Revelation 18: Jesus Calls Us Out of Chaos

What happens when God finally says "enough" to a seemingly invincible empire? Revelation 18 delivers the devastating answer as divine judgment crashes down on Babylon (Rome), the superpower that had been persecuting early Christians.

The dramatic proclamation "Babylon is fallen!" would have sent shockwaves through the first readers of Revelation. Pastor Brandon walks us through this pivotal chapter where God's justice transforms an untouchable empire into "a home for demons" and "a hideout for every foul spirit." The message rings with urgency as God calls His people to "Come away from her," warning believers not to participate in Babylon's corruption or share in her judgment.

Through vivid imagery of world leaders and merchants mourning from a distance as Rome burns, we witness the complete reversal of fortune that happens "in a single moment." Pastor Brandon brilliantly compares this to Muhammad Ali's historic victory over the seemingly unbeatable George Foreman – a powerful reminder that no opponent is truly invincible. The chapter culminates with heaven's rejoicing while earth mourns, as a mighty angel hurls a millstone into the sea, symbolizing Babylon's permanent destruction.

What does this ancient text mean for us today? When our problems loom large and enemies seem unbeatable, Revelation 18 offers life-changing perspective. "The enemy is so big when he's so close," Pastor Brandon explains, encouraging us to step back and see our challenges through God's eyes. Financial difficulties, family struggles, career setbacks – all are dwarfed when placed alongside God's limitless power. Join us as we discover how Jesus calls us out of chaos and prepares us for tomorrow's climactic revelation of our victorious King!

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Chapters

• 0:48 Jesus Calls Us Out of Chaos
• 3:07 Babylon's Fall Proclaimed
• 4:06 Come Out From Among Her
• 6:48 The World Mourns Babylon's Destruction
• 9:56 Putting Life's Problems in Perspective
• 12:21 Closing Prayer and Tomorrow's Preview

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today. Revelation chapter 18, and today's title is Jesus Calls Us Out of Chaos. Jesus Calls Us Out of Chaos. Today is the second part of this two-part chapter, really, when yesterday talks about how God has finally had enough of Rome and he's telling this persecuted church the fact that he is going to bring justice, and today we get to hear all about it. So, if you have your Bibles ready, want to open up with me to Revelation, chapter 18. While you're doing that, as always if you're new around here, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion, because there's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find.

Speaker 0: 1:18

Well, if you've been with us, one of the things we've been talking about over and over again is that the goal of this podcast is to relay the message that the first church, the early church, would have had with the book of Revelation, and the overall goal of the book of Revelation would have been that Jesus wins, jesus is victorious, and we see that over the chapters, how these bad things are happening. However, god is constantly coming through over and over again, and one of the things that we see in this is we see that, as he is speaking to these seven churches, he is encouraging them because they're receiving all of this backlash from Rome, from Jerusalem, from all these other places, and they are encouraged to compromise, to really give worship to the emperor, and they're holding strong. And we're seeing how God is saying like yesterday we talked about how God was saying in chapter 17 that there was going to be this time when Rome was going to win for a season, but when the time was right, god was going to bring justice. And so, as we saw how it was saying, all of these things, all of these short seasons where Rome was winning, was going to come to a head, and then, finally, god was going to bring justice. And this is the beginning of the climax. The next chapter, tomorrow, will be the climax, but this is leading into it where God is finally destroying Rome and once again, also remember that in the context, when it says over and over again, it's talking about Babylon. The original readers would have known exactly who John was talking about, and knowing that he's talking about Rome. So here we go.

Speaker 0: 2:58

Chapter 18, verse 1 says this After all this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor. He gave a mighty shout Babylon is fallen, he says. She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture, for 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. Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds.

Speaker 0: 4:02

She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her. She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart. I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow. I have no reason to mourn. Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day Death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire. For the Lord, god who judges her, is mighty. And the kings of the world, who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury, will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment, and they will cry out how terrible, how terrible for you, oh Babylon, you great city. In a single moment, god's judgment came on you. The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her. There is no one left to buy their goods.

Speaker 0: 5:04

She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, claw, things made of fragrant, fine wood, ivory goods and objects made of expensive wood and bronze and iron and marble. She also bought cinnamon, spice incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons and bodies, that is, human slaves. The fancy things that you love so much are gone, they cry. All your luxuries and splendor are gone forever, never to be yours again. The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will weep and cry out how terrible, how terrible for that great city.

