Revelation 18:1 - 8

1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 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! 3 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.”

4 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. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 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. 7 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, and will not see sorrow.’ 8 Therefore 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.

This angel with “great power” comes from a Greek word meaning “authority”, which makes sense because the angel came down from heaven which is the location of divine authority.

The angel lit up the earth with his glory because everything about heaven is glorious.

The angel yelled with a loud voice, meaning what the angel had to say is of great interest to many.

Babylon represents the institution of church and state formed when the Catholic church and the Roman empire joined to rule the lands which were within its domain. This entity was formed in the time of Constantine. However it will now be torn apart by the work of the Reformation.

“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” the church-state is being dissolved by the effect of the Bible being given back to the people by Martin Luther and his fellow workers.

The figurative language about Babylon's fall indicates as Babylon was never able to be rebuilt, Saddam tried to, but the water table had risen and it could not be, the church-state will never be reconstituted again either.

Many nations, kings, merchants bought into the false doctrines of the church-state, they benefited from the persecutions and the evil practices of the harlot and the beast's union. The methods and practices of the church-state were full of being unfaithful to God, thus it was symbolized as being fornication. All who supported and followed the practices were guilty and worthy of receiving the wrath of God.

There are many good people who are deceived by the false doctrines which are put forth by Satan's angels. There still are today as there were individuals in the days of the church-state who really believed they were doing right, even after the Reformation had given the word of God back to the people, there were still some good people who did not understand their souls were in jeopardy. The angel warns and tells them to leave the church-state and turn to following the truth of God. If they refuse they are are guilty and will be judged accordingly.

The corruptions of the Roman-Catholic empire were so offensive and so public in nature the good people are being warned to leave so they do not receive the same punishment as the empire as a whole are due. Those sins are so bad it is mentioned that God will remember all. He remembers all but this is in emphasis because of the severe nature of the persecutions of the faithful.

The righteous followers of God are to do their best to expose the corruption of the Roman-Catholic empire as they can, histories of the Reformation show that many people did that and when they did it figuratively gave her double to drink as compared to the persecutions she had passed out.

The leaders of the church-state in Rome had been living a luxuriously selfish life at the expense of their subjects and followers around the empire. Now that the word of God had exposed the deceptions to the people they are encouraged to make their condemnation severe because the leaders still think of themselves as a queen, untouchable and rich.

All of the Roman-Catholic church-state's punishment is not to be thought of as happening only on one day, but it will all come at one time, the effects caused by the opening of the eyes of the people will explode on the empire, the mourning by those who benefited by the power of the church-state will be loud.

Her punishment being as one utterly burned with fire denotes the rage of God's fiery jealousy and will bring utter or complete destruction to the combination of the church and state, that union will be broken apart for good.