Come Out of Her

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. (Revelation 18:4-5, NIV 1984).

My Musings – This time, the voice comes from Heaven. The warning “come out of her” is reminiscent of Jeremiah 50:8 “[f]lee out of Babylon.”  From the apostate or world-conforming church there will likely be some (a great multitude?) of God’s invisible and true Church (a remnant) who previously were caught up in it, and perhaps the political/commercial Babylon as well.  To be safe spiritually they must certainly come out of the former (apostate religious system). Once they come out of the former, they likely will not be safe from the latter (persecution by the political/commercial Babylonian system). 

As Lot was warned to come out of Sodom just before its destruction, so it will be at the end of the age.  Thus, the voice from Heaven urges believers to resist the apostate religion and flee from the worldliness of the Babylonian system. They should have nothing to do with Mystery Babylon’s politics and commerce, its religious decay and apostasy.  One cannot serve both God and mammon (“share in her sin”).

The text offers two reasons for God’s people to separate themselves.

So That You Will Not Share in Her Sins – The first is that they might avoid the pollution of their morals, as Paul admonished Timothy “do not share in the sins of others” (1 Timothy 5:22, NIV 1984). The word used for share (partakers in some translations) means joint fellowship or partnership. “It [is] good [for us] to share in [the] troubles” (Philippians 4:14, NIV 1984), but not in the “fruitless deeds of darkness,” (Ephesians 5:11, NIV 1984). These we should have nothing to with. True unity of the Spirit should exist among believers, but we must not compromise by joining with that which is opposed to Christ. 

So That You Will Not Receive Any of Her Plagues – The second reason is that God’s people might be spared the terrible plagues He will send on this Babylon. Up to this point, God had patiently endured the growing sins of the evil system. Now the time has come for His wrath to be poured out. He would treat Babylon just as she treated His people. Those that are resolved to take part in the wickedness, or linger too long, will also receive her plagues.  We live in a fallen world, and there is always the danger of getting too cozy with its pleasures and excesses. We cannot flee from the world, but we can flee from these. What was true in the Garden of Eden is true today and will be true in the tribulation – if you do not want to suffer the consequences of eating the “apple,” don’t hang around the tree.

My Advice – It is common response to danger or stress is to either flight or fight. One or the other. In the case of spiritual danger, God’s word tells us to do what is uncommon – fight by fleeing and pursuing. “But you, man of God, flee from [foolish and harmful desires], and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.” (1 Timothy 6:11-12, NIV 1984). Fight the good fight, my friends!

Resources:

Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 593). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (Re 18:4). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 614). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 2482). Peabody: Hendrickson.