Sunday Service 8/8/21
Global Ghost Town
Revelation 18:1-8 August 8, 2021
In every age and epoch of human history, people have found themselves living BETWEENTHE TIMES – between a current NOW, and a hoped for THEN! Many and arduous are the journeys that we experience in between the times, but HOPE in Jesus is what keeps us going!
Too often, however, people in this world look to other sources and symbols of hope, power, continuity and security for their confidence and daily living. Powerful cities have often been seen as the iconic symbols of thriving civilization and the indomitable power to live with unmatched strength and growth. Such idolatrous notions have been the subject of corrective prophecies against nations and peoples in the Bible. Sometimes God will create a different vision to awaken a different conclusion about the placement of our hopes and the security of our future.
Pripyat, Ukraine
By Elena Filatova - Elena Filatova,www.elenafilatova.com, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1319457
Enter Pipyat, Ukraine. A bustling Russian nuclear town founded in 1970 that was thriving with just under 50,000 residents when it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, the day after the now infamous Chernobyl disaster. It is a standing and decaying memorial to just one form of what we might call - FAILED CIVILIZATION. You can find thousands of these similar examples for many reasons scattered all over the world.
As we continue our preaching series today through the book of Revelation 18, One Global Ghost town is the focus of a prophetic reminder that power and might are not mightier than obedience to God. As always, humility and repentance will be important companions on our journey if we are to succeed in apprehending our Lord’s goal: It’s spoken in our theme verse:
“To the one who is victorious, I will give
the right to sit with me on my throne”
Revelation 3:21a NIV
(Conquers, prevails, overcomes)
There is a day when every earthly empire will fail or bow to the Kingdom of God. the angels declared this truth:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever”
Revelation 11:15b NIV
It seems that every generation has had a “kingdom of the world” that has set itself up against the Kingdom of our Lord. Even from the inception of human history and the epic story of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) where man tried to make a name for himself, God’s sovereignty has been contested by His own creation. This way of living has been well documented in the Bible: the tower of Babel (Genesis 11); the kingdom of Tyre (Ezekiel 26 & 27); the kingdom of Babylon (Jeremiah 50 & 51); and TODAY’S FOCUS, by the kingdom of Rome (Revelation 17 & 18).
These “Front-page-news” kingdoms are not alone, but stand as highly visible biblical symbols of every system that has ever been established on principles opposed to God’s kingdom. Against such rule, the people of God have always been called into a divine struggle for justice and righteousness. Paul put it this way:
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”
2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB
Today, we pick up the story with God’s announcement and critique about Rome’s coming ollapse, even while she hold the reigning title as the economic superpower of the world. In John’s day, it was conventional wisdom and a teaching in the Talmud (a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history) that says;
“Ten measures of wealth came down into the world; Rome received nine and all the world received one”
Talmud
Rome had developed into the greatest economic machine in world history. Her citizens were afforded a life of excessive self-indulgence and luxury; completely absorbed in passion and pleasure unlike anything (scholars say) the world has ever seen – and along with it, the accompanying traits of arrogance, invincible pride, licentious living and grave immorality.
Like most HUMAN EMPIRE stories, Rome’s rise to riches came at the expense of an estimated 60 million slaves forging the foundation for the financial frolic of others. A person could get lost, sunk and hopeless in a world like that – living in the shadow of a superpower. But God wanted Christ-followers in John’s day to see Rome with new eyes. This is the pronouncement that has been made by heaven:
Read Revelation 18:1-8 NIV
“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 say:
“‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
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God’s Angel said Rome, that world economic mega-super power, will become a ghost town, a haunt for scavengers, despair and death. And everyone who was attached to it and invested in her gratuitous success will receive her double portion of torment and grief for her sin. The Angels words are very clear: Rome’s empire was guilty of exploiting the world and her own destruction would be the lasting fruit of her labor. The Roman colosseum is perhaps one of the most iconic images that reflects the fall of Rome. Here’s the picture of the Rome God wants John (and all of us) to see.
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon [Rome] the Great!”
Kings, Merchants and Slave owners weep
and lament (vv. 9-10)
Cargos & Economy lost; luxury vanquished;
Sudden terror is everywhere (vv. 11-17)
“Was there ever a city like this great city?” (vs. 18)
People of God [persecuted & oppressed[ rejoice. Justice has now come! (vs. 20)
“Never again” – the signs and sounds of life will be vanquished, never to be seen or heard again. (vv. 21-24).
After reading this chapter, we could think to ourselves, this part of history is permanently closed. We’ve moved on. But POLY VALANCE prophecy means that there is nothing but a long succession of human empires that have been and that will be. And their ends will all be the same. Is there yet another coming great economic/religious mega-world power that will stamp our own modern day and future history with the same old story that stamped Babel’s, Tyre’s, Babylon’s and Rome’s? It’s entirely possible!
Modern apocalyptic history interpreters have had a field day with these passages of sacred text in Revelation. You’ve heard the players before: One world order and world leader, Russia, Iraq, the UN, New age, the European Union, micro-chips implanted in bodies – there are many rational and nonsensical renditions floating out there about the path to history’s climax.
Although I’m not precisely sure how we are going to get there and through what next gauntlets we will have to carefully navigate, I am absolutely convinced the prophetic outcome is the same. The message of Revelation 18 is a huge wakeup call – especially for those living in (or considering going back to) the comfort of an affluent world power culture that is largely no longer interested in the sovereign governance of God’s kingdom over our lives but instead of our own civil, moral and economic autonomy. If that describes the world you live in -- then listen very carefully to what I have to say today.
The Babylon’s, the Tyre’s and the Romes of this world all stand condemned. For all their glimmer and glory, they are sinking ships and the advice from the kingdom of heaven is, get off now! More precisely, John was told by the Lord, and the Corinthians by the Apostle Paul to---
“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins”
Revelation 18:4b NIV
“Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you”
2 Corinthians 6:17 NIV
For God, the bid idea behind “COMING OUT” was not to abandon ship, but to live unstained lives from the corruption found in the metropolitan moral malaise of arrogant and boastful nations and city-states. The truth is, the story of Rome in Revelation 18 could very easily represent the United States of America. Nations that are busy making themselves, GREAT, GREATER, & GREATEST—often fail to see that a LIFE WELL LIVED and a CIVILIZATION WELL CONCEIVED is only a lasting proposition when is it constructed under these principles:
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Zechariah 4:6 NIV
Isn’t that exactly the wisdom that Solomon shared with us in his Psalm: “Unless the Lord builds the house [city, nation, life, church], the builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1 NIV). Rome, in this story, represents so many earthly hopes, consumer dreams, and lifestyle aspirations. It’s what we have come to call: “THE GOOD LIFE!” And when this becomes our frame of living, we forget our Creator as we are busy
“exchanging the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.” (Romans 1:25 NIV).
That’s what earth’s empires are all about: worshipping and serving things and self. This Kingdom of Heaven, on the other hand, is all about worshipping God and serving others.
If there is one stellar and clear message of Revelation, seen clearly through Heaven’s portal, the Throne Room, it’s that we do not belong to this broken and sinful world.
“Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”
Philippians 3:18b – 20 NIV
It’s not news to you for me to say America has been in the midst of our own world PANDEMIC, ECONOMIC, POLITICAL crises. Many have lost loved ones, jobs, health care, stability, certainty and even hope for what tomorrow might bring. So many destabilizing factors make us hungry for, and vulnerable to, the vision and message of BUILDING A STRONG AND PROSPEROUS NATION. Surely that is the answer; Says EMPIRE THINKING! Without demonizing the dream of a strong prosperous nation for each country of the world, we must ask---but for what purpose and under whose authority and towards what ends?
The church in America needs to rethink our place in society and history. We are now living in exile in this country and the credible folks at PEW research tell us that by 2035 (14 years from now), those claiming the label “Christian” will be the numerical minority in our country. Our decline is increasing at a rapid pace. The “None’s” of the census statistics is the only religion demographic rising in every state.
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(AS CROPPED ABOVE – SEE SITE)
Will we side with EMPIRE or KINGDOM? An EMPIRE [a politicaleconomic religious partnership for the purpose of self-glorification and personal gratification]. This is what Rome was at its height! A KINGDOM [a loving, loyal and yielded relationship of trust to the governance, guidance and guardianship of our Lord Jesus who calls us to bless all].
Empires implode the Kingdom endures!
Empires are LIFE-THREATENING Kingdoms are LIFE-GIVING!
To which will we attach our lives, futures, hopes and dreams to?
Bold, brave, gracious and unashamed is who we must be, as followers of Jesus. Committed, converted and conformed to His will is how we must live our lives.
E M P I R E S TO G H O S T T O W N S
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The EMPIRES that we can see and sense most clearly, the ones that are glamorized and celebrated, are destined to become GHOST TOWNS, a haunt for demons and death! That’s why, early church theologian St. Augustine, interpreted Rev. 18 as a wakeup call to define our citizenship once and for all!
“We must renounce our rights as citizens of this world and flee unto God on the wings of faith”
St. Augustine, (De Civ. Dei 18.18)
Let us take flight together!