Hey, we always like to start our Sunday mornings by saying welcome to any of you
that are joining us here in our room for the first time, or if you're joining us
online for the first time, welcome. We're so glad you're here to worship us today
at Hosanna. I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we are going to be looking at
Revelation chapter 18, which is the fall of Babylon, depicted as the political
economic system of government that is present during the end times, during the
tribulation period, that last seven years that so much of Revelation has been
about so far. You know, in the previous chapter, Revelation 17, we looked at
Babylon but depicted as the religious system that is on or present in the
world system at that time, that spiritual religious system that unifies all of
the various religions of the world together under one banner, and it's what
we call or refer to as the one world religion that will be present during
that time. And instead of being one new faith, it really is a melting pot of all
of the world's religions, all except Jesus, except Christianity. And really
what we saw in chapter 17 was how that system will ultimately be destroyed by
the Antichrist and the system that he leads. Well here in Revelation 18, John
now turns to another Babylon. And it might be easy to think if you're reading
through these chapters that since we're still talking about Babylon in chapter
18, that we're still talking about the same thing as we saw in chapter 17, but
that isn't accurate. Chapter 18 is really focusing on what we call the political
and or economic Babylon, which is not the one world religion, it's the one world
government system, the one world economic system in place during this time. And
this whole chapter is really focused on the economic power and effect that
falls with the fall of this particular Babylon. And you know, we understand
that that's so much of what government does, what the governments around the
world do has to do with economics. There's so much that what they do,
how they control, what they control, it all has to do with economics because
economics affects everything. Really from a governmental perspective, control over
an economy really equals control over the people. And throughout history and
including our societies today, economics has been something that has divided up
societies. Societies are divided up by economic class. Here in our country we
have the poor, we have what we call the middle class, we have what we call the
upper class. People are constantly at odds over what to do, how to legislate
the flow of and distribute wealth, right? On one side of the fence you have those
that are like, hey if you go out and you build a business and you invest and you
take the risk, you're due the reward, the profits of your efforts. And then on
another side of the aisle that's like, hey I shouldn't have to lift a finger
but you should give me all your money because that's just what's fair. We have
an administration now refusing to acknowledge the recessions that it has
caused by its policies. And instead of fixing the policies, what they want to do
is redefine the word recession. Call it something else because they know how a
broken economy can affect their reelection hopes. And as we enter into
an election season here in the United States, polls are suggesting over and
over again that the number one issue on people's minds is the economy because it
is tough right now. Everything is more expensive than it has been before and so
people are thinking, will a change in politics affect my personal economy? Will
a change in politics make it to where young people could ever afford a home
again? Will a change in politics bring gas prices back down to reasonable
levels? These are questions that are on people's minds and current economic
issues, they affect everybody. They affect businesses, they affect individuals, they
affect organizations including churches. You know, this last year it has been a
really difficult year for our church financially. Some of you remember our
tower started to fall apart, we had to fix that. Surprise! And we all have things
like that in our life where there's emergencies that come up that tap the
resources we weren't expecting to have to spend. But with us this year, as God
does and as he always does, he's provided in just miraculous ways so that us as a
church, as an organization, can continue to do what we're called to do. And he
does the same thing in the lives of his children, that God provides as we trust
him and obey him. But when we're affected by politics and affected by economics,
it can elicit an emotional response from people. We can find ourselves fearing,
having worry, anxiety, stress, and the worse these stresses can get, what is
seen historically, the more pliable the populations become. The more pliable they
become, and in the end times the world will have a unified global government, a
unified global economy, an economic system never seen before on earth. And
although this global global government will seem to solve issues and provide
stability, provide safety on the surface, what we're gonna see today in Revelation
18, that this one world government system, this one world political and economic
system, is really all about a lust for luxury, a lust for materialism, a lust for
personal comfort and pleasure at the expense of everybody else. It really is a
picture of capitalism gone berserk, as the people of the earth feed the need to
indulge themselves at the expense of others around them. But what
Revelation 18 ultimately shows us is that it will fall, it will collapse, it
will be judged, and that judgment will be complete, will be thorough, and will be
final. That's what we're looking at today, but first we're gonna spend some time
in worship because you know when it comes to economics, when it comes to our
personal finances and situations, God is still God whether it's a recession or
not. Amen? God is in control. Our job is to learn His will, to endeavor through
study of His Word, to be obedient to Him with everything. Now when economics and
the economy does get tough, one of the direct things that gets affected is our
ability to be obedient to God with our own finances and our own giving and
generosity, and the devil attacks that, and he's attacking that all over the
world. But whether it's good times or bad times, we're called to be obedient to God
because He is God. He knows our situation, He knows your situation, and He is worth
trusting because He is the one that takes care of us. Amen? Let's praise Him
for that. Father, Lord, we trust you God so much for who you are. We trust you God
in every situation of our lives, Lord. And God, even in our world today, we see
that governments around the world are struggling with
economic issues, God. And Lord, we see here in Revelation 18 today, Lord, that
the situation is just gonna get worse. God, that as we've seen situations over
history where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, God, Revelation 18
takes a very bleak picture of the end times where that is just in full
expression. And yet, God, it's something that is driven by the selfish greed of
man, the selfish indulgence of self-seeking pleasure. And Lord, that
really is such a controlling factor in the sinful nature of humanity. And God, we
see that you're gonna judge it. Lord, just as you judged in Revelation 17, false
religion and false idolatry. And Lord, all that would raise up something else
other than you to worship God, we also see, Lord, that you're gonna judge the
raising up of self, the raising up of our own pleasure. You're gonna
judge that, Lord, because we have raised it up as an idol. But Lord, we
want to worship you. We want to praise you. God, we don't want to necessarily
focus on the bad even as we're studying what's to come. We want to be in a place
where we trust you with our lives, we trust you with our finances, we trust you
with our jobs, we trust you with our families, because you are God Almighty.
