Judgment Defined: The Fall of Babylon (Revelation 18)

Judgment defined. We're in Revelation chapter 18 tonight, and we're looking at judgment defined.

Revelation 18 · chapter mention

Revelation 18 verses 6 through 8 is where we'll pick up tonight.

Revelation 18:6–8

It says, pay her back even as she has paid and give back to her double according

to her deeds in the cup which she has mixed.

Mix twice as much for her. Hold on just a minute, y'all.

I do apologize. I usually remember to hit do not disturb so I don't get a phone

call. All right, let's go back again.

Pay her back, even as she is paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds.

In the cup which has been mixed, mixed twice as much for her,

to the degree that she glorifies herself and lives sensuously,

to the same degree, give her torment and mourning.

For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and will never see mourning.

For this reason, in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and

famine, and she will be burned up with fire for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would just bless your word tonight.

Help us as we study this tonight for your glory in Jesus' name.

Well, as we see here, Babylon's judgment is defined as the angel now speaks, not to John, but to God.

Did you see that? His call for vengeance on Babylon, what is it?

Look at the scripture there.

It says, pay her back even as she has paid.

It parallels, actually, if you remember, the prayers of the martyred saints

that we looked at in chapter 9 of Revelation.

Remember when the Lamb broke the fifth seal?

He said, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because

of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained.

And they cried out with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord,

holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth.

And the angel's prayer for justice is based on the Old Testament principle of lex talionis.

That just simply means the law of retaliation. You've probably heard of it.

The principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

And Babylon has been extended enough grace here and heard enough warnings.

It's time for vengeance.

It's time for her destruction. And who does that destruction come from?

God himself, right? And the angel's plea is actually reminiscent of the Old

Testament saints' plea for vengeance on ancient Babylon.

In fact, in Psalm 137, verse 8, listen to this.

Psalms 137:8

The psalmist wrote, O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one.

How blessed will be the one who repays you with the recompense with which you have repaid us.

Jeremiah, the prophet, also pleaded for vengeance on Babylon.

He said, draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side.

All you who bend the bow, shoot at her. Do not be sparing with your arrows,

for she has sinned against the Lord.

Raise your battle cry against her on every side. She has given herself up.

Her pillars have fallen.

Her walls have been torn down, for this is the vengeance of the Lord.

Take vengeance on her, and as she has done to others, so do to her.

That's in Jeremiah chapter 50.

Jeremiah 50 · chapter mention

And then summon many against Babylon, all those who bend the bow and camp against

her on every side, let there be no escape,

repay her according to her work, according to all that she has done,

so do to her, for she has become arrogant against the Lord,

against the Holy One of Israel, Jeremiah 50, 29.

And then, but I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all

their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes, declares the Lord.

In Jeremiah 51, verse 24.

Jeremiah 51:24

And then for the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon,

and her mighty men will be captured.

Their bows will be shattered. For the Lord is a God of recompense. He will fully repay.

That's Jeremiah 51, 56.

So it's important to note, and this is the first thing I want y'all to see tonight

as we just gleaned from this text, it's so important for all of us to note this,

that retaliation belongs to God alone.

Did you get it? Retaliation belongs to God alone.

The Bible explicitly forbids Christians to take their own vengeance.

Believers could never say, they must not say, I will repay evil.

Instead, what are they to do according to the Bible? To wait for the Lord and

he will save them, Proverbs 20, 22.

They are to bless those who persecute them, Romans 12, 14, never paying back

evil for evil to anyone, Romans 12, 17.

They must never take their own revenge, but leave room for the wrath of God.

For it is written, vengeance is mine, God says, I will repay, says the Lord.

If their enemy is hungry, what are we to do?

We must feed them. And if he is thirsty, give him a drink.

For in so doing, they will heap burning coals on his head instead of being overcome

by evil, they must overcome evil with good, Romans 12, 19 to 21.

So Christians are to see, according to the Bible, that no one repays another

with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another

and for all people, 1 Thessalonians 5, 15.

Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult but giving a blessing instead

first peter 3 9 now that's countercultural right.

