25 Feb 2014

Revelation 18:8

Posted by joncooper

Revelation 18:8: “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”

Babylon’s time of judgment has finally come, and the Lord God has judged her. In a single hour the city was destroyed and burned with fire:

Revelation 18:10: “Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”

Revelation 18:18: “And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!”

One thing we need to keep in mind is that Babylon is more than just a city – it is also a religious system. Since I’ve already covered this topic elsewhere I won’t repeat it here. The Babylonian system was established by Nimrod shortly after the Flood; he founded it as an act of defiance and rebellion against God. Think of this world as being divided between two city-states: Jerusalem, the city of God, and Babylon, the city that is anti-God. These two cities have been locked in a struggle for millennia. Babylon has waxed and waned, but the organized rebellion against God that it started has never really been defeated. However, at this point in history God will judge it and bring it to an end. Its days of oppressing and persecuting the saints will be over once and for all:

Revelation 18:20: “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.”

Revelation 18:24: “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why I believe that the Tribulation is still some distance off. In our day Babylon exists, but it is just a tourist destination. It is going to take a significant amount of time for Babylon to become the greatest city in the world – the city that rules over the nations. There is no doubt that it will happen, but it’s not going to happen overnight.

It is true that the Rapture can happen at any moment, but the Tribulation is quite different – a lot of pieces have to be in position before it can begin. The city of Babylon is one of those pieces, and it has a long way to go before it’s ready to assume its role.

Tags:

Comments are closed.