Monday, February 7, 2022

How to Live in a Hostile World

 

Next week is Superbowl Sunday, and I was recalling the story Dr. Landrum Leavell, the president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary told about football when I was a student there.  Dr. Leavell’s uncle Roland attended Southern Baptist Seminary as a student during the tenure of the great theologian, President E.Y. Mullins.  One day during Roland's first year as a student, he absentmindedly fell in step with the tall, stately, and scholarly Dr. Mullins while walking down Fourth Street in Louisville.  Roland was very nervous, at a loss to know what to say to so exalted a person.  What he said was:  It was football season, so in my desperation I asked, 'Dr. Mullins, did you ever play football?'  With a characteristic twinkle in his eye he said, 'No, Brother Leavell, but I was in a stampede of mules once.’  Sometimes asking questions sets us up for the answers of a lifetime!  The question before the house this morning is:

What will life be like in a world 

that is totally hostile to God?

You might be thinking:  Why ask that question, preacher?  I know life isn't as genteel as it was back in the fifties, but don't most people believe in God.  Doesn't our Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee religious freedom? 

At the present, those questions deserve a qualified yes.  But the Bible tells us that the Great Tribulation, with its accompanying rebellion against God (and God’s imminent judgment) is going to change everything.  The text today describes the very last moments of the Great Tribulation, and the ultimate demise of Satan's ruler, the Beast, and his worldwide domination – the whore, mystery Babylon.

As we pick up the text from last week, where John had described the fall of Babylon, because of her arrogant stand against God, the apostle now tells us about the judgment she (the coming apostate church) will suffer.

Reasons for the Judgment on Babylon

1. REAPING

After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor.  He gave a mighty shout:  “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!  She has become a home for demons.  She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal.  For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality.  The kings of the world have committed adultery with her.  Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.”  Revelation 18:1-3

The ancient world was as full as oppressive practices and people (if not more so) as our society.  John is not telling us that business is wrong, he is pointing at the rich and powerful who oppress the poor.  It is fruitless to pick on one form of laying up earthly treasures over another; most can be either good and useful, or evil and oppressive.  It is in the attitude.  I know rich people who are a great blessing to the Kingdom of God.  They earn and use money as a tool, with which to bless others.  I also know rich people who got and use their wealth in questionable ways.  The essence here is that of reaping and sowing.  What you get is directly related to how and what you sow.

2. RENEWAL

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people.  Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.  Revelation 18:4

In God's Word there is always a word for our time.  This word John’s a warning to believers to have nothing to do with oppressive Rome and the judgment that would come in his day.  However, the fitness of these words for the future, and now is timely as well.  The apostle Paul thought so:

Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.  Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.   2 Corinthians 6:17

The word used to describe believers means different.  In no way can we be true to the Great Commission to go into all the world, while trying to maintain our holy huddle, maintaining no contact with those trapped in sinful lifestyles.  I think most people have missed the message at this point.  The people are not the enemy, Satan and death are our enemies!  You cannot witness without eyeballing people.  So, ,what does Jesus mean about staying away from those in Babylon?

While we may not be able to physically get out of the modern Babylon society, we can certainly keep the Babylon out of us.  Jesus said we would be in the world, but we don't have to be like the world.[1] 

What do you do with yourself?  Are there activities in your life that you would feel uncomfortable having Jesus with you when you do it?  Now don't get me confused with a works-salvation preacher.  I know God forgives our sins, and we cannot become Christian by being good.  However, once we have become a part of God's family, He expects us to act like it. 

A Christian believer, for instance, who spends his time hanging around a bar will still go to heaven, but he also is subject to cirrhosis of the liver, being arrested for drunken driving, getting knifed or shot in a bar fight, and generally being a poor witness for the unbeliever who sees that so-called Christian, dragging bleary-eyed into church after an all-night Saturday binge.  The same can be said for any bad habit you can name, beginning with over-eating, dear Methodist lover of dinner-on-the-grounds!