And Lord, over and over again in your word, you promise to take care of your
people. And so, God, we trust you even when we don't understand. God, we trust you.
Lord, like the Apostle said in the Gospels, God, if we're struggling with
faith today and trusting you these things, Lord, we say, God, increase our
faith. That we would just be in that place of peace no matter what is going
on around us. And Lord, may we be people that pray for those who don't yet know
you, who are struggling through all these things without the hope of Jesus
Christ, Lord. God, we know a time is coming where you're gonna take the church out of
the world, and you're gonna start to pour out your final wrath upon the earth. God,
we ask, Lord, that before that happens, we would have opportunity to lead those who
don't yet know you to you, that they would be spared from the wrath to come.
So, God, we praise you for our salvation. We praise you for our relationship with
you. We praise you that you are God Almighty, and we love you so very much.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're gonna jump into our study this morning.
As I mentioned earlier, we are in Revelation chapter 18. And if you've been
with us for a while, you might remember back in chapter 6 of Revelation, we saw
that when the Antichrist came upon the scene, and we saw that in the first seal
as we saw this rider on a white horse, a counterfeit to Jesus, came on the scene,
the picture was that he's gonna come onto the scene at the start of the seven-year
tribulation period, and initially he's gonna be very peaceful. He's gonna be a
man of the people. He's gonna have all the answers and solutions to the problems
that are going on in the world, and everyone will like him because he seems
to solve every problem that the world is facing. Part of his solutions at that
time we have been studying will involve incorporating world religions together
under one banner. We've seen in prophecies of Daniel how this one world
leader that we refer to as the Antichrist will sign a peace treaty with
Israel that will allow Israel to reoccupy the Temple Mount to build their
temple again, which we've seen as the third temple. And I believe that he's
gonna figure out a way to allow that to happen without having any effect on the
Muslim presence there in the Dome of the Rock that sits on top of that Temple
Mount, and the world's gonna be amazed at this man, how he got the Jews and the
Muslims to cooperate, and it's gonna happen. And so people are just gonna be
amazed at his religious solutions, but part of his answers to the world is also
gonna be some type of economic plan that solves the world's economic challenges.
His rise to the top in the world leadership, his takeover, if you will, is
not gonna be something forceful or militaristic. It's gonna be peaceful. It's
gonna be very political. It's gonna be welcomed, and it's gonna be celebrated by
the world at large. But when all of it falls, when all of it collapses, what
we're gonna read about today is that the leaders of the world, the merchants of
the world as it describes here in Revelation 18, and the distributors of
the goods of the world are gonna be in chaos. They're gonna be in sorrow. They're
gonna be in fear, and this is really what chapter 18 of Revelation is all about.
Now I mentioned in our intro that there are many similarities between the
descriptions of Babylon in 17 and 18, and sometimes it could be hard to
distinguish what is John talking about. In Revelation 17, he's
talking about Babylon as this expression of a religious system. 18, it's different.
Now again though, as I mentioned, some people can read it and think that he's
talking about the same exact thing because there are similarities between
the descriptions. When you have Babylon the religious system and then Babylon the
political commercial economic system, we see that both in chapter 17 and 18 are
referred to or depicted as a woman, referred to as a female. And so with the
culture of our world today, you could say that Babylon's pronouns are she her, okay?
Now they're also referred to as both having made the nations drunk with the
wine of their sexual immorality. They're both described as having the kings of
the earth commit sexual immorality with her. They're both described as being
burned up with fire in God's judgment, and they're both described as dressed in
purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. But you got to
remember, as I've mentioned in previous messages, Babylon as a concept, Babylon
as an idea, Babylon as a descriptor is used to describe a number of different
things biblically. Babylon is used to refer to a literal city. There was a
literal city called Babylon that existed one day or back in the past. It is a city
that is currently being rebuilt today. Babylon is also used as the, to refer to
a literal empire that the city was capital of. You had the Babylonian Empire
which existed in history. And really when you tie those two together, we've
seen over and over that cities can represent entire nations and
governments and empires, right? Like when you think of Rome, it'll make you think
of the Roman Empire. When you think of Germany as a nation, you think of the
whole ideology connected to that. And so there's cities that represent nations and
so on and so forth. But Babylon is also used to reference the ideology of pagan
idolatry, pagan worship, false worship, and sin which these anything but
God religious concepts do have their roots all the way back in the Tower of
Babel, which was where Babylon came from. And we understand this concept of
ideologies representing cities, right? If I told you what city is Sin City?
