March 27 - The Fall of Babylon (pt. 2)

March 27 – The Fall of Babylon (pt. 2)
Revelation 18:4-8

“Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’

Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

God has called His people out of sin since the beginning of His relationship with them. Abraham was called to leave His home (Gen 12:1), Lot was called out of Sodom (Gen. 19), the church is called to separate itself from the world (Rom. 16:17-18, 2 Cor. 6:14, 7:1).

Again, the prophet Jeremiah calls the people out of Babylon. Jeremiah 50:4-9 is a prophecy that will be fulfilled at the end of times. Jeremiah 51:6 says, “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins." And in Jeremiah 51:45 we read, “Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.”

God doesn’t want us participating in the extravagance and sins of Babylon. Whether it is a physical location or an attitude, He is calling us to run for our lives from its influence!

Babylon’s sins are piled up to heaven (Rev. 18:5). I thought of the Tower of Babel as I read this, but John remembers other passages from the Old Testament.

In Ezra 9:6, we read that their sins were higher than our heads and guilt reached to the heavens. In Jeremiah 51:9b, the judgment of Babylon reaches to the skies, as high as the clouds.

In Rev. 18:6, the angel is given a command from God. The whore of Babylon is about to receive her recompense. When the angel repeated itself in Rev. 18:1 (Fallen, fallen), it was a signal that the payback would be double. All of the glittering raiment that the whore clothed herself in (Rev. 17) will be returned as torture and grief.

Jeremiah 16:18, “I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin …”

Isaiah 40:2, “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

When we deliberately sin against the Lord, He must punish us. Does the impact of this statement change anything for you when you realize that Christ not only suffered for our sins, but paid for them doubly?

The whore boasts, “I sit as queen.” Self-glorification at its best. We think we deserve much more attention than we receive.

“I am not a widow.” She doesn’t need anything or anyone.

“I will never mourn.” She avoids suffering. God never promises that we will avoid pain and suffering. He constantly reminds us, though, to look for Him in the middle of it all.

The final sin of Babylon is her luxurious lifestyle – along with that are discourtesy, arrogance, self-indulgence, ruthless exercise of strength and unruliness. All of which is about to be destroyed. With as much sin as Babylon has poured out, she will be paid back doubly.

It will only take one day. God is ready to judge and to exact punishment. After one day, we begin to see the end of everything we are familiar with.