August 17: ONE WITH CHRIST

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Revelation 11:8

In the original Greek, there is a singular expression built into the opening phrase that, literally translated, would say: the dead body of them. This is significant for Christ followers, in their desire to live for Him while feeding upon the true bread from heaven (John 6:32). The word of God becomes one with the follower of Christ. This figures into the long-cherished metaphor of Christ being married to His beloved church.

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall . . . be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:30-32

The Old Testament has many references to “great cities”, such as Babylon, Nineveh, and Tyre. Known for their wickedness, these cities were compared to Sodom for their total absence of moral values, and to Egypt for the attitude of arrogance and godless self-sufficiency. It must also be said that Jerusalem, in her apostasy, was compared to Sodom and Gomorrah by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.* So, to which great city does our opening verse refer? This city, the seat of that nation’s government, made a law that fornication was allowed and encouraged. The marriage union, as God established it at creation, was mocked in a cruel form of double-execution called “republican marriage”. Hundreds of thousands were arrested, imprisoned, and executed in the Reign of Terror. The mocking of marriage, rampant sexual immorality, and the broad pronouncement of atheism, characterized the arrogant, rebellious spirit of the French Revolution. Thus, their capital city, Paris, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, is cited.

Paris is being compared to the city where… our Lord was crucified, Jerusalem. The professing city of God had been plainly associated—because of her apostasy—with Sodom and Egypt. Such moral depravity, symbolized by Sodom, is not only against the law of God, but it acts as though He does not exist, the mindset for which Egypt has become a symbol. Through the prophet Amos, the Lord addressed Israel as He had addressed Egypt and Sodom (Amos 4:10-11), for His own people had become like them.

The prophecy given to John in our opening verse demonstrates that the oppressors pile even more insult upon the insult of murder and arson: the dead body of them will lie in the street of the great city. The prevailing spirit in this great city is one of celebration, but it will be short-lived. Though truth-bearers are mocked and persecuted, and truth seems to fail, it will triumph at earth’s end and for eternity.

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. Isaiah 59:14-15

*Isaiah 1:9-10; 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:48-58