Worthy is the Lamb: Gloom, Despair, and Agony of Me

Text: Revelation 18:1-24

Theme: Babylon the Great and the false religious system that supported it have fallen. The Great Babylon and the false religion that prostituted itself in the Antichrist's service is about to be judged.

Date: 11/04/2018 File name: Resurrection36.wpd ID Number:

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great!” This is the second time in Revelation we’ve heard angels make this announcement. Now what on earth is this Babylon the Great — also called Mystery Babylon? If you will remember, a few Sundays back, when I last preached on the Book of the Revelation, I dealt with Babylon then. In Revelation chapter 17, Babylon is the Bible’s cryptic and descriptive name for a city, for the value system of an ungodly era, and for the kingdom of Antichrist. It is called Babylon because its cultural norms, its worldview, and its philosophies root all the way back to the Book of Genesis. In the opening chapters of the Book of Genesis we read about a man named Nimrod who built a tower, and it was called the Tower of Babel. It was the first attempt at humanism — for man to establish an earthly kingdom, independent of God. The leader of that ancient city-state was Nimrod. His name means “rebel.” Three times in the Book of Genesis he is called “a mighty one”. And Nimrod, way back in the dawn of civilization, is a type — a picture of the coming Antichrist, who will rule over the last Babylon. In chapter 18, we’re going to see the destruction of Babylon.

The question is weather-or-not the Babylon described here in Revelation is an actual city, or is this Babylon simply symbolic of a worldview? Is it a city, or is it a system? Or, is it both? If you were here several weeks ago, you heard me say that it’s both. Empires require types, and symbols and worldviews to maintain their authority and power structure. But empires also need flesh-and-blood leaders, and seats of authority. The kingdom of the Antichrist will be no different. From where he will rule we simple don’t know. Wherever his capitol will be there is one thing I am certain of, and it is this: that this Babylon the Great stands for a wicked, vile culture that will rule with cruel power. Just as the ancient city of Babylon became an Old Testament symbol of everything evil, and in opposition to God, so the Antichrist’s capitol city will likewise be a symbol of everything evil, and that stands in opposition to God. It is the antithesis of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem that will be the eternal home of believers.

The Great Babylon of the Revelation symbolizes the vileness and the wickedness of the Antichrist and his values as well as those who receive his mark and follow him. We’ve already seen in Revelation chapter 17 the destruction of the religious system that supported Babylon (Revelation 17). And now we’re going to see, in chapter 18, the destruction of commercial Babylon. We’re going to see this system as it comes tumbling down.

I. THE REVELATION OF BABYLON’S DESTRUCTION

“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory.” (Revelation 18:1, NASB95)

1. the phrase after these things occurs at least nine times in Revelation

a. the phrase does not refer to chronological time, but rather to a change from one vision to another

b. in Revelation 17 John witnesses the destruction of the religious alliance that helped bring the Antichrist to power

1) the Great Harlot of that chapter represents false religion in service to the Antichrist and the False Prophet

2) the Antichrist — whoever he is — understands that you don’t rise to worldwide preeminence without at least paying lip-service to the religious beliefs of the people you hope to subjugate

ILLUS. Some of you remember the gaff made by then candidate Obama when in early 2008 he displayed a profound misunderstanding of rural American values. He derided small-town working-class residents as people who were bitter over their economic circumstances, and who, therefore, hang on to their “guns and religion” out of frustration. What you might not remember is that it was Hillary Clinton, also a Democratic candidate who first pounced on his words and call him an elitist. He had to quickly walk-back those words.

3) the point is that a politically savvy leader knows that you don’t disparage a person’s religious faith even if you have none yourself

c. the Antichrist will not make that mistake, but will effectively use a religion or all religions to ascend to power

1) but when he has secured his power and no longer needs the Great Harlot or her children he will turn on them

“And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.” (Revelation 17:16, NASB95)

2. after that John sees an angel with great authority and splendor announces Babylon’s destruction

a. Babylon refers to a future capital of the entire world that will become the economic, the religious, and the cultural center of the world

1) and no, I don’t have a clue what great city that might be, but I do believe it will be one of the world’s great mega-metropolises

b. it will be the seat of the Antichrist who will rule the world with an alliance of ten nations represented by the ten horns of the seven-headed beast that John sees

“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.” (Revelation 17:12, NASB95)

c. that great city and the alliance the Antichrist forms with ten powerful nations will symbolize the universal kingdom of darkness

3. Babylon and her allies have taken on God as their enemy, and now face the penalty of total economic collapse, and destruction

II. THE REASONS FOR BABYLON’S DESTRUCTION

1. the bulk of the chapter describes the enormity of Babylon’s sin which is the justification for God’s condemnation and judgment upon a wicked, God-hating, Satan-loving world

“for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:5, ESV)

ILLUS We have seen similar judgmental events in Biblical history. The world of Noah’s day gives us a foretaste of what the world will be like at the end of time in the closing days of the Great Tribulation. “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:11–13, ESV).