Vegas, right? That's not a difficult one, right? Or San Francisco, once known for
technology, now known as a case study in liberal policies. But ultimately this
concept of Babylon is a concept, a word that is used to refer to anything that
stood or stands against God or presents itself as instead of God Almighty. So
when something is a Babylon, it, whether it's a city, an empire, a government, an
ideology, it's referring to something that is elevating man, elevating man's
desires, man's values, man's goals above God and God's will and what God
wants for mankind. And so where chapter 17 presented Babylon the Great as the
mother of prostitutes and the detestable things of the earth, a religious system
that was supported by and influencing the people of the world, a system that
initially even had influence over the beast, it was presented as something
separate from the beast, separate from the beast that represents the one-world
government, again as a religious system guilty of religious abominations, and a
system that was ultimately destroyed by the political power that previously
supported her. Chapter 18 we see Babylon the Great, the same descriptor, symbolized
as a great city, a center of economic control, a capital that represents a
kingdom, that represents a system of economic indulgence and excess. And so in
chapter 18 collectively Babylon the Great is seen not as a religious system
but it is seen as a political, socionomic entity guilty of greed and
self-indulgence as opposed to the guilt of religious abomination. And this
Babylon the Great we see in chapter 18 of Revelation is ultimately destroyed by
a sudden act of God, where Babylon the Great in chapter 17 was destroyed by the
governments of the world. Following me? Good, okay. I say that phrase a lot
because this stuff gets really confusing sometimes. So religious Babylon and
political economic Babylon are two distinct things but they aren't
intertwined. There's similarities between the both but they are distinct. And so
religious Babylon we saw is judged at the midpoint of tribulation. That's at
the midpoint of the seven years where the Antichrist is seemingly killed and
then there's this miraculous resurrection and he comes back on the
scene, enters into the temple, the Jewish temple, demands to be worshiped as God. We
saw that in chapter 17 but political economic Babylon is judged at the very
end of tribulation and that's what we're looking at today. So with that being
said read with me in Revelation chapter 18 verse 1 where we see the proclamation
of judgment against political economic Babylon. It says, after this I saw
another angel with great authority coming down from heaven and the earth
was illuminated by his splendor. He called out in a mighty voice, it has
fallen. Babylon the great has fallen. She has become a home for demons, a haunt
for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every
unclean and despicable beast. For all the nations have drunk the wine of her
sexual immorality which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed
sexual immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy
from her sensuality and excess. So it opens here with another angel and that
phrase another is just like the one in 17 that brought the message, brought the
vision to John and this angel is seemingly fresh from God's presence
right? This angel comes down from heaven and the earth is illuminated with its
splendor right? We see that back when Moses you know, hey God can I see you and
God's like it'll burn you up bro. So hide in the rock I'll walk by you you'll see
the afterglow. Moses was like oh shining in glory right? So we can imagine being
face to face with God in his presence and so this angel is just the the glory
of God just illuminating the earth and this angel declares it has fallen.
Babylon the great has fallen. This proclamation is coming just as we have
already seen the judgment fall upon the the satanic system of false worship and
idolatry in chapter 17. Now it's declaring that God is judging the great
satanic system of greed and indulgence and selfish evil that has corrupted
really all of earth's history. The words here used in these first three verses
are what indicate that Babylon, the Babylon here that he's referring to is
Babylon as expressed by this political governmental and economic center
because it says she has become a home to demons. That word home in the in the
original Greek refers specifically to a geographical location that you live at
or a location where you feel comfortable at and that's why it's translated home.
So it's a very specific word that's referring to a specific place which is
why some go hey we're connecting this to an actual literal city of Babylon that
is capital of this one world government and then he also uses the word haunt. She
has become a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, every
unclean and despicable beast. That word haunt is very interesting considering we
just put up a haunt for Halloween as an outreach. The word haunt here in the
Greek means prison. It means a prison or a place where a place that is guarded
like prisons or guards would guard prisoners at a prison and so this
place it's referring to a physical place where demons and unclean spirits
have come to live and it's almost like yeah God has let them flock to this one
place that represents so much because he's about to judge the whole thing.
Additionally five times in chapter 18 Babylon is referred to as a great city
once it's referred to as the mighty city. Later on in the chapter we're gonna see
that the city we're told is destroyed in one day and the leaders of the earth
will quote stand far off and see the smoke of her burning and so that idea
of standing far off it's again it's a geographical word of relation so they're
they're they're actually standing a far off looking at something burning and
then we're gonna read that the merchants are upset that their cargo will go
unsold due to Babylon's destruction and so again people go if Babylon is
actually a city that is rebuilt in the Middle East they have access to the sea
ports there and that could be a prominent place of commerce and what not
again we see that Babylon in chapter 18 is is simultaneously representing an
actual city which which is going to be that government or the headquarters for
the government and the economy of the planet and that city then also it's
Babylon is representing the the philosophy that that city and that
government stands for globally. So what is the inspiration for what this Babylon
stands for philosophically? Well it told us already demons feel at home there
they're comfortable there how we feel when we go home right ah there's no
place like home right there's there's no place like my own bed there's no place
like my own kitchen right demons feel that way about Babylon this Babylon
this place it says it's a hangout or a haunch for every unclean thing and then
the word that is used there is like a prison where they're gathered for
judgment. Now we've already read that during the tribulation time demons are
going to be rampant all over the earth there's going to be demons in mass upon
the earth they they said that they came up out of the pit the really bad demons
that were in prison in the abyss are let out during the tribulation period to
wreak havoc upon the earth. We read about these armies of demons possibly armies
of demons and 200 million some interpret that as we've read about the four demons
that were incarcerated by the Euphrates River which is right by Babylon released
to then go lead these armies and kill a third of humanity we've read about
demons from the sky and and all of that but it says they feel at home in Babylon
