Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
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Babylon (bàb´e-len, -lòn´) noun
1. A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption.
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In John's day Babylon as a wild city was long gone. The memory of it's abhorrent behavior lived on as part of the history of the Jewish people. The Jewish people had at one point in their past, 500 or so BC been taken captive by the King of Babylon. In their history they knew this and that includes John.
The imagery provoked by Babylon is one of corruption, one of being the anti-God. Babylon even in our dictionary has this to say-
A city or place of great luxury, sensuality, and often vice and corruption.
When John was given his vision of hearing an angel saying- Babylon the great is fallen is fallen is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every four spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication; John knew that Babylon history as did all Jews. John also knew this is a future vision- future to the end of days and Babylon is no longer in existence as a super powerful sin-city. There are a lot of various suppositions and just looking at this without pulling in all those theories isn't ANYTHING that takes us into sin figurative of living in Babylon? Living a life of sin and following any that promote that sinning way creates the need for us to come out of Babylon- come out of the sinning ways. I'm not trying to belittle the deeper meanings of the prophecy at all- but it needs to be said that if you are caught up in sin you need to come out of that sin and God wants us out of the sinning ways so we do find forgiveness with Christ Jesus and aren't overcome by the plagues.
We are ordered to come out of Babylon...come out, that's an action that needs to be taken and we are all called to do so. If we choose to keep on sinning and living in a life surrounded by purposeful sin we are guilty of not heeding the warning to come out and not partake of the sins. We can then expect the plagues, the punishment of God to fall upon us. Not something pleasant to look forward to and NO sin pleasure now, no matter what it is will ever be worth the end result. The price paid for choosing self-indulgence over choosing to love God will be something none will want to pay yet it's not a reality to people. Just as in history the prophecies weren't reality until they came to pass and today people have been lulled into a deep sleep unwilling to wake to see that Biblical prophecies have proven true throughtout our history. It's the past, it's ancient history and therefore nothing we should bother over. Wrong. The prophecies go all the way until the end of days when Jesus returns and ultimately when all the sinners are destroyed and sin completely wiped away. We've not come to that day- we are still living in the days of unfulfilled prophecies and we have to ask ourselves a question- if prophecies of old have come to pass, what will stop the prophecies of the future from coming to pass?
The answer... nothing. Nothing can stop it and it's up to us to decide where we wish to be found in when that prophecy comes to pass.
May God help us all to come out of Babylon, come out of our sinning ways and cling to Him asking for our Savior to save us by His merciful grace and overwhelming love.
Amen.
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