24.12 | Beyond Comparison
Revelation 18
‘And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”’
Revelation 18:9-10
A few years after the sack of Rome, in the early Fifth Century, a North African Christian named Augustine sat down to write a book.
The world around him was reeling. Rome had held such power for centuries. Rome had been the epicentre of culture, of law, of art, of commerce, and of military might. It was almost impossible to conceive of what a world of stability could look like without Rome at the centre. And so, Augustine began to write. He wrote to give an articulation of a different way of looking at the events of the world. He wrote for believers and for skeptics. He wrote to replant the narratives of humankind into a new and distinct place. And he wrote to give an articulation of breathtaking hope for humanity that had put far too much confidence in what turned out to be only another passing empire of the world.
The outcome was his massive work, The City of God—a collection of 22 books pulled together as what is now considered among the most significant pieces of literature of all time.
And in this massive volume, Augustine wanted to make one massive distinction. As the Empire of Rome fell, there was an invitation to view more clearly and seek more earnestly the Kingdom that will endure. As the city of Rome fell, Augustine turned his heart to the City of God.
Our reading today speaks of the fall of Babylon, which, as we saw yesterday, was understood for the early believers as a code name for Rome. We could could apply these truths to every wounded human empire through history, right into our own days. The imagery is detailed and evocative, into the very substance of its trade and merchandise, as the vision depicts all those elements of the fleeting glory of Rome dissipating with its collapse.
I wonder that we stand in a similar moment to Augustine. It has been called a moment of seismic change, where the ideologies that have ruled the Western mind since the Enlightenment seem to have been crumbling and failing, and the empires of our moment seem in especial turmoil.1 It is a key moment. It is an Augustine moment—to turn our attention away from those flimsy structures of the world, and to rest our confidence more firmly than ever upon the Kingdom that endures. To those things that are more substantial and more lasting than we can imagine. Our moment invites a turning to beauty, to peace, to joy, to God.
For when the empires crumble, we have a choice:
Look around us with fear and anxiety, as the rest of the world does.
Or, look up, and see that our true place of confidence is and always has been vastly more beautiful than any superpower this world could muster.
Augustine put it this way:
“The Heavenly City outshines Rome, beyond comparison. There, instead of victory, is truth; instead of high rank, holiness; instead of peace, felicity; instead of life, eternity.”2
Be affirmed, dear friends, in such moments as these. Turn your hearts to beauty. Turn your hearts to the Kingdom that endures. Turn your hearts to your Homeland. For the City to which your pilgrimage certainly leads, outshines the city in which you live beyond comparison.
Reflect:
Where do I see the empires of this age shaking right now? Turn your eyes too to the City of God. Ask the Spirit to inform your imagination, and to take the hope for this place—your true Home—deeper into your heart today.
Pray:
Father in heaven,
I ask You for hope.
For hope sees,
In the midst of trial, the beautiful ending of the Story.
For hope sustains
Perspective, and joy, and the resilient confidence in
Beauty
That enables a manner of walking now, that is
Heavenly.
And so, Father,
Pour Your Holy Spirit into me,
That my life and moments here and now,
May be informed and infused with
The Eternal ways,
From the City that I call Home.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
Zechariah 1-4 | Proverbs 31:1-9
These themes are well captured in a number of excellent books, including Mark Sayers: A Non-Anxious Presence; Peter Steinke: Uproar; or Phyllis Tickle: The Great Emergence
Saint Augustine: City of God (Penguin Classics: London), p.87