They're that's very counterculture because what do we see today when we have

people who are offended or whatever happens right or who who may do evil against

somebody else what do we see today.

Going to take revenge, right? Somebody throws an insult out,

somebody's going to throw another insult out, right?

And, you know, somebody posts something on Facebook, somebody else is going

to post something on Facebook, right?

Or somebody's going to try to clear their name or do this or do that.

In other words, they're going after their own vengeance or, you know,

hey, I'm going to, you know, the last man standing wins, right?

But I want y'all to know tonight that not only are we commanded as Christians

to let God take our vengeance, if you really stop and think about it and all

the evil that's going on in the world.

I think you mentioned this the other week, Sharon, that we're all thinking,

are these people are getting away with all this?

No, God here shows us in the book of Revelation that there is coming a day that

God is gonna take his vengeance.

He's given all this time for the people to repent over and over,

even in the tribulation.

And there's gonna come a day when that grace is gonna end and it's time to make the payment, right?

It's time to avenge. But it's so important tonight that these commands here

in Scripture that we read about in Revelation 18, they do not preclude holy

God's righteous judgment of sinners.

He's the only one who has the authority to seek that vengeance.

That's it. We don't. We're to trust him as Jesus said he did, right?

And, you know, I stop and think about that and I'll move on.

But I stop and think about that, that really, if somebody ever wrongs me or

wrongs you, there's no better place and no better person to take vengeance on

your behalf than God himself.

Because God can hit them where they live.

He convicts. He moves in their heart. He brings people to repentance and where

there is true justice that needs to be served.

He'll see that it's served because you know what? If I do that on my own or

if you do that on your own, I'm sorry, but your little vengeance is it doesn't

mean much puff in the wind.

But when God takes vengeance, it hits his mark every time. And so if we can

just follow that example that's set forth by Jesus and in Scripture for us,

realizing that we don't take our own vengeance, we let God do that.

God knows the hearts of people. We don't. God knows what people's motives are. We don't.

So let God have the vengeance if it's due.

Let him be the one that seeks justice.

Because I'll tell you, he does a thorough job.

I had this happen one time, and I'll move on. I'm sorry. I just wanted to let

y'all know this happened to me in real life one time. This has been a number of years ago.

There was a tremendous wrong done and really just a tremendous,

like blow me away. Right. Type moment.

And I remember being so angry to start with.

And then I remember walking. Anybody like walking in the woods?

I remember going on a long walk with the Lord. Right.

And a long walk, just praying and praying and walking and walking.

And it's like the Lord says, you know what, Judd, I'll take care of all this

if you just trust me with it.

And I just said, Lord, it's all yours. It's all yours.

Went to sleep that night, woke up the next day. Later that day, got a phone call.

God had restored everything, taken care of it just like that.

One day I'll tell you all the details when we have more time.

But it's amazing what God does when we just trust him with everything like that. It's amazing.

The angel's request, though, here that God give back to Babylon.

He's the one that has the authority to do this. He's the only one that vengeance belongs to. It's his.

That God give back to Babylon double according to her deeds.

Literally here in the Greek, it really means double the double things.

Okay. It's a request that Babylon's punishment actually fit her crimes.

In other words, double has been her iniquity.

Double must be her punishment.

Babylon's sins, y'all, have overflowed here, piling up as high as the heavens, if you remember.

And the angel calls for God's judgment to actually overflow on her in equal measure.

Double has the sense of fullness or completeness, if you will.

In the Mosaic law, wrongdoers, if you remember in scripture,

were often required to pay double restitution for their crimes.

In fact, listen to this. If what he stole is actually found alive in his possession,

whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.

If a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it's stolen from

the man's house, If the thief is caught, he shall pay double for every breach

of trust, whether it's for ox,

for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, this is it.

The case of both parties shall come before the judges.

He whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.

In Exodus 22, it talks about that. So the prophets here, they note that Israel

even received double for her sins.

If you remember in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, Jeremiah actually prayed that God would

crush his persecutors with twofold destruction in Jeremiah 17.

