Further Thought: Before the full moral collapse of Babylon, a voice from heaven urges God’s people still in Babylon to “Come out of her, my people” (Rev. 18:4). There are many worshipers of God who are still in Babylon for various reasons.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
God uses His end-time church to call these people out from this apostate religious system and not to participate in its sins. They must come out of it in order to escape its fate. God does not want anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9). Revelation 19:1-10 shows that many God-fearing people in Babylon will respond to the call. Think, then, about the tremendous responsibility that rests upon us as God’s remnant church. What should this responsibility tell us about our need of God’s truth in our hearts and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
Discussion Questions:
- As Revelation 18:4 shows, there are many God-fearing people in Babylon whom God calls “my people”. Reflect on the following statement: “This message must be given, but while it must be given, we should be careful not to thrust and crowd and condemn those who have not the light that we have. We should not go out of our way to make hard thrusts at the Catholics. Among the Catholics there are many who are most conscientious Christians, and who walk in all the light that shines upon them, and God will work in their behalf. Those who have had great privileges and opportunities, and who have failed to improve their physical, mental, and moral powers, … are in greater danger and in greater condemnation before God than those who are in error upon doctrinal points, yet who seek to live to do good to others”. – Ellen G. White, Evangelism, p. 575. What should this thought tell us about how to treat others?
- Revelation chapter 17 describes a harlot sitting on a scarlet beast. While the woman in chapter 12 symbolizes God’s faithful church, the one in chapter 17 refers to an apostate church seducing the world away from God. In your view, what are the similarities and differences between them? More important, what can we learn from this comparison?
- The texts this week portray a very dismal state of the religious and political world during the final stages before Christ’s victorious return. What should this tell us about why it’s so important right now that we stay faithful, true, and pure to the message God has given us? Read Revelation 16:15, an appeal for faithfulness amid the depiction of worldwide apostasy. How can we apply this warning to ourselves right now?
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I own a powerful telephoto lens for photographing birds. Contrary to common belief, a telephoto lens is not for photographing objects that are a long way away, but for getting the detail of objects that are relatively close. In fact the ideal for us bird photographers is to capture the detail of the bird against a blurred but still present background. You may well ask what has this got to do with the current lesson topic. Bird photography is about getting a sharp focus on the things that matter against a sometimes confusing background. So this morning I would like to say a couple of things about the lesson topic to refocus on the present while being conscious of the blur of the future.
The present reality is that much of the current world does not give religion any serious thought. For world opinion to change to the extent that the final scenes will be a battle between the true believers in God and those who follow the beast in the way we have interpreted prophecy is a mystery to me.
The biggest single threat/temptation is to the Remnant Church today is worldliness. The strongest belief is that there is no God, morality does not matter, a religion of any description is an anachronistic joke, or worse, an evil and immoral imposition that we should be glad to get rid of. Sunday is a day of commerce. I have visited Europe, admittedly quite a while ago now and found the cathedrals of Europe filled with tourists, even on Sundays (Including St Peters Bascillica). I went to China with its strong background in Buddhism and saw that while they have kept the monasteries and temples as cultural heritage items, the signs of active worship was not there. During my professional life, I used to visit the USA for academic conferences, these often ran over weekends, Sunday included. (I used to get into trouble for not attending on Saturday (Sabbath) because my University was footing the bill for me to attend - but that is another story.) The notion that religion is irrelevant, of a joke, is reinforced by an attitude that pervades the entertainment and media world. Take the time to watch a movie or TV entertainment program and if religion is mentioned at all, the usual perception is that religious people are off to one side of normal.
When I look back over my career as a lecturer in an Adventist Institution and think of all the young people who have lost their faith, more often than not, they have simply seen the church and its teaching as no longer relevant. Or worse, they see the church membership as hypocritical, paying lip service to belief but living as though it is not relevant, and have taken it that belief is not really all that important.
In the present world, the papacy is also considered irrelevant. The most common comment heard about that Roman Catholic church these days is that it is run by a group of old men out of touch with the reality of the modern world. The current eye-opener is that the Catholic Hierarchy has been hypocritical, making rules of behavior for others but hiding their own sins of abhorrent sexual abuse that has shocked even the most amoral observers. The old joke among the Italians was that the Catholic priesthood did not play the game so they should not make the rules. Now the shock is that they have been playing the game all along against the rules.
