A Biblical Theology of New Creation with G. K. Beale

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Greg Beale: Our passage upon which this message is based is from the book of Revelation, chapter 18 and verses one to five, which I want to read first, and then we will ask God’s blessing on his word beginning in chapter 18 and verse one of the book of Revelation. After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory, and he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, fallen. Fallen is Babylon, the great she has become a dwelling place of demons, in a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality. And the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the power of her luxury. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Let’s ask God’s blessing on His Word. Father. We ask that he would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand your word, that we might do it and become conformed to your image and honor you. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

I know the father is a pastor. And when his oldest daughter was seven, he spent an afternoon at the city dump. And he recalled that afternoon in the following way, the purpose for the excursion was not to dump garbage, but to observe it. And so he sat his daughter on the roof of their Oldsmobile and looking at all the mounds of refuse, and there were plastic swimming pools, placed stoves and refrigerators, Barbie dolls, skateboards and so on, everything a young girl dreams of when it was new, as they drove back to the city, talking about what they had observed they happened to pull alongside a double trailer stacked with flattened cars. And he said, Look at that. Guess where that’s headed for the scrap heat. And he said, You know this new car that we’re driving in, it eventually will be on one of those trucks. Also everything that we cherish as material things here is eventually headed for the scrap heap. And in fact, that is an illustration of the final judgment of history. In fact, even before then, Paul tells us in First Corinthians, this world is passing away. First John, chapter two, verse 17, says the same. This world is passing away, and at the end time judgment, all things will be destroyed. All those things that we treasured to some degree as possessions and history has not been destined to grind on forever and ever, as some people think, and few people need to hear this message before us this afternoon than we in the Western world.

But what exactly does this command come out mean? Notice again, chapter 18 and verse four come out of her, my people, so that you may not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues. What does that mean? Well, this, this phrase, come out. Come out rings from throughout the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis 12, one God commands, Abraham, come out. You’ll remember that chapter 12 and verse one of Genesis, the Lord said to Abraham, come out of your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. Now. What’s interesting about that is that in Acts, chapter seven, the author of Acts says this, Luke, that there was a previous command to come out before chapter 12 and verse one, listen to chapter seven. And verse two, hear me. Stephen says, The glory of God appeared to our father, Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, depart, come out from your country and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you. Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans ancient Babylon, and settled in Iran. From there, his father died, and God removed him into that country. And so as we look at Genesis, chapter 12 and verse one, we get that initial command. In 12, one Lord said to Abraham, come out. But he had already been given that command. Acts seven, says back in verse 31 where it says that Terah took Abram, his son, chapter 11, verse 31 and lot, the son of Haran, his grandson and Sarah’s daughter in law, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans ancient Babylon in order to enter the land of Canaan. Now notice. The end of verse 31 and they went as far as Haran and settled there. They didn’t go all the way to the Promised Land. Abraham has to be given this command again, so it’s given a second time in chapter 12 and verse one. Why? Because he was comfortable. He had grown into a life of ease and security in ancient Babylon. And interestingly, Abraham could not obey that command and Acts Chapter Seven tells us God had to remove him, even from Haran into the Promised Land, as Augustine said, Lord command what you will, but give what you command again, the double command comes in the narrative about lot in chapter 19 and verses 12 to 17, we find this. Listen to the language there about the narrative of Lot, beginning of verse 12, chapter 19, the angels say to Lot, whom else do you have here? A son in law, and your sons and your daughters and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place for about to destroy this place, because their outcry has come become so great before the Lord that the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy. And Lot went out and spoke to his sons in law who were to marry his daughters. And he said, up, come out.

