And here I find much more of the purely worldly part of the system; and this its character, though the other be not denied. And here she is seen as fallen. Babylon the great, not spoken of here as the mother of harlots, the whore, or the woman, but simply as Babylon the great, as a city or dwelling-place. She had not ceased to exist, however, at all; but she was fallen and become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird. This was her present condition and judgment—her condition morally—and as discerned by the Church, who, through the Spirit, knew all things on the testimony of God.
The fall of Babylon seems to be her losing the place of active governing or leading power, ruling as such, the beast and many waters, involving her moral degradation not destruction.
God now calls His people out of her. I do not say that this call had not application whenever the truth of the third verse was perceived; but it was now definite and positive, for the truth was declared judicially? Woe to them who remained! Her sins had reached to heaven, and they would receive of her plagues if they stayed. It was a warning on account of consequences now. The
