Title: "28 Trillion Yen Vanished in 48 Hours — Revelation Chapter 18

Worship Message No. 36 / May 17: Revelation Chapter 18

▶ Introduction
March 2023. America's "Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)" collapsed in just 48 hours.
Total assets of 28 trillion yen. A bank long trusted in Silicon Valley — where IT companies and emerging startups had gathered for years — vanished in an instant the moment a bank run spread across social media.
What was shocking was the speed. Bank crises of the past unfolded over months, but in today's digital age, where deposits can be withdrawn with a single smartphone, it was all over in 48 hours.
But the one chapter of the Bible we are about to read today depicts a collapse happening in an even shorter span of time. "In a single instant."

Revelation chapter 18. This is the chapter about an entity called "Babylon," written as something that will be destroyed in "the end times."
"Babylon? Isn't that an ancient city?" — if that's what you're thinking, wait just a moment.
What this chapter depicts is not the story of an ancient ruin. It is the final end of power, wealth, desire, and pleasure — everything humanity has pursued in place of God.
Even those who have never read the Bible should, after watching today's video, understand "why this chapter has been read for 2,000 years." Let's look at it together.

▶ Background
First, a brief background.
Revelation — also known as "The Revelation to John" — is a book written by a man named John at the end of the first century AD. At the time, Christians were under fierce persecution by the Roman Empire.
And in this book, "Babylon" is the name used as a symbol for that Roman Empire.
Why Babylon? Because in the era of the Old Testament, the great empire that conquered Israel was Babylonia. The word Babylon was used as a byword for "a great nation in rebellion against God."
However, most theologians do not interpret "Babylon = the Roman Empire alone." Embedded in this chapter is a universal message that transcends any specific era or region. It is a warning directed at "the very structure of prosperity without God."

▶ P (Conclusion — stated upfront)
Let me state the conclusion of this chapter first.

"Any system of prosperity built without God will inevitably collapse. And before that collapse, God is calling out: 'Get out.'"

"Babylon" is not a specific nation or city. It is "human desire seeking to prosper without God, and the entire system that supports it."
While depicting collapse, this chapter simultaneously speaks a message: "You don't have to be there."

▶ R (Reason)
What kind of entity is Babylon?
Let's look at verses 1–3.

"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! … For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries." (Revelation 18:2–3, NIV)

"The maddening wine of her adulteries" — quite a striking expression. This does not carry a sexual meaning; it refers to "a relationship of worshiping and depending on something other than God as if it were God." In the Bible, such a relationship is sometimes expressed as "adultery."
It says Babylon "made all the nations drink." This is not the problem of just one country. The entire world had become dependent on this "system," intoxicated by it.

Verse 3 continues:

"The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries." (Revelation 18:3, NIV)

Kings colluded with her for power; merchants became dependent on her for wealth. In today's language, it is a depiction of the "global system" in which politics, economics, and desire are intricately entangled.
Why does this collapse? The answer is in verse 5:

"for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes." (Revelation 18:5, NIV)

The "judgment of God" that the Bible speaks of is not impulsive anger. It is the ultimate response to injustice that has accumulated over long years.

▶ E (Concrete Examples)
Reading in contrast with real-world failures
Verse 4. Here lies the heart of this chapter.

"Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4, NIV)

Before depicting the scene of collapse, God first says "Get out." Please notice that this is not a word of punishment — it is a word of rescue.

── The Nokia Example ──
In the early 2000s, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia held the No. 1 market share in the world. One in every three mobile phones sold worldwide was made by Nokia. Everyone believed, "This company will be secure forever."
Then in 2007, Apple announced the iPhone. Nokia's management initially laughed it off: "There's no way a phone operated only by touchscreen will sell." That judgment proved fatal.
In 2013, Nokia's mobile phone business was sold to Microsoft, and an era came to an end.
What I want to focus on here is the choices made by the employees. Immediately after the iPhone appeared, there were employees who sensed "this is bad," left Nokia, and moved to emerging IT companies. On the other hand, many of those who stayed, believing "the Nokia brand is forever," lost their jobs in the large-scale restructuring that came a few years later.
"Those who left" and "those who stayed." This difference was not a difference in ability. It was a difference in where each person made the judgment about what "would not collapse."

── Japan's Bubble Collapse ──
Those who experienced Japan's bubble collapse will understand. In the late 1980s, everyone believed that land and stocks would keep rising forever. There was even a phrase for it: "the land myth."
At the final trading session of 1989, the Nikkei average stood at 38,915 yen. By 1992, it had fallen to the 16,000 range. There was no such thing as "an ever-continuing prosperity."

The voices of the "merchants" lamenting Babylon's collapse continue from verse 11:

"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore." (Revelation 18:11, NIV)

A list of the goods they sold follows. Gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, fragrant wood, ivory articles — and then it concludes with this:

"…and human beings sold as slaves." (Revelation 18:13, NIV)

What lies at the very bottom of the economy? This list ends with an indictment: "human beings themselves have become a commodity."
This is not unrelated to the present day. Human trafficking, forced labor, exploitation through low wages — the reality that "human lives are being sold" still exists all around the world. The product list of Babylon has not been updated in 2,000 years.
Verses 17–18. The sailors also lament:

"In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!" (Revelation 18:17, NIV)
"In one hour."
Think of the modern stock market. In March 2020, the Nikkei average fell approximately 30% in about one month due to the COVID shock. In today's digitized financial markets, algorithmic trading moves all at once, and the reality is that trillions of yen in assets can vanish "in an instant."
Collapse comes suddenly. That is another message of this chapter.

But in verse 20, the scene turns abruptly:

"Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you." (Revelation 18:20, NIV)

In the midst of the sounds of lamentation, in heaven there is "rejoicing." Why?
Because the judgment is "the realization of justice."
Behind this joy is the declaration that God "remembered" those who had long been trampled by power, those who had been kept at the very bottom of the economic system.

▶ P (Re-conclusion / Closing)
Verse 21. An angel hurls a great boulder into the sea and says:

"With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again." (Revelation 18:21, NIV)

Verse 24. The final words of this chapter:

"In her was found the blood of prophets and of God's holy people, and of all who have been slaughtered on the earth." (Revelation 18:24, NIV)

Babylon had trampled many things beneath the shadow of her prosperity. And this is the message: God holds the complete record of all of it.
From this chapter, there is one question for us:
"What are you depending on to live, right now?"
Money, status, reputation, relationships — these are not bad things. But what the Bible says is this: when these things become "absolutes," that is building a house on a foundation that will crumble.
The words "Come out of her, my people" are not a call to leave the city of Babylon. They are a call to say: "Do not make what Babylon offers your ultimate refuge."
Revelation chapter 18 is a chapter of judgment. But at its center, there is a single way of escape. Whether or not to take the hand that God is extending — that is the question posed to us who read this chapter.

▶ Ending / CTA
Today we read Revelation chapter 18, "The Fall of Babylon."
I think some of you may have been a little surprised at how deeply this chapter, written 2,000 years ago, connects with Silicon Valley Bank, Nokia, the bubble collapse, and the modern global economy.

Next time is Revelation chapter 19. We will read together about what comes after the collapse — the scene known as "the wedding supper of the Lamb."