Go with the Angels!

Then I heard another voice from heaven:
Come out of her, My people,
so that you will not share in her sins
or receive any of her plagues.

Revelation 18:4

How do you "come out" of a nation so that you will not share in her sins?  I have pondered this over many years and frankly, I still wonder what that really means.

If the nation in which you live is wicked, does God want you to physically leave that land?  If you were to ask Abraham’s nephew Lot that question what do think his answer would be?  If Lot had refused to leave Sodom after the angels warned him do you think that God would have repented from His plan to destroy the city?  Of course not.

When you live in a wicked nation it is hard not to share in her sins.  Our Supreme Court has decided, now for almost thirty years that it is alright to kill your baby before the baby is born.  This decision came at a time in the United States when God’s law’s about sexual relationships were tossed out and replaced with “anything goes.”  My own attitude has morphed over those years.  Yes I am against abortion, but I no longer see the need to loudly protest against it. I confess that I may to that extent be sharing in that sin.

There are of course many examples of our excesses and godlessness.  But I have not left.  This verse in Revelation is clear.  If I cannot come out of the land, then I must come out of the culture.  That is something everyone follower of Jesus can do.  When you only come out of the culture you will still share in the plagues that come on the land, but you may not yield to the temptations to share in the sins of the nation. 

The beginning step for coming out of the culture is to immerse yourself in the Word of God and let it establish your attitudes about everything.  Don’t try to think like the role models of the world.  Don’t listen to their advice or try to dress in their likeness.

All the while look for the angels and if they come to lead you out of the land, then go and go quickly!