And further stating his request that God fully punish Babylon here in this passage,

the angel actually asks, if you look here, that in the cup which she has mixed,

that God would mix twice as much for her. You see that there in the text?

Fittingly in that very cup that Babylon actually used to deceive the nations.

She is to receive double portion of God's wrath.

And that imagery as the cup of his wrath also appears in chapter 14. We saw that.

And in chapter 16, then the angel calls on God, y'all, the third time to exact

complete vengeance on Babylon.

Listen to this. He says, to the degree that she glorified herself and lived

sensuously, to the same degree, give her torment and mourning.

For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen and I am not a widow and I will

never see mourning. Kind of arrogant, right?

To the degree is a call to actually match the punishment to her crime.

A biblical principle to do that. In fact, three sins here call for Babylon's judgment.

All right. As you look in the text, first, she was proud.

She glorified herself. And God, who said, actually, I will not give my glory

to another. Do you remember that in Isaiah 42?

God hates pride.

Y'all remember reading about the things God hates, right? Pride is one of them, right?

There's many of them. There's seven things that are listed there, but pride is one of them.

And then second, she pursued self-gratification. She actually lived sensuously.

The Bible actually pronounces those who do so, when they live that way,

to actually be dead even while they're still alive in 1 Timothy 5.

And then number three, she was guilty here of self-sufficiency.

Presumptuously, you saw that in the text, presumptuously overestimating her power even.

She said in her heart, look, remember this? She said, I sit as a queen and I'm

not a widow and will never see mourning.

It's like she's calling the shots on her life, right? If you look at it from

this standpoint, you know, that city of Babylon calling the shots,

you know, we're not going to see destruction.

And that proud boast echoes that of ancient Babylon even. You remember,

even ancient Babylon said, I will be a queen forever.

I will not sit as a widow nor loss of children. That's back in Isaiah 47,

Ezekiel 27, Zephaniah 2.

Yet God here, his devastating reply, if you notice here, was that those two

things shall come on you as suddenly in one day, come on you suddenly in one

day, loss of children and widowhood.

The very two, you know, things that you're boasting about, they shall come on

you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells.

It says in Isaiah 47.

So for those three sins, Babylon will receive torment and mourning.

Basanimos, that means torment, literally tortures, talking about torture.

Mourning refers to the grief that the torture produces here.

Hell, y'all, will be a place of both unimaginable torment and crushing grief.

He talks about that in the New Testament even. And then the angel notes that

for this reason, the sins cataloged above that we talked about,

in one day her plagues will come. And that just means suddenly,

it's going to come quickly.

Babylon's destruction will not be progressive. The wicked city is going to be

instantly, if you will, destroyed, comparatively speaking.

Daniel 5 actually records that similar fate that befell ancient Babylon.

The city fell the very night that God wrote its doom on the wall of the king's palace.

Do you remember that? In Daniel 5, verse 30.

Daniel 5:30

Y'all, the plagues that will destroy Babylon are specific judgments on that

city, possibly in connection with the seventh bowl we discussed.

Three plagues will result in Babylon's complete devastation,

pestilence and mourning and famine, heaven's fitting answer to her proud boast in verse 7 here.

So after those three plagues have actually run their course,

Babylon will be burned up with fire.

Babylon's doom, I want y'all to know tonight, according to this in Revelation,

is certain and cannot be avoided. For the Lord God, it says,

who judges her is strong.

No one can frustrate God's plans.

I think we all need to let that sink in. No one can frustrate God's plans or

keep him from accomplishing what he purposes to do.

Job, you remember old Job, actually said to God, he said, I know that you can

do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

He said in Job 42 verse 2, despite the plans that are in a man's heart,

Job 42:2

the counsel of the Lord, it will stand, it says in Proverbs 19.

For the Lord of hosts has planned, declared Isaiah, and who can frustrate it?

As for his stretched out hand, who can turn it back?

In Isaiah 14, you know, a chastened and humbled Nebuchadnezzar, you remember old Nebi?

