Revelation 14:6 – Revelation 15:6
The Second and Third Angel’s Messages
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In other words, Babylon does not speak for God. The leaders of Babylon do not know the will, the plans or purposes of God. The leaders of Babylon do not speak the truth about God. They speak blasphemy.

 

Babylon will be a demonic organization from the start. Its great power will be derived from Lucifer! Revelation 13:2 “… The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.” There’s an irony of the second angel’s message: When the time comes for Babylon to form, most everyone will think that the formation of Babylon is the right thing to do!

 

In other words, when the whole world experiences the wrath of God, mankind will quickly diminish their differences and humbly unite out of panic and fear of the Almighty.

 

Mankind will come together in one accord for the purpose of appeasing God so that His wrath will stop! Think about this: When the world beholds the overwhelming destruction caused by the first four trumpets, isn’t it logical that mankind would do something to appease God’s anger before He kills everyone? Yes, of course! So, the formation of Babylon is man’s response to the first four trumpets.

 

Babylon’s stated purpose will be the appeasement of God, but as sincere as it will be, the idea of appeasing God is based on the false premise that man can appease this outbreak of God’s wrath! The book of Revelation indicates that appeasement is not possible (but, the leaders of Babylon do not understand the contents of Revelation).

 

Furthermore, the Bible predicts the leaders of Babylon will erroneously think that Jesus can be appeased through forced worship and repentance. The religious leaders of Babylon will insist that legislators impose a wide range of “sin-less” laws upon their respective nations so that God’s wrath against decadence and degeneracy will stop.

 

But, these laws will be meaningless to Jesus. Jesus has had ten “sin-less” laws in place ever since Mt. Sinai and what effects has the Ten Commandments had on mankind? We’re as degenerate and decadent as they were in Noah’s day.

 

And to make Babylon’s claim even more dramatic, consider this: The Bible teaches what legalism and obedience will not save a person! This will be most interesting. Millions of Christians have been led to believe that we are not under any obligation to obey the Ten Commandments because we are under grace. But, what will happen to their theological marshmallow once the wrath of God is revealed?

 

In the context of overwhelming death and destruction, it will be most interesting to see Protestants go along with the idea of imposing “the laws of Babylon” when their theology has been based on just the opposite point of view for several hundred years!

 

Babylon will impose a series of “sin-less” laws and this approach to appeasing God’s wrath will have no merit whatsoever. (But the religious experts of Earth will not know this.)

 

Jesus is very clear in john 3. In order to receive eternal life, a person has to be born again. He has to be transformed from within by the Holy Spirit. When a person is born again, he becomes a new person. The things he once hated, he now loves and the things he once loved, he now hates.

 

2 Corinthians 5:17   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

 

Born again people become honest hearted people – they are people who are prepared to take their stand on the side of truth because they love truth! Do you remember last month our discussion on the important distinction between keeping the law and fulfilling the intent of the law? Do you remember how actions that spring from love fulfill the law?

 

The point here is that Babylon’s efforts to appease God’s wrath will seem logical to most people at the time, but its methods and doctrines will be totally false. If repentance doesn’t spring from love, it is nothing.

 

So, Babylon will be demanding worship and repentance and a defiant declaration will be heard around the world. The 144,000 will say: “Babylon is fallen.” Babylon has it all wrong. Babylon is evil; it opposes will and plans of Jesus Christ! (This will not make the 144,000 very popular.)

 

What does the phrase mean:

 

“Babylon is fallen…. Which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

 

Consider this:

 

1.   We know that Babylon forms out of a global panic. When people behold that God destroyed notoriously wicked places, a religious revolution will occur overnight.

 

2.   We know that Babylon will form because religious and political leaders think they can appease God’s wrath by reducing the amount of sin that is taking place. 

 

Therefore, a host of “sin-less” laws regarding moral behavior will be implemented and enforced.

 

3.   We know that all nations will suffer great losses as a result of God’s wrath; we know that all nations will be humbled by the fear of God.

 

In this setting, religious leaders from all nations will agree on the premise that mankind must unite as “one-man” to appease God or His wrath and destruction will continue.

 

4.   The problem is that Babylon has only one tool through which it can possibly appease God. This tool is legislation. Therefore religious leaders will insist that political leaders unite with them because Babylon’s leaders will think they can reduce the amount of sin and decadence that made God angry through legislation.

 

And after looking at the global destruction that occurred during the first four trumpets, the political leaders of the world will not be able to argue.

 

Listen carefully: The church/state tool is Satan’s most painful and deadly tool. We already know how the devil used this tool during the 1,260 years of the Dark Ages in his efforts to destroy the woman in Revelation 12.

 

So, this is the meaning of the phrase:

 

“Babylon….will make all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”

 

In other words, the maddening wine of Babylon is the intoxicating idea that God’s wrath can be appeased through a reduction in sinful behavior. To achieve this reduction, “sin-less” laws will be necessary and such laws will only be possible through a mutually beneficial union of church and state.

 

How clever!

 

You may recall that when Israel was a theocracy, God kept church and state separate. A king could not function as high priest, and a high priest could not function as king. 

 

Only in the government of Jesus Christ is there a true and righteous church/state. But when Jesus serves as Lord of lords and King of kings, all will be well. But, until then, any union of church and state is a demonic institution.

 

The devil intends to become Lord of lords and King of kings. The composite beast will be the first phase of the church/state government and the image to the beast is the final phase. When religious and political leaders unite for the purpose of appeasing God’s wrath, religious leaders commit adultery.

 

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