Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy Marketing for our church Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full. The glory of Jesus. Let's go. We only got two days left in the book of Revelation, which means we only got two days left in the entire New Testament. All right, so if you have not done today's reading, if you have not read Revelation, chapter 17, 18, 19, and 20, then go ahead, pause this video, pause this audio. Go do the reading. For everyone who's done the reading, if you've read Revelation, chapter 17 through 20, good work. We're going to get into some context clues. I'm always going to give you a nerdy nugget. I'm going to give you a timeless truth. By this point, if you've been rocking with us for 80 days, you know how this works. And if you're on a streak, I am proud of you. So let's go. Revelation, chapter 17. The big, like, character here is going to be the great prostitute, the Great. Of Babylon. Okay? Now some of you may think, like, what does Babylon have to do with anything? It wasn't Babylon. Wasn't the Babylonian Empire a part of the Old Testament? And you would be right, absolutely. But John, remember, apocalyptic literature is supposed to give hope to people who are in the midst of suffering. So John is going to resurrect these images of Babylon because Rome is a new Babylon. Now, I want you to remember in the Old Testament, when God's people were in exile in Babylon, they were called to remain faithful. Okay? If you remember, people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, if you remember, they were in exile in Babylon. And although they were in Babylon, they were not called to be of Babylon, okay? Although they were in exile, they were not supposed to lose hope and worship the beast, okay? Or worship the graven image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up for himself. In the same way that God's people were faithful in Babylon in the Old Testament, John is using this image of Babylon to encourage modern day believers to emulate that exact same faithfulness of, of God's people that have gone before them. So this image of Babylon is resurfacing, it's getting resurrected. Why? To give hope, to encourage. What John is saying is saying, hey, hey, guys, this is not the first time that the people of God have been under persecution. It's not the first time the people of God have suffered. It's not the first time the people of God have been in exile. We know how to conduct ourselves when we are in an empire that is hostile to our faith and hostile towards our God. Second reason that Babylon gets used as an image is to call God's people to faithfulness first and then second is to say, hey, there's always going to be a Babylon. There's always going to be an empire, okay? Babylon wasn't the first empire, not the last, okay? Assyria, not the first empire, not the last. Persia, not the first empire, not the last. The Greeks, okay? Alexander the Great in the Greek army that, I mean, took over the known world. Not the first empire, not the last. The Roman Empire that's persecuting these Christians here in the book of Revelation, not the first empire, not the last. And so this imagery of Babylon is used for those two reasons, okay? So that's our context, that yes, Babylon is an Old Testament image, an Old Testament symbol, but. And John's audience is not living in Babylon, but they need to see, they need to see that this beast keeps taking on new iterations, that whether they are dealing with version 1.0, 3.0, 8.0, or 9.0 of Empire. Whether they're dealing with Assyria or Egypt or Babylon or Rome or the British Empire or the American Empire. Doesn't matter what version of the empire or what iteration of the empire or which generation of the empire they're dealing with. Our job is to do the same thing, which is to be in the empire, but not of the empire. We're going to see this kind of come to a climax of some pretty, like, I mean, I would say like rated R language. Okay, so, like, brace yourself. I remember being in my Revelation class in undergrad. It was actually my senior seminar and it was with Dr. David Mathewson. He was brilliant. He. He would actually. He gave us a bunch of apocalyptic literature for the first half of the semester. And we were not allowed to read the Book of Revelation, which is apocalyptic literature, until we had gotten familiar with the genre first. A lot of the mistakes that people make is that Revelation is their first time reading apocalyptic literature. So their introduction into this genre is through the Book of revelation. And Dr. Mathewson wanted to make sure that we became experts at the genre first and then started to interpret the Book of Revelation. I remember in class one day, he points out Revelation, chapter 18, verse 4. Okay? Revelation 18, verse 4. It says, this, come out of her, my people. And I remember him saying, hey, this is hyper sexual language. What? What? Because remember John is talking about Babylon the whore, Babylon the harlot, Babylon the prostitute. And God's words to his church is to say, hey, come out of her. I remember Dr. Mathewson saying in the same way that it is nearly impossible, very, very difficult for a man who's engaging in sexual intercourse with a woman to stop having intercourse, to come out of that woman before climaxing. That is how hard it is for the church to get out of bed with the empire once the church has become intertwined with Empire. Now, there are a lot of Christians. I'm not saying this is my stance. There are just a lot of Christians who would be really, really. Who would read these verses about come out of her. And I mean, their, their level of seriousness around the separation between church and empire would be really uncomfortable with like an American flag, like inside of a sanctuary. They would be like, really uncomfortable with that. They would feel like, ah, man, we're engaging with the civic religion, okay, that there is a sacred religion, right, like Christianity and then there's civic religion. So like secular religion. And secular religion is like the worship of the