That’s the language actually, literally up, come out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city. But lot appeared to be jesting to his sons in law. When morning dawn, the angels approach lot, they urge him, saying, up, take your wife, your two daughters, who are here, he lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city. And the Greek Old Testament adds come out. So we have two come outs here. Apparently, Lot was not following his own command to his sons in laws, and he did not want to leave Sodom. Verse 16, he hesitates, so the men seized his hand in the hand of his wife and the hands of his daughters, for the compassion of the Lord is upon him, and they brought him out, put him outside the city. You see, it’s like Abraham light won’t come out on his own. It’s got to be by the grace of God. And he causes the angels to grab him by the hands and to pull him out. And so we get two come outs again here. Remember that lot himself chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah? Why? Well, in Genesis 1310, it says it appeared to him as the Garden of Eden. It was a land of luxury, a land of plenty of fruitful land, and so lot hesitates, and he was rooted to his worldly security. It was only God’s compelling grace that drove him out. And to give an example of what Sodom and Gomorrah was like, Ezekiel 16, much later in the bible verses 49 to 50 say this about Sodom and Gomorrah, it says that they lived in luxury and they were arrogant, and they lived in careless ease, and they did not give A helping hand to the poor, and they lived in immorality. So Sodom and Gomorrah was a place of careless ease.

In addition to this immorality, so Lot’s wife, his whole family, were commanded, don’t look behind you. What does she do? She looks behind her. She becomes a pillar of salt. Many wonder, why is that, well, later in the Bible, Deuteronomy, 2923 Zephaniah, two nine, describes Sodom after the judgment as a salt flat. That’s all that was left was salt. She looks back, she becomes salt. Why? Because what you revere you resemble, either for ruin or restoration. And for her, it was ruin. For lot was restoration. And so Lot and his family, had they not come out, they would have been judged again. God will cause Israel to come out. We get the commands, the repeated commands. Again, you’ve heard Scott Swain talk about the Exodus, and in Exodus. Chapter Six, Israel is in Egypt. In verse six, we have this statement say, therefore to the sons of Israel, speaking to Moses, I am the Lord, and I’ll bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I’ll deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with outstretched arm, with great judgments.

I’ll take you for my people. I’ll be your God. You’ll know that I am the Lord, your God who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I’ll bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob. I’ll give it to you for possession. I am the Lord. So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel. What was he saying? He was saying God wants you to come out. And so he spoke that way. Did they listen? No, on account of their despondency in cruel bondage, they did not listen. Now in verse 10, the Lord spoke to Moses again, saying, Go tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the sons of Israel go out of this land. And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me. Listen to me. How to come out. But how then will Pharaoh Listen to me if I’m unskilled in speech? And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel. Notice, not just to Pharaoh. He gives a charge to the sons of Israel and to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt. So he gives a command to Israel and to Pharaoh, to Pharaoh, let my people go to Israel. Of course, they get a command too. It says, here and it’s to come out. And so repeatedly, every time Moses goes before Pharaoh says, Let my people go. That is also a command for Israel to come out, and they did not want to come out. And finally, what happens? Well, says in Exodus chapter 13, and in verse three, Moses said to the people, remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery. Now notice for by a powerful hand, the Lord brought you out of this place again. It had to be the Lord’s grace to bring them out. And again, Israel, now, later, they’ve been exiled from their land. They go into the Promised Land.

They send they’re exiled into Babylon. And so what happens? Well, at the end of 70 years, it’s time to come back, and a lot of them don’t want to come back. It’s been a it’s been 70 years. They’ve made their own businesses. They’ve grown into a life of ease, of luxury and of security. And it’s not coincidence that, again, we get a double command to Israel to come out of Babylon to experience this second Exodus. And so Jeremiah 5145 says, come out of our midst, my people. And each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord which is the judgment of Babylon. He repeats that earlier in verse six of the same chapter, flee from the midst of Babylon. Each of you, save his life. Do not be destroyed in Babylon, punishment for this is the time of vengeance, and he’s going to give Recompense to her. So Israel, they didn’t want to come out. They have to be given this double command again. And in fact, Isaiah repeats it Israel still as at the time of Jeremiah. Israel is in Babylon, and Isaiah, chapter 52 verse 11, it says to Israel, depart, depart. Come out from there. Touch nothing unclean. Come out of the midst of her. You get the repeated command, in this case, actually the double command. And so behind chapter 18 and verse four of the book of Revelation come out of her my people, so that you may not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues, is especially Jeremiah 5145 come out from her midst my people. And the references in Isaiah and earlier in Chapter 45 of Jeremiah or in mine, and even echoing is the come out of Abraham and lot and of Israel in the first Exodus. In fact, it’s very interesting that verse five of chapter 18 says, for her sins are piled up to heaven, and so likewise in the Sodom and Gomorrah episode in verse 19, verse 13, it says the cry of their sin is lifted up before the Lord. And then that itself is alluded to in Jeremiah 51 nine, for her judgment, is reached to heaven, lifted up to the towers of the skies. So there’s a lot packed into this. And it’s the whole theology of the exoduses of God’s people. And now this is the exodus of my people.

