Revelation 18 - A Call to Come Out

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago an article appeared in the online version of the New York Post. The author was Jackie Salo, and the headline of the article read, “New Jersey, New York top list of states people are fleeing most”. The article begins,

Will the last person left in New York turn out the lights? New data shows that people flooded out of the Empire State during the pandemic, as 67 percent of all long-distance moves were made by people leaving New York while only 33 percent were by people moving in, Bloomberg News reported. The data, compiled by United Van Lines from March 1 to Aug. 19, puts New York second in the nation only to New Jersey, where 69 percent of people who moved skipped out while only 31 percent of moves were by people entering the Garden State. Connecticut trails closely behind in fourth place with 64 percent of moves being people who left the state, Bloomberg News reported. Meanwhile, the top three states to welcome people moving in were, Vermont, Idaho and Oregon, the report shows. (https://nypost.com/2020/09/01/new-jersey-new-york-top-list-of-states-people-are-fleeing-most/ Retrieved 09/02/2020)

It’s not hard to imagine why, in the current context of 2020, people are becoming increasingly uncomfortable living in large cities—between the continuing restrictions and economic hardships of the coronavirus scare to the escalating race riots in major urban centers, and both of these coupled with the increased popularity and availability of the means for working remotely from home, there are tens of thousands of people who are opting to get out of the cities and find homes in suburban or even rural settings. They were willing to give up their jobs, their homes, their social circle and the luxuries of city life, because their safety or security meant more to them than any of those things

But for every individual or family that decides to get out of the city, there are many who look at the same circumstances and decide to stay. Perhaps they can’t afford to leave their jobs, or they are simply unwilling to give up the life they are accustomed to in the city, or they don’t consider the turmoil bad enough to uproot their whole life over. And in fact there are some who, far from trying to avoid these things are in fact enthusiastic participants in them. Simply put, there are those who are staying in the cities not despite the riots and demonstrations, but because of them.

Our text this morning in Revelation 18 includes a call for people to flee a city. In verses 1-3 a mighty angel announces the judgment against “Babylon the Great”:

Revelation 18:1–3 ESV

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 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.”

And then in verse 4 there is another voice out of heaven—the voice of God Himself:

Revelation 18:4–5 ESV

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; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

For reasons that we have already seen, I believe that the best understanding of the identity of “Babylon the Great” here in this chapter is the city of Jerusalem itself, and that the call to “come out of her” corresponds to Jesus’ warning in Luke 21:20-22:

Luke 21:20–22 ESV

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.

Here in these verses, God calls His people to come out of the city so that they would not be caught up in the judgment that God was sending on it—and in fact the Jerusalem Christians did just that in A.D. 66, fleeing across the Jordan to Pella, where they stayed for the three and a half years of the siege and fall of Jerusalem. What we see in these verses, and what I hope to show you this morning is that

The call of God DELIVERS His people out of SIN and DESTRUCTION

Here in these verses God calls His people out of “Babylon the Great” so that they are not destroyed by the judgment He is pouring out on the city. In verses 1-3,

I. God calls JUDGMENT down on BABYLON (Rev. 18:1-3)

Revelation 18:1–3 ESV

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 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.”

As we saw last week, I think there are good reasons to understand “Babylon the Great” here as the city of Jerusalem. One notable feature of this chapter, for instance, is how often the city is referred to as “the great city”:

Revelation 18:10 ESV

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 18:18–19 ESV

and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.

Revelation 18:21 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;

John uses the term “the great city” to refer specifically to Jerusalem in Revelation 11:8 when he describes the death of the prophets:

Revelation 11:8 ESV

and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

So I think it is at least plausible that the “great city” here in Revelation 18 is the same as the “great city” of Revelation 11.

There is an interesting historical connection between Jerusalem—specifically Herod’s Temple—and the description of Babylon the Great in verse 16:

Revelation 18:16 ESV

“Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!

