January 4, 2023

“But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.” Ezekiel 47:11

This verse was conspicuously omitted from yesterday’s closing passage. It requires examination in light of a marked unwillingness to be healed. In this scenario, there is an underlying spirit of disobedience and disbelief in the word of God. The picture painted here contrasts the cleansing effect of the flowing rivers of water we read of yesterday with boggy waters that lack aeriation. It illustrates holding to wrong ideas about God while resisting and resenting anything that may ‘stir up the waters’ (By the way, oxygen is at the very top of the list of our necessary nutrients). The swampy, marshy waters stagnate and become increasingly unclean and odiferous; a cesspool of disease. It is a fit symbol for the fallen religious systems of the world; the result is widespread spiritual unwellness.

Any caring doctor who wants his sick patient to get well will establish a clear understanding that his instructions are to be followed. Often, he will begin by asking the patient this all-important question: “Do you want to get well?” It is interesting that the Great Physician, when He came to find the man who had been ill for 38 years, asked a similar question: “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6)

The fallen religious systems of the world are rapidly coalescing under the banner of “saving the planet.” God’s word gives a prophetic name to this conglomerate fallen system: Babylon. The LORD, through the prophet Jeremiah, gave a distinct foreshadowing of this end-time reality, saying, “We would have healed Babylon, But she is not healed. Forsake her . . . for her judgement reaches to heaven and is lifted up to the skies.” (Jeremiah 51:9) The simple reason Babylon is not healed is because she does not want to be made well. This massive system of false worship has deceived nearly the entire world. It is the enemy’s treachery to divert the worship that belongs to God alone towards worship for himself; just what he has always wanted (Isaiah 14:13-14, Matthew 4:9, Luke 4:7).

Most people today are in Babylon and do not realize it (Revelation 13:4). But they will all have opportunity to make a safe exit before the Savior returns to gather His people and transport them to Heaven.

“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen . . . Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues.” Revelation 18:2,4

“Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” Revelation 14:7b (see also Exodus 20:11)

Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14