John hears another angel flying in the mid-heaven, having the gospel to proclaim to those on earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, “FEAR GOD AND GIVE HIM GLORY; FOR THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGEMENT IS COME: AND WORSHIP HIM THAT MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND SEA AND FOUNTAINS OF WATERS.”
The gospel had both sweet and bitter elements attached to its message (Rev. 10:9-11). Both would come together. Attached to fearing God and giving Him glory is the reason for it. Fearing God causes men to depart from evil (Prov. 3:7; 16:6) and certainly the proper response in preparation for His judgment. There is a post-millennial judgment of the dead that has yet to occur and in which you and I will experience. This judgment is a pre-millennial judgment that was soon to take place in John’s day. After all, it was the last days and the beginning of the days of the Messianic reign. The only hope for anyone facing the judgment of God is the same at any time — repentance (Matthew 12:41).
A second angel followed, saying, “FALLEN, FALLEN IS BABYLON THE GREAT, that hath made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” The ancient city of Babylon had fallen long before this time (Dan. 5:25-28). It had held God’s people in captivity and suffered by God’s hand for their cruelty and pride (2 Chron. 36:11-21; Jer. 50:27-34). Babylon the Great in the revelation of Jesus Christ is the great city where the Lord was crucified (Rev. 11:8; Matt. 16:21). God’s temple was here (Rev. 11:1) and the blood of the prophets (Rev. 18:24). The city is to be burned with fire and the temple utterly destroyed (Rev. 17:16; 18:8, 17) because the Kings of the earth committed fornication with the Great Harlot (Rev. 18:3). God judged both the Harlot and those who committed fornication with her.
A third angel followed them, saying, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” Verse eleven describes their torment with these words, “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” The description is taken from the Greek concept of the Abyss or Tartarus. In Pindar’s Pythian Ode, Tartarus is identified with the lake of fire under Mount Aetna. In this song or ode of the Lamb, we find an adaptation of Greek mythology where Satan is defeated and cast into the bottomless pit or the Abyss. This image and the image of the Jewish Gehenna (Valley of Hinnom) are two images of the same eternal torment. It is the place of torment reserved for the wicked. “They have no rest day and night.”
By contrast, God’s judgment brought rest and peace to the righteous (cf. Heb. 4:1-11). From the good that they had sown, they would reap an eternal weight of glory (Rom. 8:18).