Overview
The Loud Cry – In Revelation 18, an angel with great authority illuminates the earth with his glory and cries out with a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the Great.”
Darkness in the Beast’s kingdom – The plagues in Revelation 16 weaken the Beast. In the fifth, the kingdom of the Beast became darkened.
This article shows that the Loud Cry and the Fifth Plague are the same. When all people either have the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God, the plagues begin to fall. The Loud Cry will go out, not to call people to repentance, but to reveal the corruption of Babylon the Great.
Introduction
The Loud Cry Illuminates.
In Revelation 18, an angel with great authority descends from heaven, illuminating the earth with his glory, and cries out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the Great. She has become a dwelling place of demons” (Rev 18:1-2). In other words, “fallen” here means that Babylon has become corrupt, not that it has lost power.
Revelation 17 explains Babylon. She symbolizes the false religious system throughout human history, corrupting people (Rev 17:2) and reigning over kings (Rev 17:2, 3, 10, 18).
This is not a literal angel but a message proclaimed on earth by God’s people through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of the power by which this message will be given, this article refers to it as the Loud Cry. [Show More]
Then “another voice from heaven” (Rev 18:4), possibly God Himself, says: “Come out of her, MY people.” In other words, at least some of God’s people are in Babylon, and they must come out because it has become a place where demons dwell.
The Fifth Plague causes Darkness.
After the Beast’s deadly wound healed, “the whole earth … followed after the beast … they worshiped the beast, saying, … ‘Who is able to wage war with him?'” (Rev 13:3, 4)
But the plagues in Revelation 16 weaken this powerful Beast:
The first four plagues specifically target the beast’s followers and their environment (see First Four Plagues).
The fifth attacks “the throne of the beast,” symbolizing the Beast’s authority. Consequently, in contrast to the illumination of the Loud Cry, “his kingdom became darkened” (Rev 16:10), meaning that the Beast suffers a loss of authority. [Show More]
The Cry causes Darkness.
Both the Fifth Plague and the Loud Cry attack the Beast’s kingdom. The purpose of the current article is to show that these two are the same. In other words, the Illumination of the powerful Loud Cry causes the Darkness in the Beast’s kingdom:
1) The Loud Cry precedes the Seventh Plague.
The Loud Cry will precede the Seventh Plague because it places her destruction in the future, and the Seventh Plague destroys Babylon (Rev 16:19). [Show More]
2) The Loud Cry will be during the Plagues.
The purpose of the Three Angels of Revelation 14:7-11 is to warn people against the Mark of the Beast (e.g., Rev 14:9). Therefore, they will give their warning message while the Image of the Beast is persecuting God’s people. [Show More]
As discussed, Revelation 15 is a point in history when every person has made their final decision to worship either the Beast (Rev 14:9) or God (Rev 14:7). Then, every person has been marked; either with the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of God (Rev 14:1). (See here) This is also when the command is given to pour out the plagues (Rev 16:1). Revelation 15, therefore, is the point in history when the warning of the Three Angels has no further purpose and will cease, and when the Seven Last Plagues begin.
The Loud Cry is similar to the Three Angels in some respects. However, there is no call to repentance in the Loud Cry. It is a message for God’s people only: “Come out of her, my people” (Rev 18:4). This implies that the time for repentance has passed and that it will be proclaimed during the plagues, when there would be no repentance (cf. Rev 16:9, 11). [Show More]
3) The Loud Cry will be during the Fifth.
However, it is possible to be more specific, namely that the mighty angel of Revelation 18 proclaims his message during the fifth plague. This is justified as follows:
(A) The Loud Cry calls God’s people out of Babylon so that they would not receive her plagues (Rev 18:4, 8), and the Sixth and Seventh Plagues are particularly the plagues on Babylon (Rev 16:12, 19). Therefore, “My people” come out at the beginning of the Sixth Plague. [Show More]
(B) The contrast between the darkness in the beast’s kingdom in the Fifth Plague (Rev 16:10) and the bright light of the Loud Cry (Rev 18:1) implies that the illumination of the whole earth by the angel in Revelation 18 causes the darkness on the kingdom of the beast.
(C) Immediately after the Fifth Plague, in the Sixth, the waters of the Euphrates dries up (Rev 16:12), meaning that the support of the people for Babylon dries up. This seems parallel to the call to God’s people, immediately after the Loud Cry, that God’s people must come out of Babylon (Rev 18:4).
Conclusion
The Loud Cry, during the Fifth Plague, will convince the peoples of the world that the light from false Christianity is actually spiritual darkness and that the despised and persecuted minority ‘sect’ actually is God’s true people. [Show More]
The Fifth Plague is followed by the Sixth, where God’s people leave Babylon, symbolized by the drying up of the Euphrates, followed by the destruction of Babylon by the Kings of the Earth (Rev 17:16) in the Seventh Plague (Rev 16:19).
Other Articles
The Seven Plagues
Other
- I recommend Jon Paulien’s commentary on Revelation for further reading. For general theological discussions, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the Pineknoll website.