REVELATION SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 18.4

Gleanings from the Book of Revelation:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

The

REVELATION TO JOHN

 

Chapter Eighteen

The Great Tribulation

Parenthesis

Mystery Babylon

(Political Babylon)

 

 

Preface

Chapter 18 is after the seventh vial judgment and is in contrast to the destruction of the Harlot in Chapter 17.

 

 

1. The Pronouncement of Babylon’s Punishment (Vv. 1-3)

2. The Plea to the People of God (Vv. 4-5)

(Verse 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.

 

Another voice from Heaven is heard by John. Some say this voice is of:

1. Another angel

2. Christ

3. God

 

Most agree the voice is from God since He is calling out to My people from Heaven. Throughout the Old Testament, God's warnings always refer to His chosen people. Likewise, in the New, they are to the overcomers who have accepted Christ.

 

Come out

God calling someone to come out is quite a familiar phrase for the Bible student. Some references include:

1. God calling Noah out from the wicked world (cf. Genesis 7:1)

2. God called Abram out from the Chaldeans (cf. Genesis 12:1)

3. God called Lot out from Sodom (cf. Genesis 19: 17, 21)

 

One day, soon and very soon, a shout from Christ along with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the saints will be called out and caught up to Heaven before the Tribulation period commences (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:16-17).

 

My people

Several passages support the view of God’s people. Noted among them:

Exodus 3:10 – Come now therefore, and I will send thee (Moses) unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

 

1 Samuel 9:16 – To morrow about this time I will send thee (Samuel) a man (Saul) out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over My people Israel, that he may save My people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon My people, because their cry is come unto Me.

 

2 Corinthians 6:16 - And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

 

Outreach

Then God incredibly gives three appeals to His people:

1.  Do not remain in Babylon: Come out of her

Earlier in history, this too was God’s warning:

Isaiah 48:20 – Go ye forth of (from) Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed His servant Jacob.

 

Jeremiah 51:5-6 - For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; He will render unto her a recompence.

 

2.  Do not partake (participate) in her sins

To have no fellowship or partnership with the sins of Babylon and be ye separate from anything worldly or ungodly. Scripture verifies:

2 Corinthians 6:16, 17 – Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

 

Ephesians 5:11 – And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

 

1 Timothy 5:22 - Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.

 

Application

In the New Testament, the idea of being called out emerges from a common Greek word, Hagios, meaning to be holy, sanctified, pure, and morally blameless. Believers are to live a life separated or set apart from an evil idolatrous world and system.

 

Notices to all believers are well-stated:

Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 

James 1:27 – Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

 

1 John 2:15 - Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 

And so, believers are mandated to have no fellowship with the world.

 

3.     Do not receive any of her plagues (calamities, punishment)

The LORD is explicit in His notice: Flee from Babylon and be spared before judgment befalls. God shall protect from the plagues so believers will not be tempted again to compromise with Satan.

         

The plagues mentioned are referenced:

Revelation 15:1 - And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

 

God’s Altar Call

This passage inadvertently is an evangelistic call to those of faith to abandon Satan’s kingdom. The reason is intelligibly stated:

Colossians 1:13 - For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. (NASB)

 

Still, in an apostate-conforming church, notice some of God’s people will be living in the world until the end of the Great Tribulation. No doubt family and friends of believers will be tempted into taking the mark of the beast (666) and conforming to the system during the Great Tribulation (cf. Revelation 13:17) to escape persecution and martyrdom.

 

 

Even though there are people who outwardly profess Antichrist, their faith in Christ has gone underground. But, now invisible believers, Jew or Gentile, must come out and disassociate themselves because the complete judgment of God cannot befall upon Babylon until everyone who embraces the righteousness of Christ is completely removed.

 

And so, the call, throughout the history of mankind has always been clear and succinct: Be ye separate. Separate yourselves from the world’s evil system and be spared before destruction. Those who take the mark and worship the beast are doomed (cf. Revelation 14:9-11).

 

 

(Verse 5)

 

For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

 

Verse 5 presents two reasons why God is imminently about to take final action at this juncture:

A. Babylon’s sins have reached unto heaven

God’s fullness of time has finally come to fruition. He will deal with her sins once and for all. The sins of the world and the ages have reached heaven. In the King James Version, the verb reached (akoloutheō) is delineated as following or accompanying. Other versions use different manuscripts that tweak or change the meaning as piling up, being glued, or being welded together.

 

In effect, the action has the idea of bricks, pressed tightly together with mortar, piled atop one another likened to the Tower at Babel. So, the building is a pile or heap of abominable sins so enormous that they have caused a great stench in the nostrils of God in Heaven. 

 

B. Babylon’s iniquities are remembered by God

God’s judgment draweth neigh. His wrath shall fall upon commercial Babylon. The word remembered is rendered in the Greek language by mnēmoneuō. Strong’s Concordance defines the word as such: To exercise memory that is recollected, by implication, to punish.

 

Therefore, since the Tower, a long history of recorded sins has amassed so that Great Babylon came in remembrance before God (cf. Revelation 16:19).

 

Concluding Thoughts

Sometimes it may seem the unbelievers are getting away with sin, but God’s judgment is ultimately at hand. For the unrepentant unbelievers, there is no forgiveness – Only judgment. But for the believers, two Scripture verses are found comforting:

Isaiah 43:25 – I, even I, Am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

 

Jeremiah 31:34 - And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

 

Hebrews 8:12 - For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

 

Postface

God is a gracious God. The Parable of the Lost Sheep is well demonstrated in this passage. Out of a hundred sheep, one was lost. The shepherd went out, found, and brought the lost sheep back into the fold. Like the good shepherd, God postpones judgment until all His people come to Him as He has called. God is a gracious God.

 

God’s judgment upon commercial Babylon is further defined in the following study.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1.   Name the three facets of God's plea.

2.   Who are those who God calls My people?

3.   What attribute is God showing when He calls them?

4.   Name two examples of God calling out someone in history?

5.   Explain why there remain God’s people in Babylon.

6.   Why is necessary for them to leave immediately?

7.   Why has the final judgment been postponed?

 

 

If this study was a blessing to you, make it a blessing to others.

SAVE AND FORWARD THIS LINK

http://breadoflifeministriesassoc.blogspot.com/