Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” (Revelation 14:8 ESV).
The second angle is now introduced bearing news of the fall of Babylon in our reading today. Babylon no longer existed as an imperial threat in the first century, so the name represents a different power. A minority of commentators hold that Babylon is the city of Jerusalem, which had rejected Christ. That is possible if Revelation was written before AD 70. However, even if Revelation was written that early, Babylon does not have to represent Jerusalem. In fact, Babylon almost certainly stands in for Rome and its empire. First-century Jews sometimes used Babylon as a code word for “Rome,” including Christian Jews such as Peter (cf. 1 Peter 5:13). This use makes a lot of sense. Like Babylon, Rome was a pagan empire that ruled over the Jews and ultimately destroyed the Jerusalem temple. Note also that the reason for Babylon’s fall here is that she “made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” In Scripture, “sexual immorality” could refer to all forms of illicit sexual behavior, but the prophets also used it metaphorically to refer to idolatry (cf. Hosea 1:2–3). First-century Jerusalem was certainly guilty of many sins, but the ancient Jews uniformly rejected actual sexual immorality and did not practice pagan idolatry. Rome and its empire, however, frequently celebrated sexual immorality and worshiped pagan deities.
Our reading today announces the fall of Babylon, that is, Rome, but it does not get into this description of this event until later (cf. Revelation 17–18). This announcement, then, foreshadows Rome’s defeat, giving hope to John’s original audience that the immoral, pagan empire oppressing them could not and would not last. Significantly, though, the announcement of Rome’s fall comes after the preaching of the gospel. That points us to an important truth: the defeat of Rome comes because of the gospel. In the gospel, God announces His reconciliation with His people, which is achieved through Christ’s defeat of all His and our enemies (cf. Isaiah 52; Col. 2:13–15). Jesus has already defeated all His foes, which means that no power that wars against His people can finally endure.
The defeat of God’s enemies does not come through human means. Instead, this defeat has been achieved already by Christ, and we wait for its fullness to be made manifest. We must never put our ultimate hopes in politics, military strength, or human strategies. The defeat of the church’s enemies comes about only by the power of God.