Leave Her
Today’s passage: Revelation 18
Focus verse: “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)
In the fight between the beast and the Lamb, we know that the Lamb is victorious. Now we hear from an angel that Babylon, the great prostitute, has fallen too.
This may be because of the battle with the beast or a subsequent action. Regardless, she’s been defeated. She led the nations into adultery and people prospered from her extreme extravagances.
Yet as soon as the first angel speaks, a second message arrives from heaven. It may come from God himself.
He invites the people to leave her—to come out of her—and separate themselves from her sins and the punishment they deserve from following Babylon’s adulteries.
This is yet another opportunity to repent and avoid judgment.
We can speculate, without resolution, who might receive this heavenly invitation. Is it those who don’t yet follow Jesus as his disciples? Is it those who received the mark of the beast, with the heavenly message offering them a final way to escape?
Perhaps it’s given to those who once followed Jesus but became distracted by Babylon—by the temptations of the world. If so, it’s a call to return to him.
Regardless of the intended audience, we can take great solace in knowing that God gives people one more chance to repent and avoid punishment.
This shows us his great mercy and immense love, wanting to save as many as he can, providing chance after chance for people to turn toward him.
Yet we also see that punishment awaits the unrepentant. This confirms God is also just.
Babylon receives a double portion of punishment. It’s not just one woe, but a double woe, as in “Woe! Woe . . .” This includes torment and grief, along with plagues that produce death, mourning, and famine. Fire will consume her.
Implicitly, Babylon’s punishment also awaits those who remain aligned with her depravity and refuse to turn to God.
Yet we can also receive this as a call to us today, a plea to turn from the world’s distractions, represented by the great prostitute and her depravities, to leave her behind and not share in the punishment of her sins and the plagues that will afflict her.
Instead, we must realign with Jesus and escape the punishment we deserve.
Questions:
- How have we gotten too close to the sinful distractions of the world?
- What can we change to more fully focus on Jesus?
- What is God urging us to leave behind to return fully to him?
- How can we better align with Jesus?
- Do we follow Jesus to spend eternity with him or to escape punishment for our sins?
[Read about a parallel situation when God proclaims a double woe in Ezekiel 16:20–29.]
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Read more in Revelation Bible Study: Discover Practical Insights from John’s Epic Vision.
Discover practical, understandable insights from the book of Revelation.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo Christianity and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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