September 13, 2020: SOAP #3937:  Ezekiel 33-35; Revelation 18

Scripture:  Revelation (NIV) 18:1 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. 3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”  
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “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; 5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. 7 Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ 8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

Observation:   In the middle of this alarming passage of God’s judgment on sin, we read a most comforting verse.  As God remembers the sins of the nation and prepares to give them double, He also remembers “His people!”  “His people” are not perfect sinless people, but they are the ones whose sins have already been judged.  They were declared guilty; they received the offer of forgiveness and the death of Jesus as the payment for their sins; they are now justified—(just-as-if-I’d never sinned!)   

Application:  God does not forget His people!  He will not forget me!  He has a way to get me out of trouble.  I can trust Him!        

Prayer:   Heavenly Father, it is comforting and encouraging to know that you will not forget me.  How special to have a place in your memory!  Amen

Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!