Babylon; compare Isaiah 21:9. Babylon was the chief seat of persecution against the church of God under the Old Testament; and this name is given to the chief seat of such persecutions under the New Testament.

Is fallen; an announcement of the overthrow of this great persecuting power.

Drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; Babylon is compared to a harlot holding in her hand a wine-cup of wrath, and making all nations drunk with it. The figure is taken from Jeremiah 25:15-28, where God, through the literal Babylon, administers to the nations the wine-cup of his fury. The meaning is, that the mystic Babylon, by seducing the nations to commit spiritual fornication with her, brings upon them the wrath of God. For this sin her doom is here foretold.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising

Old Testament