Revelation 18:9

And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning,

Here is the great paradox, without the understanding of which there can be no explanation of these passages.

And the kings ... shall weep and wail ... Commentators have really struggled with this, for these are exactly the ones who did the burning and the eating of the harlot's flesh. How can this be? The best explanation, short of the true one, is by Lenski:

They cooled their vengeance upon the whore and then grieved that they had done so. Let the paradox remain. There is no reason ... The lover of a whore strangles her, and then weeps like a fool.[42]

Interesting as that comment is, there is nevertheless a reason, and a very good one. The humanistic kings simply failed to realize that it was the true Christianity, imperfectly taught by the harlot, that actually formed the foundation of their world. The evil, atheistic, humanist kings proudly imagined that they could get along without any religion whatever, having finally rejected even the apostate forms of it; but their stupid action in burning up the whore destroyed everything, for not even the harlot ever went as far away from God and the truth as did those kings, or governments, of the final age. Their philosophy was dogmatically stated by a member of one of the great theological seminaries fifty years ago, by Dr. George Albert Coe, who wrote:

The sovereign for this universe, that is, the sovereign for us, is just ourselves when we cooperatively assist in providing ourselves with what we want.[43]

Coe's hometown, New York city, is today virtually bankrupt; and the rising tide of violence, corruption, and irresponsibility may yet cause its utter ruin, unless there is a repudiation of the type of humanistic philosophy which has caused the decline. Clearly, it is exactly this type of thinking that will lead to the "ten kings'" destruction of the whore.

Shall weep and wail ... when they look upon the smoke of her burning ... It is of prime significance that there is prophesied here the "burning" of the harlot.

In Moses' Law (Leviticus 21:9), burning appears to have been the form of punishment for fornication only in the case of a priest's daughter, another indication that Babylon is a wicked religious person.[44]

They look upon the smoke ... Smoke is the result of fire; and that is what put the disaster upon them. There were the most diabolical repercussions which ensued when the last visible support of religion crumbled into ashes in the flames of their hatred, repercussions of such a vast and terrible nature that they bankrupted and destroyed civilization. That is the absolute climax of the present dispensation, as prophesied here! Of course, those wailing and weeping kings were not at all concerned about the whore; they made no move to assist her; they were screaming only about their business and their profits (Revelation 18:11), and the precious fruits that perished (Revelation 18:14), the desolation of so great riches (Revelation 18:17), and the loss of jobs (Revelation 18:17). Disasters such as these were indeed the sorrow of kings. No wonder they wailed.

When Babylon perishes, the economic chaos is complete. The world of the unbeliever upon which he pinned his hopes and built his trust collapses.[45]

Do we have to point out that such a complete ruin of the whole world could not be conceived of as the result of the total ruin of any single city? Berlin collapsed, but nothing like this occurred, nor did this happen even when pagan Rome fell. Those who attempt to interpret this as the fall of pagan Rome are refuted by every word in this chapter.

[42] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 522.

[43] George Albert Coe, Educating for Citizenship (New York, 1932), p. 143. (Coe was Professor of Education at Columbia University until 1928, and Professor of Religion in Union Theological Seminary for many years thereafter.

[44] Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 107.

[45] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 210.