Friends,
Alan
Smith shares this – The story is told of an American tourist who was traveling
in the Middle East. He came upon several shepherds whose flocks had
intermingled while drinking water from a brook. After an exchange of greetings,
one of the shepherds turned toward the sheep and called out, "Manah.
Manah. Manah." (Manah means "follow me" in Arabic). Immediately
his sheep separated themselves from the rest and followed him. Then one of the
two remaining shepherds called out, "Manah. Manah." And his sheep
left the common flock to follow him. The traveler then said to the third
shepherd, "I would like to try that. Let me put on your cloak and turban
and see if I can get the rest of the sheep to follow me." The shepherd smiled knowingly as the traveler
wrapped himself in the cloak, put the turban on his head and called out,
"Manah. Manah." The sheep did
not respond to the stranger's voice. Not one of them moved toward him.
"Will the sheep ever follow someone other than you?" The traveler
asked. "Oh yes," the shepherd
replied, "sometimes a sheep gets sick, and then it will follow
anyone." We live in a world where a
lot of different "voices" are calling us to follow. Materialism cries
out for us to follow. Power and prestige call out. Sensual pleasure makes its plea.
It is easy to be pulled in a lot of different directions…that is, unless we
have Jesus Christ as our Shepherd. A sheep in His flock will ignore all other
voices and listen for the voice of its Master. (John 10:3-5)
Babylon
was an ancient city and the seat of a powerful empire. It was also a symbol of
mankind’s rebellion against God. In this
passage (Revelation 18), Babylon represents the world system of the
“beast.” In the context of the passage,
it is speaking about the city, province of Rome, specifically, but it also
represents the world system, in general.
The Apostle John’s readers would certainly understand it as such. And the message? With the world system apparently gaining
power on a daily basis, Christians need to be aware of the dangers that it
presents…and realize all the more, how important it is to desire closeness with
God. Here, John sees the destruction of
symbolic or “spiritual” Babylon, that is, the fall of the world system
organized by Rome. “Fallen, fallen” is the effect of the dual judgment upon the
religious, as well as the political system of Rome. It is called, “the place of Satan”, or
“demons”…as it polluted the whole world with sexual immorality…and was
intoxicated with the riches and the pleasures it had to offer. And yet, such worldly things never satisfy or
last permanently. John wants his readers
to understand that loving such things is idolatry -- it is demonic and
destructive. This all parallels Jeremiah
50:8, 51:6, 45, and helps us to understand that in all ages, God’s genuine
people have had to separate themselves from that which is worldly and anti-God.
The
middle section of this passage (vv. 9-19), describes the mourning of the
merchants as they see Babylon/Rome go up in smoke, with their wealth destroyed.
Merchants and kings mourn, because business and government are
intertwined. The wealth of the city
provides for many nations and employs many people. Merchants wail…not for the city, but for
themselves...showing how self-centered they really are. Rome, like all other cities, depended upon
imports. John gives an inventory of all
that is lost. God brings to an end their
life of luxury and wealth. There just
might be some contemporary parallels with all of this. In addition, there were about 60 million
slaves throughout the empire, about one-third of Rome’s population. They were bought and sold like furniture,
used and abused. This seems to be a disturbing point to John, as he calls
it…”the selling of the slaves and souls of men.”
The
last section (vv. 20-24), is a contrast to the lament of the kings and
merchants – there is the rejoicing of the inhabitants of heaven that
Babylon/Rome has fallen. It is important for God’s people to consider events
from God’s point of view, and this overthrow represents the judgment of God…it
is the vindication of His servants who have been killed. (Revelation 6:9-11) It is important to understand such “praise”
in the context…that it is not a celebration that sinners have been judged,
because this breaks God’s heart…but, through God’s righteous judgment, justice
has been fulfilled. Satan has used
religion and business to persecute and slay God’s people. Rome and the Empire
worked together to oppose the Lord and his people for a period of time. And it may have seemed to many at the time
that God did not care. But, this is not the case, for at the right time, the
Lord vindicates His people and destroys both Rome and the empire. It is not any different with regard to the
world system today. It may seem as if
the world wins victories over God and His people, but the world system is going
to experience sudden and thorough destruction at the Second Coming of Jesus. So, as Paul shares with the Thessalonians…we
must be ready, be prepared. There is no
way that we can be ready for the Second Coming without preparation.
One
time, 48 hours related a story concerning both sides of the abortion
issue. One lady, a “pro-choice”
counselor saw abortion as “nether good or evil,” but “just whatever meets the
need.” Her point – abortion is amoral (neither good nor bad). It is situation ethics – if it helps me for
the moment, I will do it, and it will be okay.
On the same show, they interviewed a young woman who had had an “amoral
abortion.” She was undergoing some
intense emotional suffering and pain.
She did not understand why she was hurting so badly, because the
counseling she had received had said – it was no issue. Sadly, it would seem strange that something
with “no moral value” would be capable of producing such intense pain. Thankfully, the grace and forgiveness of the
Lord extends to all, as His forgiveness covers all of us who have sinned and
lived in an offensive way…and this is all of us.
A
worldly, humanistic (man is God) culture says, there is no right or wrong…it is
up to you to decide what is right or wrong.
There is a certain allure to this…no good or evil, just whatever meets
your needs -- it is a seductive message.
But, in the eyes of the Lord, and in the eyes of His people -- there is
a moral right and wrong. And to violate
a consciousness of this is sin, which produces a sense of guilt and loss. This can be the case when we allow any
opinion of the world to take the place of God’s voice or will on a
matter…whether we are discussing euthanasia (the early ending of one’s life,
which was…sadly…in the news again this past week), abortion, marital abnormalities,
other addictions (whether it be to alcohol, drugs, pornography, gambling,
etc.). When cultures, countries fail, it
is often from the consequences of sin.
And as we see in the message from Revelation 18, there is great
suffering and mourning associated with it.
It
may seem as if believers are losing more and more freedoms to
non-believers. We who are in Christ are
coming under greater scrutiny and judgment by our culture, and even the
government…and we must know that the worst may yet be to come. The world may feel as if it is pulling a fast
one on Christians, the church…but, as Paul Harvey would say, we know “the rest
of the story”…actually, we know the end of the story. Ultimately, for those of
us who are in Christ – we win! We are
really citizens of heaven living here on the earth. This should help us in our struggle against
the things of this world that can so easily distract us. The Lord can and will help us in our
struggle. His Holy Spirit helps us to
say “yes” to God, His will, and “no” to sin, Satan and the world. We must trust
in Him.
Blessings,
Don
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