I have a book by Larry Helyer and Richard Wagner titled Revelation for Dummies. I need it. I often feel like a dummy when I read Revelation.

Of course, I understand the primary message of Revelation: God wins. Jesus is victorious. Evil will be defeated, death undone, and earth will be restored to its God-intended glory. God will live with people, which was always the plan, and people will be glad that it is so.

Nevertheless, there is much in Revelation that I find confusing. For example, in Revelation 18, a great and resplendent angel shouts, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’” This is, of course, a reference to Isaiah 21. (Side note: No one can understand Revelation while overlooking its many biblical quotations and allusions—more, I believe, than in any other New Testament book.)

In the verses that follow, we learn that the kings, merchants, and logistics experts of the world will bemoan the fall of Babylon. The angel cries, “Fallen,” but the “great city” seems still to have been standing. This, of course, fits well with the historical setting, as the people of God were suffering greatly at the hands of a Rome that had not yet fallen. (That “Babylon” is in some sense a code word for Rome is clear, for the woman/prostitute “Babylon” is designated as “the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”)

Could Babylon be something different in 6^th century BC than it was in 1^st Century AD? Might Babylon still exist and be something different today than in either of those times? Does Babylon belong to the ages, a spirit that deceives and exploits through the long years of Adam’s fall?

Where is Helyer’s commentary when I need it?

While there is much in Revelation 17 and 18 that I do not understand, I have for years been struck by its intentional juxtaposition of reactions to Babylon’s fall. The rich and powerful react to Babylon’s destruction with mourning while God’s people react with rejoicing. Babylon’s fall portends the fall of world leaders, but declares the victory of Jesus’s followers.

When Babylon falls, world leaders mourn, but God’s people are told to “Rejoice.” Babylon is under God’s judgment for the harm she caused the saints. The curse of Babylon that ends chapter 18 flows into, and is the reason for, heaven’s jubilant celebration that we find at the beginning of chapter 19.

Why do I find this so striking? Because I cannot help but see it as a cautionary tale for contemporary Christians. Are we in a place (spiritually, intellectually, emotionally) where we can rejoice at Babylon’s fall? Or will we mourn her loss like everyone else? Could it be that the very elect have become intoxicated with Babylon’s delights?

We find this same type of juxtaposition in John’s Gospel. It was the eve of Jesus’s crucifixion, and his betrayer had already gone to fetch the authorities. Jesus said to his friends: “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”

As I would not want to rejoice with the world over Jesus’s arrest and execution, I would not want to grieve with the world over Babylon’s fall. But how can I get it right – grieve when worldly people rejoice and rejoice when they grieve? Or, said another way, how can I grieve at what grieves God and rejoice at what brings him joy?

I suspect that trying to figure out the Book of Revelation (what every image stands for, every biblical citation connotes—what the number 666 is all about!) is not the way to go about it. I needn’t figure out Revelation, but I do need to be all-in for Jesus. When I am, everything else will come out right—even me.