The appeal for the separation of God's people Revelation 18v4-7.
Immediately prior to the judgment on Babylon the call goes out "come out of her my people" and the two-fold reason is given "that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues."
- The One who makes the appeal. It is noted here that this is "another voice from heaven;" again we have the unidentified voice which appears fourteen times in the Revelation. Sometimes the voices are those of angels, but the unidentified voice, it seems, is the voice of God Himself. The references are chapter 1v10; 1v12; 4v1; 6v6; 9v13; 10v4;10v8; 14v2; 14v13; 16v1; 16v17; 18v4; 19v5; 21v3. The voice of God calls His people to separate themselves from the world in a moral and spiritual sense throughout history, but in this case it is also to separate physically from the city which is about to be destroyed.
- The terms of the appeal. "Come out of her My people;" it is amazing, considering the character of this city that some of the Lord's people are resident within its borders. Babylon has always been opposed to God and the call is always for separation. A number of scriptures through the years bear this out. Jeremiah 50v8 "remove out of the midst of Babylon." Jeremiah 51v6 "flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul." There is a link between Babylon & Sodom & Gomorrah in the context of divine judgment. In Isaiah 13v19 "Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency shall be as when God overthrew Sodom & Gomorrah." The same call is found there and is recorded in Genesis chapter 19: verse 12 says "And the men (the angels) said unto Lot, hast thou here any besides? son-in-law, and thy sons and thy daughters and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring out of this place: for we will destroy this place for the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to destroy it." Again in verse 22 it says "haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything until thou become thither." The Lord will not destroy any city until His people are removed. In a spiritual sense in 2nd Corinthians 16v17 we are asked to separate ourselves from the world "come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing."
- The basis of the appeal. This is threefold; in short, the abiding principles of remembrance, reward, and retribution. These are an unalterable principles inscribed on the pages of holy scripture, which govern this world of ours.
- Remembrance. "For God hath remembered her iniquities." We may forget, God does not. Every action for good or evil is recorded. Eccleseastes 3v15 says "that which hath been is now and that which is to be hath already been and God requireth that which is past." In Luke 8v17 Jesus said "for nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid that shall not be known." At the judgment of the last day it says in Revelation 20v12 "and the books were opened...... and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." God remembers everything and there are no exceptions.
- Reward. The great principle of reward in scripture is that everyone will receive for good or evil. Paul develops the principle in Romans 2v6-8 and begins "who will render to every man according to his deeds........." Ecclesiastis 12v14 says "for God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil". What we do in this life has eternal consequences and the best way forward is to live in the fear of God.
- Retribution. The idea of the word "double" in connection with judgment is not that you receive double for what you have done but that you receive exactly what you have given out. It expresses the thought my grandmother used to say "what goes around comes around" and that is a sure and solemn biblical truth. In Galatians 6v7 (the law of sowing and reaping) it says whatsoever a man soweth THAT shall he also reap. Only in Christ do men escape the penal sentence of the law of God. For example Jesus warned people against judging others by saying in Matthew 7v2 "with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
Of Babylon it says "she glorified herself," she lived without God; "she lived luxuriously" this she did by robbing others; she showed her arrogance by boasting that she would never fall and she would never see sorrow. How wrong she is! She will see both.
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