Now my people in Jeremiah was the Israel. And now who is it? It’s the church living in the already, and not yet living in the latter days, at which point Christ could come at any time. And they’re given this command, they are to come out. So we find that it’s almost a proverbial expression now to come out. And what’s the point we’re to separate from the world’s sin, lest we become judged like the world. Who is it exactly that we’re to come out from? Well, it’s Babylon according to Revelation chapter 18, it’s Babylon the Great. And so some say that Babylon the great is the revival of Babylon from. The ancient Middle East, and that it’s just going to be the nation of Babylon that’s going to be revived again. The problem is, is that Babylon was judged in the Old Testament by Persia, and in fact, our Jeremiah passages that we were just looking at in Chapter 50 and in verses 39 to 40, says this about Babylon. Will she rise again after the judgment of Persia? Chapter 50, verse 39 the desert creatures will live there, along with the jackals, the ostriches also will live in it. Babylon will never again be inhabited as a geopolitical nation or dwelt in from generation to generation. Now this is interesting, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, with its neighbors, declares the Lord, no man will live there, nor will any Son of Man reside there. And likewise, at the end of chapter 51 and verse 62 it says this, Thou, O Lord, You’ve promised concerning this place Babylon, to cut it off so there’ll be nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation, and it will come about as soon as you finish reading this scroll. You’ll tie a stone to it, throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, and say, just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again because of the calamity that I’m going to bring upon her, and they will become exhausted thus far the words of Jeremiah, so the prophecies of babylon’s judgment were fulfilled in 593, BC.

There are some modern evangelical authors who want to say, No, Babylon from the Middle East is going to be revived again. Well, not according to the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah that took place the final judgment of Babylon as a geopolitical nation took place in 593, BC. What we find in the book of Revelation is something else we’re going to find the Babylon now is not a locale, a particular country in the Middle East, it’s extended over all the world. And what was Babylon the place of exile, the place of temptation, the place of persecution. Now the whole world is like that. So in Revelation, Babylon symbolizes the world which trusts in itself and its own security, whether it be economic, social peer groups, religious security in some form of church buildings or sets of rules. Remember that revelation one, one which is the programmatic verse of the whole book. It says you’re to expect symbolism in the book, not literalism. You’re to expect images. Remember what it says the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to His servants what must come to pass quickly. And he sent and he signified, he communicated by symbols, through His angel to his bond servant, John, signified as the translation of the King James and some other translations, I go into more reasons why this should be translated, symbolized or signified in my revelation commentary at chapter one and verse one. So I’ll have to footnote that for time right now. So Babylon is a symbol, and by the way, that it’s clear, it’s a symbol. CHAPTER 17, verse one, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. Now, is this a prostitute, a literal Babylon sitting on an inner tube, some kind of huge inner tube on many waters With whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality.

I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, and it goes on and says, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. And so what’s the interpretation of this? Verse 15, the waters which you saw, where the hell it sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. And verse 18, the woman whom you saw, is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Now, Babylon is the whole world. Revelation. 18 four says, Come out of are my people so that you will not participate in her sins, and so that you may not receive of her plagues. What are the sins which we are to separate from or come out of? Should we separate spiritually and physically the way Abraham lot and Israel did, it’s difficult to separate physically now from sin, since the whole world is permeated by ungodliness, of course, we’re not to repeat sin. There’s no nation or land we can flee to and. Order to obey the command the way Abraham lot and Israel did. Now, there are always some people trying to find Eden in this life, my wife and I will often see commercials about homes on these Caribbean Islands, which, oh, our life would just be perfect if we could just find that. I remember, I think it was a family in Britain. They were tired of the hustle and bustle of the city. They were tired of the rat race. They were tired of the crime, and they moved to what they thought was their Eden, a place of peace, a place of Bucha rest. It was the Falkland Islands.

