Joel M Bradshaw

4Then I [John] heard another voice from heaven say:“ ‘Come out of her [“Babylon the Great”], my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.–Revelation 18

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” (Genesis 19:14-15)

1. In Revelation “Babylon” is pictured as a woman, a prostitute, a city, and a culture.
2. She basically represents a more evil, end-times version of Rome, the greatest city in John’s day, which was also an empire and a culture.
3. The Christians (hence “my people”) going through the tribulation were commanded to leave much like Lot was once commanded to leave.
4. You could easily picture this leaving as a matter of allegiance and practice. “Babylon” was enticing the Christians to sin, so they were being commanded to leave and abandon any aspect of that lifestyle.
5. If nothing else, these verses in Revelation tell us that God sees sin, God remembers sin, and God punishes sin.
6. Followers of Christ are different, precious, and special possessions to God (1 Peter 2:9). Our faith is with Jesus and so should be our practice.
7. What aspects of this sinful world also define you? How swept away are you with the politics and culture of our day? In what way do you identify with the world when you should identify with Jesus?–JMB