#Bible Study with Jairus: #Revelation 18 (Part 3) God Strips Away the Desires of Babylon

Bible Study With Jairus

Bible Study with Jairus: Revelation 18 (Part 3)

God Strips Away the Desires of Babylon

Beginning in Revelation 16, God deals with the sins of Babylon (16:19). This continues until chapter 19, where the saints praise God for judging Babylon, the great prostitute (19:2-3). Chapter 14 also discusses God's judgment on Babylon.

As we have mentioned multiple times, the great prostitute is the opposite of the Bride of Christ. While the Bride of Christ represents people who love Christ, Babylon represents people who have surrendered to evil spirits and the worldly system. Babylon is full of evil spirits and sinners.

How did these individuals become such a great prostitute? We cannot help but recall the Apostle John's definition of the world: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

We can also say that the world is Babylon, and Babylon is the world. This world is a system established by Satan and his evil spirits to entrap people. Satan uses the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life to take away people’s love for the Father and worship of Him.

Therefore, God's judgment on Babylon deals with these three elements by taking away the things people longed for. Each person longed for different items, including gold, gems, spices, food, expensive building materials and cloth, and other technology and produce (12-13). In the process of judging Babylon, God deprived people of the various things they were previously infatuated with, which included the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Revelation 18:14 says, “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!” The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are the ripe fruits that the Babylonian people’s soul longed for.

The principle of God dealing with Babylon not only applies to the collective judgment of Babylon but also to the lives of individual believers. One significant factor hindering our spiritual maturity as believers is our love for the world. On a smaller scale, God deals with our love for the world the same way he dealt with Babylon. When God takes away things we love, He is actually saving us from the world's domination.

Satan’s Resistance to the Threefold Work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

When we pursue victory in our individual spiritual lives, the primary hindrances to our growth are sin, the world, and the flesh. The Triune God is responsible for dealing with these three hindrances:

• Jesus Christ deals with sin through his precious blood. We must continually deepen our awareness of his sacrifice, as well as our commitment to repentance. In this way, we lessen the influence of sin and apply the cleansing power of the Lord's blood. The Lord Jesus appeared to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and it is his job to help us rid our lives of sin.
• The Holy Spirit overcomes the flesh. Our flesh is where Satan resides due to original sin. As a result, the flesh resists the Spirit, and the Spirit resists the flesh (Galatians 5:17). But by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can continually put to death the deeds of the body (Romans 8:13). As we do, we receive life for our mortal bodies through the Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead and grants us new life (Romans 8:11). After the Holy Spirit regenerates us, our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). If we are united with the Lord, we become one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). The work of the Holy Spirit is to transform us into the spotless bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:27). As we are collectively sanctified as the body of Christ, we are made into a spiritual temple in the New Jerusalem, dedicated to God. In short, resisting the flesh is the work of the Holy Spirit.
• The Father judges the world. The world resists the Father. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us.

Because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are involved in our sanctification, Satan opposes all three through the world, sin, and the flesh.

The Father will ultimately judge the world, which is represented by the great prostitute. His method of judgment is to strip away the “fruits that our souls longed for.” When the things we love are taken away, we may feel sad and weep (Revelation 18:15). However, the ultimate outcome will be that the chosen ones who accept God’s discipline will be released from the grip of the city of Babylon (Revelation 18:4).

The Bible tells us that each member of the Trinity will complete their work.

• On the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished” to show that his work of redemption was complete (John 19:13).
• In Revelation, the Holy Spirit says, “It is done'”(Revelation 16:17). In this case, he is not signifying the completion of the work of redemption that was already accomplished by Jesus on the cross, but the complete preparation of the bride by the Holy Spirit. Only after the Holy Spirit's work is complete does God begin to judge the sins of Babylon (Revelation 16:19).
• The Father says “It is done” once again when he is finished judging the world (Revelation 21:6). The work of the Trinity is now complete.

Though we still live in the world, Jesus teaches us not to live for the world or allow it to dominate our lives. He tells us that we do not belong to this world (John 17:16). Therefore, it is foolish to try to gain the whole world at the cost of our souls (Matthew 16:26). Our task today is to live in the world but not live for the world.

When we are dominated by the world and do not live for the Lord, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us with groans that cannot be expressed in words (Romans 8). In answer to his prayers, the Heavenly Father may choose to rearrange our circumstances to discipline us. This may include taking away the things we enjoy the most. When this happens, we should not think that God does not love us. As stated in God’s word, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ; all things work together for the good of those who love God (Romans 8). God’s discipline is a sign of his love (Hebrews 12:6). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together to help us break free from the world so we can live for God.

God’s ultimate goal is to grant us the glorious freedom of God's children and to liberate all creation from its bondage to corruption (Romans 8:21). These truths from Romans are mirrored in the book of Revelation. When Christ’s body is mature and becomes the Lamb’s wife (the New Jerusalem), God’s children will obtain glorious freedom. After God's children obtain His glorious freedom, God will judge all evil spirits, cleanse the entire universe, and bring about the restoration of all things.

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working diligently to bring about God’s ultimate goal for His people and for the entire world. However, Satan is also working diligently to hinder the body of Christ from becoming the mature New Jerusalem. To do so, he uses the world, sin, and the flesh to resist the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In this article, we will not delve deeper into the concepts of sin and the flesh. Instead, we will study the relationship between the world and Babylon.

