‘And I heard another voice from Heaven saying, “Come forth, my people, out of her so that you have no fellowship with her sins and so that you do not receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached even unto Heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities”.'
The voice from Heaven can only be that of the Lamb for He speaks of them as ‘My people', and then calls on God to render judgment (compare ‘my people' in Jeremiah 51:45, see also Romans 9:25-26; 2 Corinthians 6:16).
‘Come forth --- out of her'. Compare how Jeremiah three times warned the people to ‘flee out of the midst of Babylon' because of the judgments coming on her (Jeremiah 50:8-9; Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah 51:45 compare also Isaiah 48:20). It is not wise to stay in a place where sin is rife. The Christian is to be ‘in the world but not of the world', but there are times when they must learn the art of fleeing when the desires of the flesh are in mind (1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22), otherwise they may well find themselves drawn in. It should be noted that the great sin of Babylon was not that she was commercial (she only buys, not sells) but that she engaged in idolatry, luxurious living and the occult.
That God's people are there emphasises again that Great Babylon's demise comes a short time before the resurrection and therefore before the final judgment. John may well have had in mind here how the Christians fled from Jerusalem when the wrath of God was to be visited on it. In the same way this is suggesting they flee from any ‘great city' that behaves in this way, when they see the ominous signs of the end approaching. Christians are to be awake to the signs of the times. It is an indication of how near her judgment is that Christians are no longer called on to evangelise her. Her opportunity has passed.
‘For her sins have reached even unto Heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities'. This has in mind the tower of Babel which was intended to ‘reach to Heaven' (Genesis 11:4). By many later readers, as in John's day, this was taken literally. But, the speaker is saying, while the tower never did reach to Heaven, the iniquities of Babel represented by it have. Compare how Jeremiah describes the situation as ‘her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies' (Jeremiah 51:9). Compare also Genesis 18:20-21 of the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, and what is said about that other great city Nineveh (Jonah 1:2).
‘God has remembered her iniquities' (see Revelation 16:19). He has a long memory when men refuse to repent, a memory that goes back even to the tower of Babel.