17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air... Apparently the air will be contaminated majorly. However, since Satan is the prince of the powers of the air, there is probably also a spiritual application: i.e., every realm of his control among the inhabitants of the earth will be effected.

...and there came a great voice... i.e., a major judgment.

...out of the temple of heaven... speaking of our LORD Himself.

...from the throne... During the time of this vial, Christ Himself will come forward and visibly take charge.

...saying, It is done. This will be the final judgment of the first 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week; and Christ's personal declaration agrees with one of his prophetic titles: i.e., Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings... Notice that these words which represent divine judgment on man are all in the plural. Does this mean that there will many judgments during this period?

...and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. Already, during the Tribulation Period just prior to this 1st 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week/the first 1/2 of the Day of the Lord, the earth will have gone through a time so bad that if God Himself had not intervened, no flesh would have been saved. From the wording of this judgment — well, look out earth!

19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

And the great city...Will this great city be Jerusalem or will it be the mysterious Babylon the Great.

... was divided into three parts... ?internally? or as booty of a war? or as something else?

...and the cities of the nations fell... Which nations? The ten horns (nations) of the beast's confederacy? or all nations? We should note that although we are told that they will fall, we are not told that they will be destroyed. Apparently, as it was with the Israelites that fled Egypt during the Exodus, the end-time Jews will have the wealth of these oppressing nations at their disposal, but not under their control. At this time, everything will be under the control of the Theocratic government of King Jesus. (See Isa. 53:1-12; Zeph. 2:9; Zech. 2:1-13.)

...and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. This refers to the downfall of spiritual Babylon. Satan is just before being bound and cast into hell for the thousand years that will run concurrent with the Kingdom Age. His reign will be replaced by the first perfect government ever on the planet earth, a theocratic government under the Son of God Himself.

20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

And every island fled away... i.e., the nations that had harbored the remnants of Israel.

...and the mountains were not found. There'll be no churches or cults left that will be controlled by man.

NOTE! Chapter 17 of the
BOOK OF REVELATION is a parenthetical insert that should be read between the first and second half of the eighteenth set of Daniel's 70th Week. To read the insert, go back to our Launch Page and click on the "4th parenthetical, or . click here.

Rev. 18:1-3

1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened
with his glory.

And after these things...Although there seems to be a sequential order to the sets, it also seems that some of the things prophesied in the sets will overlap, having a point in time when they begin, but running concurrently for a space of time.

...I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power and the earth was lightened with his glory. This, again, triggers the thought that the angels will vary in characteristics and power. For the job ahead it will either take a strong angel, or one that will be given great power for the task.

2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen... This angel is sent with the decree of Babylon the Great's destruction; but before that destruction takes place, he is heralding the reasons for her demise. The fact that the term "is fallen" is used twice is not a misprint, but a prophetic tool indicating that Babylon's total corruption will happen two times: once at the first 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70th Week and again here at the last 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70th Week.

...and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.(cf. Mark 9:25; Luke 8:5; Mt. 13:32 ) At first glance you would think that this "cage" would be the night clubs and strip joints of our society, but Satan is smart enough to know that those who frequent the "sin dens" of the world can do him no good, for they give their substance to their habits. This verse is actually talking about the higher echelon of our society — the ones who can "tweak their noses" and a billion dollars changes hands in our economy, the ones who can change the laws of our land, and the ones who hold the "religious" rule — these are Satan's cage.

3 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.

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication... Since the time of the first Babylon, Satan has used the same ploys against all the nations of the world, though against some with more success than others.

...and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her... Again, this spiritual fornication has varied with each king.

...and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. If the wealth of the world were represented by a line graph, the line would have up and downs, but overall, it would have a steady incline. In fact, no generation in recorded history has ever enjoyed the overall wealth and prosperity being enjoyed by the developed nations of our present generation.

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Return to the LAUNCH PAGE for our study of Revelations

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And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven... Again, this language takes us back to the time of the Exodus when both Israel and its oppressors fell into the hands of God. (See Exodus, chapter 9.) (It is interesting that grievous hail will not only be a part of the end time scenario, but that man's understanding of snow and hail would be reserved until the "enlightened time" that would bring this all to pass [Job 38:22 cf. Dan. 12:4]).

...every stone about the weight of a talent... In the Old Testament the talent is used as a measure of weight and as a unit of money. At first glance it would appear that the measurement of weight applies to this verse. But if we will consider the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, and interpret the important "talent" given to every servant to be a "measure of faith," then we might also consider a spiritual application to these stones — especially when we consider our LORD's reaction to the slothful servant who didn't use his talent, but hid it in the earth.

Mt. 25:24-30
24Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(For a study of the parable of the talents, Go to booklet eight, chapter thirty-two of our on-line book CLOCK OF THE AGES.

...and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail... This is definitely a "bad attitude" to take with God.

...for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Although this response to man's grievous acts of sin will be exceeding great, it needs to be balanced against the exceeding wickedness of man throughout our age.