The Judgment for Your Sake
(Rev 18:9ampsim24)
A senior deaconess told a lie to people, hiding her sons divorce record, which disappointed her daughter in law and made her decide not to go to church all her life. Her granddaughter turned out to be handicapped and her son went bankrupt. Isnt the daughter-in-law justified in having a grudge against her? I pray that this disastrous incident will be a judgment for her sake and that she will carry her cross well for her salvation. How will the people of Babylon values respond when facing judgment?
1. They weep and mourn over it. The kings who enjoyed adultery and luxury in the great city of Babylon weep and mourn looking at the smoke, standing far off from the city lest they should be counted as one of the cursed Babylonians. Such is the way of human relationships in the world. No matter how great they may seem, they come to an end in an hour. The first feature of all sinners is living without God, which drives them to chase power to defend themselves with. Yet power and wealth fly away in a day when we despise our eternal life. The earthly kings, who enjoyed earthly power cry and lament, yet without repentance because theyve lost their earthly hope. Communities in the world, except a Jesus community, often turn out to be clubs of adultery and luxury.
2. They stand off from one another. People work together in order to create a regime, yet stand off from one another when it is over and some of them are imprisoned. Authority is from God. However, people think that they created it and become addicted to the power, which prevents them from going back to their ordinary life. We need to be ready to leave the place where we are at any time. Empowered, we are called by God to serve the suffering people around us. God has urged me also to carry my own cross so that I could understand others who are carrying their crosses. This is tough, but its Gods grace. When we stand off from one another for our own interest even in our small group, well have no peace. No matter how small a small group leader may seem, he can revive his whole group with a grain of his faith, which is one step ahead of his Babylon values. Be reminded of the water drops on the sickle blade. The members of a holy community will weep together with their community instead of standing afar from it whether bankrupt or ruined.
3. They are ruined in an hour. Notice the phrase ruined in an hour, which comes three times on the same passage. Those who deplored the most over the destruction of the great city of Babylon the most were the kings, merchants, and sailors, who enjoyed accumulating wealth in league with Babylon. All trades are equally honorable. Yet they arent always in accord with the order of creation. Some of them are antisocial trades that chase nothing but money. The people of Babylon values are not only the rich but also those who go bankrupt because of their reckless investing. They mourn over their lost profit. Thus they lament over the loss of what they have enjoyed no matter how small it is. A deaconess lamented bitterly when she lost her husband whom she used to ignore as an idle bum. The reason why she lamented was shocking Who would go fill up the car with gas when it snowed. Ive also lamented over the fall of my Babylon when my husband passed away in a day. Yet God taught me that all our devotion for salvation is surely rewarding. Finding out our mission in the midst of a devastating situation is a way of living a godly life, whose greatest prize is the Lord. It is a blessing that we, whether well-off or badly-off, belong to a holy community, where we listen to the gospel.
4. They the merchants of souls, whose businesses are ruined. Todays passage deals with the twenty nine articles that the merchants dealt with. The last one was peoples souls. The cravings of sinful man precede the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does. The worst thing the merchants did was reduce people to commodities. With their luxury and depravity reaching a climax, they even traded people who will die for others. Thus they were reduced to the slaves of money. What they did was build a big warehouse like the foolish rich man, who did not know that the Lord might call for his soul at any time. Where do this luxury and persecution come from? They are from the depraved human values that stand against the Lords first commandment by trying to glorifying themselves, not the Lord.
5. Believers need to rejoice. No matter how bitterly the earthly people wail, the great city of Babylon or Rome must fall. So it is with all worldly culture and power that stand against God. What accelerates the fall of Babylon is the blood of believers. The blood of their devotion and love are by no means wasted. God will remember our application of self-sacrifice. We might wonder why God placed us in our Rome, our tormentor. But in reality the Rome is within us. God gives us the testing period of our faith till the Rome within us falls. The series of trials are designed by God to expel the ceaseless evil in us. Being persecuted, we become poor in heart and begin to enjoy heavenly peace. Heres a confession from our community. One of our deacons received a great profit by cheating on a contract that he made with a foreign buyer by cheating replacing the brand of his company with another one. After hearing this, his senior small group leader urged him to stop it. The deacon followed his instruction and left the company and started manual work. Later God blessed him with employment in another company as a manager and he marries his two daughters to Christians. He was blessed by obeying Gods judgment for his sake! May Gods same blessing be with us. May the Lord bless us to face the evil in us, drive out the Rome within us, and enjoy the Lords judgment for us!
Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: 'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come! (Rev 18:10)
