<p>18:4 <i>And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her My people</i>- A final appeal to those living within the territory of this latter day entity. According to previous teaching in Revelation, this group would likely be Israeli Christians, Jews who have turned to Christ in the very last days. They would be under great pressure from the Islamic state governing them to convert to Islam, and they are being urged not to. &quot;Come out&quot; would therefore refer to a spiritual separation, as geographically they would have no place to run to. However it could be that those who respond to this call to &quot;come out&quot; will have a miraculous way of literal exit opened to them, perhaps by the Lord snatching away those who in their hearts say &quot;Yes&quot; to this invitation. This would be the moment of 1 Thess. 4, where those who are alive at the Lord's coming are literally snatched away to meet Him at His coming.</p><p>The first century application would be to the Christians fleeing out of the surrounded Jerusalem, in accordance with the Lord's command to flee to the mountains (Mt. 24:16). This would further suggest that the &quot;Babylon&quot; in view here in Jerusalem. See on 16:19.</p><p><i>Lest you take part in her sins, and partake of her plagues</i>- Here &quot;sins&quot; is put for 'judgment for sins'. Sin is its own judgment. We cannot sin and psychologically assume that in the future, somehow that sin will not be judged. Sin is its judgment right now. Lot's witness completed, he was told to leave Sodom &quot;lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city&quot; (Gen. 19:15- alluded to here in Rev. 18:4). Babylon is directly equated with Sodom in Is. 13:19 and Jer. 50:40. Babylon geographically and culturally represents the jihadist neighbours of Israel in our last days- and therefore it is not surprising that related neighbouring nations like Edom, Moab and Ammon are also paralleled with Sodom (Jer. 49:18; Zeph. 2:9). This continues a long-standing Biblical theme that the curses on apostate Israel are the same as those on her enemies- thus Sodom is representative of both Jews and the beast coalition.&nbsp;Jerusalem is the city which is spiritually called Sodom (11:8). The language of Sodom is clearly applied to Jerusalem in the Old Testament (Dt. 29:23; 32:32; Is. 1:10; 3:9; Jer. 23:14). Latter day Babylon is to be punished as Sodom (Is. 13:19; Jer. 50:40). And so we can understand why at this point in Revelation, the judgment of Babylon is framed in terms of Sodom, because Babylon is to be enthroned in Jerusalem (see on 16:19). And will meet a similar destruction.</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><b>Babylon (in Rev.)</b></p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><b>Sodom</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;I will shew unto you the judgment of the   great whore&quot; (Babylon); 17:2</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Cp. God showing Abraham the judgment of Sodom.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>The beast supporting Babylon &quot;was and is not   and shall ascend&quot; 17:8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Sodom and surrounding cities were strong, then   overrun by Abraham, then revived.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Her sins have reached unto Heaven,&nbsp;God   has remembered her iniquities&quot;&nbsp;18:5</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The cry of Sodom... is great because their   sin is very grievous&nbsp;...the cry of it is come unto me&quot; (Gen.   18:20,21)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;She has glorified herself, and   lived&nbsp;deliciously&quot;18:7</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Pride... fullness of bread&quot; (Ez.   16:49)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Utterly burned with fire&quot; 18:8</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>'Sodom' = 'burning'.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Her plagues... death... and famine&quot;   18:8</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;He overthrew all the inhabitants of the   cities, and that which grew upon the ground&quot; (cp. &quot;famine&quot;   Gen. 19:25).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The great city... great Babylon&quot;   16:19</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>The city of Sodom. <br />            &nbsp;</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;There fell upon men a great hail   out&nbsp;&nbsp; of heaven&quot;   (16:21)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The Lord rained upon Sodom...&nbsp;   brimstone and fire from the Lord&nbsp;out of heaven&quot; (Gen. 19:24).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;They shall see the smoke of her burning,   standing afar off for the fear of her torment&rdquo; (18:9,10)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Abraham standing far away and seeing the smoke of   Sodom&rsquo;s&nbsp;burning indicates that the surrounding kings did likewise (Gen.   19:28).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Merchants suffered through&nbsp;Babylon&rsquo;s fall   (18:11-19)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Sodom was a trading centre (Lk. 17:28)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot; ...a great millstone cast into the sea&nbsp;...thus   with violence shall... Babylon.. be found no more at all&quot; (18:21)</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Sodom now appears to be submerged in the Dead   Sea, to be found no more.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Her smoke rose up&quot; (19:3)</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Sodom... the land of the plain... the smoke   of the country went up&rdquo;&nbsp;(19:28)</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>As the Jews were called to leave literal Babylon (Zech. 2:6,7) and Lot was called out of Sodom, so Jews and true believers will be encouraged to come out from Babylon of the last days. The prosperity of Sodom and Babylon made God's people disinclined to leave them. And the opulence of Babylon, and the way she is as a cage (see on :2), will make it all the more difficult for the latter day believers to come out of the Babylon system.</p><p>And so the apostate amongst God's people will share in Babylon's judgment. And for all of us, if we are not separate from this world now, we will not be separated from them when the judgments fall. Those who don't come out from Babylon will share her judgments. There are strong parallels between Babylon and Jerusalem; and they are deeper than simply because the beast / Babylon will capture Jerusalem and enthrone themselves there. Jerusalem is judged as Babylon because in spiritual essence, they were no different. Zion lost her children and also her husband whilst still a young woman (Is. 49:21; 54:6), just as Babylon would (Is. 47:9). Each street of Jerusalem was named after an idol, just as was the case in Babylon (Jer. 11:13)- and thus Jerusalem shared Babylon&rsquo;s judgment. Apostate Israel were always treated like the surrounding Gentile world in the time of their judgments (Jer. 4:7). Israel worshipped the Babylonian gods, and so they were sent along with Bel their idol to Babylon, where their hearts were. And so they were&nbsp;&ldquo;Condemned with the world...&rdquo;. Likewise in the &lsquo;judgment day&rsquo; of AD70, the &lsquo;rejected&rsquo; Jews were sent back into Egypt as slaves. Their condemnation was expressed in terms of an undoing of the redemption from the world which they once experienced.</p>