3. REMEMBERING

For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds.  Revelation 18:5

Genesis 6 is the account of Noah's ark (well it was God’s ark; Noah was just the contractor).  It’s recorded that God knew the heart (intention) of all men.  It doesn't take a White House leak to the Washington Post for God to know about sin.  He knew right where Adam was, and He knows your sin, and those of ancient and modern Babylon.  And He's got  a perfect memory!  He remembers every sin, except those covered in blood that's dripped from the cross.

4. RECOMPENSE

Do to her as she has done to others.  Double her penalty for all her evil deeds.
She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her.  She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow.
She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne.  I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’  Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day—death and mourning and famine.  She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”  Revelation 18:6-8

Ancient Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, and God said through David that they would not get away with it:

O Babylon, you will be destroyed.  Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.  Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks!  Psalms 137:8-9

God's principle of recompense is recorded in both Old and New Testaments,

“The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations!  As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you.  All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.  Obadiah 1:15

For you will be treated as you treat others.  The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.  Matthew 7:2

Response of the Heathen for the Judgment on Babylon

What will be the response of the world, watching live by satellite, when Babylon's juggernaut of political and economic rule comes crashing down around its ears?

1. POLITICAL LAMENT

And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains.  They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment.  They will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for you, O Babylon, you great city!  In a single moment God’s judgment came on you.”  Revelation 18:9-10

The rulers of the lesser nations, subject to Babylon, will have been dependent on the ruthless hand of the Beast, and Babylon's feared practices of terrorism to hold everything in check.  When Babylon falls, the other lesser rulers will be in hot water.  They will see how quickly the judgment falls, in just an hour (or season) and they will know they, too, are subject to being judged.

2. PROFIT LOSS

The merchants of the world will weep and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods.  She bought great quantities of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood; and bronze, iron, and marble.  She also bought cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies—that is, human slaves.  “The fancy things you loved so much are gone,” they cry.  “All your luxuries and splendor are gone forever, never to be yours again.”  The merchants who became wealthy by selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment.  They will weep and cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for that great city!  She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls!  In a single moment all the wealth of the city is gone!”  And all the captains of the merchant ships and their passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance.  They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as this?”  And they will weep and throw dust on their heads to show their grief.  And they will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible for that great city!  The shipowners became wealthy by transporting her great wealth on the seas.  In a single moment it is all gone.  Revelation 18:11-19

The merchant's howl!  There are things you can mess with in this life, and still be relatively safe.  But among the sacred cows is a man's wallet.  A preacher went to visit one of his members who was a farmer.  He very rarely gave anything to the work of the Lord.  They sat and talked after supper, Artis, said the Preacher, that was a mighty good dinner.  Your own beef?  The farmer replied with a smile, Yep; hand fed -- the best!  The preacher then asked, What do you suppose 5,000 head like that would bring at the market?  Oh, a great deal of money, preacher.  I just wish I had me 5,000 of those.  I'd give half the money I got to the Lord.  Said the preacher, Well, Artis, that's quite generous -- the Lord only asks for 10% -- and you'd give half?  Artis replied that he would.  Truly, if I had 500 sheep fer sale, I'd give the money for half of them to the Lord, too.  Remarked the preacher, My word, Artis, the Lord would sure be pleased. 

An' preacher, he continued, I wish I had a hundred Arabian stallions t'sell -- half of that'd fetch a good offering for the Lord.  Said the preacher: And if you had just two pigs... 

Wait a minute, preacher, that ain't fair, you already know I got two pigs!

The fall of Babylon will be worse than 1929 revisited.  It will be darker than Black Monday of recent recessions.   The kings, merchants, and masters of transportation will howl in lament, not for Babylon, but for their loss of profit.  How do you feel about material things?  The Scripture says that grass withers, and flowers fade; well, portfolios can blow up in your face. 

