Revelation 18:8

‘Therefore in one day will her plagues come, death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judged her.'

This came upon Rome even though by that time it called itself a ‘Christian' city. But it was still a cesspool of sin and its nature essentially Godless. It was only changed outwardly, not inwardly. Sin, whether in individuals or in great cities, will receive its inevitable consequence, and that consequence often comes suddenly. For however great the propagators of sin, the Lord God is greater.

Isaiah also declared that Babylon's destruction would come ‘in one day' (Isaiah 47:9). The description is typical of a besieged city, and the fate typical of ‘great cities' through the ages - death, mourning, famine, then utterly burned with fire (compare ‘the smoke of her burning' (v. 9; v. 18)). While we may tend to feel ourselves beyond it, it has even happened to great cities in our own day. Man can ever surprise us with his propensity for evil.

It is important to recognise, as you read this chapter through, that what is rejoiced over is the end of Great Babylon and what it represented. The people are in the background.