And the winner is . . .

Throughout the Bible, Babylon is associated with many pagan religions. This record begins with the building of the tower of Babel where humanity decides to reach the heavens apart from faith in God and the result is confusion of languages and separation. Later, the teachers of the Babylonian mystery religions went to Rome and were influential in paganizing Christianity. They were the source of many so-called religious rites which have crept into ritualistic churches.

Babylon could also be a symbol in Revelation 17 and 18 standing for humanistic religion, and then for materialistic human society. One commentary says that all human achievements, strivings and ambitions in this world are summed up in that one word, Babylon.

As Babylon became the symbol of apostasy and the substitution of idol-worship for the worship of God, John is given a revelation of how Babylon is finally judged. It happens when the apostate church attempts to kill all those who follow the true faith. The description does not tell when or how this chapter fits into the time of the end and is difficult to interpret, but one thing is clear; Babylon is a false religious system that is destroyed.

Chapter 18 describes it also as a political power with these two descriptions of a power involving both religion and government. They unite to give power to kings who in turn give their power to the beast (probably Satan) who go to war against Jesus Christ and those who have faith in Him There is an interesting verse in Jeremiah that connects the ideals of Babylon with the death of God’s people. It says,

Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth. (Jeremiah 51:49)

And fall it does. This apostate and pagan system is defeated by the Lamb of God who is also the Lord of lords and King of kings:

And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:12–14)

Again I notice that Jesus is the winner and His defeat came as the Lamb who was slain. His death conquered the power of evil. Even in this time of judgment and war, there will be some with the Lamb, chosen and faithful believers. This is practical for me in that I must always remember I am chosen by God, a humbling truth. In that humility, I must also remain faithful. I cannot do that without trusting Jesus concerning all that goes on in my life and outside of my life. He alone is worthy.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I can see even now that this human and sinful system the Bible calls Babylon, with its worldly hopes and worldly ways, with its focus on wealth and power, with its pride in human achievement, is responsible for so much spiritual deadness in history, and now, and in the future. No matter. I may not be able to figure out the details of Your return or the sequence of all these events, but along with God’s people I understand one important truth — in the end, Jesus wins.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- a wonderful day of worship.

- God’s joy.

- having brunch (actually a full turkey dinner) with a few hundred brothers and sisters in Christ.

- giving gifts.

- eating goodies.

- finishing a long overdue project.