Be God's City

Revelation 16:17-21 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away, and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
 
A familiar Bible story to many is in Genesis 4:1-9, telling of Cain killing his brother Abel. But what happened next? When Cain refused to repent of his crime, God judged Cain to be a restless wanderer of the earth. However, Cain again rejected God’s command. He, instead, built a city he named Enoch (after a son). Genesis 4 then records that out of this city came generations of people who rejected God as Cain had. Sin’s legacy is death until we confess and repent.
   But we thank God he has promised in Genesis 3 that a Savior will destroy sin one day. To that end, Genesis 5 records the birth of Seth. Out of Seth comes godly men who worship God from one generation upon another. This marked a divine divide in mankind. But sadly that changed in Genesis 6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. In other words, Seth’s line intermarried with Cain’s line. Sin corrupted the righteous. In response to the sin, God judged the world in the Great Flood, leaving only Noah and his family – descendants of Seth.
    God’s purpose for Jerusalem was to be the city of God. It was constructed in God’s plan to declare God to the world. But Jerusalem, too, became a center of sin and idolatry. Three times God has destroyed the city and his temple.
   In this seventh bowl of wrath, God prophesied judgment on the world’s cities. “Babylon” represents all the world’s evil, especially Rome, to John’s readers. God wants the church to know then and now that one day his judgment will shake the world’s cities to destruction.
   Jesus told us a way the church can be his city: Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” The church is to be the godly line of people on earth today. God’s true church is his holy city to declare his sure kingdom come forever. In faith, we can joyfully anticipate our heavenly city.
 
Prayer: From Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, Lord, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship you, Lord, acceptably with reverence and awe, for you, God are a consuming fire. Amen.