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8. The Command to Carry out Judgment (Revelation 18:6-8)
REVELATION 18:6-8
6 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. 7 However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
The voice from heaven allowed the prophet John to hear the principle behind Babylon's punishment (Revelation 18:6-7a): Plague her in the same way she plagued you!
Does this judgment amount to a relapse into the law of unchristian revenge? No! Christ had also taken the punishment of Babylon upon Himself with His substitutionary death (Luke 23:34; Romans 3:23-24; 1 John 2:1-2). But the great harlot (or the strong city) did not want to feel indebted to the meek Savior. She rejected His grace, and was convinced of her own righteousness (Revelation 18:7b). For her rejection of the cross of Christ Babylon had to be punished according to her own wicked works. Whoever rejects the grace of God falls to ruin through his own righteous judgment (Romans 2:1-11; 1 John 1:8-10; Hebrews 4:12-13).
The voice from heaven did not command the church of Jesus to revenge itself. Rather, God authorized the enemies of Babylon to execute His judgment on her. Both the callous synagogue and the worldly church will meet with God's judgment.
Since the whore of Babylon, the great city, did not just sin against itself and God, blaspheming Him and His Lamb, but also seduced and filled untold numbers of ignorant and naïve people with her antichristian hatred, the seductress had to bear a double punishment: both her own, and that of those she seduced (Revelation 18:6). The unholy elixir she had offered up in her golden chalice, this mix of deadly poison and eternal truth, she would, in the end, twice drink of herself. Whoever drinks a glass of water mixed with a few droPsalm of cyanide dies immediately. The Eternal Judge, therefore, will exact from all those who “mixed religions” the souls of church members who died drinking their syncretistic mix.
The voice from heaven also revealed to the deported patriarch the root of Babylon's sin – her self-glorification! The city had become famous, was swollen with riches, and had attracted artists, charlatans, fortune tellers, scientists and learned men. She thought she was the lifeline to the world, the brain of mankind, gate to the gods and spirits, the source of affluence and victory over all enemies. Babylon was considered impregnable.
The king of this city once boasted: “All this I have created by my mighty power!” (Daniel 4:30) I sit firm in the saddle. No one shakes my throne. All men honor me. I am the lord over life and death. All men worship my gods. Whoever doesn't worship them will be burned to death (Daniel 3:1-27). Millions of spiritual children are born to me in the world. My ideas improve the people. I will allow no end- of- the -world scenario to arise. I won’t die … I live! I’ll have no downfall, but rise to unreached heights.
Self-exaltation is the sin of Satan. Humility is the secret of Christ! Pride goes before a fall! (Proverbs 16:18) Whoever boasts and praises ones own self is blind for reality. Whoever holds on tightly to his throne or director's seat stands in rivalry to the meek Lamb of God, who gave all the honor that had come to Him back to His Father, and who surrendered all His decisions to Him (John 4:34; 5:19-22, 41-44; 14:19). Many managers, presidents, bishops and cardinals live with an unbelievable self-delusion. Whoever doesn't recognize the Almighty God as the measure for his life (Matthew 5:48), measures himself with other men, and believes he is better than they are. Before God, however, our pride is shattered (Isaiah 6:5-7) and our arrogance dies. Babylon lived far from God, and was puffed up in pride like a balloon ready to burst.
The proud man wants to show others his achievements, and boasts of them. But whoever boasts also spends! A snug affluence has come as the result of a perceived hard personal investment, or the self-sacrifice of forefathers. One wants to enjoy and display what one has. How quickly people speak of “economic wonder”, brought about by their own achievement. Paradise on earth seems to wave at the nouveau riche from afar – a paradise without God!
Symptomatically, at the intervention of France the word “God” was struck from the blueprint to the preamble of the United States of Europe. The confederation of states wants to stand alone and not in God. Today Babylon is everywhere! But the judgment of God over proud, godless powers will inevitably come. Agony and lamentation await all who willfully reject or blaspheme God through their self-exaltation! They can conclude ever so many peace treaties, build protective shields against ABC weapons from the air or out of the sea, or smuggle in spies to bust up terror organizations in other countries. Disaster will come upon them in a single day (Revelation 18:8a).
The revelation of John speaks of plagues, death, misery, hunger and fire over all of those lands that rely upon their weapons, leadership cadre, scientists and astrologers (Revelation 18:8b). Whoever doesn't rely upon God and His Lamb alone, however, is lost.
Standing ready in the background of this vision are wars, plagues, destruction and depopulation, ready to break over godless and arrogant states, churches and synagogues. Whoever turns away from the Almighty God must suffer the fact that only HE is the Strong One! All power and might belongs to Him. Elohim is the elemental force that dwells in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Whoever doesn't enter into this Holy Trinity (John 17:20-23) proclaims his own judgment, and makes himself an enemy of the Almighty. It seems unthinkable, yet in truth is bitter reality – blinded people turn down the salvation Christ completed for them! They despise the civil rights Christ gained for them from the Father. Their self-exaltation has blinded them to the powerful truth of God (John 8:42-44). The source and originator of their pride has drawn them into his path and judgment (Matthew 25:41). They willingly consent to his leadership (Matthew 23:37-39).
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, we humans have become haughty and arrogant, thinking that we are independent, while in fact we are sinking in swamps of sins. Your judgments fall on all those who reject the salvation of Your Christ and do not understand that fire, bombs, epidemics, starvation and death are waiting for them because of their unbelief in their only Savior. Amen.
QUESTION:
- What are the torments that will attack those who deny Christ's salvation?