"Babylon or Jerusalem?" Psalm 137

Psalm 37.

Let my right hand forget its skill.

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.

If I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem,

how they said, lay it bare, lay it bare,

down to its foundations.

O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,

blessed shall he be who repays you

with what you have done to us.

Blessed shall he who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rock.

So not long after the horrific attacks by Hamas

in October of 2023,

1,400 Israelis, both Jews and Arabs, dead.

A friend of mine was visiting with his friend

and the topic came up

and my friend's friend said to him,

there would be peace if everyone would just stop fighting.

It's kind of true.

My friend's friend, however, didn't see or read about the barbarism,

the murders, the kidnappings,

all of the very difficult, terrible things

that was on the news and on Facebook and Twitter

and social media nonstop for weeks and months.

But I guess it's technically true.

If people would stop fighting, there would be peace.

Is this person, the friend of my friend,

is their comment actually the way forward

or is it terribly ignorant?

October 7th wasn't the only terrible thing that's happened in the world.

The world is marked, marked with catastrophe,

marked with war.

A few weeks back when we were looking in Romans,

we were in Romans,

I made the comment,

I forget exactly the right stat,

but it's something like

the last 3,000 years of recorded history,

there's only been about 90-ish years

where there hasn't been an ongoing war.

We are a warring bunch.

So is the way to peace simply just to drop our arms?

We're going to look at Psalm 137 this morning.

If you were listening

or even half listening

when Tyler read it,

I'm sure your ears perked up at the last verse,

verse 9 of 137.

And this is what it says,

Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones

and dashes them against the rocks.

It might be the hardest verse in Scripture.

C.S. Lewis, and I'm a big C.S. Lewis fan,

he calls this psalm

and specifically this verse

devilish.

He calls it devilish.

But I'm going to suggest to you

and try to show in Scripture

that this psalm is actually incredibly important

and that line itself

is incredibly important

and critical

if we are to know justice

and overcome the evil

in and around us.

So, 137, Psalm 137.

If you could follow along,

that would be great.

I've broken up the text into three parts.

The first part,

verses 1 to 3,

1 to 4,

1 to 3,

is resist Babylon.

The second one,

verses 4 to 6,

remember Jerusalem.

And finally,

verses 7 to 9,

request justice.

Resist Babylon,

remember Jerusalem,

request justice.

And I'll just say,

request is not the greatest term,

but it's a word to use,

but it started with an R.

I went for it.

Okay?

The triple R this morning.

Anyways,

jump with me in verses 1 to 3

before we read.

It's helpful for us to understand

a bit of the background.

Okay?

Babylon was a very cruel,

cruel empire.

Like the Assyrians before them,

they were,

they didn't exactly observe

international law

when it came to warfare.

So, some 2,600 years ago,

Babylon besieged

the southern kingdom of Israel.

They surrounded Jerusalem,

eventually destroying the walls

and raising the temple to the ground.

They were cruel.

The accounts throughout

the prophetic books

are shocking to read

of what they've done.

Now, we'll touch on that

in a bit,

but just to set the table,

Babylon was cruel.

And after Jerusalem was conquered,

they enslaved the social

and religious upper class,

the elite, so to speak,

of Israel.

This was their practice.

They would conquer a region,

conquer a nation,

and take their best,

brightest,

and youngest,

back to Babylon

to essentially become Babylonian.

We get a glimpse of this

in the book of Daniel,

if you're familiar at all

with the book of Daniel.

But make no mistake,

Israel found itself in exile

precisely because of God's judgment.

The prophetic books

are a collection

of God imploring his people

to turn away from evil.

Turn away from evil.

Turn back to me.

And even though,

time and again,

they would make a partial return,

they would always find themselves

returning to evil.

So Babylon

became an agent

of God's judgment

towards Israel.

Nevertheless,

nevertheless,

they were still

horrendously cruel

and unjust.

Notice how,

in verse 4,

what does it say?

How shall we sing

the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

Verse 3,

for there are captors.

