The Way of Escape

UV 2767/10000 The Way of Escape
Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Zechariah 2 v 7
Babylon is a symbol of worldly power and pleasure while Zion is the symbol of Almighty God. Babylon brought judgement upon itself. It was overthrown and destroyed by the Persians under King Darius. Jesus came to enable people to escape from Babylon to Zion. He is the Ark of the New Covenant to protect us from the flood of the wrath of the Lord. He not only provides the way of escape but He became the veritable way of escape for humanity. We are to hide ourselves in Him and have no part with the ways of the world. When we do so, we are protected from the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt that refused to obey the will of the Lord as revealed and spoken to by Moses. When we study the ten plagues, we see that there is a steady progression in the type of pain it caused: the water is affected, the air is affected, the health of people of Egypt is affected and finally, the plague of the death of the first born child of each Egyptian family.

We are to live in this world no longer as children of Babylon but as children of God, children of Zion. Babylon was known for its moral decadence and overindulgence. It implies that we need to repent of anything in our lives that offends the Lord. Our hearts and spirits need to be on the same wavelength as Jesus. We should die to our old selves and live to our new selves in Jesus. We do not rely on the means of this world to make ourselves great but we rely on the mercy and goodness of the Father revealed through His Son Jesus. He sets us free from the power of both sin and death though we still confront the presence of both sin and death in this world.
We rise in life not by worldly power or might represented in ancient Babylon but by the Spirit of wisdom and meekness represented in Jesus. Like Noah and his family were safely deposited on Mount Ararat, as the flood waters of sin and decadence recede, we will be safely deposited on the Rock of ages- Jesus. Just as Noah and his family stood for a fresh start or a new creation, we are a new creation in Christ and have a fresh start every time we draw close to Jesus, repent and resolve to change for the better. We are parented and taught by the Lord Himself. There is no hope of revival in Babylon but in Zion, we are filled with hope of revival. We can rise on wings more powerful and enduring than the wings of a Phoenix – of prayer and the promises of the Lord even as we firmly align our vision and our feet with the paths indicated by the two commands of Jesus to love both God and fellow human.

Prateep V Philip