Only that is not what is says
I bet you have read it again already. Maybe you see what I was led to see?
Up until verse 21 this chapter has been narrated by a voice from heaven. That voice which prophesied how the kings, merchants and sailors will mourn the loss of Babylon has stopped. Why do I say that? Well it’s right there in verse 21. The voice came from an unseen source. That voice though stopped. In verse 21 a vision started. This time John wrote not of merely hearing a voice, but of seeing. He saw a “mighty angel,” and that angel did something. He picked up a stone …like… a great millstone.
Let us stop there for the time being. In Revelation 8 it was a mountain sized rock and one burning with flame. Its fall into the ocean damaged the ocean so badly that a lot of the sea creatures died and a bunch of ships were destroyed. Here is the link to my lesson on that passage (see page 2).
That type of event is not what should be seen here in chapter 18 verse 21. The object picked up is not a flaming mountain, but a large stone. Sure it ended up in the sea, but it should be clear that it is not about the ocean being destroyed. What is spoken of as being destroyed? Babylon…not ships, not sea life.
Let’s pull this apart more
Since my bias’ jumped to a wrong headed conclusion let’s slow way down and try to get to a proper view of this verse.
John first saw a mighty angel and noticed his actions. That angel picked up a stone, but stone can imply so many things to so many people. Think about what the word stone means to you. Do you imagine something large? Something small? Since the angel was going to throw this thing maybe you think of what kind of a rock you could throw. Maybe you even think of a tall, stout and strong person you know picking up the biggest rock they can throw. I think of the movie The Incredibles. Mr. Incredible can throw incredibly large rocks. (He does in the video game, by the way. I have seen two of my children play that one a bunch.)
Clearly throwing stones is something that each of us might imagine differently. It would have been no different in John the Apostle’s time so he went on to describe it. He said, it was like a great millstone. That helps.
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