Revelation 14:6-8 Babylon is fallen!

The eternal gospel here does not sound at all like the grace that Jesus offered when He said that the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. The angel commands all men, however they are divided, to fear, glorify, and worship God the creator, because the hour of judgment has come. The gospel invitation to come that characterized the church age is now transcended by a gospel warning of judgment. Yet even now men should worship because God's judgment will reject what is evil and establish what is right and good.

          The second angel pinpoints the focus of God's wrath. Babylon may or may not have a connection to the archeological site of Babylon, i.e. modern Iraq, or some other city such as Hollywood or New York. What is inescapable is that it embodies the worldly values of immoral passion (thumou tes porneias, the inflaming wine of illicit sexual intercourse). Whether this has described the world system throughout the ages or not, modern technology such as movies, television, and the internet have made it all-pervasive in the modern world.

          Whether this is a strong hint of the imminence of the coming of the unveiling of Christ or not, the effect of this world system on the lives of believers is pernicious and can be deadly. So God judges this Babylon in the life of each believer, and its presence in our life will be destroyed. The measures God takes to do this are draconian, but no half-measures will do. The danger to our souls of taking the mark, of having our thoughts and actions obedient to the Babylonish world system (being marked on the hand and forehead with mankind's ways), is so severe that in many cases amputation of the world is the only treatment. How does this work in practice? In many cases, God trashes the world system to our lives and hearts by destroying the aspects of it that attract us - accomplishments, wealth, power, sexual fulfillment, other pleasures - so that we will see their essential meaninglessness. It took Solomon most of his life to realize the futility of all that the world offered, but at least he recorded his preaching for those who followed. But Solomon discovered the emptiness of worldly things by achieving them. In the unveiling of Jesus Christ, they are trashed by direct intervention in the form of destruction.