Revelation 18: Babylon the Great, The Merchant Port City

   Babylon the Great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His  fierce wrath...  

   Revelation 17 began with an interlude; a pause from the events of the great tribulation period. One of the seven angels with one of the seven bowls took John into the wilderness, a barren and desolate desert to show John why Babylon was singled out for judgement. Here John sees a woman dressed in scarlet and purple, adorned with the riches of the world; sitting upon a scarlet beast kingdom with seven heads and ten horns. The beast is full of blasphemy - blasphemous men and women who mock the God of heaven, while worshiping a false and malicious god. From this location, the woman demonstrates her ruling power over the kings of the earth, and the many waters - peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. 

   The golden cup in her hands is full of vile things. The name written on her forehead was a mystery; Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth; suggesting a middle east location. John also witnessed a plot of vengeance, a conspiracy, against the woman, organized by ten kings who control the affairs of the beast kingdom. The angel identifies the woman named Babylon the Great, as that great city, who rules over the kings of the earth. (how much more obvious can it be?)

   After John is shown all these things, a second angel comes down from heaven having great power and, lightens the earth with his glory:18:1. John isn't taken in the spirit, when the second angel arrives, indicating that John and the first angel, are still in the wilderness, where the beast, and the woman are located: 17:3. 

Revelation 4: God's Heavenly Throne Room:

    After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. Revelation 4:1,2 

   John is taken in the spirit: 

   Chapter 4 begins with an open door and a voice like a trumpet which says: "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this". This is the second time John has heard the voice 'like that of a trumpet'; the first was in Revelation 1:10, when he was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. John was then given a very specific task; to serve as a witness and record future events: Rev 1:19. 

   Now, the voice as a trumpet speaks again, and John is taken immediately into the heavenly realm, bypassing spiritual dimensions to serve as a witness, recording the events shown to him. He was not given dreams and visions; instead, he becomes spirit, carried into the day of the Lord to see the things which will be.