It Will All Be Gone Someday

Today’s Passages – Revelation 16 – 19; Proverbs 29

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 141 – 145)

“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” – (Revelation 18:8-10)

I must confess that I feel completely inadequate to discuss much of the truth contained in this Book of Revelation. I have studied this marvelous and mysterious book, and have even attempted to teach through it twice to our church in the last ten years. Still, there is much that I do not understand. In chapter 18, we read about the destruction of the City of Babylon. I am not exactly sure whether or not this city is actually a modern, re-built version of the old city in Iraq; or if it is just symbolic of the capital of Antichrist’s headquarters wherever that may be. I have heard some say that it is Rome, but I don’t know. My gut feeling tells me that it is actually Babylon. I like to take the Bible at its face value; literally.

At any rate, this city represents all that the world values: wealth, culture, power, education. This is the very capitol of the world system, and is the seat of government for Antichrist. The lost people that will be alive when this happens will be completely shocked at what will take place when this city is destroyed. They will not believe that anything could ever happen to that great and powerful city. But in one day, it will all be destroyed.

My thought this morning is that we do not think that anything like this can happen to us either. Even Christians who should know better have somewhat placed their trust in what this world offers them. We have become very comfortable and affluent. We are rather enjoying our little sojourn down here on the earth, and we sometimes forget why we are here. We don’t think anything can happen to our own little empire. But in one day we, too, could lose everything. It only takes one phone call from the doctor’s office; one pink slip in your the envelope; one catastrophe; and everything that we know and love could change forever. You see, the Scripture is very clear that we are not to put our trust in anything but the Lord, and He has the tendency to shake up our world every once in a while, maybe just to get our attention. Remember Christian, we are here on a mission for the Lord. We are not supposed to get too comfortable down here on the earth. We are on a mission,  God’s ambassadors to this fallen, sin-cursed world. Heaven is our true kingdom, the New Jerusalem is the city that we hail from; and that city is eternal. Let’s not put our trust in the shifting sand of this world. Someday, all that the people of this world hold dear will be gone. This life on earth is temporary; don’t live for it. Live for the eternal life that you have long after this world is gone.