20th Episode - Babylon's Fall: Seven Silhouettes of Judgements from Revelation 18:1-19:3

 Fyodor Dostoevsky, the great Russian writer, asks, “What is hell?” In “The Brothers Karmasov,” the monk, Elder Zosmia, says, “I think it is the suffering of one who can no longer love…This is why the creature was given life on earth, and with it, time and space. And what happens? The privileged creature rejects that priceless gift, fails to appreciate it, does not even like it, sneers at it, and remains unmoved. When such a creature leaves the earth…he is filled with suffering at the thought that he will appear before the Lord never having loved and will be brought into the presence of those who have loved him but whose love he has scorned.” 

Babylon has spurned God’s love like an adulterous wife. She fully embodies the moral failure Christ confronted in His Church. “You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen!” Since Jesus’ love is the very highest love fathomable, to fall from it is a bottomless fall. Babylon’s fall means she is left with nothing. Her prestige, her love of money, her lusts for the world have all passed away. As a result, she is full of “woe.” “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great” is the cry of Revelation chapter eighteen. We thus outline Babylon’s awful judgment in seven silhouettes. 

Transcript

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Theodore Dostofsky, the great Russian writer, asked, What is hell? In Brothers Cosmosov, the monk, Elder Zumiya, says, I think it's suffering of one who can no longer love. This is why the creature was given life on earth, and with it time and space. And what happens? The privileged creature rejects the priceless gift, fails to appreciate it, does not even like it, snares at it, and remains unmoved. When such a creature leaves the earth, he's filled with suffering at the thought that he will appear before the Lord, never having loved, and will be brought into the presence of those that have loved him, but whose love he has scorned. Babylon has spurned God's love like an adulterous wife. She embodies the ultimate progression of having forsaken one's first love. It's a height from which one falls, since love for Jesus is the very highest love fathomable. It's the highest state the soul can achieve. It far surpasses anything one could gain or do, even if they lived a thousand years. Babylon's fall means she's left with nothing. Her prestige, her love of money, her lust for the world have all passed away. She is full of woe. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. Well, welcome to the Unsealed Book Podcast. That's the cry of Revelation chapter 18, and I'm Mark Roser. We're gonna outline Babylon's awful judgment in seven silhouettes. After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. Well, in chapter 14, Babylon was approaching judgment. It was foretold. Revelation progresses, revealing now her judgment in prophetic details. She's overthrown. John uses the phrase after this nine times to transition from one vision to another. Notice the wording, fallen, fallen as Babylon the Great. She has become. Babylon becomes the exact opposite of how she appeared to the world. Before her fall, she sat as a queen in beauty, luxury, power. Revelation makes clear that in the end, each of us become, for all to see, what we've chosen to be all along the way. Well, early on, Babylon chose the things of men, esteem them highly, but not the things of God. And just as the saints are resurrected at Christ's return to become like him, conform to his image, so Babylon, she falls, and it causes her to become the prison of every unclean spirit, hated bird, and wicked beast. It's a demonic cage. The angel uses two different words here to describe her final fixed condition. Literally, the first word means dwelling place, a home. The New International Version says a habitation. The King James says a haunt or a hold, a cage. It carries the idea of being guarded as in a ward. Taken together, the points clear, Babylon has become a place where demons are consigned and remain. The verb to fall is in the past, then. It's a state of certainty of this event. It was predicted long ago. Look, here comes a man in chariots with a team of horses, Isaiah says, and he gives back the answer. Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the images of its God lie shattered on the ground. Yes, added to idol worship, the reasons of her fall are pride and seduction and bloodletting. Not only did Babylon give place to these evil spirits, she boldly exported them to the nations, leading them also into idolatry. Yes, this silhouette, she's called, and fire fells on her in a day, in a moment, like Sodom and Gomorrah. