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.

How to conquer the lure of sin

Jeremiah 31:1–40, Romans 6:15–7:6, Proverbs 21:1–12

An evidence of unbelief is a desire for evil. Evil has no mercy on other people. Solomon said, “The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.” (Proverbs 21:10)

Even as a Christian, I can be guilty of this in two ways. I can be terribly unkind to my neighbor, or I can put my neighbor on a pedestal and rely on him or her to the point of idolatry. As has been said, the human heart is an idol-making factory.

Relying on anything or anyone to the exclusion of the Lord is not only evil, but puts those who do this in the path of severe divine chastening. When God sent His people into exile, it was mainly for idolatry. They were captured by the Babylonians, a nation given over to idolatry, and had to live there for seventy years. When that time was up, they were totally sick of idols and had learned their lesson.

God gave them promises of what would happen after that. He said, “At that time . . . I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people . . . .”

Jeremiah continued His prophecy, “Those who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness . . . and sought rest; the Lord appeared from far away, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.‘” (Jeremiah 31:1–4)

He told them: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’”

God also said, “I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel . . . .” (Jeremiah 31:7–9)

He also spoke of rejoicing, dancing, merriment, comfort, gladness for sorrow, a feast of abundance, and satisfaction with His goodness. (Jeremiah 31:13–14) Then He made the greatest promise: “Behold, the days are coming . . . when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband . . . . For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest . . . . For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34)

These promises must have brought great joy to the hearts of those people in Babylon. They also bring great joy to my heart. Even as God has bestowed on me that new heart that Jeremiah predicted, I still fight that old nature that is prone to sinful ways. When that idol-making factory runs amok, I fight back, but find it (like any other sin) to be too much for me. I need the Savior to save me. Hearing His promises to “bring me back” is a joy and delight. Knowing that one day the “building” will be finished and I will be “built” gives me hope.

In Romans 7, Paul wrote about his struggle with sin. He begins by saying, “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:5–6)

This is the key to control of that idol-making place. Instead of trying to keep rules and laws, I’m to consider myself dead to sin and law, and alive to Christ. When I am filled and controlled by the Holy Spirit, idolatry has no appeal — because the Lord is so immense and wonderful that there is no room and no desire for anything else.

Do this . . . not that . . .

1 Samuel 5:1–7:17, James 1:19–27, Psalm 119:33–48

Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian who was martyred for his faith, wrote several books about the nature of human beings. He believed that we are body, soul, and spirit. He also believed that the soul is the seat of our emotions, intellect, and will. Of course these ‘parts’ work together and are often indistinguishable.

However, in my observations when we Christians rely on ourselves instead of Christ, we tend to focus on one of those three aspects of the soul. Even denominations do it. That is, some put emphasis on feelings/emotions. Others focus on their ability to choose, and still others are all about intellect and knowledge. This is not to neglect the other two facets. Of course, I am also generalizing.

My other observation is that those who rely on their intellect tend to take pride in how much they know. If they are like me, they also are prone to assuming that if they know the truth, then obedience will just happen. That means much less effort is taken to do what God says and therefore applying all that knowledge can fall by the wayside.

This is often illustrated in the Old Testament. The Israelites knew they were not to worship idols, but that knowledge was not enough to overcome their sinful tendencies. They were often told and told again to stop this sin. But just knowing that idol-worship was wrong was not enough . . .

And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. (1 Samuel 7:3–4) This sounds great, but reading the rest of the OT reveals that their obedience didn’t last.

When Christ came, died for our sin, and sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts, it seems this would end idolatry, but not so. As it has been said, the human heart is still an idol-making factory. Even as Christians, this remains part of our sinful human nature. So also is the tendency to think knowledge is enough, at least for some people, including me. I read to learn but so easily neglect to obey what I know.

Today’s NT reading once more rebukes me: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:22–27)

Knowing something is sin is not enough to stop sinning. Feeling bad about it will not stop it either. Sin is simply too powerful for any part of our souls to overcome. I cannot beat it with emotions, will power, or intellectual understanding. I need the power of Jesus Christ to overcome sin.

The Bible speaks of ‘besetting sins’ meaning those that seem to cling like glue, to hover, to pull us in more easily than others. I have a few of those, and as I struggle to understand the reasons I’m so vulnerable, God says that my problem is not about understanding, either. I need to do what He says — instead of simply trying to stop sinning by figuring out what caused it. Understanding only has one purpose; it is to turn me from my own wants and efforts and yield to God in obedience.

The 119^th psalm is all about understanding and knowing the will of God, yet sprinkled throughout are verses that make plain the importance of doing what I know:

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. (Psalm 119:34)

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. (Psalm 119:37)

I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. (Psalm 119:44–47)

Instead of focusing on what I want, God tells me to focus on what He wants and what others need. Only then will I be able to resist and conquer those sticky sins that I already understand far better than is necessary!