Revelation 14:8; Babylon Is Fallen

Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 

The second angel follows the first one in mid-heaven and utters a word against Babylon, the destroyer of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 b.c. The question is how this announcement relates to the words of the first angel. The answer lies in the people’s refusal to repent and give God the glory that is due him. The fall of unbelievers is unavoidable when they fail to repent, for then judgment is their just retribution.

The cry “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great” is taken from Isaiah 21:9 and Daniel 4:30, which mentions successively the fall and the greatness of Babylon (Revelation 18:2).

Isaiah 21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, witha couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. 

Daniel 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 

In modern writing, we express emphasis with italics or the use of an exclamation mark. These features were unknown in the ancient world, where writers achieved the same purpose by repeating the word that needed stress, hence the repetitious use of “fallen.” The city of Babylon fell to the Assyrians in 689 B.C. and a hundred and fifty years later to the Persians in 539.

 Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, p. 409). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.