Empire. And there's patriotism that borders on nationalism and xenophobia. That honestly is like, yeah, this is, this is, this is a form of worship, right? Like, this is, this is a God. This is idolatry. And there are Christians who would be uncomfortable with maybe the way that some churches honor veterans, like on Sundays. And then you know what, there's the other extreme as well. There are churches who, there are Christians who would be disrespected by a church not honoring veterans. I'm not saying that there's a right or wrong way to handle this. What I am saying is that Revelation is definitely asking the church and Christians to at least be mindful that when we engage as the church, when we engage with the empire, that needs to be intentional and mindful and that we should be really cautious to get in bed with the empire. This will kind of inform my timeless truth later, but come out of her. There's these two marks of empire. The first one is military conquest, that there's this military machine that the empire produces. A lot of the economic focus is poured into. A lot of the economic resources of an empire goes into its military. So when you think about the Babylonian empire or the Roman empire or the Greek empire, man, it's the, it's, it's the strongest army in the world. And so if we were just, you know, asking the question, k, is American empire okay when it comes to military check, like, yeah, I mean, yeah, our, our military spending is astronomically more than like, any, every other country. Okay. On the planet. Again, not saying that's right. Not saying that's wrong. Just saying we should be mindful. The second mark of empire is always going to be economics. Okay? So, so military. And then I would say like a hoarding of, of wealth. So I want you to read Revelation, chapter 8, verse 3. Okay? The kings of the earth committed adultery with her. This is the whore. This is the whore of Babylon. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her. And the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries. So you're going to have. Military and merchants are going to be the two mainstays of empire, military and merchants. And I think we all have to just ask ourselves, man, have our churches become wealthy or powerful or, or, or privileged because of spiritual fervor or because of unfair economic advantage? Like, I just think that's a question that we have to ask. Now. I'm, I'm going to be very clear. Like me, like, I don't think there's. I would never say that, like, Christians should be poor or like there's any virtue in poverty. I would say that actually my goal is to always hold truth, intention and to say, hey, like, like we should be mindful and we should weigh. And I never want to be doing something or thinking in a way just because that was the way I was programmed to think or behave. I want to be making cognizant decisions and conscious decisions. No matter where I fall on an issue, I want to make sure that I went through a thoughtful process to get to that position. So that's what I'll say about that. We're going to get a blending of images that are going to describe Babylon and we're going to get these mainly from the Old Testament. Okay, so if you think about Revelation is actually a blending of three genres in the Bible. It's we get these seven letters to the seven churches, so we got letter writing. Revelation is going to be a culmination of prophecy, and so we'll see that in a second. But prophecy is a second genre and then it's apocalyptic literature. So it's this blending of three different genres of, of scripture. Here's where John is going to draw a lot of his imagery from, from as he describes the fall of Babylon. Isaiah, chapter 13, Isaiah, chapter 23, Isaiah, chapter 34, Isaiah, chapter 47, Jeremiah, chapter 50 and 51, and Ezekiel, chapter 26 to 27. So Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are going to be huge, okay? And John is going to develop a lot of themes from those books and bring those themes to their culmination in the book of Revelation. All right, now like once we get into chapter 19, we're going to get these three scenes and the first scene is Armageddon. Let me actually go back just a little bit. Revelation, chapter 18, verse 11, says the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over the great prostitute, over the great whore Babylon, because no one buys their cargoes anymore. Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple silk, scarlet cloth, every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, cossi, wood, bronze, iron and marble, cargoes of cinnamon, spice, of incense, myrrh, frankincense, of wine and olive oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and carriages and human beings sold as slaves. So I mean, we're talking the full gamut almost. In every empire across history, slavery has been a thing like, like, like an issue. So remember military in merchants, Military in merchants. Bible nerds, I have an announcement. My brand new book Crushing Chaos releases May of 2025 in pre. Orders are Officially open. When I began to learn Genesis in its proper context, I learned that the creation account is not primarily about God creating something out of nothing, but rather God bringing divine order to the chaos of the cosmos. That one nugget was a game changer for me because I've been preaching to all the kids in my youth group that peace was a solution for their anxiety. But really, God's solution to chaos is never peace, but rather order. Peace isn't something that you stumble into. It's something that you intentionally step into and that starts with aligning your life with God's order. I think that this book is a game changer. It's nerdy, it's practical, it provides a very contextual understanding of the book of Genesis. And if you grab a copy, you'll learn why there's a huge dragon on the COVID Head to the link in the show notes to pre order, or head to crushingchaos.com to see the really dope trailer that we made for this book. I think it's time for you to crush the chaos in your life. And that starts with grabbing a copy of this