There is a fascinating description of Herod’s Temple that the first-century historian Josephus gives us in his book The Jewish War. He says that the Temple

had golden doors of fifty-five cubits altitude, and sixteen in breadth; but before these doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors. It was a Babylonian [Babulonios] curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet [porphuras], and purple [kokkou], and of a contexture that was truly wonderful.” (Wars, 5:5:4). (Quoted in Gentry, K. L., Jr. (2010). Navigating the Book of Revelation: Special Studies on Important Issues (Second edition, p. 153). Fountain Inn, SC: GoodBirth Ministries.)

So I think we are at least on plausible grounds to understand “Babylon the Great” in this chapter as a description of the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

But in any case, the call here in this chapter is for God’s people to come out of the city, because it is about to be judged. First, it is about to be judged because

It is an IDOLATROUS city (v. 2)

Verse 2 says that the city will become “a haunt for every unclean spirit” (v. 2). This reminds us of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 12 that when an “unclean spirit” is cast out it goes about looking for rest, and then comes back to the house it was cast out of and finds it “swept and put in order”, and moves back in with seven other spirits more evil than itself (Matt. 12:43-45). Jesus ends his statement with the warning “So also will it be with this evil generation”. In other words, Jesus spent the three years of His ministry sweeping Israel and Jerusalem clean from all demonic activity—but because of that generation’s refusal to receive their Messiah, all of those evil spirits were released back onto the city—we saw this in Revelation 9, where the people “did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood… nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Rev. 9:20-21). If you will not worship Christ, then what you do worship will destroy you. And Jerusalem was being destroyed by their demonic idolatry.

God calls His people out of Babylon because it is an idolatrous city, and because

It is an IMMORAL city (v. 3)

Revelation 18:3 ESV

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.”

We saw last week that the notion of sexual immorality in this context is specifically connected to Jerusalem’s identity as the Bride of YHWH. Throughout the Old Testament, in passages like Ezekiel 16 and the Book of Hosea, that Israel was betrothed to YHWH as His own possession, but she ran off and committed adultery with all the other gods of the nations. And here in Revelation 18 God condemns her not only for her own infidelity, but for the fact that she was meant to bring all the nations into the worship of YHWH. Instead of all the nations being blessed through her (Gen. 12:3: “…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”), all the nations of the earth were led into faithlessness.

God calls His judgment down on Jerusalem here in this chapter because it is an idolatrous city, it is an immoral city, and also because

It is a BLOODTHIRSTY city (Rev. 18:24)

Revelation 18:24 ESV

And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

Once again, the connection with Jerusalem is clear—the city that had a centuries-long reputation of being the graveyard for the saints and prophets. Jesus said in Luke 13 that He had to go to Jerusalem because “it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem”—the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it (Luke 13:33-34). And so God calls His people to come out of “Babylon the Great” before His judgment falls on the city.

But the question then becomes, how do God’s people obey that call? How do we “come out of the city” that is about to suffer judgment for its idolatrous, immoral, bloodthirsty sins? It’s not as simple as just packing up a United Van Lines truck and moving to Idaho, is it? Escaping the judgment of God on sin is not a matter of moving from one physical location to another—David says in the Psalms,

Psalm 139:7–10 ESV

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

I think that the way God’s people are called to “come out” of the city has to do with the way the call is stated in verse 4: “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins.” When He calls His people out of the doomed city,

God calls His PEOPLE out to HOLINESS (Rev. 18:4)

Coming out of the city means not taking part in the sins of the city. When God calls His people out of the city, He is calling them away from the city’s sins, and towards holiness.

In order for us to see this clearly, it will help to take a look at the Old Testament story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 (John refers to Jerusalem as “Sodom” in Revelation 11:8). Just as God calls His people to come out of Jerusalem before its destruction, He also called Abraham’s nephew Lot to come out of Sodom before its destruction.

The Bible calls Lot “a righteous man”, who was “greatly distressed” by the wickedness of the city, and was “tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” (2 Peter 2:7-8). But if you read the story of Lot’s escape from Sodom, you see that he had become numb to its wickedness—when the men of the city wanted to gang-rape the angels that came to rescue him, Lot offered to let them rape his own daughters instead! Just by his constant exposure to the sin and wickedness of the city Lot was worn down and numbed to the sinfulness of sin to the point where he would even consider something so heinous.