And soon after they moved there, Argentina claimed them, because Britain owned them, and it became a place of war. You can’t escape from one locale to another to find peace, to find righteousness. Indeed, Paul said, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with the moral people. I did not mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covid tests and swindlers or with the idolaters, for then you would have to come out of the world in the same way that Abraham lot and Israel came out of a locale. So we should not primarily separate physically, but spiritually. But how are we to separate spiritually? How do we how are we you and I to perform this end time Exodus? Because, remember, we’re living in the latter days. Acts, chapter two, verse 17, says, it’s in these latter days God has poured forth His Spirit. In fact, I was transformed my understanding of the New Testament by doing a word study on the phrase latter days. Whereas in the Old Testament, most refer to the future. In the New Testament, most of them refer to what has begun and will be consummated. And so we are my people. We are Israel. We are the end time Israel, living in the latter days at which Christ could come at any time. And we are to be separating. And that separation in each generation, as far as it lasts until the coming of Christ, is this final end time Exodus. Of course, it’s culminated with the final exodus of our resurrection bodies from the old world. Paul says, in Second Corinthians, 616, he quotes Isaiah, and he says this, remember, he’s speaking to the Corinthians there. And he’s quoting Isaiah 52 which I quoted earlier, come out from their midst and be separate. Says the Lord, do not touch what is unclean. And that is to Corinth. You see, Corinth was a part of Babylon, the great that they were to separate from. They were to separate from the immorality. So we should not primarily separate physically, but spiritually.

What sins is it, though, that we are to come out of? We should separate, I think, from trusting in the world security in the way unbelievers do. But we need to go into that a little bit more. You’ll notice that in chapter 17 and 18, it refers to Babylon gaining control of people in an interesting way. In verse three, chapter 18, the nations have drunk of the wine of the Passion of Our immorality. They become intoxicated. Chapter 17 and verse two, it says that those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of our immorality, they become intoxicated. What does intoxication do? Well, generally, it causes one to be open to temptation more, doesn’t I mean people who drink too much, sometimes they’re more open to sexual temptation, or maybe open to gambling away their money or maybe doing other things they wouldn’t normally do. Secondly, intoxication causes us to not be afraid of danger. You’ve maybe seen the commercial of the young man who’s intoxicated. He’s walking on a building, building, and he is invulnerable, he thinks, and he walks off the edge of the building, impervious to the danger. And then. Thirdly, alcohol was given to people who were about to be executed. It numbed them to a fear of coming execution. And so with the intoxication of Babylon, it causes us to be more open to temptation, to sin. Secondly, realize not realizing that trusting in Babylon, trusting in the world, trusting in the world security, security is a danger, a spiritual danger, by which we can be greatly harmed. And finally, Babylon intoxication numbs people from the coming final judgment and fear of it. So notice how revelation 18 explains the sin of trusting in the world security that brings judgment. First of all, in chapter 18 and in verse 19, actually beginning in verse nine, it says the kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality and live sensuously weak. Babylon will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning. So they’re mourning because they see Babylon being judged. They’re going to be judged.

That’s certainly part of the mourning. But there’s another reason notice how they’re described. These are the kings who live luxuriously with her. You see, they’re losing their ease. They’re losing their secure place in the world. But notice, there’s another group, the merchants who also mourn. Verse 15, the merchants of these things who became rich from her will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning. Again, they’re mourning because they see her torment and judgment, and they’re going to be judged, but also notice again, they’re described as those who became rich from her. They’re going to mourn because they’re losing that secure position in the world that they had, that careless ease, that abundance. And finally, we have the mariners in verse 19, they threw dust on their heads. Were crying out, weeping, mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour, she has been laid waste. They also mourn because they see her judgment. Realize they’re going to be judged soon. But also they’ve been described as those who became rich by her wealth, their mourning over losing what they had had that luxury. And notice verse 23 at the end of verse 23 it speaks of the merchants. For your merchants were the great men of the Earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. The word there is Pharmacia. They were deceived by your drugs. So we have an image of alcohol now we have an image of shooting drugs into the veins. Perhaps similar image.

