In a Single Day

Revelation 18

The Eighteenth chapter is titled the fall of Babylon, it refers to her as a she, and John is introduced to what he is seeing, by an angel that has great authority, and the angel shows John a place, many believe it is referring to a government that God will destroy.  As I read the chapter, it seemed to be a place or country rich in resources, full of greed, full of wealth, and a very powerful nation and government.

But God said, it is a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, and that all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.

Next the apostle John tells us that he heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plague; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.  Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.  As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’  For this reason her plaques will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

Let me quick to state that I do not have insight into what the Scripture is referring to as Babylon, it sounds like a great nation or government, but this is very clear, it is a real place, a place where the world came for its wealth and for pleasure and God is going to judge it, and the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn, not because they care for her, but they have lost the biggest consumer of their goods and services.  The Scriptures state that in a single hour she has been laid waste.

What is the message the apostle hears from heaven; “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” Heavens view seems so different from what so many preachers and teachers are telling us today, but I’m putting my money on the view from heaven.  As I stated above, I have no clue of what Government or nation this scripture is referring, but the profile sure looks like it could fit the United States.  That is only observation and many who are scholars have written on this chapter, and few if any would come to this conclusion.  But one point that we would be in agreement, is that you want to be in the group that God calls His people, you do not want to share in her sins or her plaques.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice