As we head towards a new year it’s interesting to think who will rise to the top and who will be dropped or cancelled? Or on a bigger scale, which nations will prosper and which will collapse. In Revelation 18 we see a shocking fall, a fall of something that looked so secure collapsing in an instant. A bit like a magnificent building that collapses in seconds when an earthquake hits. Babylon, the great city is laid waste in a single hour (v10,17,19).
The name Babylon is used to refer to opposition to God, in the first Century it was Rome. Today, it’s any society that seeks to ignore God and His ways. To reject God is to reject that which is good and lovely and pure and excellent, and it leads instead to fellowship with what is unpleasant. When culture turns its back on God, the evil one fills it. That’s what happens in v2, Babylon has become a haunt for every unclean spirit. If society rejects God, evil fills it. What do you see when you turn on the news? Violence, abuse, air strikes, and murder.
So much of this is because the world has ignored God, been unfaithful to Him (v3), so she is experiencing Him handing her over to all kinds of evil. The trouble is, people are enjoying the world too much to notice. Every now and then people stop and think, something’s not right with the world, but then something else pops up on our newsfeed to distract us. And there’s a danger that Christians can get lost in this as well.
And so there’s another voice, the voice of Jesus, urging His people to come out of her (v4), don’t join in with her sins, you don’t belong to her, you’re my people.
Jesus calls his people to see the world for the sinking ship that she is and to step onto the ark of His salvation. What does it mean to come out of Babylon? It doesn’t mean you have to become a hermit and live in isolation! Jesus calls His followers to be salt and light, so we need to live in this world.
Nor does it mean that we can’t enjoy anything in this world. If anything Christians can enjoy life more, because we know the one who has given us all things to enjoy. We can thank God for all His gifts, for food, family, fun and the beauty of His creation. We can enjoy the world in that sense. To come out of Babylon means not joining in with the things that the world enjoys that God says are wrong. That’s the warning in v4 lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.
To come out of Babylon means to come to Jesus and ask for His help to live for Him, to trust that His ways are best, that we wouldn’t be distracted by things that would lead us away from Him. That we would see the things of this world won’t last, and that there is something better to live for than simply possessions and entertainment. Jesus says “Come out of her” – you’re made for something better, you’re my people. If you don’t come out of her, you’ll go down with her. If you live for this world, no matter how secure it seems, it won’t last. Look what happens to those who refuse to come to Jesus (v5) God will remember their iniquities. All of us have sinned, but those who refuse to repent and turn to Jesus will have to pay for their sins forever. Sometimes we think sin is not that serious, but v5 tells us—they are heaped as high as heaven. God is infinitely holy, to sin against Him is so serious. To refuse His offer of forgiveness through Jesus means judgment will come on you.
The judgment will come on all who live for this world with no reference to God, these are represented by three groups—Kings (v9), Merchants (v11), Seafarers (v17). They have enjoyed luxury now (v12-13) but they have not thanked God for any of it. They have taken the gifts and ignored the giver. How do we know that? We get a hint at the end of v13—their god is money, they will do anything to get it, even trade human souls. They are happy to treat people created in God’s image as nothing more than items to make money. People exchanged for profit and pleasure, we don’t need to look far in today’s world to see such exploitation.
The result of the fall is no more music (v22), no more trade (v22), no more light (v23). Think of how bleak winter is, how we hate the dark evenings, how awful hell will be. And no love (v23). It’s such a bleak picture, and it’s such a contrast to the ‘no mores’ in the New heaven and the New earth that we will get to in chapter 21:4, no more death, tears, no more crying, no more pain. What rejoicing there is in heaven, but the surprise in our reading is that there was rejoicing for another reason.
In 18:20 we see rejoicing over the rightness God’s judgment. That finally His enemies are destroyed. That those who have caused such misery to God’s people are brought down. Those who have deceived, and harmed God’s people are punished forever. It’s a reason to celebrate because it means in the New Heaven and New Earth, no opposition to God, no temptation to turn away from Him.
If you belong to Jesus, one day, you will celebrate in God overthrowing all evil, all opposition to Him. But the important thing is to remember the timing. As long as we live this side of Jesus’ return, we are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We pray that those who love this world would come out of her and find refuge in Jesus. We urge them “come out of her.”
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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