See,

it wasn't just that Babylon

was an agent of God

and therefore

are,

they're forgiven

for all of the

terrible things

that they've done.

No, no, no, no.

They're still held to account.

They did horrendous things.

They kidnapped people,

breaking up families,

killing,

murdering,

even worse.

So let's,

as that is a bit

of a background,

let's read verses 1 to 4

again and we'll jump

into it.

Asking the question,

why and how

should we resist

Babylon?

By the waters

of Babylon,

there we sat

and wept

when we remembered

Zion.

On the willows there

we hung up

our lyres,

for there are captors

required of us

songs,

and our tormentors

mirth,

saying,

sing us

one of the songs

of Zion.

Zion is synonymous

with Jerusalem.

How shall we sing

the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

You see the,

like I mentioned already,

Babylon,

their big MO

was essentially

not just to conquer

but to humiliate

and ultimately

to assimilate

its conquered people,

whatever nation

that they conquered.

what they were

demanding of the

Israelites

isn't merely

just humiliation

but to abandon

their God,

to abandon

the Lord God,

the God of Abraham,

Isaac,

and Jacob.

They want Israel

to play

religious songs

that ought to have

filled the temple

but instead

to play them

for their own

amusement.

It's a humiliating,

humiliating act

and a real

indictment on

the God

of Israel.

But here's the thing,

why not?

Okay?

If I'm an Israelite,

why not play the song?

God didn't come through

for me.

Alright?

If this is a God

that keeps promises,

the God that is supposed

to be the God

above all gods,

which is to say

the only God,

then maybe he's

a bit of a liar

because the Babylonian

gods gave them

the victory.

Our God didn't

give us the victory.

Israel has been

handily conquered.

The Babylonians

might as well

have just said,

listen,

your God has not

come through.

Our gods are stronger.

Become Babylonians.

Listen,

we can offer you

much, okay?

This is the

fertile crescent.

I don't think that was

their term back then.

Nevertheless,

this is the

fertile crescent.

Listen,

we have streams,

we have rivers,

we have tributaries,

we have willows,

all pictures

of a calm,

a shaded,

peaceful,

abundant land.

Peaceful,

again,

relative peace.

But listen,

we have lots to offer.

Become Babylonians.

Worship our gods.

Bend a knee.

If you,

again,

remember

the book of Daniel

in the Old Testament,

this is exactly

what was said

to Hananiah,

Mishael,

and Azariah,

also known as Shadrach,

Meshach,

and Abednego.

You can read that

in Daniel 3 and 4.

So,

here's the thing though.

Babylon as a kingdom

did not persist.

It was overtaken

eventually by Persia.

But,

Babylon has become

a forever symbol

of whatever

the spirit is

that pits itself

against God's people.

For every generation

of God's people,

there will always be

a Babylon

that seeks

to cause compromise

and to humiliate

the God of the Bible.

Always.

Babylon is

a symbol

of everything

that is anti-God.

Interestingly,

in Revelation,

if you read through it,

very, very difficult book

to weigh through.

Babylon features

quite a bit

in that book

as an anti-Christ,

as an anti-God,

as this evil city,

the city of the world.

So,

I think it's fair

to say that

as we read

this psalm,

we can

rightly

understand

Babylon

as

embodying

the spirit

of the age.

Whatever age

that

we find

ourselves in.

Babylon

represents

the spirit

of the age.

So,

what do I mean

by the spirit

of the age?

A couple of years ago,

Christine and I

were at a dinner

with our bishop,

Bishop Dan Gifford.

Wonderful guy.

Wonderful man.

And somebody

at the table

asked him,

Bishop,

what is the spirit

of this age?

Interesting

to put

the leader

of our denomination

on the spot

right there.

But Dan,

Bishop Dan,

came with

a wonderful

reply.

He said,

in 2020,

I guess it would

be 2024,

in 2024 Canada,

the spirit

of the age

is,

and then he used

the word

self-actualization.

Big word.