Speaker 0: 5:56

She was clothed with finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls. In a single moment, all the wealth of the city is gone. And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance and they will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend and they will say where is another city as great as this? They will weep and throw dust on their heads and show their grief and they will say where is another city as great as this? They will weep and throw dust on their heads and show their grief and they will cry out how terrible, how terrible for that great city. The ship owners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas and a single moment it is all gone.

Speaker 0: 6:34

Rejoice over her fate, o heaven and people of God, and apostles and prophets, for at last God has judged her for your sakes. Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone and threw it into the ocean and shouted Just like this, the great city of Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again. The sound of harps and singers and flutes and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world and you world, and you deceive the nations with your sorceries. In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets, of God's holy people, and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world. Wow, so what we just saw was is God declaring justice over a city that the early church would have thought was invincible.

Speaker 0: 7:44

So think about for a moment something or someone in your life or a story you've heard of of someone that seemed invincible. Like I remember I don't know if you follow boxing very much, but there was the what's called the rumble in the jungle, where you had George Foreman and Muhammad Ali who are going to fight, and at the time it looked like and time has changed so much now that it seems impossible, but it looked like that George Foreman was completely unbeatable, and Muhammad Ali was just being led to the slaughter he had already lost his title and he was trying to get back to that place and it just looked like this was just one of those things where George Foreman was going to hit the stratosphere and just keep going. He seemed completely unbeatable At that point. He wasn't a Christian yet and he just had this look like he's going to kill somebody, right. And so that night people were really worried about Muhammad Ali. And then, as the fight went on and as I mean, george Foreman was just, he was chasing Muhammad Ali and he was doing all this stuff All of a sudden you start to notice wait a minute, muhammad Ali is actually doing pretty good. He's actually looking like he's got a game plan. George Foreman is starting to look a little bit more human. And then, as the fight went on, eventually George Foreman lost in devastating fashion. Muhammad Ali won and it was this wonderful thing. And over the course of the fight, george Foreman went from this invincible-looking just human specimen, like barely even human, more like a robot, to where he started looking more and more beatable until he hit the canvas.

Speaker 0: 9:17

And what this chapter is doing is it is doing that with the city of Rome, that it's saying, yes, rome, if you remember yesterday's chapter, it looks invincible. As a matter of fact, it looks so invincible that other nations are coming under the protection of Rome and giving Rome its power. And wow, this looks pretty unbeatable until you get to chapter 18. And then you go oh, no, no, no, it may pretty unbeatable until you get to chapter 18. And then you go oh, no, no, no, it may look unbeatable to you and to you, persecuted church of the early church. Yes, physically this city is unbeatable for you, but it is nothing compared to God. And now we get to see just how far it has fallen. And so to the early church.

Speaker 0: 10:00

Excuse me, the lesson would be Jesus calls us out of the chaos and reminds us that he is victorious. And can I tell you, the lesson is still the same for us today. Many times we will look at the different things in our life and it would just seem impossible. And the reason why is because the enemy is so big when he's so close, if you think about it. When you are right in the middle of a problem, it seems so big. We can lose perspective, which is why it's important for us to step back from our problems many times and remember God's faithfulness. And I want to tell you, no matter how big that enemy is in your life, it is not bigger than our Lord.

Speaker 0: 10:44

And so I want to encourage you today to take a moment and to put your life in perspective and to realize that, no matter how big the enemy is, god wants to pull you out of the chaos so you can get the perspective and see yes, it is a financial difficulty. Yes, your kids are going through a financial difficulty. Yes, your kids are going through a difficult season. Yes, your marriage is going through a difficult season. Yes, it is really hard to find a job that will supply you what you need to take care of your family. Yes, of course, we're not downplaying those needs. What we're doing is we are enlarging our view of God to see that, compared to God, is nothing. So we can trust him in those hard times. Let's pray together right now, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, lord, that, just like you would, we're encouraging the early church to make sure they see Rome as it really is, which is big but not bigger than you. I pray you will help us to do the same for you. Help us to remember that, compared to you, our biggest enemy is nothing. Help us, lord, to draw on that today so that we can face every one of our battles with confidence. We celebrate you today In Jesus' name. We pray Amen and amen.

Speaker 0: 11:51

I cannot wait to get to tomorrow, where we see the climax and our God arise. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. But first, I almost forgot Romans 1. Not Romans. How excited am I? I am so excited about tomorrow. Let me see if I can get through this. Revelation 1, verse 7. Say it with me, please. Look, he comes with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. I want to show you exactly what our king looks like tomorrow, chapter 19.