why because Babylon is a place that epitomizes a value system opposed to God
and everything he stands for. So then you go well what is it this Babylon stands
for? Well that idea is introduced in verse 3 where it says the merchants have
grown wealthy by her sensuality and excess. You see the sin of Babylon the
great in chapter 18 is not only idolatry and false worship and that is referenced
by saying that she's committed sexual immorality and the leaders and the kings
of the earth have committed that with her but its power its greed as seen in
verse 3 and its pride as we're gonna see in verse 7 because you notice in verse
3 when it says there that the the the kings of the earth have committed
sexual morality with her and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy
from her sensuality and excess that word sensuality doesn't mean what you think
it means right you think of maybe sexual perversion or something like that but in
the Greek the word sensuality simply refers to powerful influence that's the
word in the Greek there it's the power to affect or to influence based on
prestige and that's the concept of political power the influence that
politics can bring you when you're the head of governments but it was there
they had grown wealthy from her sensuality and her excess and that word
excess means luxurious living it's the idea of living in a way that gratifies
the senses right some people like to buy the expense of art because it makes them
feel a certain way they like to have the expensive house or the fancy car because
it makes them feel a sense way it gratifies their their their selves and
that's referring to the political power so Babylon the great here in chapter 18
has caused the merchants of the world to grow wealthy based upon her political
power and her economic power and so this Babylon in chapter 18 of Revelation is
symbolically representing this system of economic greed of political power and
pride but if you put those together that is a expressed in another biblical world
called worldliness worldliness when you hear that word worldliness in the Bible
it's talking about these these materialistic pursuits it's talking
about this greed and this this corrupt control and power that people exercise
and and this whole thing is talking about this system possibly likely
represented by an actual rebuilt city of Babylon which we've talked about in the
past which is a headquarters of this worldwide government and economic system
led by the Antichrist which then is itself characterized by greed power and
pride due to its location and its economy now if Babylon is indeed rebuilt
in the middle and becomes a capital of a worldwide government well it's built
there right in the Middle East which is becoming more and more an economic power
center in the world and it shouldn't be hard for us to imagine that imagine that
happening because the Middle East has become more and more wealthy over the
decades by selling what to the world oil and they're just they're just insanely
wealthy think of places like Abu Dhabi right this glorious technologically
advanced city in the middle of the desert and it's just amazing but the
place is so full of luxury and wealth that that you you might see videos on
YouTube or whatever where that where people have these like you know 200
300 400 thousand dollar supercars and they just abandon them on the side of
the street you know and I'm like I'll go get one just let me bring it home you
know but you know Lamborghini's and stuff and they're just like just people
park them and abandon them walk away because there's so much wealth and
luxury there that that these expensive cars are just considered something to
be cast off the Middle East you know is there's so much wealth there this Saudi
Arabian soccer club Al Nasser recently paid Cristiano Ronaldo over two hundred
million dollars to come play for their soccer team two hundred million can can
you please come and kick a ball around on a field for us now granted he does it
really well but two hundred million dollars some say it's the single
highest soccer salary in history and there's so many other examples of just
the wealth over in the Middle East you know when it comes to oil yeah we could
get it I mean oil is absolutely necessary for so much the whole world
runs on oil right imagine how the Middle East could use oil to make the nations
of the world turn against Israel and the prophets have told us over and over that
all the nations of the earth will indeed turn against Israel I mean it's not a
difficult scenario to imagine that those that control the oil say hey any friend
of Israel is no friend of ours and if you support Israel you can't have any of
our oil and if a scenario like that presented itself it's not hard to imagine
then the kings of the east quickly moving to invade Israel with all their
military might because what an oil crisis it could happen I don't know
exactly if that's how it's gonna happen but it's a possible scenario and so in
verse 4 we get to a call by God of those who reject Babylon to believe and to
trust and to live in obedience to Jesus during the tribulation time verse 4 it
says then I heard another voice from heaven come out of her my people so that
you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues for her sins
are piled up to heaven and God has remembered her crimes and then verse 6
it's speaking to God it says pay her back the way she also paid and double it
according to her works in the cup which she mixed mix a double portion for her
as much as she glorified herself and indulged her central and excessive ways
give her that much torment and grief for she says in her heart I sit as a queen I
am NOT a widow and I will never see grief for this reason her plagues will
come in just one day death and grief and famine she will be burned up with fire
because the Lord God who judges her is mighty now it might be hard to imagine
that those who are genuinely saved believers during tribulation time it
might be hard imagining them becoming actively becoming active participants in
religious Babylon right because religious Babylon is gonna be very pagan
and very you know you might think gosh I really can't imagine Christians during
the tribulation time those who believe but when you think about political
economic Babylon that's a different story altogether the lure of materialism
is strong the need specifically during the tribulation period to be able to buy
and sell after the midpoint right we've been told that in the midpoint after
the Antichrist comes back and takes over sole global dominance that he's gonna
introduce the mark of the beast and nobody will be able to buy or sell
without it well you can imagine being saved during that time and you need to
put food on the table for your kids you need to put gas in your car you need to
buy and sell or the idea of blending in just to to bring an ease to living right
it's just it's too difficult to stand against the beast but that's not a
temptation that only exists in the end times it's a temptation that exists
today there are many who are genuinely saved genuinely saved that flirt with
the world far too much John actually spoke of this in one of his previous
letters in 1st John chapter 2 verse 15 he said do not love the world or the
things in the world if anyone loves the world the love of or the love for the
father is not in him for everything in the world the lust of the flesh the
lust of the eyes and the pride in one's possessions it's not from the father but
it is of the world or from the world and the world with its lusts is passing away
but the one who does the will of God remains forever guess what John
described right there in 1st John chapter 2 the character of political