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people. Yes, God's people are to leave Babylon before judgment, 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. God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given. Pay her back double, as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. Reminds you the torture and the grief of the rich man in Jesus' story of Lazarus and the witch man, who had all his good, but give nothing to the man who laid at his gate, begging. That's why God says, come out of her. It echoes prophetic words found throughout the prophets. Lee Babylon, flee Babylon, depart, depart. The Old Testament of full of lessons of God's people, not to intermingle with the heathen. Because of their idolatry, it would ruin them. Jesus' letter to the seven churches calls you and I to depart from Babylon's iniquity. We saw the church at Laodicea was rich and increased with good, a prosperous church. They believed in prosperity. But Jesus says they're poor, they're blind, they're naked. We saw things are not as they appear in those churches. There was another church that was poor, persecuted, but Christ said, You're rich. Yes, the sins of the Nicolaitans, Balaam, Jezebel have their roots in pagan worship and in morality. The challenge for followers of Jesus has always been to break with the world's idolatrous lifestyle. The Bible does not teach a life of isolation. We are not to go away and Jesus did not pray that we would be taken out of the world, but that we would be separate in the sense that we would be holy unto God. And Paul asks, what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? And what agreement is there between a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. Therefore, come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. God gave Babylon, like Balaam and Jezebel, time and opportunity to repent. But because they continued in sin, God says, I'll repay them double. Babylon's sins call for a payback in kind. Mix for her double, and the cup in which she has mixed. Well, this mix is a mystery, as we've said. It's a sinful mixture that leads to apostasy. That is just how Israel fell. Israel never rejected the worship of God outright. They simply mixed it with pagan practices, such was the case when they worshiped the golden calf. And they committed acts of gross sexual immorality. They claimed this was a feast to the Lord, literally to Yahweh, the true God. Mixing became the norm for their 40 years in the wilderness. For example, they weren't content to just carry God's tabernacle through the wilderness. They made a Babylonian tabernacle, images of Molach that they also carried. God says, Therefore, I will cause you to go into captivity. Yes, the Babylonian captivity was a judgment. And the church's captivity is a judgment. Stephen was martyred for exposing Israel's idolatrous worship. He refers to the incident cited above. They brought sacrifices to it, held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon, and stars. This is the great concern for the church of the Lord Jesus, those that profess his name, that they might possess his nature and his character. Rather than mix images, Jeremiah confronted Israel's false worship. Behold, God said, You burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods, make cakes to the queen of heaven, and come and stand before me in this house. In Ezekiel's day, an idol was placed right at the entrance of the temple, and priests offered incense to false gods that were now painted on the walls. Women wept for Tasmu, and men worshipped the sun at dawn from the temple area. When they had slain their children to idols, God said, Then they came the same day into my sanctuary. So God drove them out of the land he had given them. Yes, Israel, syncretism. Why should we be surprised to find it in the church? Satan doesn't appear as a monster with horns and a long tail and a pitchfork. No, he appears as an angel of light. He's the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. He disguises himself in the outer garments of Christianity. Such deception is the most potent of all. It's like removing the warning label from a bottle of poison and substituting a peppermint candy label in its place. The contents are deadly, just the same. It is not only Islamic suicide bombers that are deceived. Deception has overtaken much of Judaism and so-called Christianity. Before his conversion, the well-educated Saul of Tarsus was deceived to the degree that he consented to murder Christians. The Sanhedrin, consider it. Yes, Babylon sat as queen until her judgment came. In her heart she boasts, I sit as queen, I'm not a widow, I'll never mourn. Therefore, in one day, her plagues will overtake her. Death, mourning, and famine. When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared in her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand afar off and cry, Woe, woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power, in one hour your doom has come. Babylon. Most folks think of Babylon, ancient Babylon, but as men scattered over the earth, they went with their new languages and took their old religion. Herodotus, the historian of antiquity, witnessed Babylon mystery rites in numerous countries. He said Babylon was the primeval source from which all systems of idolatry flowed. Egypt's religion was derived from Asia and the primitive empire of Babylon. Yes, Rome assimilated the gods of the religions of the various countries. She ruled. And when Christianity was declared the state religion by Emperor Constantine, yes, the pagan religions were brought in. The idols were baptized. Things were given new names. Yes, the Christian encyclopedia states we need not shrink from admitting that candles, incense, holy water were commonly employed in pagan worship and the rites paid to the dead. But the church from the very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things. Well, in Africa, having served for many years, I can easily understand how