We also live in a world where scientific achievement is the new miraculous. We often hear about the miracles of stem-cell research and DNA decoding. A scientist once made the observation that we listen to the miracle makers. We used to take our sick to the priest to pray over them and ask for a miracle. Now we take our sick to a hospital where we cure them using biotechnology. Modern science has provided us with the miracle makers and as a consequence, we listen to scientists for our sense of morality.
I try to make sense of what I see is the present reality and our interpretation of end-time prophecy. Here are a couple of things to think about.
The big sins of the "pretenders" who have attacked the true believers in the past have been, self-interest, desire to control, removal of the freedom of choice for others. Their "belief in God" has only served as a mechanism to control others. Any amalgamation of powers in the end-times is going to exhibit those same characteristics.
I don't pretend to know how prophecy will play out. I see real threats to Christian belief today and recognize that those threats could amalgamate very quickly into the "End-Times". It is very easy with the new social media to amalgamate public opinion across a wide range of belief and behavior against a perceived enemy. We see Presidents and opinion makes using Twitter to inform and manipulate a credulous public in ways that were not available only 10 years ago. Many of us are still unaware of how covert some of the manipulation can be.
My take away though for this morning is, don't be so focused on getting our interpretation of the future right, when what is happening right now is challenging us and may well form part of the amalgamation of evil that we know will be part of the end-time. Keep a firm grip on perspective.
From forever, the 'Kingdom of God/Light' has consisted of "abundant life" (Greek - zoe: Jn 10:10) and has been based upon self-renouncing love/beneficence - the underpinning principle that alone is capable of upholding zoe.
Then Lucifer exchanged this basis instead for self-exaltation and claimed/insinuated that there was an even more 'abundant life' to be lived through embracing this alternative basis. With this, 'the kingdom of darkness' was born and the Great Controversy emerged. Which of these two ways was in fact the real abundant life - God's way or Lucifer/Satan's way. Who could be believed and who could be trusted?
Unfortunately, the only way this question could be answered beyond any shadow of a doubt was for a track-record of these two 'kingdoms' to play-out to display their nature, character and outcomes. In doing so, the evidence would speak for itself.
This time of 'playing-out' also doubled as a time for creating the reality of salvation (via the second Adam: Rom 5) and for extending an opportunity for whosoever will to embrace that offered salvation (2 Pet:3:9; Jn 3:16).
The closing scenes of Revelation describe the closing scenes of the Great Controversy. The time of the 'playing-out' to lay down a track-record necessitated that God modulate the inherent impacts of 'living' according to self-exaltation/seeking/indulgence/etc. But finally, the time has again come in this world's history (as it was in the days of Noah) where everyone will have 'set' their heart's desire to either live a life of self-renouncing/beneficence (as per Gen 6:5) or a 'life' of self-exaltation/seeking/indulgence (Matt 16:25).
This is the Big Picture context to everything else that has happened from Gen 1 to Revelation 22. While there is only one way that 'abundant life' operates, the 'kingdom of darkness' has cooked up many flavours for you to choose from - if you are religiously inclined, there are a range of options. If you are not religiously inclined, there are also a range of options.
Worship is a broad term that encompasses all that you devote yourself to - both at the level of your desires as well as your actions that are manifestations of those desires. Thus, worship is not confined to religious institutions. Worship is a way of life. What is the point of this?
Babylon as the 'capital' of self-exaltation has existed much longer throughout history as a way of life than it has as an 'apostate religious system'. Thus, while Babylon (a metaphor for the nature and character of the 'kingdom of darkness') incorporates apostate religious systems, it also transcends them.
The twin pronouncements contained in Rev 18:2-5 are the final judgment/revelatory diagnosis and prognosis. They present the evidence that speaks for itself - that answers question that initiated the Great Controversy. All who have watched and are watching along can now see the answer as to which 'kingdom' alone is True/Truth without any shadow of doubt.
I too would propose that keeping this context in mind has direct implications for how I live my everyday life here and now. Which 'kingdom' am I daily forming my nature and character in accordance with? By beholding, I will become changed - I can't not!
