Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Do You Chase After? | New Testament | Revelation 17

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

Do you chase the culture? Are you drawn to consumerism? Are you striving to be attractive to the world around you? In today's episode, Tanya looks at Revelation 17 and shares the dangers of trying of chasing empty idols?  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Prepare your heart to celebrate Jesus. Sign up to have the 'I Am Your God' Advent Devotional delivered directly to your inbox starting Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Revelation 17

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Hi, friends, here we are, still in Revelation, but hey, you're doing good if you're here. Great job. So we've talked about how Revelation is endurance literature, but it is also resistance literature. Let me explain a little bit. Now, imagine standing on the top of a hill made entirely of broken pottery shards. If you visit Rome today, it's actually one of the things you can do there.

It's kind of a testament to the grandeur of the ancient Roman Empire. It's called Broken Pot Mountain, and that was the name given to Monte Tastakio after it became the largest waste heap discovered in the ancient world. It's an artificial mound, and it's not only a testament of grandeur, but it's also a telling symbol of the delusion of humanity. Ancient Rome imported enormous quantities of olive oil. Of course, they used it for cooking and lamps and perfumes. And it was transported largely from Spain in these huge jars called amphore.

And the jars were made of clay. So the oil seeped into the clay and they would eventually turn the jars rancid. So when this happened, the Romans would just smash them up and throw them into the harbor. Now eventually, this constant daily practice turned into a heap. Over 100 years, countless and foray were disposed of and grew into something that's over 35 meters high and today covers over 20,000 square meters. That's a lot of pots. Now, they did it at the time because they weren't thinking, but also because it made them money

and it made them relevant. The size of Broken Pot Mountain tells us about the daily lives of the ancient Romans. Yet we have to realize that we can see parallel. in our world today. We also live in a world of consumerism and influenceism. It's part of our culture, and maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal when everyone is doing it, but it does matter. It can waste our time for one. I mean, we're supposed to be building things that last. But the more stuff we have, the more time it takes to manage it. We buy one thing, we have to buy another to go with it. Then we have to sort and find room for our new things and discard the old things and build new

things to display our things, having things doesn't seem to be the problem, but letting those things determine what we do can become a big problem. It can also waste our resources. Now, Revelation doesn't tell us God is going to destroy the earth and whisk everyone away to another place to live for eternity. It does tell us so that Jesus is bringing his kingdom to earth to restore it, and we're invited to be part of that restoration process. It isn't someone else's problem to take care of the earth, it's part of our calling from Genesis 1. Now, in Revelation 17, John addresses the dark side of humanity's consumption in what the first readers would have understood as a call to resist the temptation to assimilate with the Roman

culture. The point is illustrated with the city, actually two cities. Chapter 17 describes Babylon, the prostitute. She's one of the cities. And then chapter 18 describes Jerusalem, the bride. She's the other city. Each city represents a community, a set of values, and a different kind of future. Now, when Revelation was written, Babylon was no longer around,

but it would have reminded them of the civilization's desire, the Babylonian's desire, to not just be like God, but to be God. See, the Babylonian success and importance from brickmaking and building drove them to a place where they thought they could buy or build anything they needed to be successful and safe and secure for the future. More made them want more. More success, more eyes on them, more stuff, more power. Babylon came together in opposition to God and by John's time was the symbolic idolatrous empire. Readers would have had her in mind when they heard about the prostitute beast in Revelation 17, the one who wants to seduce people into a marriage with her instead of enjoying the

wedding feast and the marriage to the lamb. Now, at first, John describes what this beast is like to our worldly eyes, and it's pretty impressive. She's attractive. She's clothed in scarlet and purple, and she has jewels and a crown. She has influence. She brings together the kings of the world, and she's seated on the waters where the trade industry gets its power. And she is impressive. She demands the attention of the earth dwellers, and they get drunk on her beauty and pleasures. But then John exposes her false glory.

She will be exposed, for the emptiness she gives, and her flesh will be devoured and destroyed by fire when the true king comes to live among his people. So when they read Revelation 17, the first readers should have understood John asking, where do you want to belong? Are you consumed with treasures of the earth, or is your heart fixed on heavenly treasure? Are you going to make this world your home, or are you going to remember you belong to the kingdom of the lamb?

How do we respond to Revelation 17 today? Well, we need to be aware. We live in Babylon today. We face constant temptation to be attractive, influential, and impressive in the ways of Babylon. The world wants to squeeze us into its mold with the way we consume media and stuff and even people. We can use them to glorify us, or we can be entrusted with them in a way that honors the true king. We need to be aware of the seduction and the emptiness that comes with idolatry. Think about it like this.

That mountain in Rome, created by shards of pottery, is a good picture of what we leave behind when we chase after approval and status to be relevant. When we try to assimilate, our words toward others are empty because we're worried about pleasing them. Our hearts towards others are empty because we're more worried about how we're dressed or how we're perceived than we are about what they really need. Our homes are empty because they're filled with stuff that takes our time to buy and manage and keeps us from spending time with the people who live there.

These are the constant seductions that come from. from living in Babylon, and we need to be aware so we can resist. We can't see it happening unless we turn toward the lamb and keep our eyes fixed on his holy city. In Psalm 115, the psalmist writes about idols and says they have mouths but do not speak, eyes, but do not see, ears, but do not hear noses, but do not smell, hands, but do not feel feet, but do not walk, and they make no sound with their throat. but I think this is the scariest part. And it says,

And then those who make them become like them. This describes how empty and futile we become when we can't see the destructiveness of our idols. Idols have no power to give us what we need. No love, no forgiveness, no peace. But they do have power to make us look like them and sound like them. and they make us spiritually blind, they make us unable to grow and change.

Do you find yourself on the treadmill of accumulating things so you will look attractive to the world? Are you prone to want to be seen with the right people all the time so you can gain influence with your peers and move up the social ladder? Consider how Christ the Lamb can rescue from the trap of chasing those empty idols or any others that come to your mind. be alert, be encouraged, celebrate and rejoice in the grace God has extended when he shows you the empty things, and ponder the true joy and beauty of God's kingdom as you go about your daily tasks. And also hang with us because the story of Revelation only gets more beautiful as we approach the Eternal City and learn about all the lasting beauty that will be ours when we get there.