the great monuments.

You go look in the Colosseums.

And if you went and inspected the sand,

you wouldn't be able to find it.

If you did a chemical test, you wouldn't
be able to find the.

But no, spiritually, you go look.

Find the blood of my people. And that's
why they fell.

If you go back to Matthew chapter twenty
three.

What is Jesus' accusation against
Jerusalem when he insists that Jerusalem

will fall and as he will describe in
chapter twenty four,

not one stone will be left upon another?

What is the accusation given in verse
thirty seven?

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills

the prophets and stones those who are sent
to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children
together as a hen gathers

her chicks under her wings, but you were
not willing.

See, your house has left you desolate,

for I say to you, you shall see me no more
till you say,

Blessed is he who what?

Comes in the name of the Lord.

When Titus

The son of Vespasian.

returned to Jerusalem in AD seven.

And when the armies of Rome besieged the
city,

encircled the city,

entered the city, dismantled

the city, and burned it to the ground,

and took the temple apart stone

by stone to recover the gold that was
inlaid in the stones of the temple.

Jesus had already said, When you see that
happen,

that's me.

you'll be able to say, Christ came.

It is important in the text of Scripture
for us to

not be confused that not every coming of
Christ is about

his return when judgment comes.

Not every coming of the Messiah is a
return at

the end of time.

In chapter twenty three of Matthew,

God says, Hey, I'm coming back.

And I'm coming quickly. And in Revelation,

God says, I'm coming again,

and I'm coming quickly.

So John will tell us,

here's why she fell. And when she falls,

many are going to mourn,

and many are going to weep, and many are
going to wail,

but not God's people. As a matter of fact,

when you open chapter 19, you're gonna
find out they're gonna rejoice.

They're gonna have a wedding party.

They're gonna have a feast. They're going
to rejoice.

They're gonna shout hallelujah.

Now, some of their homes will be gone,

some of their home cities will be gone,

some of their families will be gone,

some of the people who they've known and
loved will be gone,

but they will be vindicated.

And again, Satan will be defeated.

Again. And again.

And again.

See, the message that John writes to the
Christians

is always a reminder. You win.

No matter what happens on this planet,

no matter what happens to the city that
you were raised in,

no matter what happens to the country and
the nation that you were a citizen of,

no matter how you live and no matter how
you die.

You come out of the world and you be
faithful to God,

and you win. Thank you for your attention.