January 8: THE POWER OF LOVE UNTO SALVATION
After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” Revelation 19:1-2
The vivid description of Babylon’s fall includes the “throw-down” of all associated with her. John saw the grief of her accomplices over personal losses, the end of their jobs, the fallen economy, etc. But their anger expressed towards Babylon (17:16) for having been deceived is not going to save them. At this point, it may seem that no one responds to the heart-rending heavenly plea: “Come out of her my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (18:4). We are not shown a number of those who do choose to exit Babylon, but in faith, we are to act upon the hope that many more will be called, chosen, and faithful (17:14).
Chapter 19 shifts from the earthly scene of Babylon’s collapse to a burst of praises in heaven! We humans really do not know how keen is the interest of angels (billions of them!) in the plan of salvation for lost humanity. John saw that every individual who escaped Babylon’s snares is joyfully celebrated. When Jesus came into our world, they celebrated in great hope (Luke 2:13-14). The Lord Himself said, “I say… there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). The angels of heaven are exuberant at the collapse of the system under Satan’s power that worked to cause people to be lost. The great multitude in heaven gives all glory to God for the salvation of lost humans. For millennia they have been His agents—on one assignment after another—doing His bidding behind the scenes. The angels honor God with explosive enthusiasm. They know that the power belong[ing] to the Lord our God is the power that emanates from His great heart of love. He owns the power to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25). In contrast, the satanic powers of deception and manipulation are devoid of love. Satan’s goal is to divert worship toward himself. If he gets it by trickery or force, that is just fine with him.
For true and righteous are His judgments. There is not the slightest chance that our Lord will make a mistake in His judgments. Every individual will be flawlessly evaluated, according to what they did with the light that they had (see Luke 12:48). He knows that the great harlot who corrupted the earth did everything she could to keep His Word away from the masses. She hid it, misinterpreted it, forbade people to read it, added to it, and deleted from it; all because of her fornication (intimacy) with Satan. Many will be in heaven who had little Biblical exposure. A ready response to the Holy Spirit and mere fragments of truth determined a positive direction of their lives. Others, indeed many others, will not be in heaven even after full access to God’s Word. They knew of divine instructions for living that they deliberately chose to cast aside. This lack of obedience to God’s revealed will exposes a lack of trust and love for the Savior.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 7:21; 19:17 (see also Hebrews 5:9)