Staying in Babylon means going down with Babylon.1 The reputation of the end-time ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ has now become so great, and its sins so heavy, that the Lord descends to convince Himself personally2 that everything being said about it by the martyrs of the ‘great tribulation’,3 by the ‘souls under the altar’,4 and by the ’prayers of the saints’ on the golden ‘altar of incense’5 is indeed so bad. It is even worse. The cry of His people has got through to Him.6 The ‘time for revenge’ has now come: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.7 He remembers the abominations the ‘whore’ mixed in her golden cup.8 She will be paid back double. Yet, anyone who repents still will be absolved of all guilt. Whoever does not repent however, will have to pay the last cent and will be thrown into prison.9 When Zacchaeus has received forgiveness himself he voluntarily gives away half of his possessions and repays fourfold whatever he has extorted from anyone10—much more than the Law on theft prescribes.11 Fourfold compensation was only required if the ox or sheep stolen had been killed or sold and in the case of an ox even fivefold compensation had to be paid.12 Double compensation was normally sufficient.13 But this is not about bookkeeping! Anyone who has experienced God’s forgiveness in his or her life overflows with gratitude, and brings his or her old life to the light. Jesus makes that very clear. “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Matthew 6:14-14. “Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22.
It is now God’s wrath that is overflowing. Justice will be done. Just as some Jewish Christians probably – although this ‘flight to Pella’ by Christians is still hotly debated by historians – fled Jerusalem and found a good refuge in Pella before the Roman legions destroyed the city and the Temple in 70 AD and 1,100,000 Jews were slaughtered, God’s people are called upon to leave Babylon and to have no part in her in any way whatsoever. “I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.” Jeremiah says: “We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the Heavens.”14 God’s wrath has come. The cry of those who lie ‘trampled under feet’ has reached Heaven—the cry for justice. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.15 To crush underfoot all prisoners in the land, to deny people their rights before the Most High, to deprive them of justice— would not the Lord see such things?16 The remnant of Israel and the remnant of the true Church are to be found among the peoples of every nation and are not concentrated in one particular city, nation or church. There is the ‘visible’ and the ‘invisible’ church. The ‘invisible’ church are the true believers within every church or denomination or congregation. The ‘visible’ church is what we made of Christianity with all its various splits and outwardly visible organizational structures, tearing the ‘body of Christ’ into many small pieces. The mentality of ‘Babylon’ is more present than ever before and as sure is its impending judgement. Should not we as Christians be much more prepared for the coming of the false, apostate church and the anti-Christian society that is in the making? Just as it is certain that the ‘anti-Christ’ and his kingdom will come one day, so too will ‘Babylon’. This spiritual apostasy has always existed in a one way or the other within the structures of church and society. But in the end-times it will be visible and revealed more than ever before. She will go public and in the open, unashamedly. Is making the church ready for this not part of true Christian spiritual and pastoral care?17 Pulling people who are staggering mortally from the fire, before judgment fire strikes them? “And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”18 For whoever belongs to ‘Babylon’ in the end will experience pain and sorrow— just as much as he or she has enjoyed her pleasures and opulent wealth.
• We harvest according to what we have sown, according to Galatians 6:7. The harvest is always a multiplication of the seed. Much more is harvested than is planted. “For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind.”19 This is also true spiritually, according to 2 Corinthians 9:6–15.
Bible References:
1.Jeremiah 51:6, 45 2.Genesis 18:20–21 3.Revelation 7:14 4.Revelation 6:9–10 5.Revelation 8:3 6.Exodus 3:7 7.Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:19–22 8.Revelation 17:4 9.Matthew 18:23–35 10.Luke 19:8 11.C.f. Leviticus 6:5; Exodus 22:4 12.Exodus 22:1 13.Exodus 22:7–9 14.Jeremiah 51:9 NIV 15.Jeremiah 50:29 16.Lamentation 3:34, 36 17.1 Thessalonians 3:1–4 18.Jude 22–23 19.Hosea 8:17
