Babylon The Great
BABYLON THE GREAT
REVELATION 18:1-8
As Christians we face the constant temptation to share the world’s attitudes, values, standards and outlook. Here is a call to dissociate ourselves from the world and its actions while there is time.
How inextricably the prostitute church and human society are intertwined is shown by the difficulty in realizing that we have moved to another Babylon. The passage is shot through with memories of the prophets, eg Isaiah 13:21; 14:23; 34:11,13; Jeremiah 50:39; 51:37 for verse 2, and Jeremiah 50:15; 51:9; Isaiah 47:7-8; Zephaniah 2:13 for verses 6-7.
The call to come out of her, which shows that in 18:2 we have the “prophetic perfect tense,” ie what is about to happen is spoken of as though it has already occurred, is parallel to 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, which is quoted from Isaiah 52:11. It is to be noted that in none of the three cases is there any question of leaving some form of corrupt Christianity, whether doctrine or life is involved. Here it refers to the money-based commercial power system that dominates our society. In certain Christian circles a faith mission or “living by faith” implies a claim to be looking to God alone for daily needs. Though such an expression has no real biblical justification and can be very uncharitable towards some other Christian workers, it is a tacit recognition of the difficulty of refusing to conform to the present world system. It is almost always easier to separate oneself from what one deems to be incorrect churchmanship than to abandon the mutual benefit system of the world. The call reflects the position in 13:16, and is addressed to those who by continued conformity risk their souls; coming out would preserve their souls even though it risked their bodies.
18:6 reminds us of Psalm 137:7-9. One of the achievements of Babylon is to hide from us the worst evils it commits. Even a press watchdog is apt to deal with evil facts as the cinema does with a hero lost in the African jungle. She may emerge in rags, but she looks as though she had just left the beauty parlor. Somehow the real evil in evil is normally eliminated before it reaches us in print and picture. On the other hand we have “selective condemnation,” where we see only those evils that are committed by those outside our political views and ideologies. The call of 18:4-8 reminds us that evil when seen by heaven is blacker. “To know all is to forgive all” is not one of God’s maxims!
Thought Lot was not the only righteous man that has lived in Sodom.