Today’s message summary of May 31, 2015 from Pastor Gus Brown:
Some commentaries that we read believe that Babylon represents Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. Even with this, we see that Satan is presenting his program all throughout history to establish his teachings and heresies. There has been ongoing idol worship for centuries, and as God is establishing His kingdom, Satan is doing the same for himself. The culmination of all of this is within the book of Revelation.
What three things does every nation struggle with over time?
- Government
- Economics
- Religion
(Even Russia, which declares itself an atheist nation, has what is called the Church of Russia.)
Babylon will control all three of these things. When you get to Revelation Chapter 18, verse 2, we read “Babylon the Great has fallen!”
In Chapter 17 and 18, we see two systems within Babylon–religion and economics (political and commercial). John, as a narrator, gives a great deal of attention to this subject; therefore, we can conclude that God wants us to pay attention to this.
This stems from Nimrod and the Tower of Babel where the world’s religious forces were rallying against God.
Two powerful forces that man is always involved in: religion and commerce (money and finances).
Revelation 18:11-13
The merchants of the earth will also weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their merchandise any longer–merchandise of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine fabrics of linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine wheat flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves and human lives.
Babylon was a place where people could satisfy their pleasures, and even if it was within their practice of religion, and they were not following God.
1 Timothy 3:1-3
This saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to be an overseer, he desires a noble work.” An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher, not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
In Babylon (Revelation 17), there are those who perpetrate evil over the love of money.
2 Timothy 3:1-3
But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good.
Matthew 6:24
No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.
When it comes to religion, note in Revelation 18 that it is the demons who are teaching and performing every evil. Babylon reflects the draw of many nations who follow its teaching. They were “lovers of pleasure.”
Revelation 18:3
For all the nations have drunk the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from her excessive luxury.
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.
Modern-day churches today want God’s blessings but the people still need to be taught the Word of God. They need to resist the desire of their own pleasures and seek God and obedience to Him. There are apostate churches today that are contrary to God’s teaching and will create many to fall away from God and His instruction.
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