- 33 Babylon is Fallen
Isaiah 21:9 And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
Babylon is fallen, is fallen! This doesn’t sound like a promise. It is a prophecy, fulfilled in the vision of John in the Book of Revelation. God promises in this prophecy that Babylon will fall. Babylon is a metaphor for “the world” in Revelation and in the Bible generally. The faithful believer is warned to “come out of Babylon,” that is, come out of the world, even though you must remain in the world. But you must not be a part of the world’s temptations and the ways of worldly thinking. Jesus calls us to separation from our connections to the world’s way of life. He says it is possible to be in the world without being of the world.
One reason for separation from the world is that the world has the sentence of death upon it. It will end; it will be destroyed; it will fall. Anyone connected to the world will fall with it when everything evil will be confined to the lake of fire eternally. Since this promise will come true get out of the world now before the judgment.The world is under the control of the prince of the power of the air, and those who follow his lies and temptations will fall in condemnation with him.
Jesus has rescued us from the world and it ways and from its sentence of death. Babylon has caused exceedingly much trouble and pain; therefore, the promise that it will fall is good news for us. We have been brought into a wonderful new kingdom of grace, living peacefully and prosperously under a new King of kings. This is the promise for those who repent and believe the Gospel: they have entered the Kingdom of God and escaped the kingdoms of the world. Babylon has long been used by Sin, Death and Satan to wreak havoc on God’s created beings. The Beast rules Babylon with the intent of destroying all people. But the Lord promises deliverance from that evil kingdom and given us the kingdom of God, which rules in our hearts and lives today and forever.
When the world seems to have its way we take hold of this promise: the world will fall and we shall reign with Christ. The truth of this promise is fulfilled daily when we turn away from the world and repent and then turn to Christ and believe the Gospel.