Rejoice over her fate, O heaven
    and people of God and apostles and prophets!
For at last God has judged her
    for your sakes.
Revelation 18:20

• We have traced God's redemptive plan from creation to consummation. Now, we arrive at the ultimate judgment of the greatest spiritual enemy of God's people: Babylon the Great.
• In Revelation, "Babylon" is not just a historical city; it is the comprehensive world system—the collective forces of false religion, materialism, commercialism, and worldly power that stand opposed to the Gospel of Christ.
• Our final lesson together gives us a direct, urgent command that summarizes the entire Christian life: Do not become a part of Babylon, but flee her influence.
• The lesson begins with God's clear, loving, and non-negotiable directive to His church.

• "And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people...'"
  
  • The Identity: God calls those under the judgment's threat "my people." This is a loving affirmation that believers are not truly citizens of the world; they belong to another King and another Kingdom (echoing our lesson on Philippians 3:20).
  • The Command: The imperative "Come out of her" demands spiritual, moral, and ideological separation. It means disconnecting ourselves from Babylon's values, priorities, and corrupting influence.
• The Reason for Separation: "...lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues."
  
  • God does not want His people to become guilty by association. By participating in Babylon's sins (greed, immorality, self-sufficiency), we make ourselves morally indistinguishable from her and justly liable for her fate.
  • To avoid Babylon, we must understand the specific character flaws that define the condemned world system.

• Sins Reach Heaven : "For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities."
  
  • Babylon's moral debts have accumulated to such a point that they demand an irreversible divine response. This emphasizes the certainty and justice of the coming judgment.
• The Sin of Self-Sufficiency : The core arrogance of Babylon is expressed in her motto: "...in her heart she says, 'I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.'"
  
  • Babylon believes she is permanent, sovereign, and self-sufficient. She relies entirely on her own wealth, power, and wisdom, believing she is immune to judgment and needs no God.
  • This is the fundamental worldly mindset that believers must reject: the belief that our comfort, security, and identity can be found apart from Christ.
• The Temptation for the Church: The danger for the believer is adopting this same attitude: relying on a retirement account, a political party, or a successful career for peace, rather than on the living God.

• The separation is urgent because the judgment is imminent, total, and irreversible.
• "Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire..."
  
  • Swiftness: The judgment is not slow; it occurs "in one day." This shows that Babylon's power and perceived permanence are a momentary illusion that can be wiped away instantaneously by God.
  • Totality: The world system will be "utterly burned with fire." This final, complete destruction (like the destruction of the old earth we discussed in 2 Peter 3) means there will be no remnants of the old system for God's people to return to.
• The Power of the Judge: "...for strong is the Lord God who judges her." This is the foundation of the believer's confidence. The same God who redeemed us is powerful enough to overthrow the entire global system opposed to Him.

• Through this year in Read Thru the Word, we have seen that history is moving toward a dramatic climax—a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
• The final, summarizing command of our chronological study is "Come out of her, my people." 
• The Christian life is defined by our choice of citizenship and our allegiance.
• Thankful that our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, and that our eternity will be spent together!

Read the Word. Love the Word. Live the Word.