Transcript
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Welcome to A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace. My name is Kristen.
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And my name is Katie and we want to spend a few minutes a day with you walking through the New Testament one chapter at a time. This year we will fix our gaze upon Christ so that we may know him not only with our minds but with our hearts.
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Together we will learn that who Jesus is changes everything. Hey friends, welcome back to A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace. My name is Katie and and together we are walking through Revelation in our year long study of the New Testament. Today we are studying Revelation 18. As always you can follow along with the behold studies in the Daily Grace Co shop or with the reading plan linked in the show notes. Today we enter into a sort of funeral, but an ironic funeral because heaven actually celebrates this funeral. The death of Babylon the Great is cause for rejoicing who is Babylon the Great? Well, let's recap how she was described yesterday. In chapter 17, John calls Babylon the Great a prostitute who has deceived the nations, turning them toward lust and extravagance and away from God. Chapter 17, verse 2 says those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality. She not only indulged in luxury and in immorality herself, she seduced the world to follow suit. She worked alongside the beast or the Antichrist to carry out the deeds of Satan. Even in today's chapter we read about the prostitute's pride. In verse 7 she has glorified herself sitting as a queen who believes that she will never see grief. This woman is bad news. Like most of Revelation so far, Babylon the Great isn't a literal woman. To John's audience, she likely represented Rome. But from a modern, broader interpretation, Babylon represents systems and nations of the world that work in opposition to God. As we read in this chapter, we will learn that all those who oppose God will not stand. Let's take a look at the text. Here John sees another glorious angel with great authority to pronounce the fall of Babylon. What's interesting about this proclamation is that it has not yet happened. But in verse 2 it speaks as if it's in absolutes, as if it were in the past. The angel says it has fallen. Babylon the Great has fallen. This lets us know the certainty of Babylon's fall. It's not something that can be questioned. The angel describes Babylon as a ghost town only inhabited by demons and unclean spirits and unclean animals. This imagery comes from another prophecy of Babylon's fall in Isaiah 13, 19, 20 Isaiah prophesied that Babylon will no longer be inhabited by humans, only desert animals. What's clear here is that human life will be purged from within Babylon's walls. For the life lived in Babylon was no life at all. Not true life at least. Verse three tells us that the kings of the earth have fallen prey to her seduction and the merchants have become enamored with their wealth, sensuality and excess. Babylon has intoxicated the world with temporary pleasures. In verses 4 through 8, a second speaker pronounces a warning for God's people to flee from Babylon. Her impending doom is announced so that Christians may escape. John borrowed language from similar warnings of the prophets to also flee from Babylon. Specifically in Jeremiah 51:45, when the prophet says, come out from among her, my people. Save your lives. Each of you. Save it from the Lord's burning anger. Indeed, God will repay Babylon double for the evil she's caused. As we move into verses 9 through 20, we gain insight into the world's reaction to the fall of Babylon. Here we read three woes of kings, merchants and seafarers, all who stand and watch her demise with fear, trembling and sadness. Babylon's grip on the hearts of men is undeniable. They lament their lives without the luxury she provides. Babylon's securities have been stripped. Her vulnerabilities are exposed and she will come crumbling down along with those who worship her. Babylon, the great city, will be thrown down violently and will never be found again. To symbolize final destruction, John sees a mighty angel throwing a millstone, likely weighing hundreds of pounds, into the sea. The point here is that Babylon will be unrecoverable. As no one is able to lift a millstone from the sea. No one will be able to resurrect Babylon. She has met God's full and final wrath. God has delivered vengeance on behalf of the lives of the saints she destroyed. Can you imagine how it must have felt to first century listeners of John's letter to hear that Rome will one day fall? Rome represented oppression, poverty, indulgence and immorality. And here God promises evil's reign as temporary. Similarly, we see evil systems, corrupt courts, wayward nations, and we too look forward to good triumphing over evil one day. This is the promise of today's Anything opposing God will not stand. We can declare in faith that Babylon has fallen, knowing God's sovereign, good and gracious plan will always come to pass. Let us behold Jesus today. Let us behold Jesus as worthy, worthy of our full affection. Jesus, our King of kings, became the Lamb of God to rescue us from ourselves without Him. We are kings and merchants and sailors worshiping what will crumble. But Jesus has rescued us despite us. Friends, may we worship him above all else. May this chapter give us a warning against worshiping the luxuries and conveniences and pleasures of the world. Maybe we have a good heart check today. What else are we worshiping? What do we place our securities in? What would he mourn today if it went up in smoke? May we submit any idolatry we find to God, for we can come confidently to his throne in Christ. We can find the help and the mercy we need. Jesus is worthy of every ounce of praise we can muster up. He's worthy of our whole hearts as we wait expectantly for Christ's return. Let us be people with undivided worship Together. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus.