Revelation 18:7

she glorified herself and lived luxuriously
She boasted in her own glory, saying “I shall be a lady forever” (Isa. Isa. 47:7) and “I am and there is no one else besides me” (Isa. Isa. 47:8, Isa. 47:10). God calls her “O most haughty one!” (Jer. Jer. 50:31). Her pride was also the sin of Nineveh (Zep. Zep. 2:15). She lived luxuriously is ἐστρηνίασεν [estrēniasen] , she luxuriated, lived sensually. The term has been used of bulls running wild¹ and includes the idea of revelry.² Dan. 5:1-30).”³ Her excess contributed to her delusion of independence from God (Ps. Ps. 73:3; Luke Luke 9:25). She mistook her abundance as an indication of blessing (Jer. Jer. 44:17-18).

Throughout history the petty kingdoms and empires built by proud, arrogant, God-rejecting rebels have come and gone. The spirit of humanism first expressed at Babel has permeated human history ever since. Unshakably optimistic despite centuries of war, slaughter, injustice, and cruelty, people still seek a utopia, to be brought about by humanity’s upward scientific progress. Having taken control (so they think) of their own destiny through science, sinners have no use for God and haughtily replace Him as self-styled gods devoted to their own sovereignty.⁴

I sit as queen
Sit is κάθημαι [kathēmai] , present tense, I am presently seated as queen. She believes she is queen because she reigns over the kings of the earth (Rev. Rev. 17:18+). She sits on the Beast with seven heads and ten horns (Rev. Rev. 17:3+).

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal. Remove your veil, take off the skirt, uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance, and I will not arbitrate with a man. As for our Redeemer, the LORD of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel. Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no longer be called The Lady of Kingdoms. (Isa. Isa. 47:1-5)

am no widow and will not see sorrow
Her haughty boastfulness is so great that she believes herself to be immune from God’s judgment. Not is the double negative, οὐ μὴ [ou mē] , the strongest negation possible. She is absolutely convinced she will not see sorrow for her ways. She believes she is secure:

Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children’; but these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. (Isa. Isa. 47:8-9)

The loss of her children may refer to the judgment of her daughter harlots (Rev. Rev. 17:5+) when the cities of the nations fall as part of the seventh bowl judgment under which she herself is destroyed (Rev. Rev. 16:19+).

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Notes

¹ Frederick William Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 771.

² Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 358.

³ John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 2000), Rev. 18:3.

⁴ Ibid., Rev. 18:1.