He affirmed that God does according to his will in the host of heaven and among

the inhabitants of earth, and no one can ward off his hand or say to him, what have you done?

And that's in Daniel 4. God himself, y'all, declares that there is none who

can deliver out of his hand. Out of my hand, he said, I act.

And he says, who can reverse it?

My purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure in Isaiah 43 and 46.

When God purposes to do something, y'all, it will come to pass.

I don't care how much me and you like it or don't like it, it's going to happen.

All the power of wicked men and demons will not be enough to deliver Babylon from God's judgment.

It's sure. I don't know about you, but don't you want a God that you serve that

is powerful, that is that strong, that he's that sovereign, he's that in control?

Boy, that's a lot of comfort, is it not?

What comfort? Well, then quickly, we have judgment lamented.

Listen to this. This is verses six through eight here.

We'll look down, I believe, where we'll pick up. It says, and the kings of the

earth who committed acts of immorality and live sensuously with her will weep

and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning. Pay close attention to this passage.

Will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying,

whoa, whoa, the great city Babylon, the strong city, for in one hour your judgment has come.

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore.

Cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and

pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet

and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made

from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble and cinnamon and spice

and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour

and wheat and cattle and sheep.

Boy, he's just listing it out. And cargos of horses, chariots,

and slaves of human lives.

The fruit you longed for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious

and splendid have passed away from you, and men will no longer find them.

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, saying, Whoa, whoa,

the great city, she who clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and adorned

with gold and precious stones and pearls.

For in one hour, such great wealth has been laid waste.

And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their

living by the sea, stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke

of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city?

And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out.

They were weeping and mourning, saying, Whoa, whoa, 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. And that's verses 9 through 19.

Wow. In Revelation 18. Y'all, nothing so clearly reveals the hardness of sinners'

hearts as their lack of sorrow over their sin.

Let me say that again. Nothing so clearly reveals the hardness of sinners' hearts

as their lack of sorrow over their sin.

God is near the brokenhearted, right? When we're brokenhearted over our sin and we turn from it.

But y'all, when we are full of pride like Babylon, when we are so full of that

and we hang on and we don't repent and it's just like, you know,

we can do no wrong, right?

We just hold on to it. And our hearts, they lack sorrow over our sin.

And you know what happens to that heart? It becomes hardened.

It becomes hardened to the things of God. That's when you start going and you

start coming to church or you start going out and looking and you don't get nothing out of it.

Or you don't get nothing out of your Sunday school or you don't get nothing

out of your weekly devotions or whatever it is.

Or when you go to God's word or you don't get nothing out of things anymore

because your heart has become hardened. Right?

And the solution is to repent, to let God break your heart and to say, God, forgive me.

You see, they didn't do that here. And through the years of devastating judgments,

even the tribulation centers will relentlessly refuse y'all to mourn over their

sin, but they'll not lament over their sin.

They'll actually cry over the destruction of Babylon, though.

When that glorious center, that centerpiece, you remember the head of Antichrist

empire is judged and destroyed at the hands of God Almighty,

there will be worldwide dismay and mourning over that.

The first mourners that we see here, they're introduced here as the leaders, the kings of the earth.

This group here includes, remember, the 10 kings who

rule antichrist kingdom under his authority we

saw that back in chapter 17 as well

as the rest of the world's leaders under them they'll

be they'll they'll they with this news that they are greeted with the news of

babylon's destruction they'll be they'll have shock and dismay over it the destruction

of the seat of antichrist political and economic power is going to strike a

fatal blow to his empire.

And the fall of Babylon here will be a symbol of the fall of the entire evil world system.

Those leaders here who are the same ones who actually committed acts of immorality

and live centrously with her.

Once again, Babylon is pictured as a harlot whose death causes her lovers, what?

To weep, to lament over her.

And some of those So some of those crossing the Euphrates on their way to Armageddon,

remember we talked about this back in chapter 16.

They may actually see the smoke rising from the burning city,

as it talks about in this passage.

The rest will watch. It says Babylon's destruction through the world's media

is what's going to happen.

