After these things I heard, as it were, the sound of a great crowd of many people in heaven saying, "Hallelujah!  Salvation, glory and power belong to our God.  His judgments are true and righteous because He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornications, and avenged the blood of His slaves out of her hand.  Rev. 19:1, 2. 
 
    Hollywood loves a good revenge story, such as that of the Count of Monte Cristo.  In it the count suffers injustice at the hand of an evil antagonist, but in the end he gets even and comes out on top.  Many people must like such stories, as the movie industry keeps producing them.  Revenge stories conclude when the hero rides off into the sunset, having brought justice into an unjust world.  It is human nature to want to see the tables turned on those who have taken advantage of others.
 
    Well, that is exactly what the book of Revelation is all about.  Babylon has unjustly judged the people of God (Rev. 18:4-8), and at the end of the book she receives the same kind of punishment that she meted out on them.  In Revelation the hero doesn't head off into the sunset--He returns to the New Jerusalem, where justice and peace will reign for all eternity.
 
    But gaining the upper hand against Babylon is not a pretty picture in the Apocalypse.  It requires powerful earthquakes and giant hailstones, battles and flaming fire, and a great sword that comes out of the mouth of the One who died for the human race.  Christ now returns as an avenger against those who refused to repent, but instead have tormented others.       
 
    The greater the strength of evil, the greater the force needed to destroy its power and undo the damage it has caused.  I have visited places in Africa and South America where people live in cardboard and tin shacks, where gangs roam and pillage at will.  In other places rebel armies sweep back and forth, destroying the very people they claim to be fighting for.
 
    I'm not sure what kind of rating Revelation would get if it were a movie--it certainly has plenty of violence and illicit sex in it.  The Bible does not mince words when it describes the cesspool of sin that our world has fallen into.  God wants us to know just how bad it has been since Satan took over our world.  He also desires that we recognize that He is not going to allow things to go on like this forever.  An end is in sight.  Yes, the book of Revelation is all about turning the tables and evening the score.  Soon God will banish evil from the universe and the prayers for justice will all be answered.  What a relief!
 
Lord, thank You for going out of Your way to speak our language so we can know that our troubles will soon be over.  Give us courage to endure until that day.

  In her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slaughtered upon the earth.  Rev. 18:24.
 
    One day I found myself in court, sitting in the gallery with a church member who had gotten himself into a bit of trouble.  As we waited for his case to come up we watched a drunken driving case playing out in from of us.  The scene had four main players: the judge, a policeman (the accuser in the case), the defendant, and the defendant's lawyer.
 
    It seems that the policeman had discovered the man, "drunk as a skunk," pinned behind the wheel of a car and asleep.  The front of the car was embedded into the concrete abutment of a bridge.  Behind the car, tracks in the snow indicated the car had driven along the sidewalk for about 130 feet (40 meters) before its impact with the bridge.
 
    The outcome of the trial seemed obvious.  The defendant clearly (as far as I could see) had been operating under the influence of alcohol when he wandered through town, barely missing shops and entryways before coming to a jarring stop upon impact with the bridge.  The defendant, unable to extricate himself from the car, fell asleep (it was about 2:00 in the morning) behind the wheel.  The policeman found him there and wrote up his summons.
 
    The defense lawyer, however, was not intimidated by the apparent facts in the case.  Pacing back and forth, he argued, to the thinly veiled amusement of the judge, that his client was not the driver of the car, but had wandered upon the scene after the accident.  Finding no one in the car, he climbed into the driver's seat and fell asleep!
 
    The judge wasted little time on deliberation.  He pointed out how difficult it had been for the policeman to extricate the man, proving that he had been in the driver's seat at the time of impact.  Then he referred to the tracks in the snow as evidence that the driver was not in normal control of his faculties.  As a result he levied a stiff fine and a six-month revocation of license as a penalty.
 
    The defense lawyer ten jumped up and cried out, "We appeal this decision!"  The judge responded immediately with a time and place for the appeal hearing.
 
    Although justice was probably already done in this case, a healthy court system includes the concept of a higher court.  Injustice at one level can get corrected at another.  According to Revelation 18, the decisions of all earthly tribunals, including the U.S. Supreme Court, can be appealed to the higher court of God's end-time judgment.  There God will reverse all the injustices of this life.  Saints treated as criminals by earthly courts will then be vindicated.
 
Lord, thank You for the assurance that You will reverse the unfairness of life when You finally take full control.  Give me the patience to await Your final verdict.

   The light of a lamp will not shine in you anymore, the voice of a bridegroom and a bride will not be heard in you anymore, because your merchants were the great men of the earth, because with your sorcery all nations were deceived.  In her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slaughtered upon the earth.  Rev. 18:23, 24.
 
    The injustices of Babylon are many (Rev. 18:1-7) and her doom, therefore is sure.  But an even greater tragedy lurks in all of this.  Those who identify with Babylon in any way perish with her (verse 4).  Many, like the kings, merchants, and sailors of this chapter, are not committed to Babylon's agenda in their hearts.  They cooperate with her simply because they hope to better their own short lives on this earth (verses 9-19).
 
    The choice is foolish but understandable.  We simply want what is best for ourselves and our families.  Yet the consequences of even casual participation in "Babylon" are catastrophic.  How does God expect us to respond to the injustices of today's Babylons?  Is it enough to live quiet and simple lives?  Or do we need to "come out of Babylon" in more significant ways?
 
