WHAT GOES UP, MUST COME DOWN/WHO’S AFRAID OF BIG, BAD BABYLON? (REVELATION 18:1-10)
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Alan Parson, a recording engineer who had collaborated with the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Hollies, wrote a song titled “What Goes Up,” with these incredible lyrics:
What goes up must come down.
What must rise must fall...
And what goes on in your life, is writing on the wall!
If all things must fall, why build a miracle at all?
If all things must pass, even a miracle won't last.
What goes up must come down.
What must stand alone?
And what goes on in your mind is turning into stone!
If all things must fall, why build a miracle at all?
If all things must pass, even a pyramid won't last...
How can you be so sure?
How do you know what the end will endure?
How can you be so sure that the wonders you've made in your life
Will be seen by the millions who'll follow to visit the site of your dream?
What goes up must come down...
What goes 'round must come 'round...
What's been lost must be found...
Whether viewed as a revived city, a religious system or a regional power, Babylon is a cruel, consolidated and carnal regime that will imperil and indulge God's people in idolatry, harlotry and zealotry against God’s people. It can be in the form of a place, person or a power, but definitey not a policy, paradigm or philosophy.
What will take place at the end times? What are the signs? Do you feel helpless or hopeful? What must we do to avoid the free fall and its full force?
News To the Impostor: Feel the Fall
1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted: “ ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. 3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” (Rev 18:1-3)
Sin is sweet in the beginning, but bitter in the end. The Talmud
A creature revolting against a creator is revolting against the source of his own powers-including even his power to revolt...It is like the scent of a flower trying to destroy the flower. C. S. Lewis
A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word “darkness” on the walls of his cell. C.S. Lewis
Rebellion against God is an unwinnable, unworkable and unwise war.
D. A. Carson argues that rebellion may continue eternally in Hell, and if so, then Hell is eternal precisely because the sinful rebellion is eternal. Hell would then be a place where “sinners go on sinning and receiving the recompense of their sin, refusing, always refusing, to bend the knee.” Hell would be ever-ongoing punishment for ever-ongoing sins.
This is the sixth time John “saw an angel” or “saw angels” (Rev 5:2, 7:1, 7:2, 8:2, 10:1, 14:6, 18:1, 19:17, 20:1). Unlike other angels this one had “great power (ezousia),” a phrase known only to the book of Revelation, with the first “great power” exercised by the beast over the “world” (Rev 13:2) and this last time by an angel coming from heaven to earth, lighting up the same “world” with his splendor/glory (v 1). The adjective “great” (megas) occurs an astonishing, astounding and alarming 82 times in Revelation, more than the 30 times in the next highest book of Acts. Illuminate (v 1) is also translated as give light (Luke 11:36), enlighten (Eph 1:18) and see (Eph 3:9). One can imagine the brightness, the briliance and beauty of the glory. In Revelation while the beast was given “great power,” it had no glory; all 16 instances of glory (v 1) in Revelation belonged to God almighty and God alone.
Most of the instances of crying in Revelation is “cry with a loud voice” (Rev 6:10, 7:2, 7:10, 10:3, 14:15, 19:17), except the voice climaxes in Revelation 18 with “cry mightily with a strong voice” (v 2). There is no greater and more “cry” in the Bible than the fall of Babylon, occuring four times in the episode (Rev 18:2, 18, 19, 19:17). “Fallen, fallen” means completely and comprehensively routed, ruined, and ripped, a phrase stated earlier in chapter 14 (Rev 14:8). Not only is there no glory or godliness in Babylon, there is also no goodness in her nor is there grace for her. There is only grief and gore. The city of Babylon is always associated with the adjectvie “great” in Revelation (Rev 14:8, 16:19, 17:5, 18:2), but the greater they are, the harder and harsher they fall. Babylon is not merely a place of evil, but evils (plural), unclean and hateful. Unclean is to be dirty in form, and hateful is to be detestable in feeling. Hate is a strong word intended in the Bible for godless deeds (Rev 2:6, of the Nicolaitans) and iniquity (Heb 1:9). Babylon will be at an unbearable, unlivable and unmerciful place, a place of wickedness, wretchedness and woe, where people are insufferable, irredeemable and inconsolable.
The maddening wine or wrath in KJV (v 3) refers to God’s wrath (Rev 14:10) because of Babylon’s adultery or fornication, trapping kings and merchants of the earth with her riches and luxuires. Riches means prosperity - savings and investments, while luxuries means pleasure - senses and indulgence. Commit adutery (porneuo), is dervied from the word “porne,” where we get the word “prono.” It is to prostitute, pollute and poison the body, mind and heart of the victims. The verb “grow rich” is also translated as “increased with goods” (Rev 3:17).
Nudge To the Invested: Flee the Fury
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “ ‘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; 5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. (Rev 18:4-6)
Dear Lord,
Lest I continue my complacent way, help me to remember that somewhere, somehow out there A man died for me today. As long as there be war, I then must ask and answer Am I worth dying for? First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt
Author G. K. Chesterton wrote perhaps the shortest essay in history. The London Times asked various writers for essays on the topic “What’s Wrong with the World?” Chesterton replied,
Dear Sirs:
I am.
