Revelation
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Revelation Chapter 18
Many people believe that the Babylon (whore) or chapter 17 and the Babylon of chapter 18 is the same Babylon and it may look that way on the surface but if we jump down to verse 9, we shall see that the kings of the earth are very upset at the destruction of this Babylon because it affects their economy whereas the kings of the earth were instrumental in destroying the previous Babylon (whore) of chapter 17. Here is a reminder of what was in chapter 17:
We see the 10 kings destroy the mystery Babylon but God destroys commercial Babylon. It stands to reason that the place where the first rebellion against God that occurred after the flood of Noah would be the location of the last great rebellion against God. Whatever the first Babylon was like, will be like the last Babylon. We saw that the first Babylon was united, full of pride, and the beginning of religions that took the human race away from the real God instead of toward the real God. it was destroying the souls of men and women. These false religions spread into all the world. Since the language changed the religions also changed names but were basically the same. Becoming rich, powerful, making a name for themselves and rebellion against God led to human sacrifice, idolatry and association with demonic activity. The suffering of all mankind resulted. Slavery, use of drugs, divination, torture, sexual immorality were part of this evil. In the latter days, this city will kill true people of God who try to preach the gospel of Jesus. The blood of the saints in within this Babylon as well as the Mystery Babylon of chapter 17. I realize some believe this is the same thing and if that is the case we still will benefit from reading what happens to Babylon whether it is one or two, they both end in severe destruction from God. Back to chapter 18:
As the nations committed fornication with mystery Babylon (false religion), we see that they sin even more by selling their souls for trade and prosperity. They get rich but for nothing. They were dependent upon this system of trade and were very upset to see it destroyed. People will sell their souls for two reasons, false religion and riches. Now it is not wrong to trade with foreign nations. Nations have been doing that for years. When nations are willing to abandon all fear of God, all sense of right and wrong and trade with an evil nation just to increase in riches when it harms their spiritual standing with God, then it is fornication. In previous chapters discussing the mark of the beast, we notice that no one can buy or sell without that mark. We see then that in order to increase in riches one has to sell their soul or give up their freedom to worship God and in turn pledge allegiance to the beast. This is what all these kings have done. They have forsaken the God of eternal life and holiness for temporary success and power here on earth. In return they will see its destruction and be without anything either in this life or in eternity. One modern day temptation I could mention is the temptation to sell our souls for a barrel of oil. We are much to dependent upon oil for a living. We are reminded here of the words of Jesus:
To choose to take that mark will be to choose to serve the devil and all the evil he represents. During the tribulation there will be a price to pay for serving God. One may have to literally give up all he has for he can not buy nor sell without the mark. To take the mark is to deny Christ. We cannot serve God and the riches of this world. This is why we must not be deceived into believing the false prosperity doctrine. That doctrine is totally opposite of what Jesus taught. Be very careful of pulling out a few pet scriptures to back up a doctrine. Read the scriptures in context and see what else is discussed. Do that even with scriptures I use. I am human and can make mistakes. Check out everything. I have heard that one prosperity preacher goes so far as to tell people not to give to poor preachers because God is not blessing them. He said to give to the rich ones because that is a sign that they are in God's favor. This is nonsense and the very opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus mostly teaches of spiritual blessings, not material blessings. We are never to lose our compassion for the poor. There are martyrs throughout church history who lost their homes, possessions and even their lives because they chose to believe in the truth of God's word rather than please those that were in position to take away their possessions if they would not recant what they believed. What are the people who believe these doctrines going to do when the economy collapses? What are the prosperity preachers going to tell them when they lose all they have if God was to allow our stock markets to fail like they did in 1929? After his release for prison, Jim Bakker said this about the prosperity doctrine: I’d always quoted 3 John 2, saying, ”Above all things God wants you to prosper.” I loved that Scripture. It looks great on a TV screen when you’re raising funds, and I interpreted it as God wants you to be rich. But when I got to the words of John, I said, ”Now this don’t make sense.” So I took the word prosper apart in the Greek and found out it’s made up of two words—the first word means good or well and the second road. It’s a progressive word, so it’s like a journey. So, here’s John saying, basically, ”Beloved, I want you to have a good journey through life as your soul has a good journey to heaven.” It was a greeting! Building theology on that is like building the church on ”Have a nice day.” I began to look up all the Scriptures used in prosperity teaching, such as ”Give and it shall be given unto you.” When I put that Scripture back into its context, I found Christ was teaching on forgiveness, not on money. He was teaching us that by the same measure that we forgive, we will be forgiven. I had gotten my sermons from other people. The Bible warns about the shepherds who get their messages from each other. I think today the reason we have another gospel and another Jesus being preached is because men have gotten their sermons from each other and from motivational teaching. A lot of what’s being taught today is simply motivational teaching with a few Scriptures put to it. - Source: The Re-education of Jim Bakker, ChristianityToday.com, Dec. 7, 1998 End of Bakker's comments. It is sort of like having someone's
house burning and he goes in to get a treasured possession and in
doing so loses his life. What good did it do?