a. there comes a time when the sins of a nation, or a city, or a people reach to heaven, and cry aloud for God to act

1) on our side of Heaven, it can seem that God’s sword of vengeance slumbers long, and heaven seems silent and indifferent to earth’s corruptions, defamation of God’s name and His people, and crimes against His Elect

2. but God is not deaf nor blind, and Revelation 18 reminds us that when the times of the Gentiles has reached it’s culmination, He will act in righteous judgment

3. the chapter gives us the evidence that validates God’s judgment upon the Antichrist, his city, and the God-denying world he rules over

a. it is filled with immorality (18:3a)

b. it is materialistic to the core (18:3b)

c. its sins are as high as the heavens (18:5)

d. it is totally proud and arrogant (18:7)

e. it has deceived the nations and killed the saints (18:23c–24)

f. it has treated humans as property to be bought and sold (18:13b)

4. but a rebellious world’s crowning sin is her pride and presumption

“As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’” (Revelation 18:7, ESV)

a. while Christians around the world are denying themselves, the Antichrist’s followers are denying themselves nothing

ILLUS. Think “Capitol City” of the nation of Panem in The Hunger Game book series. If you’ve read the books or seen the movies you know that Capitol City is lavishly rich and technologically advanced, and rules the outlying provinces with an iron fist through an army euphemistically called “peacekeepers. The city holds total political and economic dominance. The pampered and hedonistic citizens of the Capitol City are generally preoccupied with extravagant fashion, parties, and mass entertainment.

b. this is a picture Babylon the Great at the end of days

1) a society built on luxury, on wantonness, on pride, on callousness to human life and personality is necessarily doomed

III. THE REMOVAL OF GOD’S PEOPLE OUT OF BABYLON BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION

“Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;” (Revelation 18:4, ESV)

1. in the waning days of the Great Tribulation it’s hard to imagine that any believers have managed to survive the incessant onslaught of murderous pogroms against the Confessing Church

a. and yet some believers have survived ... as is the case throughout history

ILLUS. In A.D. 303 the Roman Emperor Diocletion hounded Christians, even though his wife, Prisca, belonged to the faith. Christians called it the Great Persecution because it was empire-wide. Diocletion’s goal was the total eradication of Christianity. The first of Diocletion’s edicts prohibited all Christian worship, and commanded that churches and Christian books be destroyed. Two further edicts ordered clergy to be arrested unless they sacrificed to pagan deities. Those edicts were extended to all Christians by A.D. 304. Over the millennia many dictators have attempted to stifle Christianity. Christianity has been outlawed, its pastors arrested and killed, its sacred writings burned, its practitioners forced underground. But everywhere Christianity has been persecuted it has survived, and thrived, and spread.

2. even in the dark days of the Great Tribulation Christianity will survive and thrive

a. according to our text they’ll even be found practicing the faith in the capitol city of the Antichrist

3. the angel’s call is for believers to flee the city before its impending judgment

ILLUS. At the time of the Jewish exile when Cyrus permitted the Jews to leave Babylon, and return to Israel God told his people not to take along anything that was unclean or that was pertinent to idol worship. He wanted the Jews leaving Babylon to be pure and holy. Similarly, Paul exhorted the Corinthian Christians who had come out of paganism to separate themselves from idol worship and dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 6:17). For the recipients of the Revelation, the exhortation meant not to leave the Roman world or Rome itself. Instead they were “to break with the empire’s idolatrous culture and life-style and to avoid compromise.”

4. for Christians of subsequent generations John’s message is to separate themselves spiritually and morally from the secular world and not participate in its sins

IV. THE RETRIBUTION ... BABYLON’S DESTRUCTION

“For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” (Revelation 18:8, ESV)

“Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more;” (Revelation 18:21, ESV)

1. in previous passages we’ve heard the angels testify, “Fallen, Fallen is the Great Babylon”

a. their words are always in the present tense meaning that though the Great Babylon’s destruction has not yet happened, it will soon happen because when God decrees something it’s a done deal — mortal man cannot stop it

2. but it’s not just a single city that is judged, it is all those who have allied themselves with the Antichrist and freely worn his mark

3. John describes the destruction

a. it is sudden — in a singe day vs. 8

b. it is severe — she will be burned up with fire, death, and mourning and famine will be her reward vs. 8

c. it is unstoppable — mighty is the Lord God who judges her vs. 8

4. the end finally comes in Revelation 18:21

“Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer.” (Revelation 18:21, NASB95)

a. John concludes the description of her demise in a song that verbalizes her doom.

