HEAVEN'S FINAL APPEAL!
And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4)
In the last days of the most powerful nation in the world, Babylon was ruled by the reckless, arrogant Belshazzar--who drunkenly rebelled against the Creator when he demanded the sacred vessels of God be filled with the literal, intoxicating wine of Babylon.
When the prophet Daniel was summoned to interpret the Lord's supernatural sign (Daniel 5:11-13), he gave Belshazzar this admonition:
"You have lifted yourself up against the Lord of
heaven. . . . And you have praised the gods of
silver and gold; . . . the God who holds your breath
in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not
glorified" (v.23).
Then Daniel pronounced God's judgment:
"God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it. . . .
you have been weighed in the balances, and found
wanting; . . . Your kingdom has been divided, and
given to the Medes and Persians" (vv.26-28).
As Daniel spoke these words, the Persians were pouring in through the walls of Babylon. Thus it was that literal Babylon fell,
just as God's Word promised: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground" (Isaiah 21:9).
Now spiritual Babylon is following the same path. She has filled God's sacred vessels, the human beings made in His own image, with her spiritual wine. She is "drunk with the blood of the saints" (Revelation 17:6), and the same message of judgment is reserved for her.
THE FOURTH ANGEL:
In Revelation 18, we see a fourth messenger descending from heaven. Notice that his message echoes the second angel, but it is more emphatic, more definitive, more urgent than before:
"He cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the merchants of the earth have become rich though the abundance of her luxury" (vv.2,3)
This cry presents in full the state of spiritual Babylon just before the close of the pre-advent judgment. In this last-day iteration of the devil's kingdom, Babylon has become "Babylon the great." We've seen this title before: "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (17:5).
The devil is the influence behind every counterfeit religion, which are "the abominations of the earth." At the end of time, Babylon the great is made up of three types of false religions: paganism, Roman Catholicism (includes Greek and Russian Orthodox), and apostate Protestantism. The tie that binds them together is spiritualism (Revelation 16:13,14).
Babylon the great will also become the universal church joined to the state, wielding control over "nations," "kings," and "merchants" (Revelation 18:3), and all follow after her. All those who follow Satan's deceptions will be under the shadow of Babylon's twisted branches: she is the epitome of apostasy, having "exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25).
The sad fate of this city of lies will be undeniable: "She will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her" (Revelation 18:8). As with old Babylon, the verdict of Babylon the great has been decided--but yours has not yet!
COME OUT OF BABYLON:
Just before Babylon's destruction comes heaven's final appeal:
"Come out of her, My people, lest you
share in her sins, and lest you receive
of her plagues" (18:4).
If you are in Babylon, no matter your age, race, gender, or status, God is talking to you: "Flee from the midst of Babylon, and every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; He shall recompense her" (Jeremiah 51:6). "Come out from among them and be separate, says the
Lord, . . . and I will receive you" (2 Corinthians 6:17).