Revelation 18:4; Ye Receive Not of Her Plagues

Revelation 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Herbert Lockyer observed well, “Of all plagues smiting the earth, those of Babylon are to be the worst, because, in their intensity, they are to overtake the city “in one day”. The plagues of Egypt came by instillments, but here, death, mourning, famine, and fire are permitted by the strong Judge to come together, and suddenly.”

He further said insightfully, “The heavenly voice calling God’s people to come out of the city is different from that of the angelic voice of Revelation 18:1.

Revelation 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 

Possibly, it is God Himself inviting His own people to leave the sins and plagues of Babylon. Such a call for separation is applicable at all times wherever the Babylonian spirit and principle are found.

2 Corinthians 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

“Be not partakers of her sins” means “Have no fellowship with Babylon, and you will not receive its plagues.” This earnest call also suggests that God has His own people, even in an apostate city, but that their only safety is in separation from it.

By “her sins,” we understand the utter and terrible corruption of the morals of Babylon, a condition requiring God’s stern judgment: “For her sins have reached unto heaven.” The first Babel confederacy was one without God; piled stones tried to reach heaven/

Genesis 11:4  And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 

But here, piled sins are able to reach heaven. What a monument of shame! Here, we have a Babel tower not of stones but of sins – sins so bold and impious that they call for heaven’s stern and unsparing judgment.”

[Herbert Lockyer, Revelation – Drama of the Ages, 2012, 281-282]

This is a call to safety. May God’s people take heed to flee from the city of destruction. Amen.