But he went on

to explain,

and I think he's

right,

this idea

that we are

ultimate

authorities

in our own

lives.

Our happiness

is the prime

objective

that we all

ought to seek.

We set the

parameters

of what is

moral or

immoral.

We set the

parameters

of what is

just or

unjust.

And ultimately,

we get to

decide what

defines us

above all

else.

We're not

subject to

our families,

our family

identity,

our historical

identity.

We get to

pave our own

way.

We get to

reinvent

ourselves

if we want.

And I

think Dan

is right.

I think

Bishop Dan

is right.

I think

this is

the spirit

of the

age.

This idea

that we

are the

ultimate

authority,

we are the

ultimate

arbiter of

what is

right and

what is

wrong.

For me,

and it

can be

different

for you.

That's a

beauty of

the age

we live

in.

So we

see if

Babylon

represents the

spirit of

the age,

then Babylon

will for

sure be at

odds with

God and

his people

because God

through scriptures

and through the

teaching of

the church

declares to

us that we

actually have

an identity

that is

not plastic.

We don't

get to

decide at

the very

core of

what is

right or

what is

wrong,

what is

just or

what is

unjust.

You see,

Babylon always

tries to

downplay

the

sacredness

and joy

of what

it means

to be

a human

being made

in God's

image.

In our

age,

it says,

you decide.

You don't

need to

follow God.

You don't

need to

be defined

by him.

You know,

the spirit

of the age

says that we

are wooden

and stiff

until we

find and

follow our

true purpose,

until we

listen and

follow our

hearts,

our passions,

our happiness

above all

else.

That's the

way to

be a

true person.

But this

is a

terribly hard

thing to

push back

against,

to resist,

because that

is ultimately,

I think,

what we're

called to

do,

is to

resist

Babylon,

to resist

the spirit

of the

age.

we are

people that

dwell in

Babylon.

We breathe

its air,

we eat

its food,

we work

in its

government,

we participate

in its

leisure

activities,

we watch

its movies,

everything about

it we find

ourselves in.

it is the

very air we

breathe,

as Glenn

Scrivener

puts it.

We read his

book a couple

years ago,

a wonderful

book,

worth your

time to

reread or

read for

the first

time.

So it's

very difficult

to resist,

is it not?

It's not

simply as

easy as just

saying,

hey,

listen,

guys,

try not to

be Babylonian.

Resist the

spirit of the

age.

We are

tempted at

every turn.

Again,

notice verse

four,

why they're

calling the

land that

they're in a

foreign land.

It is not

just because it

is geographically

far from

Jerusalem,

from who

God is,

but it's

being

spiritually

exiled.

Once again,

Israel has

found itself

in exile.

It's not

the first

time.

And they

are tempted

to forget

the one

true God.

So when we

try to think

about how

to resist

Babylon,

it's not

simply to

turn away

from the

spirit of

the age,

but turn

towards

something,

or in

this case,

to someone.

And this

brings us

to our

second point,

that we

can't just

resist Babylon,

but we need

to remember

Jerusalem.

Look with

me at

verses five

and six.

verse five

if I forget

you,

oh Jerusalem,

let my

right hand

forget its

skill.

Let my

tongue stick

to the roof

of my mouth

if I do

not remember

you,

if I do

not set

Jerusalem

above my

highest joy.

what exactly

is Jerusalem?

If you've

ever been

there,

it's a

pretty cool

city,

but it's

a city.

It's actually

a bit dirty

actually,

to come to

think of it.

It's full of

feral cats,

like at night

you just hear

screeching the

whole time.

Nevertheless,

it is a

wonderful city,

it's a cool

place to walk

through,

the old city

to take in

potentially the

very places

where Jesus

himself walked.

to see

where the

temple once

stood.

But if

Babylon

represents

the spirit

of the

age

throughout

all time,

then Jerusalem

must represent

something else

as well.

It must be

bigger than

just the one

city,

the holy

city of

Jerusalem

in modern

day Israel.