Sincerely yours,
G. K. Chesterton
Why did Satan wage war against God? Is it defeat and doom God’s power? No it is to deceive and damn God’s people. Satan’s target is God’s people, not atheists, unbelievers or freethinkers.
The verb “come out” (v 4, ex-erchomai) is an imperative – the imperatives in the chapter are for God’s people (vv 7, 20) –including those who are true or those who are trapped; it is translated as went abroad (Matt 9:26), depart (Matt 9:31) proceed (Matt 15:19), get out (Luke 13:31), escape (John 10:39). Regardless the translation the verb has a prefix “ex-“ or “out” (ex-boss). It means not become an associate, assstant or ally to her. The greater purpose is not to share (hina subjunctive) in her sins and plagues (v 4). Share (sugkoinoneo), translated as fellowship (Eph 5:11), comminicate (Phil 4:14) and partakers (Rev 18:4), is derived from koinonia with the “sun” or “joint” word added. It means not to be entangled, entwined, emeshed, engaged or ensnared in the sin and suffering. Both “sins” and “plagues” are plural.
The verb “pile up” (v 5) of sins is taken from the word “glue” in Greek, translated as cleave (Matt 19:5), join (Luke 15:15) and reach (Rev 18:5). It is to be transported and tied to the top or tip. Remember implies engraved, enter and etched into memory, and emblazoned.
Give back is pay (Matt 5:26), perform (Matt 5:33), reward (Matt 6:4), render (Matt 21:41), deliver (Matt 27:58), recompense (Rom 12:17), requite (1 Tim 5:4), yield (Heb 12:11). It implies to require, return and reap the consequences.
The verb “double” (v 6) occurs for its only time. It means twice or twofold the fury, force, fire and feel in in the furnace or cup. On many Fire Department web pages, the rule of thumb is that fire doubles in size every minute.
Pour is more than pour; it is filled, from the bottom to the brim, from the base to the brink.
Note To the Impenitent: Fear the Fire
7 Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. 9 “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “ ‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!’ (Rev 18:7-10)
One of the worst fires in history was attributed to the Great Kanto 7.9 earthquake that devastated Tokyo and the surrounding region. Estimated casualties totaled about 142,800 deaths, including about 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead.
Why were so many dead? Because the earthquake struck at lunchtime when many people were cooking meals over fire, many people died as a result of the many large fires that broke out. Some fires developed into firestorms that swept across cities. The earthquake broke water mains all over the city, and putting out the fires took nearly two full days until late in the morning of September 3. (Wikipedia)
Glory and luxury are verbs, not nouns, in Greek. The verb glory (61x) in the Bible is always reserved for God except in two instances of negative glory from men (Matt 6:2) and glorified herself (Rev 18:7) in this instance. From “luxury” (v 7) or “strenos” in Greek comes the word “strenuous,” meaning straining, strectching or strving.
Give (v 7) is in the imperative – an order, no stopping or slowing. Torment and grief are on the outside versus on the inside. Grief in Greek is penthos – crying, teary or mourning, which is more than grief. A queen, unlike a widow, is praised, pampered and protected. It shows her pride, propserity and pomposity. This burning (katakaio) is not the just burn, but to be burnt up (Rev 8:7) and utterly burned (Rev 18:8), burn down (to the ground), i.e. consume wholly – to be scorched, seared and swept because of the prefix “kata” added. In the second coming God’s instrument is no longer to drown the earth with water, but to devastate with fire. One can still escape in drowning and submerging water, but not in devastating and surrounding fire.
The allying kings of the earth will weep and mourn over her, or bewail her, and lament for her (KJV). Weep is loud cry but mourn in Greek is cut down, to beat the breast in grief. It means defeated, desolated, disbelief, downcast and dread. The noun fire occurs 25 times in Revaltion, more than one third of its 74 times in the Bible. The three kinds of fire in the Bible are everlasting fire (Matt 18:8, 25:41, Jude 7), unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17) and flaming fire (2 Thess 1:8). Most translations politely say “by fire” or “with fire,” but in Greek it is “in fire.” There is no escape, error, endurance, evading, equivalence or end to God’s judgemt. The grestest fire from God is undoubtedly reserved for those with the thickest skin. It will not just be a fire, but an inferno, an ignition and an incineration. It will be so hot that all will be razed, rubble and residue. It will be decisive, destructive and defenseless.
Things are not going to get worse, not better. The burning by fire (v 8) will be replaced by burning in a lake of fire in the next two chapters (Rev 19:20, 20:10, 14). It will no longer be smoking and smoldering (v 8), but sizzling, scorching and seething in sulphur, slush and soup.
Conclusion: Are you ready for the Lord’s coming? Will the Lord praise you or penalize you? Will you be deem worthy or weak? Are you clinging to the devil and His riches? Have you been cleansed by His blood? Do you cry for your sins? Won’t you come out of Babylon?
