Study Audio Download

Rev 18:5-9 – I Sit a Queen and Shall See no Sorrow, Part 2

[Study Aired May 4, 2025]

Rev 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Rev 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

We concluded our last study with the understanding that this 7^th verse of Revelation 18 is speaking to us about us as this harlot which we all are while we are dominated by her and her self-righteous false doctrines. We resume our study with this 7^th verse of the 18^th chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ within each of us:

Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

It is we who have said these words in our hearts while we took comfort in the lies of this great harlot to whom we are all slaves in our own time. This harlot is the same as the church of Laodicea, because she has said these same words in her heart.

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

“Be zealous therefore, and repent.” What will lead us to repentance?

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

It is few Christians indeed who realize that “the goodness of God” is His chastening grace, as it is described for us in Psalm 107.

Psa 107:8 Oh that [men] would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Psa 107:10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Psa 107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Psa 107:12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Psa 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

That is what we are being told concerning the wonderful works of God when this great harlot within us “contemns the counsel of the most High” within us. Only then is this harlot within us judged. The Lord’s judgment ‘brings our hearts down with labor and there is none to help.’

The Lord continues to describe the judgment which is needed to extricate us from the clutches of this great harlot who dominates the beast we all are.

Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

“Her plagues” are the seven last plagues of chapter 16. “In one day” is a scriptural term for the short work which the Lord is working in us all as we are being judged and perfected in these vessels of clay. The “death, mourning and famine” are all accomplished through the Words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God. Babylon has been suffering a famine of the word all along; she simply is not aware of that fact. Speaking of “the faithful city which has become a harlot” (Isa 1:21), Isaiah makes this statement:

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Isaiah 3:1 speaks of the famine to which Amos refers in this verse:

Amo 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

We will all endure this famine before we are granted to have this great harlot and her doctrines within us judged and “burned with [the] fire” of the Word of God within us.

Here is what “the Lord God who judges her” is doing in that judgment.

1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

The only way to avoid being “condemned with the world” is to have this harlot within us judged and destroyed in “this present time.” If we are granted to “suffer in this present time”, we will be privileged to be “the sons of God” for which the whole creation is waiting:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Only if we “lose our lives” through “the sufferings of this present time… for Christ’s name’s sake” can we ‘find’ our lives by being given a part in that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Mat 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Losing this life, and the comforts and ease of fitting in with the doctrines and traditions of men, is very hard on the ‘kings’ within us who have ruled over our flesh for so long. When Babylon within us is being judged, those ‘kings’ will distance themselves from us in the same way Job’s friends and comforters distanced themselves from him, self-righteously falsely accusing Job of “infinite” sins:

Job 11:4  For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes.
Job 11:5  But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against thee;
Job 11:6  And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.

Job 22:5  Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
Job 22:6  For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Job 22:7  Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
Job 22:8  But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
Job 22:9  Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Job 22:10  Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

It is our self-righteousness while we are in Babylon which leads us, “the kings of the earth”, to “bewail… and lament” the departure of anyone from our domination as the great harlot which we are at that time:

Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

“The kings of the earth” are all our families, friends and acquaintances with whom we were so comfortable as we all agreed with all the false doctrines of the great whore whose doctrines we all accepted as truth for so long. It is against all doctrines and traditions of Babylon which constitute the principalities and powers of this world against whom this “war in the heavens” is being waged within us. Ours is not a physical battle. Rather, it is a spiritual battle which must be waged every day.

Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Eph 6:12 For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against authorities and powers, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens.  (BBE)

Our warfare is “not against flesh and blood.” The heavens where this war is taking place are the heavens of our hearts and minds where the principalities and powers of that realm struggle to keep us under the domination of our flesh and the false doctrines of the great harlot. Only those who are waging this “war in heaven” are granted to “turn to see the voice behind them” and realize just how great and important it is that we win this battle and know just how great the loss of this battle is to “the kings of the earth” who have for so long ruled the doctrines of our heavens and maintained our prominence in this earth. These “kings of the earth” have been nourished within us by the false, self-righteous doctrines of this great harlot. “The smoke of her burning” is a terrible loss to the kings of our flesh, who are said to “lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning.” It  is only “by fire” and the smoke of  her burning that any of us are saved:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

“The way of the tree of life” is guarded by the fiery sword of God’s Word, and the only way to eat of that tree is to go through the flames of that fiery sword.

As our Lord has told us:

Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled [in the lives of His elect]?

‘Babylon the great’ signifies our life lived in accord with the lying doctrines of that great unfaithful religious system from which we must be extricated if we hope to find our life in this present time. Babylon is our way of life, in opposition to the ways and mind of our Lord. What Babylon is, is just as much a “mystery” to us while we are in her, as is the mystery of Christ being in us. Look at the contrast of these two mysteries.

Here is Babylon:

Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Here is the end of her work and her ways within us.

Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Abel was “slain upon the earth”, and in its broadest sense, ‘Babylon’ encompasses all of mankind who are living their lives in rebellion against their Creator from Abel to Noah and from Noah to Abraham. Babylon’also has a narrower application after God chose Abraham and his seed to come out of Ur of the Chaldees into a land He would show him. From that time God has had a special people whom He is calling out of the land of Babylon. Abraham and his seed signify all men who are called to know the name of Christ. Those who know His name are now His own special people above all the other people who are also His creatures.

That Babylon signifes God’s own apostate, spiritually adulterous people is beyond question when we place these verses beside the words of our Lord concerning the church of His time.

Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen [doth gather] her brood under [her] wings, and ye would not!

It is, and always has been, those who at first believe on Christ who are also the first to want to kill him. Christ has made this fact crystal clear:

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you

Until this very day “many believe on [Christ].” Nevertheless, it is very few who are given to “continue in [His] word” and become His “disciples indeed”, as our Lord demonstrated with His parable of “a certain king which made a marriage for His Son”:

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

It is the Lord’s own people, who come in multitudes to hear His parables and to eat of His loaves and fishes, who are the first to be invited to the wedding of the Son of the King. It is the Lord’s own disciples who “are not given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” who have “entreated spitefully and slew” those who were sent to invite them to the marriage of the Son of the King. Those “Jews which believed on [Christ], and at the same time wanted to kill Him because  His doctrines, His “words have no place in them”, signify this great harlot in whom is “the blood of all them that are slain upon the earth”:

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

“The sorceries” of Babylon are her lying, self-righteous doctrines, which deceive the whole world and kill Christ within us. The mystery of Christ destroys Babylon within us and brings to us “the hope of glory”, which glory cannot be experienced while living in the pleasures of Babylon. The inward nature of this struggle is revealed in these words.

 Eph 3:4  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Col 4:3  Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

Which “mystery of Christ” is made clear by the apostle Paul to all those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the  kingdom of heaven:

Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christin my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

“The gospel… which was preached to every creature under heaven” signifies ‘the heavens’ which dominate ‘the creature, the beast’ within us which Babylon has deceived and ruled over for so long. There are 24 verses in this 18th chapter, and they are all dedicated to demonstrating to us just how deeply Babylon has permeated our lives. It is in Babylon that we live until she begins to be destroyed in the day of our judgment. That day for a few is right now, and the fire of that judgment is “already kindled.” It is unquenchable fire which will burn until the fuel for that fire is spent and is destroyed.

Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

We are to “keep the things written in this book” (Rev 1:3). Therefore the fact that the fiery trials of life are “already kindled” in our lives is not “some strange thing.” It is rather “a manifest token of our salvation”, and it is also a “great and marvelous work” just to know that our fiery trials are all the work of the fire of our Lord’s words which are already kindled within our lives “in this present time” (Rom 8:18) while we are yet in these clay vessels. This is “His goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men.” Oh, that we can learn to praise the Lord for this “great and marvelous” work He is performing within us.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Psa 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psa 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
Psa 107:3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
Psa 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Psa 107:6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Psa 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2Th 1:5  Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

The death and destruction and torment of the kingdom of our old man is the life and edification and comfort of our new man, Christ in us the hope of glory (Col 1:24-27).

In our next study we will see even more of the depths from which His goodness and His wonderful works have delivered us out of the wilderness that is our journey in Babylon, and we will see just how much our old man has lost. What we will see is that Babylon is filled with every tradition and way that is valuable to our natural man, including the very building materials with which we are told to build upon the foundation of Christ. Babylon, even with the proper building materials, is not built upon the foundation of Christ, because His words have no place in Babylon. In our own time it is Christ’s words and His doctrines which cause us to want to kill Him by rejecting His words and His doctrines, all the while claiming His name and proclaiming our own righteousness.

Joh 8:37 I know that ye [Jews that believe on me (vs 30-31)] are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Christ’s Words are twisted and replaced with the ‘cankered gold, silver, and precious stones’ of the great harlot from whom we must be delivered through the pain and torment of the seven last plagues. It is the smoke of our torment which turns those who are still in Babylon against us, as Job’s comforters distanced themselves from him (Job 11:5; 22:5)

We will continue in our next study:

Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. [“upon the house of God” (1Pe 4:17)]
Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
Rev 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
Rev 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.