Kalev Creative

10/19/2025

We’re reading through Revelation along with NT Wright’s Revelation for Everyone. These notes include discussions of topics of additional interest and attempt connections with more Old Testament material.

18

As in some Old Testament judgment narratives (most memorably the Song of the Sea following Exodus’ narrative of the crossing of the Red/Reed Sea), Revelation 18 contains both narrative descriptions and poetry/song versions.

Angels declare the judgment of Babylon in language suggesting it’s a stand-in for Rome. The list of items the merchants trade is both reminiscent of Ezekiel’s condemnation of the king of Tyre and contains elements specific to first century Rome. Though Tyre was much smaller, it too was known for its military power and wealth derived from trade, and, in Ezekiel 26, God condemns it in prose and song.

John uses layered references to earlier judgments to condemn what can reasonably be interpreted both as Rome and as a kind of timeless city of corruption dating all the way back to the first city founded by Cain in Genesis 4 and potentially future similar cities/nations until the time of Jesus’ return.

It’s important, as we seek to interpret, to recall that this is a vision and that a woman in this context is not a human being, rather she is a symbol of spiritual or physical powers. Adultery in this context is cheating on the nation’s relationship with God. The prostitute is committed to idolatry. “She” tempts and participates with the nations in violations of God’s intended order.

For the first time in the book, the focus turns to trade as corruption. Merchants mourn the destruction of evil powers because they profited from them. Many of us in the class were convicted by our own country and culture’s focus on trade and the way it enables corruption and alternatives to relationship with God.

There was a lot of discussion in class, which is difficult to reproduce in the notes. In exchange, here is some artwork we didn’t look at in class.

We’ll likely continue with the remainder of chapter 18 next time.