Fall of Babylon, Part 3

Outline: Fall of Babylon, Part 3
Passage: Revelation 18:20-19:5
Discussion audio (1h44m)

Babylon is no more and the saints rejoice. Do they rejoice because evil people finally receive what they deserve? No. Revelation’s concern isn’t with peoples but with systems of power and authority. The saints rejoice because God’s power is shown to be good and just and eternal, and that the power structures on which the world’s systems are based have been shown to have no foundation. The saints rejoice because the deception that maintained the world’s power structures for so long are finally destroyed, never to return again.

I personally found this study to be the most difficult thus far. It goes against so much of what I (apparently, wrongly) value, but which is the norm for life in the world I inhabit. The ways of the world are so deeply ingrained that I can’t even see how Jesus’ ways of conducting life are possible. A life of faith shouldn’t be based on presumption, yet is it possible to live a life where conventional pragmatism, particularly in the economic arena, is thrown out?

The message I’m seeing in Revelation is that the Church, and consequently her members, must get rid of the idolatries of safety, security, stability, and comfort that we so often dearly seek. That sounds completely absurd and impractical. It sounds so risky. It appears to foolish, dumb, stupid.

“I’ve got to plan for the future.”

“I’ve got to take care of my family.”

Very sensible objections. But they sound an awful lot like what some of the individuals seeking to follow Jesus said; the ones he turned away. Not that they’re not of value, but if they are merely excuses…

I don’t think there is a single, universal answer that God expects out of everyone. I do think he wants us to stretch out of our comfort zones and trust his ability to meet our needs.

Fall of Babylon, Part 2

Outline: Fall of Babylon, Part 2
Passage: Revelation 18:9-19
Discussion audio (1h28m)

What do the funeral dirges found in Revelation 18 reveal about the sins of Babylon? John borrows heavily from the language of the oracle against Tyre found in Ezekiel 26-28. By examining this judgment oracle, we are able to better understand John’s purpose and message in including the dirges triggered by the fall of Babylon. Each dirge follows a literary pattern that can also help us determine John’s intent of today’s passage.

These dirges emphasize the socioeconomic system that temps the Church to accommodate and adopt it. It is a system based on power and acquisition of wealth, both as a means to establish and maintain security and stability. It is a system that works all too well, but at the expense of turning people into resources to be used, controlled, and abused. Thus the Church must be warned to not succumb to that temptation.

Fall of Babylon, Part 1

Outline: Fall of Babylon, Part 1
Passage: Revelation 18:1-8
Discussion audio (1h31m)

The next section will be discussed as a three part series. We discuss the first part this week. The first part reveals the reasons why Babylon must fall. It is because of her sins, but what exactly are they? Her sins are arrogance, pride, and self-reliance. She claims to have the power to provide security to all who would embrace her ways. She believes nothing can harm her, that she can even prevent negative consequences of her actions from falling upon her.

Throughout her history, the Church has been tempted by the seductions of worldly power and the appearances of security and influence attaching herself to the world can bring. The Church’s record on resisting the temptation has been dubious, at best. Revelation contains a sobering warning to the Church on the results of such a union. It is never the world that is influenced by the Church. It is always the Church that will fall, together with Babylon.

As we continue to work through Revelation, it is vital to keep in mind that John is not really addressing individual relationship to the State or to other worldly centers of power. John’s concern is with the Church as a whole. John’s concern is NOT with whether or not civil and secular authorities are necessary and what powers they can rightfully employ. John’s concern IS whether or not the Church can employ or accommodate the means of the world to gain respectability and approval from the world.

The means of the world ultimately comes down to the use of fear: the granting and withholding of rewards, and the imposing of punishment to control behaviors (punitive justice).

The ways of God are love, grace, and mercy – the way of restorative justice. God does not employ fear to try to change people’s behaviors. He allows natural consequences to follow negative actions, but that is not the same as imposing punishment.

The book of Revelation is a warning for the Church to avoid the former and a call to embrace the latter in her dealings within and without.