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Revelation 18:7 "As she glorified herself and played the wanton, so give her a like measure of torment and morning...."

 

The angel of God is calling to God's people, urging them to come out of Babylon lest they take part in her sins, and to render to her as she has rendered. (Revelation 18:4-6). In the Bible, Babylon is often a stand-in for evil in the world. This is certainly true in Revelation, as "“Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations" meets her end (Revelation 17:5).

 

There is a kingdom of evil, led by the devil, that can be seen to be the Babylon that is falling in Revelation, but there are also plenty of nations throughout history, including Babylon itself, that fit the description of her, and that have suffered or will suffer destruction due to their promotion of wickedness (I sometimes worry that my country may be one of them!). Further, though, we can look to the Babylon in ourselves and our own hearts. Areas of our lives that we have given over to evil, and won't change, or even acknowledge, can be seen as the Babylons in us. Those areas spread their ego-centric and sinful influence throughout us, tainting even what we intend to be good, just as Babylon spread its influence throughout the ancient world.

 

A hallmark of these "Babylons" is the glorification of self. Evil plays to our pride and our ego, so if we find ourselves or our nation glorifying ourselves, that is a pretty good sign we have some Babylon in us. There is only One who deserves glory. Anything good in us is just a reflection of His glory, it is not our own. If we are facing Him, we recognize that, and through our reflection His glory is magnified. But if we are not facing Him, our reflection of Him fades, and we begin to see only ourselves, attributing our glory as His children to our own doing. We then begin to reflect the evil one, as we fall into the same pride that he did, and open ourselves up to torment and mourning.