SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/1/2015
9:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment
Pronounced
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
18:1-3
Message of the
verses: “1 After these things I saw another angel coming down
from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his
glory. 2 And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is
Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of
every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 “For
all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and
the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the
merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality."”
I want to first of all look at some of the commentary
that I wrote in October of 2005 on these verses. “The book of Revelation has the mention of
angels in it many times and at the beginning of this chapter John writes about
another angel who when he came to earth to deliver his message he would be
illuminated by his splendour. John
Macarthur said in his commentary on this verse that because of the darkness of
the fifth vial judgment this angel would be seen by many people on the earth
because of his brightness. When the
women came to the grave of Jesus on resurrection morning they say an angel who
was bright in appearance so this is not the first time this has been mentioned
in the Scriptures.
“This verse also mentions that this angel has great
authority, and I believe that the Scriptures mention that there are certain ranks
within the realm of angels, and this one must have a high ranking.
“It is also good to remember that in the scope of all of
these prophecies that are in this book that Babylon would have been destroyed
already as seen in Revelation 14:8. Again from John Macarthur’s commentary he
states that “The Greek text views the results of this as if it had already
taken place.”
“The Bible has a great deal to say about Babylon in both
the Old Testament and also much is written about it in this book of the Revelation. Just as Jerusalem is the city of God so
Babylon is the city of the devil, for it was first written about in the 10th
and 11th chapter of Genesis where it is described as man rebelling
against God and the beginning of this false religion that has opposed God and
still does. This 18th chapter
will describe the commercial aspect of Babylon and this speaks of the world
system that all true believers are supposed to avoid. John wrote about this briefly in 1 John
2:15-7. Both the religious and the
commercial systems have been around for a very long time and both of them have
opposed God and both are sinful and both of them will reach their zenith in
this tribulation period with Satan and his Antichrist along with the false
prophet and then God will destroy all of it forever.” (Oct. 10, 2005)
“This angel that was introduced in
the first verse cries out in a mighty voice two times that might Babylon has
fallen. Perhaps the angel says fallen
two times because there are two Babylon’s that are falling, the religious one
and the commercial on. The angel goes on
to say that Babylon has become a dwelling place of demons and also unclean
spirits, and a prison for unclean and hateful birds. It can be said that when righteousness
prevails in a land that it will be more difficult for the unseen forces of
darkness to do their awful biddings, and this will certainly not be the case in
Babylon in this day. The unclean birds
are written about a lot in the book of Leviticus, when God was telling Moses
the things that Israel could eat and should not eat, and the things that they
should not eat were unclean, and must have represented sin in some kind of way.” (Oct. 12, 2005)
“Every person who is born is born with a vacuum, which
can only truly be filled by the God of heaven through His Son Jesus Christ, but
if this does not happen then people will go to a substitute “religion” in order
to have a sense of having this vacuum filled and this is where this false
religious Babylon will be used by them.
Not only will these people go to the false “religious” Babylon to be
satisfied with their religious cravings, but they will then tern to the commercial
Babylon to have the lust of their eyes fulfilled. Commercial Babylon will become an idol to
millions of people here on this earth.”
(Oct. 14, 2005)
As we begin to look at these verses, (1-3), we see that
verse one begins with “After these things,” and we have mentioned before that
when we see this phrase in Revelation that John is seeing a new vision, and
even though as mentioned earlier that this happened earlier John is now
receiving the details of the destruction of commercial Babylon. We can be sure that God wants us to know that
both religious and commercial Babylon will be completely destroyed by Him, as
both systems have been around since the book of Genesis and because we have
also learned that the Lord Jesus Christ, as seen in the book of Revelation is
taking back control of planet earth from the usurper Satan that these two
systems have to be destroyed.
According to my Online Bible program the use of the word “angel”
is used fifty times in the book of Revelation and as we begin looking at verse
one of chapter eighteen we see once again an angel being involved in this
vision that John sees and this angel is distinct from the one which we saw in
chapter 17:1. He is a glorious angel and
his glory is seen from planet earth.
So we see an angel which has great authority, and I mentioned
the different ranks that angels have in my SD from October of 2005. This angel leaves the presence of God who
delegated authority in order to act on God’s behalf.
Next we see that he arrives on planet earth and as
mentioned the earth was illumined with his glory, and we also mentioned that
the earth was very darkened because of the fifth bowl judgment which makes the
illumination every seem brighter.
Next we see that this angel cries out with a might
voice. Now we have seen the word “loud”
in the book of Revelation on many different occasions and I have to believe
that even though this word is not used here that mighty means that his voice
was loud. His message in this mighty voice
is “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”
We saw the judgment predicted in Revelation 14:8 which says “And another
angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the
great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her
immorality.’” John MacArthur writes “This
will be a greater and more far-reaching judgment than the one pronounced in
identical words on ancient Babylon (Isa. 21:9).
A comparison of this passage with 16:17-19 suggests that this judgment
takes place when the seventh bowl is poured out: ‘17 Then the seventh angel poured out his
bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne,
saying, "It is done."
18 And there were flashes of lightning
and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as
there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake
was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city
was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the
great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce
wrath.
Next we look at the first cause of Babylon’s destruction
and this comes from verse two “! She has become a dwelling place of demons and
a prison of every unclean spirit,” and this is speaking of demons, as we have
seen that it was in the vicinity of Babylon that 200 million demons who were formerly
bound were release as the sixth trumpet judgment which would be the second
woe.
Next we look at the fact that Babylon will be “a prison
of every unclean and hateful bird.”
MacArthur writes “That phrase symbolizes the city’s total destruction (cf.
Isa 34:11). Like grotesque carrion birds,
the demons will hover over the doomed city, waiting for its fall. The depiction of the demons as ‘unclean and
hateful’ reflects heaven’s view of them.”
John gives another reason for Babylon’s destruction ““For
all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and
the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the
merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality’ (vs.
3).” Now in our introduction we learned
that the 18th chapter of Revelation speaks of the city of Babylon,
the headquarters of Antichrist, and his terrible empire, but is also speaks of
the system of Babylon which is seen in this verse as it influence penetrated
all around the world.
John MacArthur concludes his commentary with “Having
thrown off any semblance of self-control or self-restraint, sinners will
indulge in a wild materialistic orgy.
Like those in ancient Babylon, they will be parting when their city is
destroyed (cf. Dan. 5:1-30). James’s
condemnation of the ruthless wealthy could be also apply to them: ‘1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your
miseries which are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments
have become moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust
will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in
the last days that you have stored up your treasure! 4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed
your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the
outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.” Perhaps this could apply to many who live in
our country today.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I read this
section I have to realize that I need to remember that my home is in heaven,
and that I should not have roots that go down deeply into the world that I now
live in. One of the things that I have
added to my prayer list is my own rendition of putting on the Spiritual Armor,
as I have learned from different commentators and took some parts from them,
but actually made it myself, and I believe with the help of the Lord. Here is a small portion of this: “I put on the helmet of the hope of
Salvation, knowing Jesus Christ will come again and that I am not to have my
roots in this world, but be living as if the Lord will come back today.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord to help me not to put my
roots down deeply in the world that I now live in, remembering that this world
is not my home for I am a stranger and an alien living in a place where I am to
serve the Lord and not get caught up in the evilness of what goes on here.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “2 Chronicles” (2 Chronicles
11:21). “Rehoboam loved Maacah the
daughter of Absalom more than all his other wives and concubines. For he had
taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines and fathered twenty-eight sons and
sixty daughters.”
Today’s Bible
question: “How many years of plenty were
there in Egypt?”
Answer in our next SD.
9/1/2015 10:39 AM
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