Babylon and the collapse of false security

Revelation 17–18

Use your preferred translation.

What happens when wealth, commerce, and power become the foundation of our hope?

• What does the passage say? Restate it in your own words before interpreting it.
• Who is speaking, and to whom?
• What is the surrounding context — what comes just before and after?
• Which words or phrases repeat or stand out?

1. Who mourns Babylon’s fall in chapter 18, and what exactly do they mourn?
2. Revelation 18:4 says, “Come out of her, my people.” What might that call have meant to the first readers, and what might it mean now?
3. Read the list of cargo in 18:11–13. What does it suggest about how Babylon treated people?

If your income or savings disappeared, what would you discover about where your security actually rests?

Identify one purchase or habit this week that feeds a false sense of security, and set it aside for a few days.

Ask God to free you from trusting in wealth and to make your hope rest in what cannot fall.