Babylon the Great is Like a Spider Web

In John 17:14-16, Jesus prays to the Father, saying, "I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” We as God's chosen people do not belong to this world. The world is a system established by Satan, and the entire world lies under the sway of the evil one (1 John 5:19). The worldly system refers not only to the material world but also to the spiritual world. The world encompasses both spiritual and material aspects, and is filled with various idols set up by Satan's evil spirits and people ensnared by him.

The worldly system of Babylon is like a spider web, and Satan and his evil spirits are like the spiders who are lying in wait for their prey. Humanity is caught in the web when sinners follow their sinful way or God’s chosen ones are deceived. The web of evil includes not only evil spirits, but also fallen human systems such as politics, religion, society, and other aspects. This treacherous web is woven by sinners with the assistance of evil spirits. Babylon is an all-encompassing giant spider web, a comprehensive world system comprised of evil spirits, sinners, and a fallen world.

When we love this world, anything in the world has the potential to entangle us in the spider web set up by Satan. These things are clearly listed in Revelation 18:12-13, such as 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 costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and slaves. This list comprises twenty-nine tradable goods, but it is by no means exhaustive. This list simply gives examples of material things our souls crave. When we love these things more than we love the Lord, we fall into the snare. The mention of "slaves" also indicates that our affection for people can also be part of the worldly temptation. Jesus even warns, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37). If we love anyone or anything more than God's word, then these people, things, or objects have become idols in our hearts, taking over and dominating us.

However, God called his chosen ones to come out of the Babylonian spider web: "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) He gives the same call to us today.

A Woman and A City

In the Bible, God refers to the Bride of Christ as a woman and also as a city, the New Jerusalem. Babylon is also referred to as a woman and a city, Babylon the Great. Why does God use these two images to refer to both Babylon and the Bride of Christ?

First, let's talk about the Bride of Christ. When God uses the image of a woman’s relationship to her husband, he is reminding us of our loving relationship with God. After creating Adam, God removed one of his ribs and used it to create Eve as a wife. God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.” He then created the institution of marriage, in which “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Paul discusses the same verse in the book of Ephesians, stating that the union of a husband and wife is a great mystery that points to the relationship between Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32). As the bride of Christ, we are God's counterpart, the wife of the Lamb. In the Old Testament, Israel is also compared to the wife of the Lord. In the New Testament, Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. We are created to love and worship God, and the concept of a bride reminds us of our loving relationship with God.

On the other hand, the image of a "city" reminds us of our relationship with God and our role as vessels. God is all-encompassing and desires to fill all things. We are vessels created by God to be filled with His glory. When God dwells within us, our life with God is manifested as a city that contains the presence of God. The body of Christ, as a spiritual temple, is the work and building of God. We are built together with God through the Spirit. The New Jerusalem is the result of us being filled with God.

Similarly, Babylon is described as a woman to remind us that she is the harlot of Satan. When people love the world and the things in it, they demonstrate their love for Satan, which is spiritual adultery. James 4:4 says, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (NIV). When we are snared by worldly things which are under the control of the evil one, we essentially demonstrate our love for Satan. The heart of the struggle between God and Satan is a battle for the love and worship of humanity. If people choose to love God, they become the Bride. If they choose to love Satan, they become the harlot. The Apostle John agrees with this truth by stating that if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. By loving the world, we choose to love Satan instead of God. When Satan tempted Jesus, he offered Him all the splendor and glory of the world if He would bow down and worship him. However, Jesus responded, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve" (Matthew 4:10). Even though Jesus used the word “worship,” he could have substituted the word “love,” since Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Babylon is also described as a city because it is an evil temple of Satan. It is the outworking of people who are filled by Satan. Just like New Jerusalem is the temple of God in the Spirit, Babylon is the temple of Satan.

Babylon, the great harlot, is full of jealousy towards the Bride’s loving relationship with God. Throughout the ages, the harlot has killed many of God's children out of jealousy. These martyrs cry out for God's judgment from beneath the altar. God comforts them and asks them to be patient for a little while, until the number of martyrs is complete (Revelation 6:9-11). Finally, when the number is complete, they stand by the sea of glass praising God (Revelation 15). Thus, this vision initiates the domino effect of God's final judgment. The harlot and city of Babylon are a part of God’s sovereign work that eventually leads to the maturity of God’s Bride (Romans 8). Once the Bride of God is mature, God will destroy the harlot and the city of Babylon.

Conclusion: The Great Cost of Our Love for the World

When we love the world, we are in essence building the city of Babylon, which represents the world and is built on a sandy foundation. However, when we love Christ and cherish the word of God, we are building on the rock, which is destined to endure forever.

Many Christians and people of the world do not resist the temptations of the world and Satan. They love the present world like Demas did (2 Timothy 4:10), or like Lot's wife who became a pillar of salt. If we are unwilling to let go of the world, we will lose many valuable things, as the Babylonians did. Paul teaches that even if we are saved, we will be saved “so as through fire.” Our works (represented by hay, sticks, and straw) will be burned up (1 Corinthians 3:15). When God burns down the city of Babylon, He will destroy the useless works of those who loved the world, and countless people will mourn because their works are consumed (Revelation 18:15, 19). Just like God dismantled the Tower of Babel, which was built by sinful and deceived people among God's chosen ones, God will dismantle the works of his people who choose to live for the world.

However, if we are willing to consecrate ourselves and forsake the world, we will become part of the Bride of Christ. We will dwell with God in eternity as Christ’s beloved bride, and we will also be the eternal temple of God, the New Jerusalem.

May we not only detach ourselves from the city of Babylon but also refrain from participating in its building. Those who persist in unrepentance will face the ultimate fate of being thrown into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 14:10, 19:20-21).