Pride and Rebellion Comes Before a Fall: Martyn Iles Living in Babylon Tour
by Jacquelin Melilli | Fri, Mar 22 2024
Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.’ Proverbs 16:18 CSB
Martyn Iles spoke about the striking similarities between today’s society and the Babylonian culture from the book of Daniel in the Bible at the Living in Babylon Australian Tour. The two similarities at the core are pride and rebellion.
In the first Babylon, the city of Babel, the people had become so self-centred that they tried to build a tower that would reach heaven. They wanted to make a name for themselves and be self-sufficient rather than dependent on God. Does that sound like people today?
‘We live in a time when I have never seen a greater prevalence of narcissistic marketing slogans in all my life,’ said Martyn. ‘You’re worth it. Believe in yourself. You are beautiful.You deserve it.’
Today, the culture of pride has people trying to figure out who they are or who they feel they are as a means to guide their future. People place importance on finding a spouse or people to affirm them, usually on social media, so that they can feel good about themselves.
The very first verse of the beatitudes Jesus taught to the multitudes in the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5 was:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ – Matthew 5:3 NKJV
‘What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means to be poor in yourself,’ said Martyn. ‘It means to know that in yourself, you don’t have what it takes to hold up anything of value in the face of the Almighty. It means to know that in your heart dwells sin, as Jesus told us.’
‘But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, and slanderous statements.’ Matthew 15:18-19 NASB20
The Culture of Rebellion
Another similarity of today’s culture with Babylon is rebellion. People want to pursue their heart’s desire regardless of whether God says it’s wrong. People have convinced themselves that to be authentic, they need to follow their lusts, passions and desires.
‘There is a desire to climb up into heaven and sit on God’s throne and be like God in that we want his authority,’ said Martyn.
God gave us a blueprint so there would be no confusion about who we are. Genesis says God created ‘male and female’ in His image and told them to be fruitful and multiply. Today, people are suffering from gender confusion, and babies are being aborted because nobody can agree on when life is a life. God’s blueprint is no longer respected. People feel they have the authority to tamper with it and bend it to their will so they can be happy in the way they design happiness to be, regardless of the cost to others.
Yet, happiness eludes so many. People live in fear and anxiety over the state of the world and the destiny of the planet. Only Christians believe there is a God in heaven who has a destiny for this world. He has a plan that no one can undermine or derail.
‘We live in a time when we are raising a generation that is the most anxious and depressed generation we’ve ever seen,’ said Martyn. ‘It’s curious that whilst life has never been better, materially speaking in the West, our young people have never been worse off mentally. There’s got to be more than one explanation for that. I think obsession with the self is one explanation. … and another one is, when you don’t know God, it’s all up to you.’
People are anxious because they believe it’s up to them to save the planet, even though many believe the world created itself in a big bang and somehow became this beautiful, complex masterpiece of nature all on its own. If that is the case, why hasn’t it stayed pristine? Could it be that sin entered the world and will remain in the world while humans rule?