Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 46

February 15;      Revelation 18:21;       256/260(III);        ‘Babylon’

Revelation 18:21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder as large as a great millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, "Babylon, the great city, will be thrown down as violently as I have thrown away this stone, and she will disappear forever.       NLT

In Revelation 17:5, ‘mystery Babylon the great, mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth represents religion, idolatry.  Babylon the great in chapter 18 represents sinful deceived humanity, ambitious, a culture in rebellion against God.  The economic, godless commercialism of Babylon the great persecutes God’s people and of necessity will be destroyed.  Babylon the great ‘worships’ riches and the luxuries the riches can buy.  The powerful men and women and the merchants who sold the world goods will stand weeping as the judgments of plagues and fire destroy the very foundation those who do not know or care about God live for.  Think of this, the very things that Babylon the great stands for will be utterly destroyed in a very short period of time.  Just as a huge boulder is violently thrown into the ocean, then the ‘splash of the boulder is no more, the wealth and deception of Babylon the great will be crushed and then it will be no more.  If we build our lives on anything but the Lord Jesus, ultimately it will fail.  Jesus told us that even if we gain all of the riches in the world, when we die without Him, only an eternity of torment awaits.  All of the things that were important to those of Babylon the great will be gone.  Is it too late for them to be saved when they realize the futility of what was so important  to them.  Unless they have received the mark of the beast they still can be saved.  But will they be able to completely change very quickly?  Stuff is temporary, we must reach them now,  We can.