James tells us:
God is a God of mercy although we see His wrath a lot in Revelation. He puts up with a lot though before He finally has no other choice but to stop evil and bring judgment.
So again we see that there are still those that believe even in this late stage of the tribulation. This shows us not that there was no rapture but that God's spirit was actively saving people all during the tribulation for that was the whole purpose of it. The people mentioned here is probably more Jews (Israel) that were saved at one point during the tribulation. They were to come out of Babylon. Perhaps it means to come out of the entrapment of loving this world's goods and wealth so much that it hinders our walk with God. We can't love God with all our hearts and be consumed with gaining wealth at the same time. Perhaps the explanation though is a simple one, flee the literal latter day rebuilt city of Babylon. If this is speaking of the religious aspect of Babylon, then naturally we all are instructed to leave any false religious system. Its surely not wrong to make a living and have a good business but if it is getting in the way of obedience to God, it is not worth it. If we have to deal dishonestly and tell ourselves that, "Business is business," then it has become our god instead of God. Babylon is going to be destroyed. Whether it is a spiritual false religious system or a great commercial system of getting rich at any cost, it is coming down. Judgment begins at the house of God so
we who are preaching the prosperity gospel and fleecing the flock of
God, will face judgment first.
It could be that the literal rebuilding of Babylon and its religion system could have such demonic attraction that all false religious system moves here to have her headquarters in this place. This may become a great world trade center but be evil and wicked to the core. All evil rebellion against God both in the past and present will have its final end here.
Referring this Babylon to a queen would make it seem like the two Babylons are the same thing but still we must remember that one was destroyed by the 10 kings and one was destroyed by God. One was hated by the beast and the kings and the other was mourned by the same kings. Her words, " I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow" can be applied to any of us who continually seek to be comfortable and seek the wealth of this life thinking that to gain is godliness.
This destruction shall be quick and sudden like an earthquake that occurs with no possible way to stop it.
Many think this commercial Babylon is America. This may very will be but there are a couple of things missing. It is true that we have forsaken God and have gotten rich but we are not in the vicinity of the Old Roman Empire where the 10 kings abide. We do see that these 10 kings look upon the destruction of Babylon and mourn so that might indicate that it is in a different location rather than Europe or Asia. Still America or the United States has not yet killed anyone for their faith in Jesus Christ. Verse 24 makes it clear that both mystery Babylon and commercial Babylon is filled with the blood of saints. This could not mean in a spiritual sense for if they believed the doctrine of Babylon and forsook the Lord, they would no longer be saints. The martyr of saints has always been literal.
Whatever this is we see that they will have gold, silver, jewels, fine cloth, wood, ivory, iron, marble, spices, perfumes, food, cattle, horses, chariots (probably automobiles) slavery and poor lost souls deceived into believing in this system. Its is time for all of us to identify with the kind of Kings and the Lord of Lords and forsake all other things. We can leave Babylon now in our hearts whether or not literal Babylon is rebuilt. Although America once had slaves, it has long since abandoned the practice of slavery. There are nations that still practice slavery but not the United States. This is not to say that America will not face destruction or judgment for her sins. None of us will get by with any sin. Many faithful preachers like David Wilkerson and others are prophesying the destruction of America and I believe them but unless there are some changes made in America like the introduction of slavery and the persecution of God's true believers, I don't see America as being this Babylon described here. If literal Babylon is rebuilt mixing America's wealth and a religion that kills all those that do not follow its spiritual leaders, then we may see a Babylon described here. Our dependence upon foreign oil has been a concern of mine for years. The United States will trade with countries for the oil even if the countries persecute and kill believers in Jesus Christ. We claim to be for human rights but our merchants care not for any human rights, they want to get rich. I'm writing all this not to say, I'm right about every statement but to say that we need to watch out for this desire to gain at the expense of someone else. If we desire to gain and in doing so someone else has to lose, we are not in the right spirit. Another unscriptural latter day teaching in the church is scary too. That teaching is that God wants the church to have all the wealth of the ungodly people in order to spread the gospel and it is okay to take from them and desire what they have. NOT That is covetousness which breaks one
of the ten commandments. We are never promised riches in this life but spiritual riches and our treasure laid up in heaven. Some may be allowed to have wealth on the earth but it is not a guarantee to all according to the words of Jesus. He said that in the world you shall have tribulation. We are not promised the easy life. Tell that to Christians in 3rd world countries where they are suffering because of the gospel they believe in. Instead we are promised to be faithful in whatever we are given both materially and spiritually.
If we abandon of sense of right and wrong to get rich, we will lose it eventually anyway.
America is a country, not a city is one reason I hesitate to think this is America but still it is something to consider. Right now other countries hate America so I can't see anyone wailing over our destruction. Then again, things change. The United States at this present time does not fit the description of this Babylon in chapter 18 or 17. Here are a few things that may change that:
A strong desire for riches and the so-called good life leads to all other sins. Our greed causes us to forget the poor, the suffering and God. Riches can become an idol that keeps us out of heaven. Look what Jesus said to the rich man:
The main thing we receive from God in
this life is spiritual blessings that can't begin to compare with
material blessings. God may allow some of us to have material things
and a good business but this is not given to everybody. Some of us
could not handle it and it would become an idol. To teach that
material blessings show God's favor above His favor to a poor person
is a false teaching. It is not found in the whole context of
scripture. The more we have the more temptations we have to set our
heart on our possessions.
Here is what Jesus said to the poor church:
They were poor in the riches of this world but they were rich in the things of the spirit. Brothers and sisters, lets get out of this prosperity teaching now. Please run from it and seek God with all our heart, soul and mind.
Its destruction causes some to weep but the holy people of God has cause to rejoice. God has judged the city that sought to destroy all things that were holy and pure.
It appears that this revival of sorcery and witchcraft may be leading up to this Babylon. Our eyes should never be on great men that are rich and increased with wealth. How did they get rich? If the rich got rich have robbing the poor they will bear God's judgment. This is even more true for those that claim to be the Church of God but in reality are fleecing the flock of God. I heard a preacher last week tell of prosperity preachers in Africa who following the example of American prosperity preachers are taking every last dime from their followers, they are driving around in expensive cars while they allow children to live in the streets. There are preachers living in mansions and very prosperous thinking God has blessed them while those that support them can hardly pay their bills. If we are to receive what we give to these guys, then why are they the only ones prospering. Those that do the giving have nothing and they are not prospering. Something is wrong with their teaching. I'm not advocating taking from the rich and giving to the poor by the use of force. That has never worked. We are never and I repeat never to envy the rich and desire to have what they have. If we are truly in the place we ought to be with God, we will not want their riches. Let them keep it. I surely do not want what they have. Whatever this system of government is, the majority of the people will go along with it and be deceived by it. The lone ranger who stands up against it will be the target of ridicule or death. Don't be afraid to go against the flow and not join in false unity and is not the unity of spirit and of truth. The majority is not usually the ones who are in the right. Remember Jesus' words about the straight and the narrow?
Here is the description that describes both Babylons pictured in chapters 17 and 18. They shed the blood of prophets, saints (all faithful believers in Jesus Christ and I would include Jews in this) and all that were killed for not going along with the worldly system that was set in place by the antichrist and the 10 kings. If we see one person placed in prison for their faith in Jesus Christ or for something they preach, look out. I'm not defending any person who abuses children, commits a crime like stealing, murder or any other crime even if they are called prophets for we know that there are many false prophets hiding behind even the name of Jesus. But if someone is jailed for preaching the word of God or for his faith in Jesus, look out. Of course they may be falsely accused of crimes to justify their imprisonment. Watch out for some of these hate crime laws. No true child of God will be guilty of any hate toward anyone but if a pastor begins to warn against any sin that is against the teachings of God's word but yet excepted by the society we may live in, he may be accused of preaching hate. To warn of sin and the consequences of sin surely would be the opposite of hate but it can be twisted to make is seem like its a hate speech. American churches as well as believers all over the world need to pray like never before so that we know what the bible means when it says, "Come out of her my people", in verse 4 of this chapter. Some teach this is the Catholic Church or any denomination. I don't really buy into it being a denomination, but if any of our churches are into the prosperity doctrine or any doctrine contrary to the word of God taken in context, we need to think of leaving. We need a return to godly holiness (not legalism) and being content with what we have. If coming out of her means the literal city of Babylon, God will probably direct His people on how to do that. If coming out of Babylon means forsaking the love of the world or this world's system of seeking wealth, the love of pleasure, idolatry, fornication both spiritual and physical, then it must be done without delay. God has given us the Holy Spirit to give us power over all filthiness of flesh and spirit. If Babylon means a false religious system of some kind that teaches we can make it to heaven and still keep our sin, we must leave that kind of religion or church. If it teaches that salvation depends upon the religious system itself, either by joining it, paying into it, or doing works to obtain salvation, leave it. The only way of salvation is to turn
from sin and trust in the shed blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin
and bring us into the body of Christ.
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