19:1-5 ALLELUIA!
“And after these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power, to the Lord our God. For true and righteous are His judgments, for He has judged the great harlot, which corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.’ And again they said, ‘Alleluia! And her smoke rises up forever and ever!” (Revelation 19:1-3).
Heaven and earth cannot stop celebrating! Babylon has been such a persistent foe for so many millennia that to have her permanently done away with would seem almost too good to be true if it were not for the obvious “glory and honor and power” of our almighty God who “has judged” her. To say that she has “corrupted the earth” is a gracious understatement considering "her fornication" with the "kings of the earth," and the "blood of [God's] servants that has been "shed by her."
But in the presence of God the focus cannot remain on His enemies for long—“And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, ‘Amen! Alleluia!’ And a voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all you His servants, and you that fear Him, both small and great!” (Revelation 19:4,5). The judgment of the great harlot is a foretaste of the great day when sin and death will be totally obliterated. The only trace of this terrible chapter of history will be “her smoke [which] rises up forever and ever.” Although this phrase, borrowed from Isaiah 34:10, is not explained and does not appear elsewhere except in the parallel passage of Revelation 14:11, there is the suggestion that throughout eternity there will be a memorial of smoke, which will be all that will remain of sin and sinners. Even Satan, the great originator, will be “turned…to ashes” and “shall be no more forever” (Ezekiel 28:18,19).