Rev 18:1-8
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, …she glorified herself and lived in luxury,… for this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine,…”
It is clear from Rev 18 that the Babylonian system, led by this latter days city of Babylon, is unmistakably the alliance of governments (kings of the earth), global multi-national companies and the supply chain links (merchants) and the global shipping lines, seaports and financial centres (those who make their living by the sea) forming a global supply chain and financial system engaged in globalized trade.
All have grown rich from the power of this Babylonian system. (Rev 18:3). This is the current capitalism we know today. As a result, the nations have grown haughty to believe in their own wealth and might. We see this haughtiness peaked in changing God’s universal laws of sanctity of life and marital relationship and His abhorrence of homosexual sins. That also birthed the apostate Christianity in hyper grace, prosperity and NAR movements basking in her glory.
How do we come out of Babylon which is a haunt for EVERY impure spirit, unclean and detestable animal, and unclean bird ?
We have to get out of Babylon in getting out of :
- All kinds of greed. Luke 12:15; 1 Tim 6:6-10; 17-19. (A haunt of every impure spirit).
- Being weighed down by carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life. Luke 21:34. (A haunt of every unclean and detestable animal).
- Being lured into the false gospels of hyper grace, prosperity and NAR movements. Matt 13:31-32. (A haunt of every unclean bird).
God had already so warned that if we fail to get out by the time He judges all wealth (Rev 18:17), we only have ourselves to be blamed for being caught in the plagues.
God’s judgment will be true and righteous and we should rejoice when it comes.
Rev 18:20; 19:1-3
Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!
After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
Postscript :
(In the book of Revelation, chapters 5 to 16 talk about the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments. Then chapters 17 and 18 talk about Babylon before the rest of the book talks about the return of our Lord, His final judgment and the coming of new heaven and new earth. Babylon in chapter 17 and 18 talk about judgment of her religious system by the beast as the spiritual harlot, and judgment of her financial system by God in destroying all wealth respectively. It is not chronological. When the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments are released, all systems will be destroyed or made subservient to the Antichrist anyway. So the destruction of Babylon will logically come during the birth pains to pave the way for the rise of the one world government and currency.)