You see,

Jerusalem

represents

the very

presence of

God.

God has

made his

dwelling

in Jerusalem

to be with

his people.

He will be

their God,

they will be

his people.

So,

it's important

that we

remember that

Jerusalem,

again,

represents his

very presence,

but God is

not subject

to a specific

locale,

okay?

It's not like

he lives in

a place and

he has to

jump on a

plane to

go to

another

place.

God has

made

everything and

he is

everywhere.

So,

without

diminishing

the place

of the

actual city

of Jerusalem,

it's still

a wonderful

city.

I think it's

precious in

God's eyes

and it's

worth our

prayers to

pray for

its peace.

Nevertheless,

Psalm 137,

and I would

say throughout

the rest of

scripture,

Jerusalem is

this picture

of God

dwelling amongst

his people.

It's a

heavenly city,

the place

where God

himself is.

therefore,

we have to

understand

that

the city

of Jerusalem,

this heavenly

city,

will always

be pitted

against

Babylon,

the city

of this

world.

And this

is the way

we resist

Babylon,

by remembering

Jerusalem.

How do we

do this?

Well,

at the very

least,

we,

of course,

turn our

gaze away

from Babylon,

but it

also is a

call to

embrace the

Lord with

a posture

that is

resolved to

put our

devotion

towards him,

to find our

ultimate purpose

and joy in

him.

Again,

if the spirit

of the age

says that we

can be

defined by

our own

doing,

that we can

sit on our

own throne,

the opposite

would be to

let God

himself define

us and to

worship him

at the

exclusion of

all others.

what I don't

think this is,

it's not a

call to find

joy only in

God so that

we don't

enjoy the

goodness of

this life,

but rather

that we find

our highest

joy exclusively

in him.

We see this

precisely in

verse 6.

If I do not

set Jerusalem

above my

highest joy.

But here's a

wonderful thing

to consider.

joy.

This is an

act of faith.

For the

very reasons

I mentioned

before about

the draw and

the pull of

Babylon towards

us.

It's an act of

faith to believe

that actual joy

can be found

in God.

Joy found in

submitting,

okay,

submitting

to God.

We don't like

this word.

trusting that

God is who

he says he

is and that

he calls us

to live in a

certain way,

trusting in

him that we

are not the

sun upon which

everything orbits,

but that he is

and we orbit

around him.

It requires

faith to believe

that there is

incredible joy in

Jesus' words when

he says,

if you would

lose your

life for my

sake and the

gospels,

you will gain

it.

If you don't

hate even your

own life,

you are unworthy

to follow me.

You are to

love the Lord

your God with

all your heart,

soul,

mind,

and strength

and love your

neighbors as

yourself.

Which is to

say that

your priorities

are shifted

away from

you and

towards God

and others.

It takes

faith to

trust in

these words,

to believe

them as

joy-filled

words.

You see,

the heavenly

city,

Jerusalem,

is always

going to be

an upside-down

city from

the perspective

of Babylon.

Lose your

life for

God and

for others.

Don't make

your career

your highest

joy.

Don't make

earning

potential

your chief

end.

don't be

defined by

your home

or your

social circles.

Don't

worship

youth.

Be

committed to

your spouse

even if

you are in

a season

of

unhappiness.

Have a

public faith,

not just a

private one.

Devote your

life to

serving others.

Is this

really what

we are being

called to?

That our

happiness isn't

the ultimate

end?

You start

to see that

for a

culture,

for an

age that

is obsessed

with the

self,

the call

to be

citizens of

Jerusalem,

to trust

in the

Lord,

to have

faith that

his ways

are truly

joy-filled

seem

completely

upside-down.

Babylon will

always resist

Jerusalem,

so the

call is

always to

remember

her.

Babylon

will always

try to

resist

Jerusalem

with

cruelty,

showing no

quarter.

Therefore,

we must

pray and

have assurance

that Babylon

will not

endure.

Because if

it will

endure,

if the

spirit of

the age

will persist

for all

time,

then where

is the

hope?

