God’s Final Boarding Call on the Flight from Planet Earth.
‘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.
Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her.’
– Revelation 18:4-6.NLT
This is God’s last call! Like a final boarding call at an international airport. Just as Noah stood on the gangplank of the ark, after preaching for 120 years, begging the people one last time to come inside. The door of mercy was still open. When it closed, there was time no longer for changing one’s mind. Seven days later the rain began. When the door was closed no one could get in, and no one could get out. Noah and His family were ‘sealed’ inside. The fate of those outside was also sealed. When the rain started – an event unknown – it was too late! Revelation is an end time equivalent.
The problem is that it is comfortable in Babylon, just like it was for the Jews 2500 years ago. They had spent 70 years in Babylon, they had nice homes and good jobs. Life was comfortable. Why should they leave? It wasn’t pleasant in Jerusalem. The city lay in ruins, there was no housing, and jobs were hard to find. To follow Ezra almost 1600kms and go back to those conditions didn’t make sense. V:3 had told us life is easy in spiritual Babylon.
It is easy to look at the residents of the end time spiritual Babylon and say, “What’s the matter with them? Why are they supporting Babylon with their presence? Don’t they see what she is doing?” But the reality is this; it is hard to recognise the corporate sins of an organisation when you are a part of it. Since groups of people tend to share the same blind spots, it is easier to see corporate sin from the outside rather than from the inside.
God’s End-time people will need a great deal of discernment to see clearly through the deceptive webs of Babylon and the harlot when the end comes.
To avoid getting sucked into Babylon’s deceptions (the dragon’s lies) we need to develop a prayerful knowledge of God’s word. And we will want to combine that study and prayer with a healthy dose of self-distrust, so that we can discover our personal blind spots as we approach the End.
When we see corporate abuse and exploitation, we need to speak out against it. But there comes a time when a society becomes too corrupt to listen. At such times God tells us to withdraw from that society before it self-destructs or is destroyed from the outside. There are echoes of Sodom and Lot in the call of Revelation 18:4. When Sodom’s time for destruction came, Lot had to leave Sodom or be caught up in its destruction.
Today’s text shows that many connected with “Spiritual Babylon” are not doomed until the very end. God has His people in every place and in every denomination today. In a world with many shades of grey, discernment is needed to know right from wrong.
While divine wrath is a terrible thing, it is by no means immoral or unloving. On the contrary, in the Old and New Testaments, God expresses wrath against evil because of His love. Divine wrath is terrible because of the insidious nature of evil in contrast to the pure goodness and splendour of God.
In this regard, love is essential to God; wrath is not. Where there is no evil or injustice, there is no wrath. In the end, God’s most loving action of eradicating evil from the universe also effectively will eliminate anger and wrath. And that is because never again will there be any injustice or evil. Furthermore, there will only be the eternity of bliss and justice in a perfect love relationship. There will never again be divine wrath because never again will there be the need for it. What a wonderful thought.