And all will be careful to keep their distance, according to this passage,

from that stricken city there of Babylon.

They'll be powerless, y'all, to help and will fear that they may actually share in her torment.

And so this fearful scene that we see in this passage supports the idea that

Babylon is an actual city here in view, not a symbol for the entire world system.

Because obviously the entire world system is not destroyed at this point,

since those watching Babylon burn are safe for the moment, as we see in this passage.

Babylon's destruction is just

a precursor to the doom that's going to soon fall on the entire world.

But as they watch her burn, it says here in the text, the leaders will cry out

in anguish, whoa, whoa, the great city Babylon, the strong city,

for in one hour your judgment has come.

That crown jewel, y'all, of Antichrist empire, Babylon, that's a great city.

And since it will have survived the devastating judgments of the tribulation

up to that point, the leaders are going to believe it to be a strong city.

Just like today, people think they're getting away with it sometimes, right?

They think that God's arm is slack, you know, that, you know,

they're just doing what they want to do.

But one day that's all going to come to an end and it's going to come suddenly, suddenly.

And Babylon's swift destruction is going to shock and amaze them.

And they'll cry out in dismay, boy, in one hour, your judgment has come.

That judgment on Babylon again

is going to happen rapidly just as verse 8 predicted that we looked at.

The next mourners to appear on the scene here are the merchants of the earth.

These businessmen here will weep and mourn over Babylon, y'all,

because no one buys their cargoes anymore. Y'all saw that in the text, right?

The destruction of Antichrist capital will end any semblance of normalcy on the earth.

Whatever, in other words, whatever economic activity will have been taking place on the earth,

just reeling under those escalating difficult

circumstances that are brought through those judgments

by those catastrophic divine judgments is

all going to come to a halt right here every bit of

it and then follows a list of 28 items

or categories of merchandise that comprise

those categories right remember gold silver

precious stones pearls fine linens purple silk

scarlet every kind of citron wood it

said every article of ivory and every

article made from costly wood and bronze and iron and marble cinnamon and spice

it names incense perfume frankincense wine olive oil all the fine flour wheat

cattle sheep cargoes of horses and chariots y'all remember this one in the passage there,

and slaves and human lives.

Literally, y'all, literally in the Greek, bodies and souls of men.

These items were common commodities in the ancient world.

Many of them are actually included in Ezekiel 27, talked about there,

and they were the source of tremendous financial gain.

Just like today, you can probably think there's tremendous

financial gain in our world in some of these

areas human trafficking all this stuff that takes place that we cry out god

your vengeance fall right and they're only representative of great wealth of

antichrist future commercial empire all of this just rep is only representative of that great wealth,

And so John Phillips, though, theologian, he wrote this, and I want to share

it with you. He said, what a catalog of opulence.

What a vivid picture of a great commercial city trafficking in every luxury the heart could desire.

This is the world's great vanity fair, he said. It offers articles of adornment

and display beautiful things to grace the mansions of the world's millionaires.

It deals in exotic spices and perfumes and delicacies for the table and provisions

for banquets and slaves and in the souls of men.

And Babylon imported all these things.

Babylon demand Babylon's demand for the world's goods are insatiable.

Ever it clamored for more and more.

Y'all, we could probably look around our world today and.

And see some relating factors today, right? But continuing their lament,

the merchants now address Babylon directly.

The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious

and splendid have passed away from you, and men will no longer find them.

All of the cities, luxurious and splendid, literally in Greek,

lampros, a word that probably refers to clothing.

Possessions have passed away from her. and men will no longer find them.

They will be gone, you know how long? Forever, as God actually bankrupts the system.

The words no longer translate a double negative here in the Greek text,

which is the strongest form of negation in the Greek language.

And that indicates, again, that these items will never be found again.

So joining among the leaders, the merchants of these things,

who become rich from her are gonna stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment.

They're gonna weep, they're gonna mourn, saying again,

whoa, whoa, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and

scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,

for in one hour, such great wealth has been laid waste.

Y'all, y'all get this tonight? They weep and they mourn, not out of some emotional

sympathy for the decimated city, but you know why they weep and mourn?

