Eternal Destruction or Victory.
After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor. He gave a mighty shout:
“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul spirit,
a hideout for every foul vulture
and every foul and dreadful animal.
For all the nations have fallen
because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
the merchants of the world have grown rich.”
Then I heard another voice calling from heaven,
“Come away from her, my people.
Do not take part in her sins,
or you will be punished with her.
For her sins are piled as high as heaven,
and God remembers her evil deeds.
– Revelation 18:1-5NLT
Putting Revelation 17 and 18 together, the theme is clear. The spirituality of Babel is symbolic of confusion, lack of trust in God and salvation by any means other than the free gift God has offered humanity through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. These two chapters illustrate the temporal and materialistic orientation of all those associated with Babylon. There is a call to reject false religion and works-orientated religion in all its forms and to follow the lamb wherever He leads. What initially sound like complex chapters are really quite simple. There is only two sides: one leads to eternal destruction and the other to victory. 2Thessalonians 1:9 “They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” Jesus said, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 NLT. The choice is clear.
It is easy to take a statement like in today’s text from Revelation 18 and project it into the past, the future, or some other part of the planet. Babylon is a dangerous outfit that is “over there” somewhere. We’re so glad that we are with the good guys! But at the risk of seeming unpatriotic, let me explore a few considerations that may bring this passage a little closer to home for us Kiwis and Australians.
We are entwined with the United States today. The USA is not an evil empire in the sense of a totalitarian or repressive state like Assyria or Nazi Germany. Such nations automatically invite judgment unless they repent. But there are other ways in which this text seems to apply to us. We live in a world today where the dominant trading partner of most countries in the world is the United States of America. And while many of the goods traded are fairly neutral in a spiritual sense, much of American trade contributes greatly to the evil in the world.
America has become one of the primary exporters of immorality.
Is it any wonder that some Muslim nations, who try to guard against public exposure of the human body, have regarded the United States as the “Great Satan?” After all, American priorities in the Middle East seem quite clear. When the Saudi government demanded that the US embassy close down both worship services and nightclubs for American citizens, the embassy compromised. If they could keep the nightclubs open, they would close down the worship services.
The export of American-style democracy seems like an improvement over oppression, but it is often accompanied by a dramatic rise in Mafia-style crime. Popular songs in newly-minted democracies glorify drugs and rape, courtesy of the American entertainment industry. Alarmed by a younger generation that is getting its values from Hollywood and television, Chinese officials have sought stricter controls on public morality.
We must not lose sight of the fact that Babylon is the woman riding on the beast, a religious power made up of Catholicism, apostate Protestantism, and spiritualism. The wine cup is full of her false teachings which have made the world drunk – the beliefs of Sunday worship, the immortality of the soul, and eternal torment. All three powers hold these beliefs in common, even though they have no scriptural / biblical foundation.
One of the greatest beliefs presented in scripture is righteousness by faith; it was the foundation of the protestant reformation that began in the 16th century. This teaching says that we are not saved by any works of our own but the free gift of God through what Jesus did for us in His perfect life, His death and His resurrection. His perfection is credited to us – as a gift. Faith is the hand that receives the gift. Yes, we are saved by works, but not ours – His. We should also remember that while we are saved by faith alone, the faith that saves is never alone. True faith leads us to obedience.
All false religions, even false forms of Christianity have their root in obtaining salvation by works. This can be blatant, like catholic indulgences and penance to make one acceptable, through to more subtle forms like the need to have some ecstatic experience as evidence of the presence of the Holy spirit.
i,m am thankful for the promise of John 3/16