Revelation 18:21

21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.

Revelation 18:21 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 18:21

And a mighty angel
Not Christ, nor one of the ministering spirits, but some man or set of men, perhaps the same with him in ( Revelation 18:1 )

took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea;
just as Jeremiah took a stone and bound it to his book after he had read it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign and token of the destruction of old Babylon, ( Jeremiah 51:63 Jeremiah 51:64 ) ( Exodus 15:5 ) ( Nehemiah 9:11 )

saying, thus with violence shall that great city be thrown down, and
shall be found no more at all;
which is expressive of the utter destruction of Rome, and of the violence, force, and power with which it will be destroyed, and of the suddenness and swiftness of its destruction, and of the irrecoverableness of its state and condition.

Revelation 18:21 In-Context

19 And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for that great city! The shipowners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas. In a single moment it is all gone.”
20 Rejoice over her fate, O heaven and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for your sakes.
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.
22 The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.