Rejoicing Because of the Judgment on Babylon

1. VINDICATING RECOMPENSE

Rejoice over her fate, O heaven and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for your sakes.  Revelation 18:20

An interesting aspect of the word rejoice is that it is a compound word that literally says good middle.  It’s as if the angel is instructing all of heaven to have a good belly laugh over the fate of Babylon.  It certainly doesn't sound like pray for your enemies, does it?  However, this simply recognizes the holy character of God.  He does exact vengeance on those who oppose him, and hurt His children.  God will never allow His name to be dragged down.

I will rescue you for my sake—yes, for my own sake!  I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!  Isaiah 48:11

We serve a God who is high and holy.  He will vindicate His name.

2. VIOLENT RECOMPENSE

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone.  He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.  Revelation 18:21

What a picture.  Babylon is picked up like one of the millstones that were used to grind out its great wealth, and unceremoniously dumped in the sea.  It is a violent act of vengeance.  It is (as Jonathan Edwards preached) a terrible thing to be Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God! 

3. VAST RECOMPENSE

The sound of harps, singers, flutes, and trumpets will never be heard in you again.  No craftsmen and no trades will ever be found in you again.  The sound of the mill will never be heard in you again.  The light of a lamp will never shine in you again.  The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you again.  For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the nations with your sorceries.  Revelation 18:22-23

No more, no more, no more; what a desolate ring!  We imagine the return of Christ and Armageddon to be noisy with battle.  Have you ever stood at a battlefield the morning after?  No more is an appropriate description.  There is a deafening no more breath, no more cries, no more lifeNo more!  In this passage I find poetic justice, and fulfillment of God’s judgment, that today Babylon is a barren place, where lights don’t shine, music is silent, and business is nowhere to be found.  Sadaam Hussein was forbidden by God to rebuild Babylon and be the new Nebuchadnezzar!  The place is a desolate ruin.  One commentator describes it in words of acute and painful reality: 

One has the picture in this chapter of a grieving John walking among the now silent wasteland of human arrogance.  Everything has collapsed in the crashing sounds of Revelation chapter 18.  The lamps are out, voices are silent, the flutes and minstrels are no longer playing.  The scene is stark and hopeless.  The city was powerful, rich, and cruel, and now it has all come to this. 

This is how the world ends, this is how the world ends, this is how the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.[2] 

4. VIRTUOUS RECOMPENSE

In your streets flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people
and the blood of people slaughtered all over the world.”  Revelation 18:24

The judgment of God is righteous.  No person will be able to stand in that day, and say, I didn't know.  In any case, it is a good thing that vengeance is a business for God…alone!  Only He can separate the tragedy of lost souls and judgment.  It is enough for us to be sinners in the hands of a loving, forgiving God, who has loved us for Christ's sake. 

How, Then, Shall We Live?

In this hostile world we should live each day as citizens of Heaven, and not of Babylon.  History, our hearts, and the Scriptures tell us that this world is passing away. 

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, written in 1788, could have come off the presses this morning.  In it he gives five basic reasons why Rome, and other great civilizations withered and passed from the scene,

1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the                          basis for human society.

2. Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for free bread and                 circuses for the populace.

3. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting,                                more brutal, more immoral.

4. The building of great armaments when the real enemy was within -- the                                     decay of individual responsibility.

5. The decay of religion; faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life,                   losing power to guide the people.[3]

This world is indeed hostile to the person who would live truly in a Christ-pleasing way.  But that's OK; it was hostile to the Master as well.  You, dear saint, are in good company. 

And you are not home yet.  Keep living as a traveler; you're only passing through this hostile territory!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!



[2]T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, Quoted by Earl F. Palmer, The Communicator's Commentary,                  Revelation Vol, (Waco, Tx, Word Books, 1982), 231

[3]J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible With J. Vernon McGee Vol 5, (Pasadena, Cal, Through              the Bible Radio, 1983), 1042

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