In the same way, God calls His people to “come out” of the wickedness and sin that surrounds them—that if you constantly surround yourself with the sins and wickedness and rebellion of the “Babylon” you live in, you will eventually be numbed and worn down to the point where you start to “take part in them”.

God calls His people out of the city and into holiness. Christian, see here in Revelation 18 that your holiness before God

Is worth more than your LUXURIES (Rev. 18:11-13)

In verses 11-13 we see the merchants of the city mourning all of the luxury goods that have been destroyed by Jerusalem’s fall:

Revelation 18:11–13 ESV

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

Christian, there is no luxury that you can enjoy in the midst of this sinful and wicked world’s system that is worth more than your holiness before God! be like Moses, who could have had all of the luxury and riches of growing up in Pharaoh’s household, but “chose rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25).

Christian, you are called out by God to holiness— it

Is worth more than your ENTERTAINMENT (Rev. 18:21-22)

In verses 21-22 we read that all of the entertainments and diversions of Babylon the Great were going to be silenced forever—the “harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters will be heard in the city no more—there is no entertainment that this wicked and sinful world can offer you that is worth more than your holiness before God! How often do we “let things slide” in what we watch or listen to or read? We say, “Well, there’s a little bit of bad language” or “there’s a couple of inappropriate scenes, but it’s still a great story!” It’s so easy to let our guard down in our desire to be entertained, isn’t it?

And right away you might be saying, “Well, we mustn’t be legalistic about these things! I have liberty—I am not under law but under grace! I can watch that movie or that YouTube video or read that magazine without letting it influence my spiritual life!” But that’s not what God says here in Revelation 18, is it? To argue that way is to say that you want to stay for the entertainment, it is an excuse for you to partake of the sins it celebrates. I know this is a hard word—it’s hard for all of us—but should we really, in the words of one preacher, “let ourselves be entertained by the sins for which Christ died?” (John MacArthur).

Our holiness before God is worth more than our luxuries, it’s worth more than our entertainment—and it

Is worth more than POLITE SOCIETY (v. 23)

In verse 23 we read that “the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more”—an image of the complete and utter collapse of society in the wicked city. How many times we are tempted to set aside God’s call to holiness because we want to keep the society of friends and neighbors who belittle or squabble with us over our commitment to the holiness God calls us to? We still want to get invited to their weddings and baby showers, we still want to be considered smart and witty and “cool”—and so we set aside God’s call to holiness and make our peace with Babylon? But Jesus calls us to “go outside the gates of the city” with Him to bear the reproach He endured (Heb. 13:12-14)—to be willing to be cast out of “polite society” because we are committed to living according to His commands?

God's call delivers His people out of their sin, and His call delivers people out of destruction. Because God not only calls His people out to holiness,

III. God calls His ELECT out to SALVATION

In Acts 18, the Apostle Paul was preaching in the city of Corinth (a city well-known for its wickedness and depravity), and he was stirring up opposition from enemies of the Gospel who threatened by the Jewish leaders of the city. In verses 9-10 of Acts 18 we read

Acts 18:9–10 ESV

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

God says to Paul, “Go ahead and preach, Paul, because there are many people in this city who are going to come to faith in Me! I am going to use your preaching to call them out of this wicked, depraved city! I am calling them to myself, Paul, and your preaching is the way I aim to do it!”

God calls His elect out to salvation—and He does it

Though their SINS have reached HEAVEN (Rev. 18:5)

Revelation 18:5 ESV

for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Even though the inhabitants of Babylon the Great have heaped their sins as high as the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament, God is still pleased to save some of them! He is bringing judgment down on the city, but His grace still extends to those who will come to Him in repentance!

He calls His elect out to salvation

Though their PRIDE has BLINDED them (Rev. 18:7)

The inhabitants of Jerusalem prided themselves on being righteous through their observance of the Law—they “glorified themselves and lived in luxury”, saying “I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see” (v. 7). Even though they scoff at the idea that they are sinners, even though they bristle at the suggestion that they are guilty before God, even though they say, “I am a good person, I have nothing to repent of!!”, God can still break through that pride when He calls His elect to salvation, and “the vilest offender who truly believes / That moment from Jesus a pardon receives!”

