Babylon Falls, Kings Weep
This a probably a different Babylon in this chapter than the one mentioned in Chapter 17. The Babylon in Chapter 18 has some characteristics that are not contained within the Babylon of Chapter 18, such as great city, port city (coastal), habitation, marketplace, guilty of greed and self-indulgence and destroyed by sudden act of God (Dave Guzik). In verse 9 we read "and the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning." That means the leaders (not all necessarily will be kings) who were connected to her and benefiting from her (power, greed, ungodly things) will lose the influence and power they had with Babylon as it will fall. As I stated in yesterday's post, the Lamb wins again.
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God's Direction vs. Instinct
Jude 1:10 sets straight the idea that because it is natural or instinctive that one should do it. I hear that a lot. I hear "it's natural for people to have sex, so have it as often as you like with whomever you like." I think that is a very one-sided view that teeters on a lack of self control and real life consequences for your actions. In this current time, many who wanted to have sex, but didn't want to have a child had to come to a conclusion about keeping or aborting a child they didn't want. It is not of God to do with your body as you wish as what was once your is now under God's direction and is to obey God.
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Rescue the Righteous
In reading through 2 Peter, verse 9 jumps out at me. It says "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials." This stems from the understanding in verses 4-8 regarding saving angels, saving Noah before the flood and saving Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah. Knowing that God saved those that were righteous when they were among evil, then we also see that God will save us, if we too are righteous and amongst evil, God will save us. The rest of verses 9-10 tell us "and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority." That means if you are doing wrong and living wrong God will punish you. You cannot escape God even when you use various sins to escape. God knows all and sees all.
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Warning to the Rich
One verse that jumps out to me in this chapter was James 5:5 which serves as a calling out of the rich who were focused more on their wealth than anything else. This warning is a prophecy of what will happen to their wealth and also them oppressing the poor. The oppression of the poor is not a 2016 problem but one that existed during/after/before the times of Jesus. The rich are in a powerful position to even the playing fields, but they do not. God will have the final say.
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