THE IRREMEDIABLE OVERTHROW OF BABYLON SYMBOLICALLY DECLARED.

(21) And a mighty angel . . .--The taking up of the stone and casting it into the waters is a symbol drawn from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51). Jeremiah enjoined Seraiah to bind the prophetic roll to a great stone, and cast them together into the Euphrates. The meaning of the act was explained--"Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise," &c. (Jeremiah 51:63-64). The great dead mass, sinking helplessly by the law of its own weight, signified a fall past recovery. So Pharaoh and his host sank like lead in the mighty waters. It is the doom Christ foreshadowed as awaiting those who caused His children to fall (Matthew 18:6). The mighty angel, strong to lift the ponderous stone, throws it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence (or, with a bound) shall Babylon, the great city, be thrown, and shall not be found any more. At one bound, without a single resting-stage in its downward career, without chance or power of recovery, the vast world-city would fall. She who sat as a queen upon many waters, sinks as a stone in the mighty waters. She will not be found any more. The words "any more," or "no more," are repeated in these verses no less than six times, like a funeral knell over the departed greatness which is described.

Verse 21. - And a mighty angel took up a stone like a groat millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying; add one strong angel (cf. the "mighty voice" in ver. 2; also Revelation 10:1, and elsewhere). The adjective, of course, refers to the mightiness of the deed wrought (cf. Jeremiah 51:61-64, "Thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; and thou shall say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise," etc.). The sea may be typical of the nations of the earth (see Revelation 13:1). Thus with violence shall that groat city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all; Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, etc. (Revised Version). Alford translates "with a rush;" ὅρμημα is peculiar to this passage. The complete nature of this extinction is indicated by the frequency of the words, "no more at all," in vers. 21-23.

18:20-24 That which is matter of rejoicing to the servants of God on earth, is matter of rejoicing to the angels in heaven. The apostles, who are honoured and daily worshipped at Rome in an idolatrous manner, will rejoice in her fall. The fall of Babylon was an act of God's justice. And because it was a final ruin, this enemy should never molest them any more; of this they were assured by a sign. Let us take warning from the things which brought others to destruction, and let us set our affections on things above, when we consider the changeable nature of earthly things.And a mighty angel,.... Not Christ, nor one of the ministering spirits, but some man or set of men, perhaps the same with him in Revelation 18:1

took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea; just as Jeremiah took a stone and bound it to his book after he had read it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign and token of the destruction of old Babylon, Jeremiah 51:63

saying, thus with violence shall that great city be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all; which is expressive of the utter destruction of Rome, and of the violence, force, and power with which it will be destroyed, and of the suddenness and swiftness of its destruction, and of the irrecoverableness of its state and condition.