God Invites You Out of Exile
Read Revelation 18
Rev 18:4 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.”
IN the prophecies of Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, you will read of God
judging his people for their sins by sending them into exile to Babylon about
600 years before Christ. You will then see God’s great love in the salvation of
his people as he brings them out of Babylon to live as his people again in
Judah and Jerusalem.
The image here of
Babylon is a picture of Rome in John’s time. Rome is the country persecuting
God’s people. Rome, as was Babylon, is the most powerful country on the earth.
John’s Jewish readers would clearly understand the connection between Rome of their
day and Babylon in their history.
And the promise
God gives to John is the same promise God gave to Ezekiel. God will rescue his
people out of “Babylon” and welcome them home to a life with him. The day came
when Rome stopped persecuting Christians and became the center of the Christian
world.
We can be
strengthened and encouraged today that one day God will deliver his church from
today’s persecution and into a glorious place with him. He will bring the church
out of its “exile” where it is demeaned and diminished. In his love, God will
welcome his church “home” into a place of triumph.
Again, this
applies to your individual life, too. Are you feeling you are in “exile” from
God for some reason? Then know he wants you to be with him. Go to him. Give your
mind to know him, eyes to see him and heart to love him. Live a life of redeemed
joy with him.
A Moment’s Thought: God wants you to be with him.
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