These are people who live in careless ease because of their comfortable relationship with and security in the world. Such careless ease is nothing more than the effect of being intoxicating. So the intoxicating effect of careless ease leads to more openness to temptation, to sin, leads to not realizing the danger of trusting in the world and not in Christ, and leads to not fearing a final coming judgment. Why will all three classes of people, the Kings, the merchants and the mariners, mourn, yes, because of judgment, but because they’re losing their luxury, as in Babylon, Revelation sees the sin of worldly unbelievers to be that of self sufficiency, self confidence, careless ease in themselves and in the world security instead of confidence in God. People think their own ability to achieve Security determines their destiny instead of God. Now that was true of Laodicea, the last church that John writes to and that Christ addresses. Notice what he says in verse 17 of Chapter Three of the book of Revelation. Laodicea says, I am rich. I become wealthy. I am need of nothing.

You see when you live in an affluent society, you contend not to trust God for things, because you don’t need to trust him for your physical needs, and you can easily slide in to not trusting God in Christ for any of your needs that had happened to Laodicea. Because Christ goes on and says, Yeah, you think you’re rich, you’d not know that you have need of nothing. You’d not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. And then Christ says this, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire. Well, in the chapter one, Vision Christ is being has been presented as the Son of Man who possesses gold. They’re to buy into him, not into the security of the situation. In Laodicea, he says, buy white garments so that you may clothe yourself, that the shame of your nakedness may be revealed. He’s also presented as having white garments and having head like white like wool, which may be allusion to their woolen trade in which they trusted and I salve to anoint your eyes. He had piercing eyesight. He’s saying, buy into me, not into the economic resources of Laodicea. See, they were a banking center. So the gold might represent that not far away was a medical school with specialized Sal perhaps they took great pride and security in that, no, don’t trust in your resources.

Trust in me. Buy into me, trusting that I have died and risen for you, they were living in the careless ease of Sodom and Gomorrah. So this is the sin we’re to separate from come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues. Now the point of the book of Revelation, it’s great. End goal, one of them is not to glorify ourselves and to enjoy our own achievements, but to glorify God and to enjoy him. There are many places that say this revelation four verse 11 is one of them, where we have this statement, worthy. Are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power and so again, at the end of chapter five and elsewhere, it’s interesting that someone’s called Great a lot in the book of Revelation, it’s called Babylon. Babylon the Great 11 times, and it comes all the way out of Daniel chapter four, where the king of Babylon is built his city. And said, This is not Babylon the Great. And so it has to do with self sufficiency, self confidence. You see, Babylon the Great manifests itself in various ways. Muhammad Ali said, I am the greatest. Other people say that in different ways they work so they can make a name for themselves. The Great God is found in chapter 19 and verse 17, only God is the one to be called great Titus two and verse 13, says the great God and Savior, our Lord, Jesus, Christ. So only God and Christ, the spirit can be referred to as great, to focus on humanity as the center of everything, to forget God is the greatest sin. Laodicea had begun to do that Martin Luther said this, whatever your heart clings to and confides in that is really your God.

In fact, John is saying this in Revelation, 18, four come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues, that you may not live in that careless ease. And so really, what this text is talking about is, what are we to separate from, from the world’s self confidence and security, lest we be judged like the world, to separate from the world’s self confidence and security, lest we be judged like the world, we should not be of the world in this way, but remain in it to witness. Suffer for that witness, and part of that witness is confidence in God that He is our security, regardless of what happens to us young people, whether in junior high, high school, college, singles, on further, there are all kinds of peer groups. And to be a part of a group, sometimes you have to participate in what they find acceptable. And sometimes that is something not acceptable to God. Sometimes it may be drug use, excessive use of alcohol, sometimes it may be foul language. Sometimes it may be just going around the neighborhood and doing vandalism. It’s more comfortable, often to identify with the ungodly people and find ease there than with Christ. Or what is your criterion if you’re not married? What’s your criterion for finding a mate? Perhaps in dating, is it a good personality? Is it good looks? Good looks? Well, the Song of Solomon endorses that. But above all, above all, it’s one’s commitment to the Lord. That is what we should be finding in a potential mate. And if that’s not our attitude, we need to come out of the world. David Wells, in a book called Play, no place for truth, define worldliness in this way, worldliness is what any particular culture does to make sin seem normal and righteousness seem strange. If you’re uncomfortable and feel strange with reading your Bible, praying, witnessing, going to church, then you may have been injected with Babylon drugs and supped her wine and intoxication. So the point of revelation 18, four separate from the world’s self confidence and security, lest you be judged like the world, this is the end time exodus of God’s people in this age, as you separate, we’re not just like Israel.