Because with its collapse, they have been stripped of the key source of their financial resources.

The merchants lament here because their materialistic positions,

their passions can no longer be fulfilled.

And I want y'all to know something. This is important to note as we draw to a close.

The weeping that begins here will last for eternity in hell.

Just look it up, Matthew 8, 13, 50, 22.

Those greedy merchants are the classic illustration of all those in all times,

y'all, that includes us who gain the whole world but forfeit their own souls.

Then a third and final group here in the visions join the funeral dirge,

if you will, for Babylon.

Every shipmaster, every passenger, sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea.

In addition to her political, her economic importance here in the tribulation,

Babylon will also be an important distribution center.

With its destruction, there'll be no more goods to be transported by those who

make their living by the sea.

When God does something, he does it good, don't he? Like the rulers and merchants,

the sailors here were careful to what?

To stand at a safe distance from the city.

As they gazed on the ruined city, they were crying out as they saw the smoke,

it says here, of her burning, saying, what city is like the great city?

So their lament here is reminiscent of the proud boast, if you remember,

of Antichrist, his deluded followers, all the way back in chapter 13.

Who is like the beast? You remember this? Who is like the beast?

And who is able to wage war with him?

But that seemingly indestructible city is already destroyed before their very

eyes. They're watching the smoke go up.

And it seemingly invincible ruler, the Antichrist, guess what?

He's going to shortly meet his end in chapter 19. We'll see that down the road.

But then in a typical ancient expression of grief here, the sailors,

what do they do? You remember what they threw on themselves?

They threw dust, ash on their heads, right? And like the rulers and the merchants,

they too, they're going to cry out with this dirge, right? Whoa, whoa, the great city.

That's an expression, y'all, of pain, suffering, grief, but not of repentance.

Pain, suffering, and grief, but not of repentance. There's no remorse here.

There's no regret. Thank you.

Sailors don't mourn over their sins, or those of Babylon even,

but because of their lost businesses.

Since all who had ships at sea became rich by Babylon's wealth,

and like the rulers and the merchants, the sailors also express amazement at

that swiftness of destruction, the downfall.

In one hour, she's been laid waste.

It's astoundingly, in an astoundingly short period of time, the city that was

the source of their wealth was destroyed.

Y'all, I think tonight, just for me, it's just amazing to me that so much of

the time, y'all, our eyes are too dry.

Like the late, great Keith Green, my eyes are dry.

You know, it just kind of brings back to me, when's the last time you wept over

your sins? That's what I asked myself this past week.

When's the last time you literally, your heart was so broken over your own sin?

Not trying to point out somebody else's, but over your own sin.

When was the last time your heart was so broken over your sin that you literally wept?

A lot of times we weep for a lot of things, don't we?

We cry because things don't go right or whatever happens in our life,

right? And certainly we feel God gave us emotions, yeah.

But when's the last time we cried over our sins? When was the last time that

our heart was broken and we said, Lord, forgive me, forgive my heart,

forgive my attitude, forgive me in this area, Lord?

Because y'all, that is, y'all, when we have a people or are a people who are

broken over our sin, you'll see revival.

You'll see revival. That's when revival happens, when God's people humble themselves and,

repent of their evil ways, and they seek his face, y'all, God's Holy Spirit

is going to fall like never before.

And here, as we see in the destruction of Babylon, and we'll pick up on down

the road probably next year, and judgment enjoyed here, and why that sounds

a little weird, but we're going to see why that is.

But y'all, it's just a challenge to me. I thought I'd share that with you,

because with this destruction and what God did here, it just reminds me,

you know, man, God offered me a way of salvation.

And yet so many times, you know, we tend to hang on to things or we don't,

we're not as sensitive to the voice of the Spirit as we should be.

And it just got, you know, when's the last time I cried over my sin?

Any thoughts tonight before we pray?

Well, definitely vengeance belongs to God for sure.

But that doesn't mean we don't take a stand against what's wrong,

like people in protest, talking to your senator, that kind of a thing,

taking a stand against trafficking within the bounds of the law.