book. Now back to the podcast. Okay, let me like move into this nerdy nugget. Okay, there are three scenes when we get to Revelation chapter 19 and 20. The first scene is in Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 to 21. This is Armageddon. Then the second scene is Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 7. And this is the a thousand year reign where Jesus is reigning with the those that have been martyred. And then Revelation chapter 20, verse 8 to 15 would be like the final judgment. So we get these three scenes. Now the question is, are these three scenes sequential or. Or are these three scenes linear in terms of time and how we understand them happening? Are they chronological? And there are three major ways to kind of see these three scenes. One is called pre millennialist, okay, which is going to see the thousand year reign happening before the second coming. So there's a thousand year reign and then the second coming. Then there's gonna be post millennialism, which is going to see the second coming of Christ, then followed by a thousand year reign. And then there's a millennial which does not believe that there's a literal thousand year reign. And so in that view, you would kind of see that Armageddon moment where Satan and the beast are held captive as like what happens on the cross. That that's what is accomplished in the crucifixion. And we are currently living in our thousand year reign. That that's Simply the church age and then the final judgment is the second coming of Christ. Now there's all kinds of different ways to interpret these three scenes and entire denominations have been created based on how we interpret these three scenes. It's not my place to tell you how to interpret these three scenes. Whether or not to be premillennialist or post millennialist or amillennialist, my place is to simply say, here's what all Christians agree on. That Jesus will be victorious. That the, that Satan and the beast and evil and suffering and warfare and the great whore of Babylon and empire and slavery and, and military and all that will cease to exist. That all that will get thrown into the lake of fire. That there won't be martyrs anymore. That there won't be suffering anymore. That we will walk into a new heaven and a new earth and Jesus will be victorious. Whether or not there's a literal thousand year reign, we'll find out. We'll all find out. Whether or not the church is going to get raptured up so that Jesus can reign on earth with the Jewish nation, with the Jewish people, we'll find out. All right, I've got opinions on whether or not that's what revelation is, is trying to break down for us. But at the end of the day, here's what I do know. That Satan is defeated. That his defeat is already, but not yet. That the kingdom is already but not yet. And that there is a final destruction that we are awaiting for our enemy known as Satan. And there's a final culmination or bringing of the kingdom that we're all in anticipation for. And with that anticipation we remain faithful because we know how this is going to end. We don't partner with the empire. We remain faithful even under the threat of persecution. And that is the thrust. Remember, it can't mean for us what it did not mean for them. So we have to figure out what did it mean to John's original audience. And if apocalyptic literature is designed to give hope to people who are in the middle of suffering, then letting people know that, hey, you want to make sure you're on the right side of history. And guess where history is leading? It's leading to Jesus being victorious over evil. Do not join with the empire. I'd rather let the empire kill me, then join in with the empire and go against God. Because at the end of the day, I'm not just living for this life, I'm actually living for the next life. Okay? That brings us to our timeless truth and that is that Every Christian must decide exactly how they are going to engage with empire. It's funny, because I'm super proud to be an American. I'm a son of an immigrant, so sometimes I think, you know, children of immigrants are even, like, extra proud to be Americans. Like, proud that our parents sacrificed everything and moved here, like, to achieve the American dream. Like that. That is amazing. My dad moved to this country and learned English, had multiple jobs. Like, I know what it took for me to have a passport. In the same way that I'm appreciative of being an American, I also have to appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus and martyrs and Christians that have afforded me the ability to be a dual citizen, that I'm not just a citizen of America, but I'm also a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Man, if there's something that John is trying to get every single Christian to realize, his original audience and us is to be in the world, but not of it, it's awesome that I'm proud to be an American, but I can't see being an American as more important than being a part of God's of the new Heaven and the new Earth of God's kingdom. And so with dual citizenship, we approach the world. My outlook or my worldview is not simply shaped by my American ness, but it's also shaped by my kingdomness. And if there's ever one that's more important than the other, my status as a citizen in the kingdom is the most important thing about me. All right? That's my timeless truth for the day. I gave you a context clue. I gave you a bunch of context clues. I gave you a nerdy nugget. It's not my place to tell you where to. Where to sit, theologically or politically, but it is my job to give options and say, hey, whatever decision you're going to make, make sure that you make one that is intentional. So Tomorrow is day 81, and if you're on a streak, don't break it. For those of you who have been tracking with us every day, I'm proud of you. I'll see you right here as we close out the Book of Revelation and close out the entire New Testament family. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 81. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com. we'll see you back here tomorrow.