economic Babylon he described described its its its ideas its philosophy its
motivators you know God's call to his people on earth during the tribulation
time because we know during tribulation time there's gonna be 144,000 witnesses
there's gonna be the two witnesses in in Jerusalem there's gonna be the gospel
still being preached and people are going to get saved during the tribulation
time both Jew and Gentile but God's call to them is come out of Babylon come out
of her see there's seven occasions throughout the Bible where God calls his
people to come out of Babylon before he judges it and really it's a picture that
in every age of human history God calls his people out of godless systems
whether they be religious or political or economic he said he said he says don't
participate don't be a part of that system you might have to live there but
but don't but don't blend into that system don't take on that systems values
and characteristics and he always calls his people to come out of any group any
system that is opposed to to his plan his will his love his plan of salvation
for mankind he says come out of that don't don't participate in that you know
you might think back to Abraham at the time his name was Abraham and God said
hey dude take your family get out of your country and come to a land that I'm
going to show you and we're blessed that he obeyed when Israel was called out of
Egypt God said to them get out of Egypt and never go back I'm delivering you
from bondage and obviously Egypt was was a world power at that time both
literally and symbolically and during tribulation as I said there will be many
both Jew and Gentile who will come to genuine salvation of Jesus Christ during
the tribulation period and possibly the greatest spiritual revival ever we don't
know for sure but the Bible talks about multitudes beyond counting that are
going to be saved and many of those saved during this time we've already
seen in Revelation will be martyred for their faith will be slaughtered
violently killed simply because they believe in Jesus but not all of them
some will survive through the seven years of tribulation all the way up to
the end and especially during the last three and a half years when the
Antichrist has soul control soul dominant dominance he's already
obliterated the one world religiousness and this is all the religions are fine he
goes no no no no I'm God worship me and if you don't I'll kill you by the way
you must take this marker you can't buy and sell during this time there are gonna
be many who are genuine believers tempted to involve themselves in the in
the godless materialistic even hedonistic system of the end times and
it's gonna be things like well after all I have to eat I I have to live
I have to be able to buy and sell I have to you know I have to do this and
because if I don't get involved I'll just be stranded in this godless world
system maybe there'll be pressure by unsaved friends and family will you stop
causing problems at work and just just steal like they're asking you to well
that's not just end times that's today isn't it well you just fudge the report
I can't do that you're gonna lose the promotion and even today Christians are
pressured and called to do things as a godless world system does things and in
those moments we have an opportunity to say I'm gonna obey God I'm gonna obey
the world and God says to these people during this time look come out of it and
he gives them two very significant reasons there he goes so that you will
not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues that word plagues there is
referring to any event that results in great loss so don't share in her sins
don't don't don't receive any of her plagues right she's gonna be judged when
when a Christian somehow justifies disobedience to God for the sake of not
losing right I need money I need things I need God's like you're gonna lose it
all because that whole system is going down trust me don't trust in your own
ways in your own thoughts that's that's the idea here and he says because her
sins are piled up to heaven now what are the sins that God is calling his own out
of well this phrase piled up to heaven it should bring us back to the whole
concept of the Tower of Babel right way back when you had Nimrod the hunter it
was really the first group that said hey we know what God wants us to do but now
we're gonna depend on ourselves we're gonna supply ourselves we're gonna we're
gonna provide for ourselves we don't need God and there was two parts that
said they built a city which was a political economic center and then they
built the Tower of Babel which was a sign of religion and they were like
we're gonna build our own religion and we're gonna connect to the divine on our
own terms but it wasn't just religious it was also political and economic and so
there's an idolatry there that in both cases it was man raising up himself as
God we don't need God we are God and their tower didn't reach to heaven I
ultimately God confused the languages of the people but the sins of their
ideology ideology do reach all the way to heaven and this is where we see the
pride we've seen greed we've seen lust for power right the sensuality in the
excess but now here in verse 7 we see your pride because it says it tells us
that she glorified herself and says I sit as a queen I am the ruler of all
things and in that same verse it says she indulged in her sensual and
excessive ways and again those are the same two words we looked at right it's
this indulgence in the exercise of power and control and luxurious living
pampering self-pleasure but it's interesting the word excessive there is
a little bit of a different twist on the word excess that we looked at in verse
three this word excessive means living living extravagantly without regard to
those in need around you so it's not just buying the fancy car and buying the
fancy house and have all things because well I feel great because of things but
it's doing those things specifically when you know there's people in need and
you go I'm not gonna help you out because I need another private jet verse
seven she goes on to say I'm not a widow and I will never see grief the idea here
in the language is is that not only does she have pride but there's this avoidance
of suffering and loss in connection with this helping others right I don't want
to lose what what I want to get because I spent to help someone in need that's
the idea here when she says I'm not a widow I will never see grief and so we
see all three of these things pride indulgence the avoidance of loss of self
these are all characteristics of materialism these are all characteristics
of worldliness and this is what we see displayed here and so this political
economic system of the end times will ignore the needs of the less fortunate
and simply indulge in selfish luxurious greed and God is saying to his people
this time come out of that come out of that yes the lure of what the world has
to offer is strong especially when what the world has to offer directly affects
our well-being and our living yeah it's hard to be a pilgrim as it calls
Christians following the cross in the midst of making decisions about well I
might not be able to buy this or I might not be able to have that or I might not
be able to do that if I give if I help those in need and those are hard lures
and yeah it's it affects Christians today you know sometimes Christians can
find themselves going to church week after week and we gather for Bible study
and worship and and but it becomes just a part of the routine and maybe we're
not necessarily listening from the heart anymore maybe we find ourselves not
really engaging in the work that this church is that any church is we find