And so the prayer is, God, stop them.

I'm told a story of a soldier during the Vietnam War.

He was told, this is your enemy, hate him. And he protested.

He said, it'd be better to say, this is your enemy, stop him.

And so the prayer should be, God, stop them and not being full of hate.

But it doesn't mean that We're doormats and we just let people run roughshod

over us. That's it. Absolutely.

And I'll tell you exactly. And we should take a stand against evil and God calls us to do that.

But we definitely vengeance. We don't seek our own vengeance.

The vengeance belongs to God. He seeks the vengeance. Uh-huh.

A lot of the coventers don't agree that the Babylon is like America,

but it seems like it. Yeah.

Well, again, as we talked earlier, we are living in Babylon in the sense of this world system.

And y'all, some of this is greatly debated, right, on all of this part here.

But truly, yes, we can look around.

That's why I kept saying, you know, we look around and we see all these things

that are here that are happening now. It's not hard to imagine,

you know, Antichrist taking that to the next level, right?

To levels we haven't even imagined, right?

But we think it's bad today, but you're right. We look around.

We live, so to speak, in Babylon, right? We are in Babylon even today in that

sense of this world system with that. So, yeah, very good.

Any other thoughts tonight? I want to hog it. Yep. No, go for it.

What does she mean? So I'm a queen.

I think it's all that pride there just in the city, you know,

just in that empire, right?

All that pride and arrogance, like, you know, that, you know,

when she even said there, you know, speaking of the city, you know,

like, I'll not be a widow.

I'll, you know, I'll not be childless. It's like, you know, that arrogance really

there, arrogance and pride.

Also in the ancient world, being married was a big deal. You were a woman, you were married.

Period and if your husband died you were expected to

mourn a long time and so for her to say i'm a queen so basically i'm in control

now my husband's dad is i'm in control that's that pride i'm in control now

yeah i'm not going to listen to anybody yeah all that comes into play definitely any other thoughts.

Sharon was saying about the soldier in vietnam yeah i

know there's like a lot of hatred from a lot of our soldiers to

like the asian culture and all that my grandparents

church in west virginia their pastor was is

a vietnam war vet he had a lot of

hate and a lot of anger especially towards

the vietnamese and all that he would

call them like slant eyes and everything which i would assume

would be like a derogatory well they had someone come from

the vietnam area as a

missionary and come up to their church and speak

at their church their pastor was crying he finally had let go of that anger

when he realized like all the good they we had done to help the vietnam vietnamese

people and realizing the vengeance that you were talking about he was holding

on to that anger for that law against the people.

And it just, my grandma was telling me that he was just, he would fall in his

eyes out just listening to his testimony.

Of it was they conditioned them to do that yeah yeah and

so just listening to him finally let go of that and realize

he was holding on to all that was just amazing yeah i remember another pastor

sharing you know he this guy y'all and i don't exaggerate when i say this he

had over 30 heart like either they were a combination of cast stints you know

30 30 plus heart procedures.

And he's a pastor of the church.

And he actually said, he told his whole church, he told them in one of the invitations,

he said, the whole reason I believe that I have the condition I have today is

because I held on to bitterness throughout my life till the later years before

God finally got a hold of my heart and I repented and got it right with God.

And it's true. I mean, seriously, we, so many times I think we hold on to things

and we don't let God have it. yes, there's appropriate times to take a stand

and to, you know, whether it's peaceful protests, those type things,

we ought to do those things.

But when it comes to seeking vengeance on our own behalf, let God handle it.

Cause you know, God's mercies are new every day. Don't you?

I'm just thankful that God didn't wipe me out and give up on me. Right.

And I'll tell you what, my biggest prayer should be, and I don't care who you

think is the worst person on the planet. Okay.

It's probably not you, right? Cause we always think somebody else is right.

But but whoever you think is the worst person on the planet, you know,

you need to pray that God gets a hold of their heart, because can you imagine

what God could do with a person that has that kind of influence and that kind

of position if their heart got changed?

That's amazing. Amazing stuff.