It's a

good question.

Let's get

to our

third and

final point,

verses 7

to 9.

And this

is the

very difficult

section in

our text

this morning.

Verses

7 to 9.

Remember,

O Lord,

against the

Edomites,

the

Edomites,

by the

way,

are the

ethnic

offspring of

Esau.

If you

know the

scriptures at

all,

Jacob and

Esau were

brothers.

These are

the

Edomites

come from

Esau.

Remember,

O Lord,

against the

Edomites,

the day of

Jerusalem,

how they

said,

lay it

bare,

lay it

bare,

down to

its

foundations.

O

daughter of

Babylon,

doomed to

be destroyed,

blessed shall

he be who

repays you

with what

you have

done to

us.

Blessed

shall he

be who

takes your

little ones

and dashes

them against

the rock.

St.

Augustine

doesn't even

bother dealing

with how

crazy this is.

He allegorizes

the whole

thing,

and I'm

very tempted

to do

the same,

except that

it actually

happened,

according to

scripture.

It actually

happened.

And therefore,

even though

these are some

of the most

shocking verses

in all of

scripture,

they're very

hard to

read,

they're hard

to stomach,

let's walk

towards them

together and

see what the

Lord would

speak to us

about through

them today.

So let's

take a look

for a moment

and look at

the brutality

of Babylon

and the

betrayal of

Edom.

To truly

understand what

has been said

and to

understand the

background here,

we have to

understand the

context of

the exile.

Babylon,

like Assyria

before them,

conquered with

such cruelty

that it would

be something

akin to what

you might

remember happened

with ISIS a

few years back

or like I've

referenced already

what happened

in October 7th.

horrendous,

hideous

barbarism.

This was

what they did,

this is how

they operated.

There's no

distinction between

soldier or

child, a

baby, a

woman, even

a pregnant

woman.

The Babylonians

took great

pleasure in

inciting utter

torment and

fear in how

they went about

systematically

killing.

Read through

the later

part of

2 Kings if

you want a

more graphic

detail of

what happened.

It's really

horrendous and

that's all I'll

say about it.

They captured,

like I mentioned

before, they

captured Jerusalem's

best, raised the

walls, destroyed

the temple, left

the survivors in

utter dismay.

If genocide is

defined as a

systematic

killing and

erasure of a

people and

their culture and

way of life, the

Babylonians were

guilty of trying.

And while this

was happening,

Israel's neighbor

and ethnic

kin, the

Edomites, not

only stood

idly by, they

did not come to

help their

brothers, but

they even

cheered on the

Babylonians as

they ravaged and

slaughtered.

I mean, right

here, lay it

bare, lay it

bare down to its

foundations.

It is saying,

strip them

naked and

utterly humiliate

them.

Don't just

destroy them,

don't just kill

them, humiliate

them completely.

So what we

see in verses

7 to 9, as

graphic and

as intense as

it is, and

it certainly is

that, ultimately

it's a request

for justice.

It's a cry for

justice.

It's an

imploring of

God to be

just, to be

who he is.

God, act

justly.

And it's a

call for the

punishment to

fit the

crime.

Listen, we

are near

100 years of

post-World War

II.

All of us have

grown up with

the Geneva

Convention.

If there's war

crimes, we can

argue about how

effective it is

later on, but

there's the

hag.

There's an

international

court.

If war crimes

are committed,

we can,

hopefully, at

least, accuse

people of war

crimes, but

hopefully hold

them to

account.

None of

that existed

back then.

There were

no rules of

warfare.

The Babylonians

weren't governed

by an agreed

upon set of

rules.

Nevertheless,

justice had

to be

executed.

violated.

So what we

see here is

something called

the law of

retaliation.

Okay?

So instead of

in the ancient

world, if you

were wronged,

and then, you

know, as

vengeance would

have it, I

would then kill

your entire

tribe.

No, the law of

retaliation would

say, hold on a

second, an eye for

an eye.

