Revelation 18: Joy and Judgment

“Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” -Revelation 18:20

Near the end of God’s judgments upon the earth, Babylon (whose identity many debate, though it is clearly the “bad guy” in the story) is destroyed in a powerful demonstration of the Lord’s power. As a result, there is a call not to mourn, as we might expect, but to rejoice.

Why will the people of God rejoice at the destruction of evil? Certainly not because of the loss of life involved or the devastation upon land, animals, and other resources. The joy will be at the removal of evil or the end of evil.

While the final end of sin comes later in Revelation, the end of evil has historically been a reason to rejoice by believers throughout history. Again, we may not enjoy the death of any person, even Hitler or similar historical figures, but we rejoice at the end of evil these people represent. For that, all believers can truly be thankful.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.