Never Again

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again.” (Revelation 18:21-23a, NIV 1984).

My Musings – The casting of the millstone into the sea indicates the suddenness of God’s judgment on the empire of the Beast. Some Bible students see in this millstone the return of Christ. “The rock was cut out, but not by human hands…it will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will endure forever,” (Daniel 2:34, 44, NIV 1984).

It also symbolizes the completeness of the judgement. In Jeremiah 51:63–64, the prophet is commanded to hurl a stone into the Euphrates and declare that Babylon would likewise “sink to rise no more.” The stone referenced here is the kind of millstone that was turned by a beast to mill grain.  It is so heavy that it could not be retrieved from the depths.

The eerie silence (“never heard in you again“) that follows in Babylon also means that the devastation is complete. All her mighty works of industry, craftsmanship, political power, and artistic skill are brought to nothing.  “I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland.” (Jeremiah 25:9–11, NIV 1984).

She has played the harlot and worshiped the beast rather than devoting her skills and energies to God and to the Lamb. When God declares “never again,” there is nothing man can do to change it.

My Advice – One day, God’s appeal to sinful mankind will “never again” be heard. It will be sudden, and it will be complete. No excuses. No appeals. Those apart from Christ will be banished from His Kingdom forever. They “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12, NIV 1984). This need not be your fate.

Resources:

Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (p. 849). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Re 18:21). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Re 18:21–22). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Dockery, D. S., Butler, T. C., Church, C. L., Scott, L. L., Ellis Smith, M. A., White, J. E., & Holman Bible Publishers (Nashville, T. . (1992). Holman Bible Handbook (p. 802). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.