The great whore of Babylon faces judgment (Revelation 17:1), for fornication (17:2) but also in recompense for the blood of saints and martyrs (17:6, 18:24), and for idolatry (17:3, 18:2) and luxurious living (18:3, 7, 16, 19-20). The passage points out that there are a variety of sins that will get us damned; and it points out as well our uneasy relationship with justice.

We consider the notorious wrongdoers of this world, and want God to judge them and allot to them the punishment they deserve; then we consider that we ourselves are wrongdoers, and want God to be merciful. Yet isn’t that an uncomfortable distinction to make? If we suppose that there are those who are so bad that they do not deserve mercy, what are we claiming about ourselves? That it is just for God to grant us mercy, because that’s what we deserve, and just for God to condemn other sinners, because that’s what they deserve? If we say that, we have given up on the doctrine of salvation by grace.

Yet justice is clearly important within today’s section. The angel declares, “You are just, O Holy One, who are and were, for you have judged these things; because they shed the blood of saints and prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” (Revelation 16:5-6). And the altar calls back, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just!” (16:7). Even the song of Moses and the Lamb, which is mostly about all the nations coming to worship before the Lord God, includes the affirmation, “your judgments have been revealed” (15:4).

‘Babylon’ is clearly more than an individual; it represents systems and cultures: the Roman Empire, for John’s immediate readers, perhaps Nazism for us – and some would say Washington while others would say Wall Street. Yet we are always in the greatest danger when we presume to point to others as those who most deserve damnation. In the end, the only safe thing for us is to give thanks that the justice of God has been satisfied in the atonement of Jesus, who is now appointed as the judge of the living and the dead: our judge is our redeemer.

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Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations! Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed. So we trust in you, Lord, in life and in death, forever.