“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” Rev.14.8

Revelation chapter 14 verse seven, we are told that the hour of judgment has now come. People must unequivocally worship the true Creator or perish. The witness of the Rapture has been given so people would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God’s promises and word are true. The Gospel is preached from heaven in such a supernatural way that no one can deny its reality. Loved ones who were raptured plead from heaven for mothers, daughters, husbands, and sons to accept Christ, no matter what the earthly cost. Now, there is nowhere to run. Pews provide no sanctuary, denominations no longer help people put on a mask of false piety, there are no more priests to absolve them of sin and take confession for the guilty. Religion’s covering is stripped away.

At this point in Revelation God does not give us any details concerning the judgment of Babylon. But in future chapters, God has much to say about her. Chapters seventeen and eighteen will deal with the mother of false religion which God calls the Whore. For now, however, God has inserted this into the chronology of chapter fourteen to establish the timing of Babylon’s fall and to make us aware of her existence.(It would not be a bad idea for the reader to take a peek at chapters seventeen and eighteen right now because at least a passing understanding of what she is and who she is will be helpful in the things we are about to discuss.)

It makes sense that Satan will prepare for the total worship of the Antichrist by doing away with all pretense of Christianity, whether good or bad and replace it with the “mystery rites” of the new Antichrist religion. It will probably include initiation mysteries centered around the Mark of the Beast, the speaking image, and who knows – the drinking of blood, a solemn oath of allegiance to Satan, or some other modern equivalency of mystery initiation. Mystery Babylon’s judgment appears to be dished out in two parts by God. In the middle of the Tribulation, bogus Christianity (the Laodicean Church) will be stripped, burned and ravaged. The wealth of the Roman Church and her sisters are plundered. Around the world, her property is confiscated and applied to the Antichrist kingdom’s coffers to be used for his worship and to finance his social programs. This is the judgment referred to in Revelation fourteen. But there will be a final judgment on her at the end of the Tribulation. The Whore of Babylon, the ancient religion and origin of all blasphemous and false religions, which has infested Christianity and formed the basis for all other religions, will be totally obliterated.  In the upcoming two chapters (17 & 18) on MYSTERY BABYLON we are told who destroys her, why she is destroyed and that she is totally destroyed in one day, even in one hour. We are told that the saints and all of heaven sing “Alleluia” and rejoice when she is destroyed. Her judgment will not be gradual or slow, It will not be performed by parliamentary decision, lawful transition, or through tax codes or any form of attrition. Property will not be confiscated or seized as it was in the middle of the Tribulation when the Christian “whore” was raped. It will be a violent and total destruction.

The other piece of new information we are given for now is the reason why she is judged. This is a great indictment of false religion and how it has infested the entire earth, including Christianity. She has brought God’s wrath on all the nations by involving them in her fornication. Fornication in the spiritual sense is to commit idolatry or to commit intimate adultery with another god. No nation or people has been exempt from her harlot’s touch. We shall find out later that she has seduced the people of the world by her sorceries. But now she is going to get her comeuppance.

The damned and the martyred:

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:  
  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
  And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Rev. 14.9-13

These people will preach salvation and testify to it by accepting their execution rather than accepting the Mark of the Beast. The Mark of the Beast is the mechanism that Satan uses to coerce all mankind into worshiping him. But it is also the mechanism that God allows to separate the generation of the Tribulation into just two clearly defined groups: the eternally damned and those that are rescued into eternal life. Now there is truly no place to retreat. Either you take the Mark and are cast from God’s presence forever, or you refuse to deny Christ and suffer the first death so that the second death will not have power over you. It is the ultimate fulfillment of Christ’s warning: “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” Matt. 10:39 & 16:25 Mark 8:35 Luke 9:24

Taken from the book Revelation Pure & Simple by Terry Myers Smith