ourselves because life is tough or we're not giving anymore because well after
all I've got to live we find ourselves not serving anymore because well you
know whatever the reason is I can't get involved in church I'm too busy I'm to
this I'm to that and what happens is in those moments our hearts grow just a
little bit colder just a little bit harder a little bit more selfish and we
can find ourselves I believe genuinely saved but just a little bit less in love
with God and a little bit more in love with the world and what did John say
don't love the world or the things of the world don't fall in love with that
love God here in Revelation 18 God is saying to his people come out of that you
see biblically God doesn't just want some of us I don't mean some of us like
oh these five and that no no no us individually he just doesn't want a
portion of our life in our heart he wants all of us God wants all of us he
wants all of our time he wants all of our resources because after all it's his
anyways he wants all of our hearts he wants all of our adoration all of our
commitment all of our devotion it's about a full surrender to God that's why
he says don't don't love the world even a little bit and here is God is about to
give Babylon all that it is do he is pleading with those that are his that
are his get out just like he did with lot in Sodom and Gomorrah bro you've
been living in the world I know you're mine but you've been
compromising get out because I'm about to smash it all to the ground and yes
this whole ideology of Babylon the great in regards to its political and economic
ideology it's all going to be judged one day now it says here it's literally
judged in one day it could be one literal day right the word there is that
word that can refer to 24 hours it could refer to a time period right so it could
be one literal day where the literal city of Babylon right the center of
political power the center of the world's economy is all destroyed in some
way again just like Sodom and Gomorrah right he's a God can't do that I don't
want God throwing rocks at me that's what he did to Sodom and Gomorrah boom
boom and the whole place was gone in one literal day crazy and so again it's a
picture of him destroying the system symbolically destroying Babylon the
system and so verse 9 we get to the lament of the kings of the earth the
kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her central
and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from
her burning they will stand far off in fear of her torment saying whoa whoa the
great city Babylon the mighty city for in a single hour your judgment has come
I mentioned earlier that that phrase standing a far off in the in the Greek
it indicates a physical observation it's a word that indicates like like
geographical relation and so again this could be them looking at the actual city
of Babylon being destroyed and it says so great is the heat it says she's
burned with fire so the heat is so great and the smoke from her burning is so
great that they're standing a far off just lamenting the destruction of
Babylon the mention of burning with fire and the smoke from her burning some
commentators look at this and they believe that the literal city of Babylon
that is going to be rebuilt in the end times will be destroyed by nuclear
weapons as terrorists or somebody whoever bombs the place and God allowing
that to happen as a part of his judgment but they're lamenting here and what are
they lamenting the the source the center of their own political power and
authority the source and center of their economic power and influence and control
and they're lamenting because it was gone so fast all their hopes and dreams
were in that and it's gone like that verse 11 now we get the lament of the
merchants the business owners the ones who got rich selling the goods of the
world the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one
buys their cargo any longer cargo of gold silver jewels and pearls fine linen
purple silk and scarlet all kinds of fragrant wood products objects of ivory
objects of expensive wood brass iron and marble cinnamon spice incense
myrrh frankincense wine olive oil fine flour grain cattle and sheep horses and
carriages and slaves human lives the fruit you craved has left you all your
splendor and glamorous things are gone they will never find them again the
merchants of these things who became rich from her will stand far off in fear
of her torment weeping and mourning saying whoa whoa the great city dressed
in fine linen purple and scarlet adorned with gold jewels and pearls for in a
single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed so why are the merchants
lamenting no one buys their cargo anymore there's the whole system that
that allowed them to sell and profit it's destroyed and there's no profit
anymore and then we have this long list of stuff right it's interesting you have
gold silver and jewels that represents jewelry and you know items of luxury in
that sense linen purple silk and scarlet that's specifically those colors
referring to expensive clothing right the name brand stuff the the $20,000
handbag fragrant wood products objects of ivory all of that it's that's
referring to furnishings and furniture and building materials right you ever
watch those shows where they they look at luxurious homes and and you know
sometimes it's all about the oh yeah we made this out of this fine marble and
you know and all the materials used in the building of luxurious places to live
cinnamon and spice and all that that's referring to fragrances and perfumes
and other items of luxury wine and olive oil and those things it's expensive food
and expensive drink horses and carriages that's a reference to transportation and
that's all the cars and the private jets and all of the stuff that the rich have
all of that it's falling it's gone all that kept the world going all that that
that mankind pursued as a means of purpose and identity gone but you
notice the end of that list there slaves it says human lives you know we have a
pandemic today that some of you are familiar with people say slavery is
abolished and yet thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of
children are kidnapped and sold in the sex slavery every day in this world you
have adults that are forced into it through one way or another and you have
the industries the pornography industry and all its associated industries that
are billion and billions of dollars of industry and you have all of this
slavery taking place and seemingly as it gets brought up it's like is anybody
doing anything about it are the government's doing anything about it you
know and you have the people like Epstein who get caught who allegedly
knows names and mysteriously kills himself in jail before he can name names
I'm not big on conspiracy theories but some of this stuff is just too spot-on
it's just gonna get worse it's gonna get worse and I believe during the end times
it's gonna be probably very open and condoned that's just my opinion but all
that mankind has pursued in its efforts to gratify its own sick pleasures and
its own wants and desires all of its gonna be taken away it's gonna be judged
by God and those who ultimately live for all of that will be tormented in the
eternal absence of those things and that's really a picture of hell a
picture of hell the ultimate separation from God is gonna be an ultimate place
of permanently unfulfilled desire there's no satisfaction there's no sense
of peace there's none of that's in hell it's torment forever verse 17 the lament
of the distributors these are those who got rich off of delivering the goods
every ship masters seafarer the sailors and all who do business by sea stood far
