Reasons for the righteous judgment of God. Revelation 18v23b-24
"...for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all the nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all the slain of the earth".
We have, before, referred to the certainty of Divine judgment, and the principles thereof. Romans chapter 2 discusses in detail the judgment of God on all people, regardless of their background, thus paving the way for the necessity of the Divine intervention in the latter half of chapter 3. We only truly understand God's provision of grace when we accept the fact of His judgment on us all. The inevitability of the righteous judgment of God can be stated as follows:
- The INFINITE nature of the perfection of God.
- The INCURABLE nature of the imperfection of man.
Today, we focus on the second of these, as illustrated in the exposure of the sins of Babylon. Jude records in v7 of his letter that the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a beacon of warning to the world that God will not forever allow man to tarnish His earth, "set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire". God has intervened in the past and He will do so again, and the reasons are plain for all to see; we have breathed His air, ate His food, used our GOD GIVEN talents to glorify ourselves, and have ignored Him, and denied Him, and abused Him, and dishonoured Him, and defied Him with impunity. On top of all that we have rejected His Son, we have refused Divine mercy, there is nothing left but Divine judgment. In His judgment upon human beings God does two things. He warns His people of the event, and He gives evidence of the just cause. In the case of Babylon He has warned the entire world thousands of years in advance.
God's righteous judgment on Babylon is stated for three reasons;
- The sin of pride. "thy merchants were the great men of the earth"..........like their founder, Nimrod(Genesis 10v9) of whom it was said "even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord" these men had exalted themselves above any station in life allocated to them. In contrast to Jesus Christ who humbled Himself, and who taught His followers to be "meek and lowly in heart", these men took the glory to themselves. Men pride themselves in their achievements, and efforts, and inventions, ignoring the fact that every thing they have comes from God including the wit to do what they do, and the gracious Divine providence that bestowed on them the privileges they enjoy. This was the very sin of Sodom that brought their downfall, "Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her,..........and they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good" Ezekiel 16v49-50. This is the same sin that brought down Satan(Isaiah 14v11-18), also King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26v16), and King Nebuchadnezzar( Daniel 4v28-32), and countless others , and all of us who lift up our hearts in pride and self- importance. "God resisteth the proud, but gives grace to the humble". James 4v6. Pride is a dangerous thing, it is a huge sin in the eyes of God, it leads to all kinds of folly, it is a distortion of reality, because in relation to God we are all very small indeed. Here are the wise words of Solomon "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" Proverbs 16v18.
- The sin of deception. "for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived"........It is a strange thing that largely goes unnoticed, but there is no law in existence which outlaws deception. Of course if it leads to defrauding anyone, there are laws against that, but not for deception, yet in the sight of God it is a great sin, and the world is full of it. Sin entered the world through deception, business thrives on it, it is considered a skill, but it is a lie because it promises something which will never be fulfilled. Babylon in the end times ply deception to enrich themselves; the word used is interesting "sorceries" is pharmakeia, from which we get our word pharmacy, a store for drugs. Now it may be that Babylon will control the world drug trade, whether legitimate or otherwise, and by this means make people depend on them for supply; another rendering is the use of magic, authenticating their system using the magic arts. Overall, however the purpose is to deceive, and it is possible these and other things will be used to dull people's senses, taking them away from God. Doctrines of demons would have the same effect, as Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4v14 "........carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive". Whether by doctrine, or drugs, or illusory magic, the intention is to rob people of their God-given dignity. The final solemn word on the subject in Holy writ is this "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire......." Revelation 20v10.
- The sin of violence. "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth". Whom they were unable to deceive they slew. Unlawful killing is a heinous crime in the eyes of God. Man was made in the image of God, and to intentionally remove a life from earth before it's due time is to play God and to tarnish His image. The words of Genesis 4v10 are very strong " the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.....". God took a dim view of this first murder, and takes the same view of every subsequent murder. Here He charges Babylon with the unlawful killing of the prophets and the saints and all the slain of the earth! Jesus does the same in Matthew 23v35 "that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zecharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar..........". Note the law of association inferred here; not only the violent deeds will be punished, but association with a system practicing them is enough to condemn us as guilty of the sins of the entire history!!
- Amazon bookshelf George Neilly
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