Am I daily submitting and surrendering afresh myself to God, asking His Spirit to continue to recreate a Christlike heart of self-renouncing beneficence within me so that I might be used of God as "salt" and "light" to whomever I interact with that day? And then am I daily practicing denying myself, taking up my cross (willingly embracing the 'costs' of self-denial) and following in Christ's steps? If so, I will find myself in the company of God's remnant.
Or am I instead doing what seems/feels good in my own eyes, just another human keeping the machinery of this world system of self-indulgence ticking along? Is my focus, 'my will be done'? If so, I will find myself in the company of Babylon - irrespective of which religious system I am part of.
I resonate with you, Maurice
While I as not raised an SDA, my long walk in our faith (some 37 years now) since my mid twenties I have witnessed our lack of discernment over how soon is soon. For decades we would predict nearly immediate developments about Sunday laws and Catholic-Protestant unity culminating in the persecution and end times. In fact, I confess, that in my early years I felt Jesus was coming within a decade back in a sermon I shared in 1989. I thought my new wife and ministry in UT was our first and last pastorate.
We are still here.
Then I was seeing the fall out due to a zeal with knowledge, not paying attention to the fact that support for Sunday legislation was basically nil, and events in the world would come and go without any visible drawing nearer to the end. We didn't have our eye on the fact that science is the new basis for which society believes and acts.
But though religion as organization is down, spirituality isn't. There is still the strong notion of the supernatural out there. Charismatic organizations thrive on it, and Hollywood is getting very rich for it. We have seen developments along the lines of a Protestant-Catholic coziness we have looked for in this country. Indeed, though the rest of the world lags, religious persecution is a huge problem today in other countries (76% of the world doesn't have religious freedom, in fact). There have been some attempts at Sunday restrictions in Europe over the last decade, but they haven't resulted in anything significant as the masses have no interest in religious denominations enforcing their notions of truth, telling them how to conduct their time.
We have also had to change the wording in our fundamental beliefs to a closer biblical "soon" rather than "imminent." It has been hard for our church founded upon the notion of immediate close of history to a more measured reality between our day and the developments in the world. I am of the opinion that it is soon. That something, or a series of somethings, could find things in our world changing very fast. 9/11 was an event that showed just how quickly freedoms for the purpose of security could be restricted.
It is a delicate balance between the soon and present situation. We are slow to catch up to that. But the basic message of Adventism is still very valid and relevant. We just have to be careful not to be in the "cry wolf" mentality that has cost us dearly in being relevant, and frankly honest with conditions on the ground.
I appreciate your call to keep a firm grip and a healthy spiritual perspective! (And by the way, I am a birder as yourself. Love watching our avian friends!) Have a blessed Sabbath.
This weeks' lesson has impressed the need for God's true people to continue the work of occupying until He comes. To do the work of service to their fellow man, and calling a world back to allegiance to God, to reveal His character in their lives, to find their origins in the Creator, and recognize the good news of God's judgment, which will be in favor of the saints (see Daniel 7). God's people should not be content with gaining heaven until they feel they have been used of God to reach "whosoever will," and give them the chance to find peace and fulfillment in Jesus
We are told when the end will come. It is no mystery. It comes when the everlasting gospel gets to all the world (Matthew 24:14). Knowing what lies ahead our energies should be aroused in compassion for the lost, and seek to find them and bring them to the Father's House.
The challenge is to know the Truth but to continue without prejudice! We must keep in mind that anyone can be saved. It is a matter of choice! Not of a religious system. Knowledge by itself does not save. Living in the light of knowledge is a different thing. How can we make a difference in a world that is totally crazy and selfish. Today, it seems that doing good to others is synonymous of dumbness! Selfishness seems to mean a lot of inteligence! What an inversion of values! Thus, we have people killing each other for nothing because their minds is not connected to the fountain of Joy. Hearts are too hard and eyes are blind. Until we recognize that God/Love can change us completely and that our mission here is to spread this News around!
This is what the local newspaper headlines were this morning:
"Raging Fire Destroys Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church
A fire Thursday morning, March 21, destroyed the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church on 39th Street in Tuscaloosa."
The Pastor of the church however, said, “The building is burned, but the Church is not!”