Though their sins have reached Heaven, He can still call His own out. Though their pride has blinded them to their sin, He can still call out His own. And He calls them out

Though their DESTRUCTION comes SWIFTLY (Rev. 18:8, 10)

The fall of Jerusalem was long in coming—God had been calling them to repentance for generations—but when it finally came, it came hard and fast. Her “plagues come in a single day” (v. 8), and “in a single hour her judgment has come” (v. 10). But even when that judgment is only one breath away, God is still calling His people out to salvation! The New Testament rings with the hope that “Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), that we exhort one another "while it is still called ‘today’” (Heb. 3:13).

Beloved, look at these verses and marvel at the matchless grace of God! That even up to the very last possible second before His wrath falls on the wicked city, He is still calling sinners out of darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and have a place among those being sanctified in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:18)!

So Christian, reckon your holiness before God as a greater treasure than any luxury, any entertainment, any “polite society” that Babylon can offer you! And never forget that even now, right this moment, God has people in this city! There are people out there now whom He has set His eye on for salvation—and today they are as vile and hateful and rebellious and wicked and violent as can be, but when He calls them, they will come! And Christian—He aims to call them through your witness! So do not be afraid, go on speaking and do not be silent, because God is with you—no one will attack you or harm you, for He has many people He aims to bring to Himself here in Babylon!

And if you are here this morning and you do not know Jesus Christ—you who are content to pursue this world's luxury, entertainment and society because you don't believe God will punish you, or that you are covered because of your religious habits and spiritual track record. Or maybe you really are comfortable in Babylon, and you really do love the fleeting pleasures of sin for what they are. Can’t you see here in these verses the warning of the swift approach of your destruction?

Forty years ago there was an old man who owned a camping lodge in the Pacific Northwest. His name was Harry R Truman, and he had lived on the shores of Spirit Lake at the foot of Mount St. Helens for decades. When geologists monitoring the tremors from the volcano warned him that there would be a dangerous eruption, he scoffed at them, saying that the lake and the miles of heavily wooded timberland between him and the volcano would protect him and that he didn’t believe their warnings.

At 8:32am on Sunday, May 18th, 1980, Mount St. Helens exploded with a force sufficient to sent thousands of tons of hot ash racing down the mountain at 350 miles per hour. Within seconds of the blast, Truman was instantly incinerated, and his lodge buried under 150 feet of volcanic debris.

Friend, make no mistake—you can scoff all you want, you can argue all you want, but the Day is coming when you will stand before the Ancient of Days, and all the money sex and power that you chased after all your life will go up in flames, incinerated by the blast of His fury that has come upon you in an instant. In His unmatchable grace and kindness to you, He has brought you here to hear this warning, and to listen to His call—come out of the wickedness and sin and rebellion of your past, repent of it, and believe that the death of Christ paid the penalty for your sins, and call on Him to rescue you from the destruction that is coming upon the wickedness and depravity and rebellion of this world! Listen to the call of God to you this morning while you still can! Come to Him for salvation, come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

What are some of the reasons that we can understand the fall of “Babylon the Great” to be a picture of Jerusalem’s destruction? How does our society in 21st Century America bear resemblance to the idolatry, immorality and bloodthirstiness of “Babylon the Great” here in Revelation 18?

How does the story of Lot’s escape from Sodom (Genesis 19) help us understand the way constant exposure to sin can “numb” our desire for holiness? Which of the three things drawn out of this chapter (luxuries, entertainments, polite society) compete most strongly in your heart against the holiness God calls you to?

Read 2 Peter 3:1-9. In this passage, Peter is responding to people who scoff at the idea of Christ’s return, saying that it will never happen. Peter responds by reminding them that God is waiting until every last one of His people have come to salvation (v. 9). How does this truth give you confidence in the turmoil and rebellion that you see around you every day?