off as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out who was
like the great city they threw dust on their heads and kept crying out weeping
and mourning whoa whoa the great city where all those who have ships on the
sea became rich from her wealth for in a single hour she was destroyed again
it's interesting thinking of the Middle East and a possibly rebuilt Babylon be
in the center of the world's economy we've talked about it already right the
great commodity of the Middle East is oil and what's really interesting is you
can't deliver oil in an airplane it can only be delivered by ship it can only be
delivered across the oceans and so this could be a reference to that source of
wealth and power and influence control being being destroyed we remember back
during the wars in in the 90s in the oil fields burning right and just burning
for 24 hours and who knows what would happen if if nuclear fire was detonated
in a place like that all conjecture but still it could be referring to those
things but these groups are lamenting you have the leaders the kings of the
earth you have the merchants you have the district distributors of the goods
it that's a collective picture of the political economic force power control
the system all together but you'll notice all three of them none of them
are crying about their sin none of them are crying about the their soul what are
they crying over their bank accounts they're crying over their profits
they're not crying over the fact that they were they were so full of greed and
indulgence that they destroyed lives and no it's not that at all it's their money
it's all over it's all gone their customers are gone their products are
gone their investments are gone their backroom deals are gone their secret
investments are gone that get them rich at the expense of everybody else it's
all gone and it's gone so quickly it's gone so fast and this just makes me
think of what if the world gets to a completely digitized currency system
right we get rid of goods and cash all together and it's all Bitcoin or
something like that right every bit of money is is all digital and then God
does something where the entire global network is wiped out in one moment I
mean I don't know it could happen and then verse 20 rejoice over her heaven
and you saints apostles and prophets because God has pronounced on her the
judgment that she passed on you then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a
large millstone and threw it into the sea saying in this way Babylon the great
city will be thrown down violently and never be found again the sound of
harpists and musicians and flutist and trumpets trumpeteers will never be heard
in you again no craftsmen of any trade will ever be found in you again the
sound of a mill will never be heard in you again the light of a lamp will never
shine in you again and the voice of a groom and a bride will never be heard in
you again all this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the
earth because the nations were deceived by your sorcery in her was found the
blood of prophets and saints and all of those slaughtered on the earth so we get
to verse 20 and then there's a celebration there's rejoicing in heaven
heaven heaven is called to celebrate and you know and they're called to do this
while the world is lamenting the loss of its prophets and the loss of its power
and the loss of its control heaven is rejoicing and you might think well
that's gosh that's kind of harsh right I mean with all the loss and the
destruction and the devastation and all the sadness on the earth it's almost
like you know what the Christians are laughing at him no that's not what's
happening the rejoicing it's talking about here is rejoicing that I think you
get if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ I think you would understand
what's going on here you see after all the the gospel and Jesus Christ it has
been humiliated for so long has been stood against for so long that the God's
children have been persecuted on this earth for so long simply for believing in
Jesus and they're saying there is hope in Christ and these these people those
of us that are called the church today and then the tribulation saints during
this time they've endured this persecution righteousness and purity it
justice it's had enough abuse and now it's over and that's what heaven is
rejoicing over wickedness is done selfish wickedness evil it's done it's
over Jesus is about to descend for his second coming heaven is exalted over the
fact that Babylon is over now it's interesting in verse 21 he mentions a
millstone right this mighty angel picked up a large millstone and there's two
places in scripture where where it there's this idea of a large stone or a
millstone one of them is reminiscent of Jeremiah's instructions to Saraiah in
Jeremiah and then there's also something Jesus said but in Jeremiah he he told
Saraiah to build or bind a stone of the text of his prophecy against Babylon so
he prophesied against Babylon of the time he said look write it all on a stone
and then throw that stone into the Euphrates River right and we read in
Jeremiah 51 64 it says then say in the same way Babylon will sink and never
rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her they will grow weary the
words of Jeremiah end here don't don't don't right and then in Luke 17 2 this is
what Jesus said it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his
neck and he were thrown into the sea then for him to cause one of these
little ones to stumble I think there's a broad reference there I do think there's
a reference there to those who had traffic kids and whatnot but in a in a
broader sense you know Babylon as an idea a system has caused the whole world
to stumble for generations it has enticed and tempted and deceived and
lured and seduced the world it has taken captive both the bodies and souls of men
and women and children and this is God's judgment against all of it it says all
this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth that's an
interesting thing this is why this judgment came because your merchants
were the nobility of the earth that word nobility simply means to be an important
or an influential person it doesn't necessarily mean you're part of some
royal family it just means you're important or influential but instead of
using that that importance and that influence for for godly things they use
it for selfish gain and self-seeking pleasure and then it says because the
nations were deceived by your sorcery they weren't doing magic tricks it's not
what it's talking about that word sorcery is a word we're familiar with in
scripture that refers to drugs right it's pharmacia it's a word that's
referring to drug use or the preparation of drugs but but in a broad sense that
word pharmacia refers to the idea of addiction being addicted and controlled
by something and so I think the idea here is as he's connecting this to the
merchants the idea is that Babylon your merchants those who peddled your goods
use their influence to get the world addicted to materialism and self
gratification and self-pleasure they use their influence to get the world
addicted to these things and I think that speaks to advertising and marketing
right millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars spent every year
to get you to buy something you don't need millions of dollars spent to do a
jingle ba-ba-bum-bum you know like three notes right now I need to go to
McDonald's now I don't need McDonald's but I heard the jingle and they spent
millions coming up with that and you got all this idea of this advertising in
this marketing that gets people to spend all the resources on useless stuff or