1) its doleful refrain occurs six times: “never to be ... “

b. the physical existence of Babylon will come to a permanent end

V. THE REACTION TO BABYLON’S DESTRUCTION

1. the Great Babylon’s destruction will be unbelievable

“And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” (Revelation 18:9–10, ESV)

2. after as much grief, and destruction, and death caused by the Antichrist over a seven-year period you’d think that the world would rejoice that God had judged evil

a. yet the kings of the earth will join in song singing Gloom, Despair, and Agony of Me ... deep dark depression, excessive misery at the destruction of the Great Babylon

b. it’s hard to imagine that such a despotic world figure will generate this kind of grief after his destruction

3. don’t forget that much of the world will see this False Christ as their true Messiah, Satan as their true father, and will lament his defeat and the destruction of the world-wide commercial system he had established

ILLUS. We know from history that after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, and as the war in Europe was drawing to a close, tens of thousands of German citizens also committed suicide — many because they simply could not imagine life without de Fuhrer.

4. but most of the remorse will be over their loss of profit, AND that their destruction might be imminent

“And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12 cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, 13 and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. 14 “The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you and men will no longer find them. 15 “The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,” (Revelation 18:11–15, NASB95)

a. we’re looking at a world-wide market collapse that will make the Great Depression of the 1930s look like a commercial boom by contrast

5. the only ones not mourning the destruction of the Great Babylon are God’s Elect

“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.” (Revelation 18:20, NASB95)

VI. APPLICATION

A. COME OUT OF THE WORLD

1. OK ... just what do we mean when we talk of the believer’s need to come out of the world?

a. in writing to the Christians at Corinth — one of the most wicked and immoral cities of the Roman world — the Apostle Paul writes to them ...

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, 18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” 1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1, ESV)

b. let me say, first of all, that this series of verses is not an appeal for us to break all of our worldly associations, nor activities

c. it is an appeal to avoid too close of associations — especially if they are detrimental to our relationship with Christ, and our loyalty to his kingdom

2. Christians need to separate themselves from the values and activities and people of a fallen culture that would lead them into temptation

a. sometimes we have to put feet to that part of the Lord’s Prayer

b. we pray, Lord, deliver us from evil, but then we turn around and put ourselves in situations that will lead us into temptation, that then leads to evil

3. vs. 14 of 2 Corinthians 6 is not merely about Christians be unequally yoked with non-Christian in marriage

a. it’s broader than that

b. when the unrighteous values, and activities, and people of the a fallen culture have more influence on us than the righteous values, and activities, and people of the redeemed culture of the church then we are living in disobedience to the commands of the Scriptures

1) some believers might protest, “But it is not fair for God to ask me to make a choice between my culture, my comrades, and Christ”

4. does God ever ask us for something that is not for our good?

a. of course not!

b. and how is this for our good?

c. because He knows that it is likely that His people, though they have the Spirit of God, will have an extremely difficult time resisting the spiritual force that wants to lead them to compromise on the standards of His Kingdom

d. He thus obligates us to purity of life, to holiness, to separation from evil

5. we owe our allegiance to Him alone, and we cannot allow ourselves not to be a fit vessel for Him to live in

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, ESV)

6. this calls for wisdom on the part of each believer

a. you’re the one who has to evaluate your values, and ask, “Are my values biblical values? Are they consistent with the Scriptures I know?”

b. you’re the one who has to evaluate your activities, and ask, “Is my behavior consistent with the commands of God? Is my behavior, both public and private, Christ-honoring? Are the places I go and the things I do beneficial to my Christian maturity or detrimental?”

c. you’re the one who has to evaluate your relationships, and ask, “Is this person a hindrance to my spiritual life? Do they lead me into activities I know I should be avoiding?

B. DON’T ENVY THE WORLD

1. don’t envy Babylon

2. we see people wheeling and dealing, and “getting ahead” and enjoying the spotlight, and it seems like they have so much, and you want some of it

a. it’s tempting to envy the citizen of Babylon

ILLUS. Henry C. Morrison was one of the great missionaries of the late 19th century. After serving for forty years on the African mission field, he and his wife headed home by boat. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were discouraged, and afraid. On that same trans-Atlantic steamer also rode President Theodore Roosevelt returning from one of his famous big-game trophy hunts. No one paid much attention to the Morrisons. They watched the fanfare that accompanied the President’s entourage, with passengers trying to catch a glimpse of the great man. As they entered New York harbor ship's horns blared and fire-fighting ships sprayed fountains of water into the air. As they docked, there was great fanfare as bands played and all kinds of dignitaries waited to greet the President and welcome him home. Morrison saw all of this and became depressed. He said to his wife, "Something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and have no one care a thing about us? Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes much over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us." In a moment of anger he blurted out to his wife, “This is not right. God is not treating us fairly." In his memoirs Morrison writes of that moment and that thought. He says: "But just then a still small voice came to me and said, Henry you're not home yet.'"

3. I have to believe that when Henry Morrison finally went home, the celebration dwarfed the welcoming received by Teddy Roosevelt on the docks

a. I can just image thousands upon thousands of Africans, who he had reached for Christ, standing at the Gates of Heaven, applauding and welcoming Henry home

4. don’t envy the world —