Chapter 1 - The Final Warning
The Final Warning
Revelation 18 opens with the image of an angel coming down from heaven possessing great power. This angel is an emissary, sent from God to proclaim a relevant and essential message at the close of time. “And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons…for all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living” (Revelation 18:1-4)
To decipher this message we need to answer one important question; who or what is Babylon? Babylon is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 11. This chapter tells the story of Babylon’s birth shortly after the global flood. God had instructed Noah and his sons to spread out over the newly desolated planet to repopulate it. Over time Noah’s descendants disregarded this instruction. They didn’t want to scatter. They wanted to huddle together and make contingency plans for the possibility of a repeat flood. Their attitude was a mixture of defiance and unbelief. Instead of submitting to God this group of angry radicals gathered on the plane of Shinar, not far from Mt. Ararat the final resting place of the Ark after the flood. Here they began to build a tower. Their goal was three-fold; “Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:3-4)
First, they wanted to build an incredibly high tower, most likely reaching above the water line of the flood to ensure that in the event of another catastrophe of similar proportions, they would have a fallback plan. They completely disregarded God’s assurance that he would never again destroy the earth with a flood (Genesis 9:11-17).
Second, they wanted to make a name for themselves. Once more Satan’s ideological framework of self-exaltation was at war against God’s framework of love. If these tower builders had loved and trusted God, they would have been willing to submit to his word. Instead, they wanted to break away and forge their own path, a path that would lead to self-deification.
Thirdly they wanted to stick together by creating a single unifying socio-political system that would hold the reins of power over the whole earth.
For various reasons, God chose to thwart their plans. Babel birthed multilingualism with all its attendant complexity and strife. Out of the ashes of Babel rose Babylon, one of the most powerful empires of the ancient world which espoused many of Babel’s values; accumulation of power, pride, a single socio-political system, defiance of God, and self-idolatry. Babylon features largely throughout the Bible, as an enemy and oppressor of God’s people but also as a system of false religion that diluted God’s truth, mixing it with error. In Revelation, Babylon is the union of the Universal Roman Church and the State focused on propagating and establishing Satan’s ideological framework. The early reformers, beginning with Martin Luther, identified the Roman Church as Babylon. (Luther even wrote a book entitled The Babylonian Captivity of the Church in 1520 just before he was excommunicated by the Pope.)
At the heart of Revelation is the issue of worship. This issue is clarified by the three angels' messages found in Revelation 14:6-14. Proclaimed before Jesus’ second coming to the entire world, these messages present two opposing ideological systems that demand worship at the end of time - worshipping God as creator versus worshipping the beast. While the angels call all the world to worship God because the hour of his judgment has come they warn the world against worshiping the beast, outlining in graphic detail the consequences of such a choice. Sandwiched between these two messages is the announcement that Babylon, the system of false worship that empowers the beast, has fallen.
Taken together the three angels' message is simple; Worship the creator by accepting the gospel because time is short. The false system of religious worship propagated by Babylon has fallen. Don’t worship the beast or receive his mark.
Part of that final call is the message of Revelation 18, announcing the fall of Babylon and calling God’s people to leave the fallen system. The two pillars of Babylon are Sunday sacredness and the immortality of the soul. The Universal Roman Church introduced these errors during the Middle Ages. Sunday sacredness was brought in as early as 321 A.D. by Constantine who commanded that Christians abandon the Sabbath to worship on Sunday, the day venerated by Sun worshiping Roman pagans. This compromise between God’s law and Pagan philosophy had been creeping into the church for a while but the church officially adopted the change after Constantine’s decree.
The second pillar of Babylon, the immortality of the soul, is a product of mingling Platonism and Christianity. Plato taught that man is a dual being, with a body and a pure, immortal soul. Medieval Christianity latched on to the idea of anthropological dualism creating the doctrines of an immortal soul, purgatory, and an eternally burning hell.
These distortions make it difficult for people to see and appreciate God’s character clearly. Sabbath worship reminds us of creation and redemption because God is both our creator and redeemer. Creation is an integral part of redemption and the Sabbath commandment is the link between both. It is an essential part of experiencing the gospel in its entirety.
Christian Platonism which embraces anthropological dualism reinforces Satan’s lie to Eve in the garden. God had told Adam and Eve that disobedience would lead to death. Satan told them that disobedience would awaken the god within. An immortal soul presents the idea that independent of God for life. Not only is this false it distorts our perception of ourselves. As Jesus said in John 15:5 “Apart from me you can do nothing”
The final warning God presents to the world is a call to come out of the fallen, distorted system of Babylon, enmeshed in pagan philosophy, salvation by merit, and stripped of dependence on God. It is a call to accept Scripture, salvation by grace, and a deep abiding relationship with God. Jesus described this relationship in John 15:5 when he said “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
If you find yourself entwined in Babylonian thinking, ensnared by a false understanding of God and salvation perhaps it is time to reevaluate your beliefs. Ask questions. Dig deep for the truth. Jesus promised, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13). You owe it to yourself to search for more because knowing the truth can set you free. (See John 8:32)
Discussion Questions
1. What are the central pillars of Babylonian doctrine?
2. What message does God present to the world just before Jesus comes?
3. What specific points does this message highlight?
4. What is the secret to spiritual growth? (John 15:5)
5. Why is it important to search for truth? (John 8:32)
Next: Chapter 2 -Persecution In The First Centuries
Christians suffered terribly under Roman rule. They were regarded as a cult, which in and of itself was no unusual in the Roman world were cultic worship of various deities was the norm. What was unusual was the type of God they worshipped; a God of love, who was so self sacrificing that he had left the splendour of heaven to die for the ungrateful humans he had created. That narrative did not compute for many citizens of the Greco-Roman world. They thought Christians was strange fanatics. Added to that was their refusal to worship the cult of Caesar. This made them seditious fanatics. Enter an era of unprecedented persecution.
