“And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.” (Revelation 18:1-3, NASB)

Whose home is your home? Whose dwelling place is your dwelling place? If your home is not a home to God’s Spirit, are you not putting a vacancy sign up for other spirits to make their home there? In today’s reading, it says,

“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.’”

During the Great Tribulation Period, a great city called Babylon will arise, becoming a home to the antichrist and his followers. Although the city will be known for its greatness, it will not be for the reasons of goodness, righteousness, and godliness. Quite the contrary. It says that “all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” The city will be known for its greatness of wickedness! It will be renowned for its drunkenness, immorality, greed, sensuality, bloodshed, and blasphemy. It will be remembered for being a home to the Antichrist, demons, unclean spirits, and hateful birds.

Yet, what is a city but people who dwell there? It is not the city that makes the people wicked, but the wickedness of people that makes the city wicked. There was no room for God anywhere in the hearts of people who lived there. Their city became a home for the Antichrist, the false prophet, and Satan. Their city became a dwelling place for demons and every unclean spirit. In other words, if you fill your dwelling place with things that God hates, His Spirit will no longer reside there, and it will open it up for unclean spirits to take its residence. This is pretty much what happened to this great city as she rejected the things of God and opened it up to the things of Satan.

This goes for everything else. If God’s Spirit does not dwell in our nation, whose nation will she become? If God’s Spirit does not dwell in our school system, whose education center will it become? If God’s Spirit does not dwell in our justice system, who will sit at the judgment seat to judge? If God’s Spirit does not dwell in our political system, who will take up leadership roles in our nation? If God’s Spirit does not dwell in our churches, whose moral values will she preach and teach? If your heart is not a home to God’s Spirit, to whom will your heart become a home to?

The Bible says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain” (Ps.127:1). You can buy a house and furnish it with many good things. You can dwell in it with your loved ones and invite your friends and family to come and enjoy life. However, spiritually speaking, if you do not make your home a home for the Holy Spirit of God, you will end up making a home for unclean spirits of the enemy. Before you make a home your home, you must first make it a home for God. Before you make a dwelling your dwelling, you must first make it a dwelling for God. Jesus promised, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock” (Mt.7:24-25). So whose home is your home?

• How do you think “Babylon the great” became a home to demons and unclean spirits?
• Whose home do you think your city is a home to, and how can you make it a home to God’s Spirit?
• As Christians, whose body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, what can we do to drive out the unclean spirits from our cities?