(Rev 18:1)  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

And after these things:

“After these things” basically refers to the events of the previous chapter, chapter 17, where we see John’s vision and its interpretation by the angel. And this phrase “After these things” signals a new vision unit.

Chapter 17 declared the “judgment of the mystery Babylon.” And the objects of God’s judgment were also described (the woman and the beast she rides).

Chapter 18 will have somewhat similar themes, but it will spend a lot of extra time on the wealth of the city at the time of the antichrist’s rule.

I saw another angel come down from heaven:

So the angel that will be speaking at this point is not the same one that gave the interpretation of John’s vision in the previous chapter. The previous angel was one of the seven that poured out the last seven bowl judgments (17:1).

This angel is different in many ways. One notable way is that unlike the previous angel it does not speak to John directly but John basically overhears the declaration that the angel says and records it. The angel seems unconcerned or unaware that John is even present. This could either be a type of drama put on for John’s benefit, or perhaps John is overseeing actual events that will take place in the spiritual realm at the time of the harlot cities Judgment.

having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

This angel is described with some provocative language. It says it has great power. We are not told how John knows this, perhaps it is evident from its appearance or some other quality.

It is tempting to say this is a picture of Christ because of the idea of its glory lighting the earth but it is not necessary, as the idea of an angel having illuminating glory or dosa is mentioned in (Ezek 9:3 and Heb 9:5). In both cases a cherub is described. Cherubs spend their time in the throne room of God and so one theory could be that they are shining with the glory just like Moses face shone when he spent time on mount Sinai in the very near presence of God  (Exo 34:29). So this could simply be a particularly high ranking angel or a cherub.

A point that strengthens this view is that in verse 4 we hear a separate voice from heaven saying “come out of her my people” which seems to be the voice of Christ (see verse 4 notes), which would mean that this angel is probably not Christ but a high ranking angel.

(Rev 18:2)  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

An interesting note is that the last verse of the previous chapter (17: 18) was where the first angel concluded its interpretation of John’s vision by declaring that the woman was an actual city. And in Chapter 18 it now begins to refer to Mystery Babylon in this sense with a geographical location. Here it talks of it being a habitation of devils, later it will speak of merchants bringing goods to it.

While it continues to use the symbolic imagery of the harlot woman to describe Mystery Babylon (18:7) It much more frequently talks of Mystery Babylon as if the reader by now understands that it is a physical city on earth, just as the angel said it was.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice

The second angel is said to have a strong voice or “megas  phone” in the Greek.  Earlier in Revelation chapter 5 another angel is described by John with this same phrase  “magas phone” when he is having a vision of the throne room of God:

And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? – Rev 5:1-2

Because this angel is apparently in such close proximi[...]