sinful stuff and it's all this idea of the pandemic in our nation today of how
enslaved people are to debt right people are in debt up to their eyeballs and
they can't seem to get out of it and the whole system in many ways seems
rigged to keep you in debt your car is kind of rickety you need a new one
finance it those shoes they're gonna cover your feet just like the ones that
pay less but hey some basketball celebrity endorsed these ones go into
debt and on and on and on and on and so we end up being enslaved to debt and
spending what we don't have to get things we don't need or things we
shouldn't need and and in so doing we end up with nothing to give right the
Bible says don't steal but work so that you have something to give those in need
but when we've indebted ourselves to the point where we can't give at all we're
enslaved and in doing so you restrict your own ability and you restrict the
the ability of the body you're a part of right the whole concept of church is we
come together as a body of believers and we pool our talents and we pool our time
and we pool our resources together to have a greater effect than any of us
could have individually and as a church we support missionaries and we and we
and we use funds that come in through our giving to support organizations
that are trying to get kids out of trafficking and so we we individually do
things to help those in need and then we come together as the church that's a
part of this function of this entity but when the world gets us so addicted to
getting things we don't need and we get ourselves so in debt that we can't give
anymore guess what you can't help those in need and then it starts to affect
the organizations you're a part of but the biggest sin of all in the indicator
that Babylon has a philosophy and a mindset and a system is in mind here is
this final verse where it says the blood of the saints and the prophets and all
who are slain on the earth it's on her hands the blood is on the hands of
Babylon it's interesting because the blood of the saints and prophets yeah
religiously there's oppression we hate Jesus we hate those who believe in Jesus
let's let's kill them right that's gonna be rampant during the end times but then
it says all who were slain on the earth this system that would get people
addicted to drugs you're accountable Babylon the system that would get people
so in debt that they lose everything and end up homeless and end up dying in
situations like that you're accountable Babylon and all the other iterations of
what that could be God takes that seriously God takes the persecution of
his people very seriously and I believe he takes it as a personal offense all
those who would attack his people the entire world system that would attack
God and everything God is and everything God wants attack that so you don't need
him elevate your own desires the whole system that would attack that will one
day be finally fully completely dealt with once and for all so today this
morning you know each one of us we're either a citizen of Babylon or we're a
citizen of heaven you're either taken by the world system or you're a member and
belong to member of and belong to the kingdom of heaven your name is either
written in the Lamb's Book of Life or you're on the customer logs of Babylon
now I'm not suggesting that you can't be a Christian and be involved in the
economy I'm not suggesting that we we have to spend money we got bills to pay
we got rent right we go to work we earn that's all good the Bible has a whole
lot to say about that we might be talking about that in the future but the
idea of loving the world system to the degree that you'll turn from God loving
what the world system has what it offers how it does things to the degree that
you will then engage in disobedience to God to pursue its ways that's the idea
that's the point so does political economic Babylon does it have a hold on
you today do you love the world and its stuff and its luxuries so much that you
compromise obedience to God there is coming a day when that allegiance to
Babylon will be demonstrated very clearly in the taking of the mark of
the beast and Revelation I believe is very clear where it says those who take
that mark of the beast at that time will be beyond salvation because it won't
just be a financial or economic decision the taking of that mark will be a
spiritual allegiance but today today if you were mixed up with a divided heart
if you were trying to pretend that you can love God and be fully committed to
him while loving the world at the same time or if you realize today that your
personal love of the world and all that is in it is ultimately empty and God is
speaking to you about the reality of his judgment to come on all of that either
way if you need to cry out to God today for forgiveness if you have to repent of
a materialism that leads you into disobedience to God I promise you it
isn't too late he is listening he is listening right now he is still waiting
for you to cry out to him and when you do he will forgive you he will change
your heart he will fill you with his Holy Spirit he will wash you clean of
all sin and enable you to make the choice to live in obedience to him and
from that point forward he will then call you and he calls us today to reject
the ways the values the philosophies of the world and instead be people who
while we're working and going about our life to do what we have to do that we be
people who learn of him so that we would know him so that we will live for him
and that we will then share him with the world that desperately needs him amen
let's pray father we thank you God we thank you for all that you are we thank
you for all that you've done we thank you God that you are enough and Lord I
pray for those in this room that are maybe been struggling with that fact
Lord as we have realities of economic challenges Lord we have realities of of
the difficulty of the expense of things but Lord that doesn't surprise you you
know that and Lord your word tells us that if we would just look on the lilies
of the field and see how magnificently you clothe them of how much more value
are we your children than the lilies of the field and that God instead of
compromising our faith and compromising our obedience and compromising the truth
to protect ourselves from loss God we should instead trust you to be obedient
to you Lord in all things to be obedient Lord in serving you with our lives to be
obedient to you and in in in obeying you in our behaviors and our words and our
actions the Lord be obedient to you even in how we deal with our finances and our
giving and our support and in all that you've called us to do Lord that we
would then be people who help those in need rather than being the people in
need because we've enslaved ourselves to that which is empty help us to trust you
God increase our faith God those in this room and watching online that that that
maybe don't know you Lord that have realized Lord that they really truly do
love the world and they've come to believe and even experience that it's
empty Lord I pray today as they have heard your message that you're gonna
judge all of that and that there is only salvation in you and nothing else God
that even in the privacy of their own heart they would call out to you and say
God forgive me of my sin come into my life teach me and lead me give me a new
heart and help me to trust in you and that Lord is your Holy Spirit fills
their life they would be people who learn of you live for you and share who
you are with a world that desperately needs you God we know you bless us we
know you take care of us help us Lord to be people who are at peace with all of
it we love you and we thank you it's in Jesus name we pray amen well let's
worship guys