certain practices are mixed with Christianity. Throughout Africa, large religious groups possess a mixture of Christianity and traditional animistic practices, blessing stones and water, wearing certain garments. Yes, I'm concerned because members of such group seldom possess the assurance of salvation through faith in Jesus. My aim is not to shame anyone, but to proclaim the gospel. Yes, I was raised Roman Catholic. I know it's possible to attend church for years and have no assurance of salvation. I did. Many Protestants are in the same boat. My assurance of the gift of eternal life only came through a clear proclamation of what Jesus accomplished at the cross for me, not by my good works or my participation in any ritual or keeping of any rule. With respect to my Catholic and Protestant friends who have personally placed their trust in Jesus, I rejoice. The danger, however, is that diluted worship can provide a sense of security. That is false. Yes. Babylon's cargo includes the souls of men. The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore. It's not only cargoes of gold, but the bodies and souls of men. Wow. In its heyday, Rome was a storehouse for every product in the old world. John lists products numbering twenty-eight articles, ranging from luxury items to household staples. The list illustrates the city's prosperity. Fine linen, purple, scarlet, glittering with gold, precious stones, pearls. Well, many cities besides Rome fit Babylon. Thebes, Nineveh, Jerusalem, Tyra, yes, and cities in our day. New York, Chicago, all the great cities. Hong Kong, yes, wealth and worldly sorrow. Babylon is rich in material goods, but when her judgment comes, the merchants, they don't mourn with a mourning of grief that is godly repentance. They mourn that they've lost what their soul desires. Yes, six times in three sets of two we hear the word woe, and we see the phrase, stand afar off three times. Nothing can be done to prevent Babylon's collapse. Men can only shrink back from the heat, fully aware that their doom is next. As we saw at the outset of the book, behold, he comes with cloud, and every eye shall see him, and those that pierced him, and all tribes of the earth shall mourn because of him. It's the expression of grief, not godly sorrow, but the sorrow of the world. It's not a mourning of love which grieves over those who are loved, but the mourning that agonizes over personal loss. Well, pure repentance brings a spirit of grace and supplication. The latter only leads to death. The time is near when the world will no longer deliver the goods, riches will disappear in a moment, money will become meaningless in a split second, the stock market will crash to never recover. Economic loss is God's just reward upon a world for depriving the followers of the Lamb their right to buy and sell. Now they themselves are denied that right. And we are told, God's people are told to rejoice over her. Babylon is judged for harming God's people. Rejoice over her, O heaven. Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets. God has judged her for the way she treated you. Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder, the size of a large millstone, and threw it into the sea and said, With such violence, the great city Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. But in her was found the blood of the prophets and the saints, and all who have been killed on the earth. Well, this is divine vengeance. Babylon, as we said, shed the blood of the saints. Violence against God's people is one of the most provocative sins of all. And here's the ultimate reason for Babylon's downfall. Yes, then that image of a large millstone is used by an angel, cast like a millstone into the sea, never to be found, heard, or seen again. It reminds us of the prophecy of Jeremiah against Babylon. When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, So will Babylon sink to rise no more. Well, John wrote Revelation, Babylon as a city and an empire, was in ruins. He's not speaking of ancient Babylon. He's speaking not just of the Rome of his day, but of every city, society, and culture like it. Royal dignity and splendor, combined with prosperity, overabundance of luxury, having self-trust, boastfulness, and then violence, especially against God's people, oppression and injustice. And we mustn't forget witchcraft. It all equals Babylon. Babylon's judgment is outlined as never again. The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of the millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of the bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray. They will say, The fruit you long for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered. With such violence, the great city Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. Well, what a strong wording we have throughout Revelation 18, verses 1 to 19, and these magic spells. Well, Paul talks about another gospel preached, and he says to the Galatians, Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Murders and magic arts, along with fornification and adultery, both natural and spiritual, were her sin. The Greek word for magic arts is pharmacia. It primarily means the use of drugs accompanied by incantation and appeals to cult power. It's listed as one of the works of the flesh. And those who practice these things will have their part in the