Babylon and Golgotha
While we are drawing parallels between Jerusalem and Babylon let us take one step further.
And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. (Luke 23:49–ESV)
While Jesus died he was watched by a large crowd. Where does Luke say his acquaintances stood? They stood at a distance. Like the sailors seeing Babylon burn they stood far off.
Jesus gave hope to the little man, and did not deny it to the rich.
The difference between the associates of Christ and the sailors to Babylon was hope. A resurrection awaited Jesus Christ and incomprehensible victory. Marching back up the socioeconomic spectrum from the sailors and seafarers, the merchants, the kings and finally Babylon herself we do not see the same hope. Jesus gave hope to the little man, and did not deny it to the rich. At the end of time those offers of salvation are gone and a dreadful end is all that awaits.
Judgment often make people run
The seafaring men, the sailors stood far off.
Do you see the pattern here? Babylon was destroyed and the world wept. They wept from the top of the food chain to the bottom. Kings, merchants and sailors alike saw God’s judgment, mourned over it and kept away out of necessity, out of fear.
Don’t stand far off.
What about you and I? History has not drawn to the point of Babylon’s destruction. The way to God through Jesus Christ is very much still an available offer. There is an expiration date, but…it is blank. We all have sinned and all have fallen short of God’s glory. Jesus came all those centuries back to walk the 33 years from Christmas to the Cross. His offer to you is still near. Will you stand far off? I would urge you to do better and race up to the foot of the cross. There you will find salvation for your soul and an incomprehensible hope can be yours.
Back to Babylon
19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste. (Revelation 18:19–ESV)
The kings and merchants merely wept aloud. The sailors being the more passionate of these groups also threw dust on their heads. The kings and merchants may have had other resources, but the little man had no such fall-back. Living hand-to-mouth and port-to-port their greatest paydays came from cargo delivery to Babylon. Their greatest pleasures were probably known in the brothels and bars that lined the ports. On arrival there these men would quickly take their pay and head into these reddish districts.
That is how Babylon is to them, but with the smoke rising they see all this destroyed. So quickly their little hopes and pleasures were upended. Where to now? The ships screws would have been turned off. That Babylonian destiny was destroyed and now all they had hoped from their voyage was vapor.
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