Isaiah 47-49
Do you ever wonder why so much is said about Babylon in the Bible? In this passage of Isaiah’s prophecy, God really comes against Babylon, and He does the same throughout Bible prophecy.
Well, of course, one of the strikes against Babylon is that they destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jews captive. (They had to go to Babylon and serve that empire for 70 years). Yet there’s more, as there almost always is in scripture.
Babylon comes from the root word, babel, which means “confusion by mixing.” (Remember the Tower of Babel)?
In our modern times, we might say that the church has gone into Babylonian captivity. What do I mean? I mean that there has been confusion in the church because of mixing God’s pure doctrine with the ways of the world. Confusion is rampant.
When we mix God’s doctrine with the world’s ways, we come up with a counterfeit gospel – not a pure one. As a result, people don’t know what is truly from god and what is not. Whether we lived in the year 500 bc or the current year, God is smarter than we are, and we need to listen to Him and not to current trends for our guidelines.
The church which mixes the doctrine in this way is called the Babylonian church, and our Father is not pleased with it. He wants His pure doctrine expressed, because that’s the only doctrine which will save lives and change them into His likeness.
When we mix our ways with the ways of the world, we lose the power of God’s plan and purpose.
In fact, this is the true meaning of holiness. Not that we dress in an extreme way, but that we remain true to the Word of God and honor what He has to say. Purity – that’s what we are after in our lives.
I Thessalonians 3
Everyone should work. That’s Paul’s command to the Thessalonians, because there were some who were idling away their time, and becoming “busybodies.”
This concept can be a hard one to “get right.” Of course, when people have hard times, we want to be compassionate and share with them. Paul is not coming against true charity.
However, people were designed by God to be productive. There is greater satisfaction in a life lived with energy and drive than in a life lived in idleness. And further, everyone is expected by God to “do his part.” All working together for the good of all.
Laziness is not a godly attribute.
This is something to think about as we observe our modern customs.
Hmmm.
