{"id":1029,"date":"2018-05-28T08:01:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-28T16:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1029"},"modified":"2018-05-28T08:01:16","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T16:01:16","slug":"devotion-revelation-184-8-honor-god-and-be-separate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1029","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Revelation 18:4-8 Honor God And Be Separate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 18:4-8\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>Then I heard another voice from heaven say: \u201c\u2018Come out of her, my people,\u2019 so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

5\u00a0for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered\u00a0her crimes. 6\u00a0Give back to her as she has given; pay her back\u00a0double\u00a0for what she has done.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Pour her a double portion from her own cup.\u00a0 7\u00a0Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.<\/span>
\nIn her heart she boasts, \u2018I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.\u2019 8\u00a0Therefore in one day\u00a0her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThen I heard another voice from heaven say: \u201c\u2018Come out of her, my people,\u2019 so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 God has always called His people to lives that are separated from the ways of the world.\u00a0 He called Abraham out of his country to a promised land (Genesis 12:1<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jeremiah 50:8, 51:6, 45<\/b>\u00a0calls the Jews out of Babylon and to not be associated with her sin and so also with the judgement to fall upon her. Likewise Lot and his family were ushered out of Sodom to escape the imminent destruction to fall upon her so that Lot would not also suffer the judgment meant for Sodom (Genesis 19:15<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0In the New Testament we are likewise urged to live our lives separated from the ways of the world (Romans 16:17-18; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1<\/b>). Family, it is very easy to lose our focus and become distracted by the world.\u00a0 And the distraction becomes an evil habit.\u00a0 Let us be diligent in our walk with God.\u00a0 To allow evil into our life is to have idols in our life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cfor her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered\u00a0her crimes.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 This is reminiscent of the original Babylon, the tower of Babel.\u00a0 They thought they would build a tower so high it would reach to heaven, making them have no further need for God. Yet, in one day, the Lord destroyed their plans and scattered them (Genesis 11:1-8<\/b>).\u00a0 They did not build a tower that reached Heaven, but their evil plans did reach Heaven.\u00a0 God is neither unaware nor forgetful of the sins of man.\u00a0 Rather the sins of the unredeemed are known and remembered by God.<\/span><\/p>\n

We must not attempt to serve God and the world lest we get trapped by the world and also suffer the punishment coming to the world (Ephesians 5:11-12<\/b>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGive back to her as she has given; pay her back\u00a0double\u00a0for what she has done.\u00a0<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/i><\/span>Pour her a double portion from her own cup.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Galatians 6:7<\/b>\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Do not be deceived:\u00a0God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 A man receives back the penalty for his sins.\u00a0 God has His timing, perfect timing for all things, including when times of judgment (2 Peter 3:9<\/b>).\u00a0 The evil that the world does is first against God and also against His people.\u00a0 Babylon will receive punishment double for what she has done.\u00a0 She will receive a double portion of judgment.\u00a0 Very scary.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.<\/i><\/span>
\nIn her heart she boasts, \u2018I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Babylon is steeped in pride. She is prideful and lives in luxury.\u00a0 She has the same mindset as many in the world, that they deserve their riches and sees no reason to help the less fortunate.\u00a0 She thinks she has because of she has earned, giving no credit to God.\u00a0 She wants no-one to say she is lacking anything and she thinks no-one, even God, will take her riches from her.\u00a0\u00a0Proverbs 16:18<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cPride\u00a0goes before destruction, a haughty spirit\u00a0before a fall.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore in one day\u00a0her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 All who stand against God will suffer the same fate as the devil they follow.\u00a0 One day, judgement comes, and they will fall.\u00a0Hosea 5:12\u00a0<\/b>states that judgment came come slowly like a moth eating away of suddenly like a lion pouncing as in\u00a0Hosea 5:14.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As\u00a0Galatians 6:7<\/b>\u00a0states, let no one deceive themselves.\u00a0 All who reject Jesus shall suffer for their sins.\u00a0 Yet not the believer.\u00a0 The sins of the believer are forgiven and forgotten (Psalm 103:10-13<\/b>).\u00a0 Let us remember that judgment falling on the unredeemed is also evidence of the truthfulness of God\u2019s Word and therefore also is proof that we will live with God forever!\u00a0 Let these things that are to happen not cause fear to the redeemed, but a time of glorifying God who always speaks the truth.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 18:4-8\u00a0–\u00a04\u00a0Then I heard another voice from heaven say: \u201c\u2018Come out of her, my people,\u2019 so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5\u00a0for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered\u00a0her crimes. 6\u00a0Give back to her as she has given;…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[129,1841,1969,1865,2411,99,94,90,88,17,711,10],"class_list":["post-1029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-corinthians","tag-ephesians","tag-galatians","tag-genesis","tag-hosea","tag-jeremiah","tag-micah","tag-peter","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm","tag-revelation","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}