We’re the epitome of climaxing what Israel did as they came out of Babylon and out of Egypt, we are true Israel. Jeremiah said, Come out of her, my people. Who was that Israel? Now it’s applied to the church the end time, true, Israel, the latter day, Israel. And So note the consequence of not separating its judgment. No chapter 18 and verse 20 of our passage, it says this, Rejoice over her heaven and saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. It’s. Separate from the world, self confidence and security, lest you be judged like the world. That’s the climax of the end time Exodus. We’re doing something in a major redemptive, historical way when we separate from sin. First John, chapter two, says this, verse 15, do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. Now notice why we shouldn’t grasp on too tightly. It says verse 17, the world is passing away, just as Paul says in First Corinthians, 731 the world is passing away. It’s all headed for the garbage dump and ultimately will be destroyed at some point, and climatically, at the final coming of Jesus Christ. So we are to separate from the world. Will we mourn like the world mourns at the time of judgment? Have we separated ourselves spiritually so that we are prepared for eternity? You and me, will we mourn like the unbelieving kings and merchants and mariners? Because not only we’re going to be judged, but we we’ve lost those wonderful things that gave us so much pleasure. It’s interesting who it is that’s intoxicated in chapter 17 and verse two, it speaks to Babylon in 17 two, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. Listen to that phrase, those who dwell on the earth. It’s a five word phrase, I think also five words in Greek.

My memory serves me correctly. And guess what? Those who dwell on the earth never refers to Christians in the book of Revelation, it refers only to idol worshipers. Why? Well, Hebrews 11 says Christians are those who are only passing through. They’re pilgrims. They’re aliens in this life. That gives me a lot of comfort, by the way, when I get too involved, perhaps, and what’s going on politically, I just have to stand back and say, I’m a pilgrim. Am I grasping on too tightly to some political ideology. I’m a pilgrim that helps me.

But for the earth dwellers? Why or unbelievers? Why are idol worshipers called those who dwell on the earth? Because they cannot look beyond this earth for their security. They are permanently entrenched on this earth. They are truly earth dwellers. That phrase occurs eight times throughout the book of Revelation, never of Christians. There should be some sign of genuine belief. For John, a telltale sign of true belief is our attitude to performing this end time axis, from separating from the world’s sin, from its self confidence, from its self security. Do we trust more in Christ or more in the world security? Yes, let’s ask ourselves, where do our loyalties lie to Christ or to worldly security and comfort only you and me and the Lord know the answer to that. Are we too comfortable in our life of ease, maybe we need to be shocked out of it in various ways. I remember some time ago, I went to the oral hygienist. I hadn’t been in a long time, and after part of the procedure, she left for a minute or two, and while she was gone, I looked at these pictures. You couldn’t miss them right in front of you. They’re the progression of gum disease, and it goes from healthy gums to rotten gums. When she came back in, I said, Where am I on the chart? She says, You’re heading toward the rotten gum part of the chart.

I said, my gums feel fine. She said, that’s the genius of gum disease. Don’t be deceived. You have to floss and brush your teeth every day, which I have ever since she put the she put the she put the fear of God. Still remember her name. This was like 30 years ago. Her name was June. And my wife and I still remember June. She was amazing, an amazing shocker, the book of Revelation. But Scripture is to shock us. You see, that’s why we should come to it every day, to bring us into account of ability, yes, to shock, but also, you know, the book of revelation in Scripture, yes, it afflicts the comfortable, but it comforts the afflicted as will. There are both those elements. The book of Revelation, Then does both. And my people, this is a message for us, the church, living in the End Times. We’re not like people living in the End Times. We’re not like Israel, we are the continuation of true Israel. Paul uses the phrase the Israel of God nine times, and it comes right out of Nehemiah 13 one. It’s an allusion to the congregation of Israel. We are the true Israel. Judgment as sure it is coming. Would Laodicea be prepared for it? Will you and I? Be prepared for it. Will we be mourning at the time of judgment or rejoicing? Christ can come at any time to end this age and to climax this Exodus Out of this world with a resurrection body. This is the final end time exodus in Latin America, they devised a creative way to catch monkeys in the jungle.

