The angel came from heaven with glory. This means that God gave the angel great power to do what God wanted the angel to do. When this happened, it meant that someone or something was going to be punished.
Some scholars think the Babylon John wrote about in this chapter was different than the Babylon he wrote about in chapter 17. Before, John wrote about the religious part of Babylon. Here, John wrote about the government of Babylon. Other scholars think these chapter talk about the same Babylon.
The angel said that Babylon was destroyed. When he said this, Babylon was not destroyed. Instead, the angel prophesied that Babylon would be destroyed. Therefore, the angel warned people that God was about to judge people.
The leaders of many nations did the same things Babylon did. They did evil things. They did not honor God. John used the metaphor of sexual immorality to write about this. He wanted to write that the rulers in the world will do the things the false teacher says to do. That is, they will also commit idolatry.
John wrote about sins piling up to heaven. This was a metaphor. He wanted to say that the people sinned a lot. Perhaps he was also thinking about what was written in Genesis 18:21.
This passage says that Babylon will be paid back for their sins. This is a metaphor. Babylon will be punished for sinning. It will get what it deserves.
In ancient Israel, when someone was very sad, they put ashes on their head. Sometimes they put ashes on their head as a way to repent of the evil things they did.
When a stone entered into the sea, it sank immediately to the bottom. John wanted to say that Babylon would be punished, and it would quickly be destroyed.
When someone practiced sorcery, they did a certain type of magic that dishonored God. This was a metaphor. They did things that made people want to not believe in God.
John wrote that blood was found in Babylon. He wanted to say that Babylon killed certain people. They were punished for killing people who honored God.
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