The Scriptures identify the great harlot’s judge as God, himself, saying he is strong, implying that his judgment is sure to occur (Revelation 18:8). Moreover, such a judgment – death, mourning and famine – would come in a single day! However, this shouldn’t be understood to be a literal day, as indicated in Revelation 18:10, 17, 19, where her judgment had come upon the great harlot in one hour, instead of a day. The sense seems to be that judgment would come quickly and suddenly, similar to what the Lord had claimed in his Olivet Prophecy (Matthew 24:36-42). There, Noah’s preaching ministry about the coming judgment lasted 120 years (cp. Genesis 6:3), but no physical event supported Noah’s prophecy until the day and the hour the floods finally came. On the contrary, everything appeared normal, but judgment fell immediately following Noah and his family entering the ark (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:27).
The message of the Apocalypse at Revelation 18:8 is in response to the great harlot’s boast in Revelation 18:7. There she denied the truth of the Gospel, claiming she sat (ruled) as a queen, that she was not a widow, and that she lived deliciously with her lovers, the kings of the earth. Nevertheless, suddenly the “queen” would be destroyed (death); her unrepentant claim that she still had a husband would end in mourning over her widowhood, and finally, although she lived deliciously, i.e. had great influence among her lovers, that power and world influence would end abruptly (famine). In other words, her judgment came because of her unrepentance and her disbelief in the Gospel of the New Covenant about the coming Kingdom of God.
The kings of the earth lived deliciously with the great harlot. That is, their influence over the world was enhanced by her. Their power had been greater when she was living deliciously with them (Revelation 18:9-10). In other words their ‘influential power’ over the world had a mutual benefit for both of them. With the destruction of the great harlot, Rome’s powerful influence was diminished. Therefore, her lovers mourned over her destruction, despite the fact that they were the ones who destroyed her!
When Titus, the prince that would come (Daniel 9:26), saw that the Temple of the Jews had been set on fire, he tried to stop its destruction by commanding that the flames be extinguished before they were out of control. Nevertheless, his army didn’t hear, and in the confusion of the battle with the Jews, the Temple was burned with fire.[1] Thus, was Jerusalem and its Temple destroyed in fulfillment of the Scripture: “the daughter of a priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaned her father: she shall be burnt with fire. And he who is the High Priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes” (Leviticus 21:9-10). Therefore, Jerusalem’s lovers, the kings of the earth mourned over her (Revelation 18:9-10), but the Lord was the High Priest who judged her.
It is interesting that the very one the Lord used to carry out his judgment upon Jerusalem bewailed her destruction. No one ever wins in war. War is waged over power, that is, to sustain or to gain that power, but the reality is that war is waged at a great cost to both sides. Caesar lost much of his power and wealth that arose out of the Jewish lands. With Jerusalem’s central government, its capital and its Temple destroyed, that power and the means to derive wealth from this community was greatly diminished. Therefore, Titus and the kings of the earth mourned over Jerusalem’s destruction: “Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come” (Revelation 18:10).
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[1] See Josephus: Wars of the Jews 6.4.5-7
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