I wish I had a footnote to this. I don’t, but I’m going to tell you what it says. They make a hole in a tree, and they cut a coconut in half and put a bright coin in it, and they put a part of the coconut in the hole of the tree. The coins anchor to a little wire, which is attached by a nail to the other side of the inside of the tree. A monkey comes along. He sees the open coconut. In fact, I’ve got an easy meal. But then he gets closer, he sees the bright coin, apparently, unbeknownst to me, monkeys like bright coins. And he sees that coin, and he puts his hand through the hole. He can get his hand as he can do that, and then he gets the coin. But he has to have a fist to pull that coin out. It won’t the hole isn’t big enough. He just he stays there until the trapper comes. He looks at the trapper. He won’t let go. Finally, he’s trapped. Humanity will be hanging on to their coin, even when they see the Lord coming, they’re more interested in that, as were the kings, the merchants and the mariners, than they are in trusting in Christ. Babylon is out to seduce she is cunning, powerful, stunningly attractive, utterly destructive. In fact, there was a phrase that I hadn’t noticed a lot lately, but I wanted to read it to you again, and it says this in chapter 18, verse three, the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of Babylon immorality. The kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. That’s what my numeric and standard says. I think better it should say they become rich by the power of her luxury. She is amazing, and it’s powerful. The world is powerful in its attraction. Don’t underrate it. So separate from the world’s self confidence and security, lest we be judged like the world. What is the gospel trusting in Christ’s security, and what is that that he died for us as a penal substitution, declaring us righteous, and that he rose again from the dead as the Lord God of heaven and earth. That is where our security lies. Now there’ll be many at the final judgment who Christ says will say to him, listen to the language.

Matthew seven, verse 21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, Who is in heaven, Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, that we not prophesy in your name and your name, cast out demons and perform many miracles. I remember my wife told me her grandfather would kind of just get her on her knee when she was four and say, Dorinda. Dorinda, the double evocative. And hear the double evocative Lord. Lord. The double address means we know you intimately, Lord. But listen to what Jesus says, verse 23 I’ll declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me. You who practice lawlessness.

Do we know the Lord? Do we really know him, the pastor and father whom I mentioned at the beginning of this hour, reflected with the following questions. After that experience at the city dump, he says, Why do we cling so tenaciously to Babylon? Why do we pursue things? Why do we put too high of a priority in spending too much of our time working and worrying about our material involvement in the city of Babylon. The material things of Babylon are headed for destruction, destined for the scrap heat. They’ll one day smolder beneath a simmering flame amidst thinking mounds of rotting garment. John says So Revelation 821 says, with such violence that great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. But the time of the demise of the Babylonian city will be the rise of the City of God, with its people being resurrected, when they will receive created bodies climaxing their final exit from this world. This final resurrection will occur because Christ was first raised, First Corinthians, 1520, now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep, and then we will be raised from our sleep when he comes back. Can we avoid judgment? It’s. Coming, we can avoid it if we trust in Christ, that he’s the only security and that we’re identified and we’re in Christ and His death and His resurrection, and then we’ll rise bodily from the ruins of the old Babylonian world into the eternal new creation.

So we’re to trust in Christ, identify with him and his death and resurrection, and not in Babylon, who’s heading for destruction. So may we separate from the world, self confidence and security, lest we be judged like the world. This is the latter day exodus of God’s true people, the church, as Israel as you, separate from sin. Just think I am participating in a redemptive historical episode that was foreshadowed by Abraham, by lot, by Israel and Egypt, by Israel and Babylon. All of these were foreshadowings of the great end time of God’s people separating from the world. Revelation 18 four says this come out of her, my people, so that you may not participate in her sins, and so that you may not receive of her plagues for her sins a pile high as heaven. Let’s pray, Lord, we ask that you would cause us to be a people who would trust in You, who would not be lured by Babylon, the great, but be lured by your Son and Spirit to grow in our trust in Jesus as our only security, and maybe for His glory and Not our glory. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.