Revelation 18:4-5; Ye Received Not Her Plagues (2)
Revelation 18:4-5 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. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
John does not specifically write that the speaker is another angel. Although a case can be made that God or Christ is the speaker because of the address “My people,” the context of the announcement suggests that an angel spoke these words. The next verse, “God has remembered her crimes,” seems to indicate that an angel is God’s messenger (v5).
The divine message addressed to God’s people is clear and to the point: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins.” This is familiar language that echoes the warnings uttered by both Isaiah and Jeremiah:
• “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans!” (Isa. 48:20)
• “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing!” (Isa. 52:11)
• “My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD!” (Jer. 51:45; see 2 Cor. 6:17)
The voice is not saying that God’s people must live in isolation from the rest of mankind. If this were the case, they would not be able to influence the world with the gospel of salvation. Jesus prayed that his people be in the world but not of the world (John 17:14–18).
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
At the time of the exile when Cyrus permitted the Jews to leave Babylon, God told his people not to take along anything that was unclean or that was pertinent to idol worship. He wanted the Jews leaving Babylon to be pure and holy. Similarly, Paul exhorted the Corinthian Christians who had come out of paganism to separate themselves from idol worship and dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 6:17).
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
For the recipients of the Apocalypse, the exhortation meant not to leave the Roman world or Rome itself. Instead, they were “to break with the empire’s idolatrous culture and life-style and to avoid compromise,” as is evident from the seven letters John addressed to the churches in the province of Asia (chaps. 2 and 3). For Christians today the message is to separate themselves spiritually and morally from the secular world and not participate in its sins. While in this world, they must live in complete harmony with God’s Word and the testimony of Christ as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. But if they fail to do so and adopt the ways of the world, they will also receive its plagues. These plagues are those in which God manifests his anger in the day of his wrath (16:19).
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, pp. 488–489). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.