lake of fire. Well, throughout church history, saints have struggled against satanic powers. Paul knew that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dung, and this heresy was deadly. Because it nullified the truth of the gospel. Therefore, he confronts in the strongest possible terms any other gospel or any other teaching and preaching besides what the scriptures teach. Well, Babylon's judgment will cause heaven to rejoice. A great multitude will shout, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgment. Just as we saw the judgments upon the world, it was like the judgments upon Egypt, the type of the world. They came one after another, like the plagues, like the bulls poured out, the deconstruction of the world. Yes, it's a judgment that the saints are to rejoice in. For the looking up, the coming of Christ is near, and how amazing it will be when he comes. Like the beast, Babylon is active until the end. And it's in one day alone, one day alone that God deals with her forever, shall not appear again. There'll not be a wounded head that appears again, there'll no longer be any Hitlers or Stalins or Mao's or Idiomines in Uganda, oppressive governments, it'll be over. Yes, Babylon's destruction is not merely temporal burning that she suffers. Any historical antecedents like the Jerusalem or Rome sacking and setting on fire are simply foretastes of Babylon's end in the lake of fire. Yes, Satan has used many earthly instruments, the sum of which are greater than any historical equivalent. Evil spirits embody these earthly manifestations. We call them principalities and powers. We wrestle against them, the beast in Babylon, but they will finally be judged. Well, knowledge is so greatly increasing in our day, and Daniel spoke of that in Daniel 12, for he says knowledge will abound. It will begin as it is now, doubling every year. A hundred years it took for knowledge to double. Then after World War II, it took a decade. But now with AI and super artificial intelligent brains, which will create their own artificial intelligence that men won't even begin to understand their functions after a while, will get to a place. And it's clear that time is coming when we will be confronted with things no other generation has ever been confronted with. Things that will uh cause life to be extended and even immortality offered. Well, we talked about in our last episode, man trying to get back to the tree of life through the knowledge of good and evil, eating it, becoming a god, deciding, deciding what life is. Well, when it gets to that point, the creature then tries to become the creator, no longer in God's image and likeness. It can be changed where we have uh uh things that are no longer even human. Well, God will intervene in a moment before that happens. He will intervene and he'll put an end, whether through men's own devices, as we said, artificial intelligence destroying the natural order, or God Himself coming in the person of Jesus. But Jesus did say if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved alive. So I'm of the opinion, my interpretation is man will destroy God's creation through becoming a God Himself to create a world after his own image. That will mean curtains for this creation. Just like after he uh the the angels came down in Genesis 6, and they intermingled to such a degree with the human race, and there was violence in the imagination of man's heart, was evil continual. God decided it was enough. And he took Noah out, raised him above the flood waters. Well, it'll be fire. But for us who are looking for his coming, and that's the hope that this teaching will put in you a desire for his coming. We will not be consumed by that fire. Who can dwell with it? Who can dwell with the eternal fire? Well, those that have had their hearts purified by the blood of Christ and their hands washed clean. They can ascend to the hill of the Lord, and they can abide even with our God, who the Bible says is a consuming fire. He's light, light that brings exposure and he. And so when Christ comes, his eyes are afire, and it will consume the beast and the Antichrist, as we will see in coming episodes. Well, we'll be moving to the last section of the book of Revelation. If you stayed this long, stay for the rest. We're going to see a new heaven and a new earth. We're going to see the white horse rider come before that. We're going to see the great harvest that is coming. Let's pray. Father, pray with me. Father, help us to be pure. Help our hearts, the thoughts and intents of our heart, to be in keeping with the Spirit of Jesus, that we might have fellowship, koinia, partnership with the Holy Spirit. Lord, that we might not give place to any other spirit, any foul or unclean spirit. Lord, that our minds would be renewed, washed in the water of your word, and that we would walk free of all the idolatry, the pornography that has become so prevalent and so widespread. Lord, that you would cleanse and purge that from your people, that we would come out of the Babylonian system and not partake of her judgment. Father, help us hear this cry and to see the end of that seductive, deceitful prostitute who sells her soul. Father, help us. Help us to keep our souls with perseverance and patience, to endure unto the end, to be faithful. One less day it is, Lord, until Jesus comes. God bless you until next time.