THE COEXIST CATASTROPHE

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters….”  (Revelation 17:1)

You have seen it—the coexist bumper stickers—that feature symbols of a number of major world religions spelling out the message: “coexist.”  I sympathize somewhat with the intent—if we mean that we should not hate others and grant them freedom of religion—that is not bad.  God gives us freedom to choose—to even choose to be wrong.  True faith cannot be coerced.  I would warn my readers, however, that although you are free to choose your faith, you are not free to choose the consequences.  Belief in Jesus Christ is the exclusive way to heaven—all other roads lead to hell.

The message of the coexist movement is actually more sinister.  Most who brandish it on their bumper sticker mean that all religions are equally valid—that all roads lead to deity—however you perceive that deity to be.  Come together in one world religion and global governance will be the increasing demand.  Revelation 17 tells us that day is coming—and far from being the utopia many imagine—it will be a coexist catastrophe.

The reason is that in the depraved heart of man, in a world under the curse, everything becomes twisted and bent toward evil.  The one world government becomes tyranny and not freedom.  The one world religion promotes intolerance in the name of tolerance.  As observed in this text, when an unholy marriage of church and state takes place, government will give religion a ride as long as it serves its purpose, and then will turn on the religious system and devour it.  That is the catastrophe of the coexist movement—it is a fantasy that ends in the worst fanaticism.

Following the rapture of the church—which I am looking for any day now—the Bride of Christ will be caught up to be with her Bridegroom.  The remarkable thing is that the next Sunday there will still be churches open for business.  Those left behind follow the doctrine of the apostates and not the Apostles.  Quickly, as the Beast—the Antichrist—consolidates his power, the world religious system of the Harlot—Mystery Babylon—converts the world to the worship of the Beast (v.1-5).

There will be those who resist, however—and their lot will be that of those dissenters through the ages—who have sought to worship the true God and gave allegiance to Christ exclusively—and that is persecution and martyrdom (v.6).  

Babylon is the wicked womb that has birthed all false religion—and she has spawned many perverse children.  You recall the tower built in Babel—a great idol temple that sought to elevate man to the heavens in order to supplant God.  In the last days, a final attempt is made to restore it.  Rome—the city of seven hills (v.7-9)—will be the headquarters.  Did you know that pagan Rome with her persecution of Christians was nothing compared to the torment and death unleashed by the church of Rome that supplanted the heathen empire?  A marriage of an apostate church and pagan religion promoted by a decaying empire looking to preserve its power was the result—a counterfeit church.  Its final manifestation will be the counterfeit church of the coexist religion.  Once religion serves its purpose, the world’s leaders will chew her up and spit her out (v.10-18).  I don’t want to belong to that church!

KEEPING THE FIRE KINDLED

Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.  (Joshua 23:11)

I was living in Franklin, N.C. when the Blizzard of ’93 hit.  Two feet of snow and high winds shut off the power.  Thankfully, we had a wood heater in the basement.  In order not to freeze, I would feed that fire every couple of hours.  I was intent on not letting the flame die.  If we do not keep the fire kindled in our spiritual experience, it will go out.  Our church can become a cold church.  It happened to the church at Ephesus.  Jesus confronted them with these chilling words, “you have left your first love.”  (Rev.2:4)  That is what Joshua is warning the people about as recorded in the twenty-third chapter.  Joshua had come to the end of his service.  Death was coming, and heaven was waiting.  Knowing this, he issues a final challenge—one that still resonates in our generation.

Joshua is concerned that they will compromise with the pagan world.  The fire does not go out all at once.  It gradually dies if neglected.  They would be tempted to weariness in their warfare against those nations, and declare a truce, that would lead to embracing them and their gods.  That would be a spiritual disaster.  It is such a sinister and subtle thing.  Cancer is a killer.  Many of our members have died from it.  Dealt with early, it can often be overcome, but the peril is that it often works so insidiously that one does not realize it is there until it is too late.  Compromise is like cancer.  It will little by little eat away at your spiritual life.

An evidence that the fire has been diminished is the presence of defeat, where there had been victory.  God promised to drive their enemies before them, if they would cling to Him, but if they abandoned Him, God assured them that the enemy would scourge their sides, driving the Israelis before their foes.  Does not the church today seem impotent before the assault of the ungodly?  The world is given over to iniquity because the church has yielded to apostasy.  Rather than setting sinners free from sin, we hear of many church members held in the shackles of sin themselves.

The fire does not have to go out!  Joshua told them how to keep the fire kindled.  He called them to fuel the fire with faithfulness.  They were to know, believe, and obey the Word of God.  He said, “Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left…” (v.6).  Confessing to believing the Bible must be matched by committing to behave by the Bible.  Submission to Scripture must be matched with separation from sin.  The people of God were warned not to become intimate with the wicked and adopt their ways.  When we watch trash on TV, look at filth on the internet, frequent the beer joints and gambling halls, listen to degrading music, and laugh at filthy comics, then the fire of our love for God will diminish and we will embrace the world in spiritual adultery.  One love excludes the other.  Tend to the fire of your love for God.  Be zealous for Him, and you will not seek the pleasures of sin.  “Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.”  (Joshua 23:11)

THE DANGER OF DRIFTING

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.  (Hebrews 2:1)

Imagine floating in an inner tube down a lazy river.  The sun is beaming down on you, while the cool water swirls beneath you.  It is the perfect environment for nodding off to sleep.  But, the river becomes swifter and you go farther, much farther than you intended.  What’s that roaring sound? You snap wide awake—just ahead is the mist and thunder of a waterfall.  It’s too late to escape the current—the pull is too strong—now you are plunging down, down to the jagged rocks and deep pool below.  That is the danger of drifting--and spiritually it can be just as deadly.  

There is THE RISK (v.1b).  When this discussion begins, it starts with the word, “Therefore.” This word connects what will be said about the danger of Christians drifting with the doctrine of Christ’s deity presented in chapter one.  He is supreme in revelation—the last word from God which was greater than the words of the Old Testament prophets (1:1-2a).  He is supreme in creation—Christ made and sustains all things by the sheer power of His word (1:2b-3a).  He is supreme in mediation—having secured salvation for us as both the priest and the sacrifice (1:3b).  He is supreme in exaltation—so much so that even angels are His servants (1:4ff). This will be the anchor that can hold them and prevent them from drifting away.  These Jews who had professed faith in Christ now found themselves facing intensifying hostility from the world.  They were in danger of drifting—slowly slipping away in the current of peer pressure—the downward flow away from Christ.  You feel that don't you?  The danger is that drifting is so gradual, so easy that one may not even notice. In fact, you don’t have to do anything to drift—just stop resisting and away you go.

To resist this demands THE REQUIREMENT (v.1a).  This is an imperative: “we must....”   You have to make a conscious effort—it is swimming upstream, and that isn’t easy.  You never drift toward Christ, but always away.  So, “give the more earnest heed”  The current is very strong and at the end one will be swept over the falls and dash on the rocks!  This is how many make “shipwreck of their faith” (see 1 Tim. 1:18-20).  The tragedy of the Titanic could have been avoided had the ship's captain heeded the warnings.  Are you listening?

Drift and keep drifting and there comes THE RUIN (v.2-4).  The Old Testament law had specific and sometimes very severe penalties for disobedience.  The writer talks about how the law was delivered from God to Moses through the medium of angels.  We have already seen that Christ is far superior to angels.  One may be forgiven for transgressing God's laws, but to forsake Christ is to abandon hope.  A true believer may drift, may struggle, but will heed the warning and return, but those who finally, fully walk away are lost forever.  It is the difference between Peter who denied Jesus and Judas who betrayed Him.  Notice that this is “neglect” of salvation.  Hell will be filled with people who intended to get right with God, but just procrastinated, and neglected their soul while pursuing the things of the world—until too late!  Resist the drift!  It never ends well.