Okay?

A tooth for a

tooth.

It was a way

to punish, to

suppress evil,

without it

spilling over

into decades and

generations of

warfare.

This is what the

Israelites are

calling for.

Okay?

We see this,

again, in the

first part of

verse 6.

Sorry, the

first part of

verse 7.

Down in verse

8.

Apologies.

O daughter of

Babylon, doomed

to be destroyed,

blessed shall he

be who repays

you, okay, repays

you with what you

have done to us.

This is exactly

what the Babylonians

did.

So what the

Israelites are

calling for is

justice.

But that doesn't

take the edge off

of this verse,

does it?

Okay?

It's still very

hard to stomach.

It's still very

hard to understand.

But what if

these verses

expressed not

hatred but

ultimately love?

Very scandalous

thing to suggest

but let me put

this forward to

you.

Loving goodness

and peace

always necessitates

always necessitates

hating evil.

It is not enough

to have a beautiful

garden by only

planting seeds.

You need to

weed, okay?

You need to make

sure that no

critters are going

to come to eat

the fruit of your

labor.

It's not enough

to just love

peace and

love goodness

without first

hating evil.

To ignore evil

or to deal

with it gently

it's not a

merciful act.

It doesn't show

somebody to

be morally

virtuous.

It's actually

the very core

of being

unjust.

It saps the

dignity of the

victim.

It cheapens

love.

It allows for

evil to persist

and suffering

to continue.

So what we

have here is a

personal cry from

the exiles but

it is more than

that, okay?

It's more than

that.

To pray this

prayer, it's

also an act of

faith.

Again, the

Israelites are

being humiliated

by the Babylonians.

Your God is

nothing.

Play his sacred

music for us to

dance to.

Right?

They're humiliating

the Israelites.

So this cry

itself, it is a

cry of faith.

For our natural

inclination is

what?

For revenge.

Okay?

To have

sweet, sweet

revenge and to

do to others

not just what

they've done to

us but to make

them suffer, to

humiliate them

back.

To make them

feel even worse.

But in

praying this

prayer, the

Israelites are

calling God to

do what he has

promised, ultimately.

To bring justice

and to remember

his promises to

deal with sin in

all of its

totality.

So as horrific

as it is to read

verse 9, and it

should be horrific

for us, I think

C.S. Lewis is

right to an extent

to call it

devilish.

Okay?

Because it, how

else can you

describe such a

verse, such an

action?

But it's not

devilish in that

if we read it

with an

understanding that

God hates evil

and cannot let

it persist, then

we see that it

is an act of

God's love so

that he refuses

to let this type

of horrendous

evil reproduce.

abuse.

How does God

ultimately crush

his enemies and

bring evil to

its knees?

He does it by

defeating it with

its own tools.

So even though

this is the cry

of the heart of

these broken

yet hopeful

Israelites, and

God will answer

the prayers, there's

not necessarily

proof in

scripture that

that the

Babylonians, all

of their children

died this way, and

that's, that was

God's justice.

Instead he defeats

the Babylonians with

their own tools.

What do I mean?

We get a glimpse of

it in Jeremiah 29.

It's a very famous

passage.

If you know

Jeremiah 29, you

might even have a

fridge magnet with

verse 11 on it

somewhere in your

house, or just

buried in a box

somewhere.

Very popular.

What does it say?

For I know the

plans I have for

you, declares the

Lord, plans for

welfare and not for

evil, to give you a

future and a hope.

It's actually a

beautiful passage, but

there's more to it,

okay?

There's more to it.

And this is what it

says, if you go down

to verse 4 of

Jeremiah 29, thus

says the Lord of

hosts, the God of

Israel, to all the

exiles whom I have

sent into exile from

Jerusalem to Babylon.

Okay?

Interestingly, it's

God who is, he is

saying, I'm the one

who sent you.

Okay, nevertheless,

verse 5, build

houses and live in

them, plant gardens

and eat their

produce, take wives

and have sons and

daughters and take

wives for your sons

and give your

daughters in marriage

that they may bear

sons and daughters,

multiply there.

