December 28: WISHFUL THINKING
…standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.” Revelation 18:10
This scene brings to mind the way that the Old Testament prophets referred to God’s overthrow of the cities on the plain as a model of ancient Babylon’s overthrow and destruction. Abraham’s view was also from a distance: Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:28).
Isaiah had this to say: And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah . . . her days will not be prolonged (Isaiah 13:19,22b).
Jeremiah likewise recorded: “A sword is against…the inhabitants of Babylon, and against her princes and wise men… As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors,” says the LORD, “So no one shall reside there, Nor son of man dwell in it” (Jeremiah 50:35,40).
Those who are lamenting the fate of Babylon are standing at a distance. As these lamenters – the kings of the earth – see what is happening, they begin to fear that Babylon’s fate will also become theirs. As they distance themselves for fear of her torment, they entertain a hope that their entanglements with her will somehow go unnoticed. The word translated torment is from a Greek legal term, krisis, that refers to the execution of a judicial pronouncement or sentence. (The same word is used by demons, who understand that they are under a divine sentence yet to come, in Matthew 8:29 – see also Jude 6.) Notice in the last phrase of today’s verse that the mourners refer to this execution of the sentence as your [Babylon’s] judgment, another indication of wishful thinking as they stand at a distance….
“Alas, alas…” is the first of three ‘funeral-style’ lamentations over the demise of that great city Babylon. Those mourning her had benefitted, in a worldly sense, from their association with her. Their observation – “For in one hour your judgment has come” – bears a likeness to the brief period that the world governments enjoyed the promise of power that came with their backing given to the one-world religious system: The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast (Revelation 17:12).
Babylon’s judgment is just as certain as that of Sodom and Gomorrah. But forgiveness and eternal security for those who choose to come out of her (v.4) and into God’s Kingdom is just as sure. Follow the sure word of the real Jesus – and live!
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. Jude 3