    At its height the West Indies slave trade employed 5,500 sailors and 160 ships.  It was a massive and socially accepted practice.  But William Wilberforce and his allies, acting out of Christian conviction, fought in the British Parliament until slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire.  In America the voices of abolitionists gave legitimacy to efforts to free slaves in the South.
 
    While our ability to transform our nation's behavior is often limited, that is not true of our capacity to change our own behavior.  Jesus told His disciples not to value possessions.  As Christians we should be ever ready to give them up (Luke 14:33).  James tells us that failure to care for fellow Christians in need may indicate a lack of saving faith (James 2:14-17).  Paul's central mission was preaching the gospel, but he did not forget the needs of the poor (2 Cor. 8:13-15; Gal. 2:10).
 
    Sometimes our hearts are hard until we have firsthand exposure to human need.  Tony Liston, a young pastor from Oklahoma, spent two days in a private hospital room in the Philippines at a cost of $47.  As he  entered the hospital he barely noticed a beggar woman near the outside entrance.  When he left two day later, he saw her naked corpse stuffed into a nearby dumpster.  She had died of the same affliction for which he had just received treatment.  "She had no money," the nurse replied in a matter-of-fact tone.  The experience so shook Tony that he has never been the same since.
 
Lord, help me prioritize my resources according to what matters most to Your heart.

  A mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus with violence the Great City Babylon will be thrown down, and it will not be found anymore.  The sound of harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpets will not be heard in you anymore.  No craftsman of any craft will be found in you anymore.  The sound of a millstone will not be heard in you anymore."  Rev. 18:21, 22.
 
    As we have seen, economic exploitation and negligence are a major part of Babylon's pattern of sin.  As the world's largest economy, the United States of America can largely dictate trade policies in its own interests.  While many of the problems in developing countries are self-inflicted, that is no excuse for taking selfish advantage.
 
    Today more than 1 billion people live on the equivalent of less than $1 a day.  The richest 20 percent of the world's people use 86 percent of the resources, while the poorest 20 percent employ only 1.4 percent.  Eight hundred million people are malnourished or facing starvation.  A quarter of a million children die every week from malnutrition and easily preventable diseases.  Eighty percent of brain development occurs by age 2, yet 150 million children in the world lack the protein intake necessary for adequate brain growth, leading to permanent retardation.
 
    The average annual income in the U.S. is about $20,000, while in Bangladesh it is less that $400.  So one would think that the U.S. could afford to provide much help to less fortunate countries.  After all, one's location at birth is not because of merit.  Yet in assisting developing countries, Norway ranks the highest (1.12 percent of gross national product) and the U.S. is next to last (0.25 percent) among the wealthier nations.  In any given year the U.S. budgets 20 times as much for defense as for foreign assistance, and even two thirds of the later is for military aid.  On top of that, protectionist trade practices cost developing nations twice as much as the total value of aid they receive.  One day we will have to give and account.
 
    Advertising makes us think that we must have more things and makes us forget the needs of others.  How tragic!  We find much more satisfaction in relationships than in accumulating possessions.  While possessions are not evil in themselves, their value is minimal compared with the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
    Revelation 18 reminds us that God does not look the other way in the face of economic injustice.  He will bring down every empire in time.  When we squander money on things we do not need, will we somehow escape Babylon's judgment?
 
Lord, I am sobered as I contemplate the personal implications of Babylon's fall.  Open my eyes to how You view my stewardship of the resources You have given me.

 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and also the saints, apostles, and prophets, because God had judged her in the same way she has judged you.  Rev. 18:20.
 
    An interesting feature of this text is that Scripture commands the saints to rejoice, orders them to be happy.  Most of us think that we can be happy only when things are going well.  But evidently happiness is a choice--one that God's people can make even in the hardest of times.
 
    Recently my mother had to spend some time in a nursing home.  Ninety-one years old at the time, she got her foot caught in a blanket while she tried to get to the phone, and she fell down hard, breaking the upper part of her left leg, right next to the hip.  After the doctors set the break, she spent several weeks in the hospital.  The time came when she still needed 24-hour care but Medicare would no longer pay the high costs of hospital rehabilitation.  So she moved into a room at a nursing home with three other women at a reduced level of care.
 
    While visiting her from day to day, I noticed that the residents of the nursing home seemed to have very different reactions to their situation.  Some of them seemed angry all the time, demanding things of the attendants and complaining about everything from the food, to the quality of the mattress, to the location of the television, to the nurses' reaction time.  They seemed to be suffering a great deal.
 
    Others were just the opposite.  Constantly cheery, they greeted everyone who walked by, thanked the nurses for their efforts even when things didn't go well, commented on the beautiful sunshine out the window, and complimented the doctor for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit with them.
 
    Someone asked one of the residents about her unfailing cheerfulness.  I thought you might be interested in her response.
 
    "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.  Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged.  What counts is how I arrange my mind.  Every morning I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.
 
    "Each day is a gift, and I try to make things as pleasant as I can for everyone around me.  It seems that if I think more of others than I do of myself, I can make a difference in my world, even though much of me doesn't work anymore.  This sense of purpose keeps me going.  It's just a lot more fun to be happy and cheerful than it is to be angry and resentful."
 
Lord, I choose to be happy today.  Help me to change my world and the attitude of the people around me.