WTW 2021
25 August
Revelation 19
After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Revelation 19:1-2
The instant impression on reading this is that of the great culmination of the ages, the final victory. And so the instant surprise at this is that this is not speaking of that one we would associate with the final fall. Indeed, there remains more to come in this progressive final fall. That will be for another to lead out in tomorrow if that seems fitting. There is clearly still so much more in Revelation as we approach a close to this amazing journey this month.
Still, this is the unspoken surprise which strikes me right at the outset today as we begin today’s dive into this chapter at hand:
Babylon clearly seems to be most directly identifiable as Rome as Irenaeus himself clearly indicates in his Against Heresies around AD 180. Yet the shock is that this woman registers so significantly in the grand eternal scheme of all things so as to be so prominently featured in the grand closing scenes. This woman is not Satan.
The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:18
Yet, the fall of this woman, yeah of Rome herself–which indeed wreaked such horrors for over 1000 years from 753 BC to at least AD 313–nevertheless, was not the fall of Satan. It is shocking that this city figures so prominently in Revelation. Clearly, we understand that Babylon is more than the earthly city of Rome. Rather, this city is the realm of Satan, more in the line of the city of all that is of the world in keeping with the worldly city in Augustine’s two cities in De Civitate Dei and the City of Destruction in Bunyan’s Progress.
As we begin our dive in to this chapter today, it is briefly shocking to see the city itself register as prominently with such a great fall as the old serpent itself.
¹Carmen
Wisdom in the WORD 
AC said:
So, how do we get out of Babylon?
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 29:4 – 9 ESV
That’s how we get out of her
Not drinking of what she offers
_____
TC seconded this:
Good word [AC]. I’ve been letting the flesh, the world and the devil influence me for too long. It is high time to put off that stuff and let my light shine in the city I’m in!
eny added another yes! :
Amen
Another brother addressed this also with the following passage
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. 1 Peter 2:11-12
That’s a powerful word [from Jeremiah] in more ways than one:
There are prophets and diviners everywhere these days and most of them as is expected are false prophets and one of their messages is to protect your rights and to fight for certain self interest causes, to defend oneself rather than others and to be defensive, to hold strong to a defensive stance, to build up defenses and fortresses.
There is a mix of things and in the mix are things like there apparently are in mixed drinks with intoxicants and other nefarious substances. So we must have discernment. We are not to pursue selfish interests. We are to defend the weak and to help orphans and widows. We are to stand side by side with those who are persecuted. We are to give when it is asked, and give more. We are to love our enemies. Enemies? Those who see us as enemies, we are to love and serve. We are to share JESUS authentically with the gnostic mohamedans.
And in that passage [AC] so insightfully shared, we are to… what?!…seek the welfare of the city… Babylon? What?!
This calls for discernment but this is not hard to understand.
Peter said Paul was hard to understand
I’ve heard that very often
Paul said we don’t write anything you can’t understand
Carnal thinking will confuse things, true
Unstable men distort things as they do all the scriptures
But we have the mind of Christ and He offers us this clear understanding by freeing us from our carnal thinking
When we demolish the strongholds and cast down thoughts and imaginations, then all these things become clear.
Seek the welfare of the city… like Joseph, like the proverbial man sitting at the gates of the city. We are to shine right where we are in the midst of this wicked and perverse generation.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, do good to the victimized Samaritans, love the fugitives and the refugees especially as Messiah himself.
And so on and so forth…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great reminders. We stand opposed to the flow of the world, not being willing to be swept along like the rest. Still in the world, but not of it, mindful of a better city, holding out for the eternal place prepared for us, empowered now by a different Spirit to live differently than most around us.
At times this can be tiring, to live a life against the flow, not in sync with or outright against what so many others are doing. But when we take on His yoke, His manner and attitude, it’s not so tough after all, because His Spirit strengthens us for this. Uncomfortable, yes. But we’re not to be comfortable in a place that is not our home, in a place that is hostile to our Father and Savior.
LikeLiked by 1 person