Where is the

there?

It's in Babylon.

And do not

decrease.

Verse 7, but seek

the welfare of the

city where I have

sent you into exile and

pray to the Lord on

its behalf for its

welfare and you will

find your welfare.

Welfare, again, is

just peace.

It's shalom.

Work for the shalom of

the city.

Verse 10, for thus

says the Lord, when

70 years are completed

for Babylon, I will

visit you and I will

fulfill to you my

promise and bring you

back to this place.

Verse 11, the famous

verse, for I know the

plans I have for you,

says the Lord.

plans for welfare and

not for evil, to give

you a future and a

hope.

Verse 12, then you

will call upon me and

I will come.

Sorry, then you will

call upon me and come

and pray to me and I

will hear you.

You will seek me and

find me when you seek

me with all your

heart.

I will be found by you,

declares the Lord, and

I will restore your

fortunes and gather you

from all the nations and

all the places where I

have driven you,

declares the Lord.

And I will bring you

back to the place from

which I sent you in to

exile.

Here's the thing.

Like an anti-venom given

to a body that has

suffered a snake bite,

how does God totally

upend Babylon?

Okay?

By humiliating them.

Not by killing their

children.

Okay?

But by taking the very

people that they sought

to humiliate,

planting them in the

city that is the

center of your empire,

and there they start

practicing the one true

faith, worshiping the

one true God who is not

limited to Jerusalem,

they turn Babylon into

Jerusalem.

And all of a sudden,

Babylon starts to become

more peaceful.

And welfare becomes a

critical aspect of what it

means to be Babylonian.

And what's interesting in

all of this, and Persia

came and took over

Babylon, Babylon ceased to

be an empire.

But almost from the

beginning, almost from the

beginning, after Christ's

ascension within the first

hundred years of the

church, the gospel goes to

Babylon.

And people start to

believe in the God of

Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob.

And to this day, and I've

met some, not many,

because they're persecuted

horribly by Islam in Iraq

and in the neighboring

areas, but I have met

Chaldean Christians.

Okay?

Babylonian Christians.

So what does God do

ultimately to his enemies?

If they will but repent

and turn to him, they

will make them, he will

make them his children.

How does this come about?

Ultimately, Christ, God,

the Son of God, comes down

to earth, takes upon

himself human form, and he

is dashed upon the rock,

isn't he?

He is utterly crushed.

He suffers with great

indignity.

He is laid bare.

He is laid bare.

He is brought down to his

foundation.

He dies upon a Roman

cross, and in the same

way that God humiliates

Babylon with Babylon's own

tools, God defeats death

by death itself.

It is a remarkable thing to

consider, how God deals

with his foes.

On the cross, Christ

undoes death,

defeats death by death.

Only Jesus resists Babylon

all the way to the end.

He is the embodiment of

Jerusalem himself, the

very presence of God

amongst his people.

And then we see that Jesus,

he brings justice.

And he brings justice in a

way that is so unbelievably

remarkable.

At the end of the age,

Revelation chapter 18,

Revelation 18 · chapter mention

it says that Babylon, and

again, it's this symbol of

Babylon, Babylon will be no

more.

Six times Babylon, no more.

Your craftsmen, no more.

Your leaders, no more.

No more, no more, no more.

More.

But that's not where

Revelation ends.

The Revelation of Jesus, it

ends with the new Jerusalem

coming down.

Okay?

And it's this wonderful

picture that at the end of

the age, not Babylon, but

Jerusalem will endure.

Friends, resist by God's

strength Babylon.

But more than that, remember

Jerusalem.

Remember Jerusalem.

Remember that if you are in

Christ, you are a citizen of

the heavenly city now.

Resist the call to be a

Babylonian.

Friends, we have a PR status

here in Babylon.

But let us never become

citizens.

Let us trust in Christ.

The true embodiment of the

heavenly city.