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Come Out Of Her, My People

Pastor Sunday asked all of us a very pointed question in his sermon this past Lord’s Day: Do you embody the attitude of Babel? It’s an important question, for it’s easy for the spirit of pride and rebellion that is found in us naturally to be strengthened by the humanistic culture in which we live.

Genesis 11:1-9 is one of the key or foundational passages of Scripture. Here we find the historical roots of humanity’s rebellion against God, throughout Biblical history, it continually reappears. It most often takes the form of a great rebellious city. Here are a few examples: Sodom & Gomorrah (Gen. 18-19, Matt.11:23-24, Rom. 9:29, 2 Pet. 2:6, Jude 7, Rev. 11:8), Nineveh (Nah. 3:1-5), Jerusalem (Ezek. 16), Babylon (Jer. 50-51) and Tyre (Ezek. 26-28).

The capstone of it all is Revelation 17-18. Here we see Christ’s final victory over the city of man. John pictures this great city as a woman with several identities in chapter 17: the prostitute (vv.15-16), the great prostitute (v. 1), Babylon the Great (v.5), and the great city (v. 18). Verse 5 serves as a summary statement of her identity, This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Richard Bauckham, professor of NT studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, summarizes it with these words, Thus the Babylon of Revelation is not only a specific visionary image of contemporary Rome, but also an eschatological image. In other words it transcends its original reference and becomes a symbol of the whole history of organized human evil whose fall will be the end of history…So just as Babylon the great includes all Rome’s predecessors, so, for us she must include all Rome’s successors in the history of the world’s evil empires, political, religious and economic. John’s oracle against her is a cap which anyone it fits must wear.

So when a culture or society like ours defies God and bands together to find fame and significance in opposition to and apart from God, what should God’s people do? John’s answer is found in Revelation 18:4, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.”

What does this mean? The answer is found in passages of Scripture like John 17:13-23, Romans 12:1-2, and 1 John 2:15-17. We live in a society that is organized without any regard for God. It entices us to buy into its economic and philosophical systems. John issues a decisive call. Don’t become entangled in the structures of the prostitute. Say no to her ideology. Don’t let her seduce you. If you do, you will bear the consequences of your sin.

Christians are in the world but not of the world. The source of our life, strength, vitality, and approach to life is not the system of thought derived from the philosophy of life built on the man-centered thinking of our culture that leaves God entirely out of the picture. G.K. Beale, professor of NT at Westminster Theological Seminary, points out how we can get help for application in the book of Revelation, Christians are not called to withdraw from economic life. Nevertheless, they may be ostracized from the sphere of economic dealings because of their refusal to compromise. They are to remain in the world to witness (11:3-7) and to suffer for their testimony (6:9; 11:7-10; 12:11,17; 16:6; 17:6; 18:24), but they are not to be of the world (e.g. 14:12-13; 16:15). Absolute physical removal would contradict the essence of the Christian calling to witness to the world.

Our worldview or approach to life is to be molded and shaped by the truths of Scripture. God’s revelation to us in his Word is to be the pattern for our thinking; not the age or the times in which we live. We are worldly or engaging in worldliness when we follow the thinking of our humanistic society which systematically neglects the purposes and plans of God. The city of man is constantly exerting pressure on Christians to adopt its categories of thinking, its values, and its patterns of behavior. We are called to consistently and persistently disassociate ourselves from such approaches to life.

We need to keep the words of 1 John 2:15-17 in the forefront of our thinking at all times, Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and it desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Christians cannot live in the city of man and give lip service to God. We are called to be faithful and loyal to Christ—no matter what the cost. We can only have one allegiance and one loyalty which shapes all that we are and do. The default mindset of the Christian is faithfulness to Christ.

We are in fact responding to John’s call in Revelation 18:4 daily. Here’s the question: How are you doing?

Elder Jim Gordon