Can I pray for you in any way?
Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
Revelation 14:8
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In yesterday’s message, we looked at the first of three angels who were dispatched to fly over the earth while delivering messages from the Lord. This occurs in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation after Jesus, the Lamb, appears on Mount Zion with his 144,000 disciples, those marked and protected by God. The scriptures tell us how the 144,000 formed a wonderful choir, singing a new sing before the throne of God while accompanied by a voice from Heaven that sounded to John like harpists playing their harps (Vv. 1-4).
The first angel delivered a message consisting of the “eternal gospel” which was proclaimed to all who lived “on the earth”, a population that included “every nation, tribe, language and people”. The angel’s proclamation was one to remind the earth as to how everyone was to respond to the God who made them and reigned over them.
“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” v.7
Unfortunately, this message was needed because of Satan’s evil that had been started as soon as he was evicted from Heaven and hurled down to earth. We read in chapter 13 where he had summoned two beasts, one from the sea and the other from the earth, to do his wicked bidding and unfortunately, it was largely successful. Here’s what we learn about it in the aforementioned chapter:
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. 13:1-8
So Satan through the work of the beast was capturing the attention and devotion of all the inhabitants of the earth, the same people that the first angel addresses in Revelation 14. It really is a classic representation of what we see in the world today, a representation that has actually been in place since sin entered the world.
Ultimately and fundamentally, there are two spiritual powers at work: God who is always working things for good and Satan who is ever striving to produce wickedness and evil. Both manifest their efforts through people and both have success at what they do. For when we view the world we live in, it’s easy to see where good exists in many places but is always in competition with sinful evil. We rarely, if ever, see one minus the other.
So as we fast forward to the three and half years of the Great Tribulation, we find Satan on earth trying to gain allegiance to himself through the work of the beasts while God is beckoning all on the earth from every tribe and nation to stay committed and loyal to Him, the Maker and Master of all creation.
Again, a classic battle of good and evil but thankfully, we know how this story is going to end and God will have the complete victory. As we turn to the message of the second angel today, we begin to hear the victory cry being sounded. Look again at these words:
A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” Revelation 14:8
In seeking to find exact meaning on this passage, you will be frustrated as no one truly knows what this verse actually means. Views vary on a wide scale from a literal interpretation which has the city of Babylon rebuilt in the future, to a connection between the ancient city of Babylon and the city of Rome, to a modern day application to the United States, to a more general representation of a world that will embody many of the transgressions found in the ungodly, great city of old. Based on the context of where this proclamation is delivered, I am landing with the latter and a likening of the world at the instance the angel delivers the message to the sinful “Babylon the Great”.
Before I get to that, I want us to see that this message actually has connections to Old Testament prophecy as we have seen in other places within this book. In regard to the announcement of the fall of great Babylon, we go back to the words of the prophet Isaiah. Here’s what we find in chapter 21, verses 6 through 9:
This is what the Lord says to me:
“Go, post a lookout and have him report what he sees. When he sees chariots with teams of horses, riders on donkeys or riders on camels, let him be alert, fully alert.”
And the lookout shouted,
“Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post. Look, here comes a man in a chariot with a team of horses. And he gives back the answer: ‘Babylon has fallen, has fallen! All the images of its gods lie shattered on the ground!’”
Here we find that Babylon had a reputation for its worship of false gods and ultimately, none of those gods prevented the city and empire from falling, its idols and images “shattered on the ground”. Indeed, Babylon was a symbol of ungodliness and decadence, much as the world was under the influence of Satan and the two beasts that did his bidding. And so the second angel’s harkening, much like the shout of the chariot driver in Isaiah, attest to the end of transgression-laden atrocities committed in the presence of the one and only God. The insidious evil that had infected the earth would soon be eradicated once and for all, never capable of making anyone drink the wine of their adulterous worship of the world and rejection of the Lord who made them.
As a Christian, I give thanks for passages like this because they remind me that although I currently live in a world where I see evil happening everywhere, I know that through my belief in Jesus, an eternal existence awaits me in a new world where sin will be no more.
The truth is that the best is yet to come and that best will be everlasting. Thanks be to God for the indescribable gift of His Son (2 Corinthians 9:15) and the grace, mercy, forgiveness, pardon, and love that comes in the salvation package.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment