In the days of Nebuchadnezzar the Great, Babylon was the greatest city in the known world. Its civilization stretched all the way back to the time of Abraham, and as the successor to the culture of even more ancient Sumer, its traditions and learning were unparalleled. Its terraced gardens were considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC and carried off the remnants of the people of God into exile, it seemed that Babylon’s combination of godlessness and power was simply unstoppable.

But however wealthy and proud and wicked Babylon may have been, the Persian Empire conquered it in 539 BC, just as Isaiah had predicted: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground” (Isaiah 21:9).

And the same pattern has been repeated throughout human history. Germany had been blessed in the days of Martin Luther with a powerful revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Luther’s translation of the Scriptures into German helped establish the language. By the nineteenth century, Germany’s scholarship and engineering were the envy of the world. But by the twentieth century, its piety had leached away, leaving only the sort of scientific materialism to which Hitler successfully appealed – and his attempt to make force the foundation of German civilization left the great city of Berlin a smoking ruin.

No, it doesn’t matter how glittering and sophisticated any culture may be, or how attractive its godless temptations. It doesn’t matter how overpowering any state may be that uses its monopoly on force to attack or destroy God’s people. The fact is that all godless civilizations will fall just as Babylon did. All states that set themselves up against God’s truth will “drink the wine of God’s wrath” (14:10). And those who give into their temptations and go along with their power and persecution will suffer the same fate.

So let us endure whatever temptation or persecution may come our way, keeping the commandments of God and holding on to faith in Christ. For trying to fix our lives on any other foundation is, in the long run, simply suicidal.

Revelation 14:6-13 (ESV)

6 Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.
7 And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”