THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON
(continued)
“And
I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partaker of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4).
There
is a place OUTSIDE THE CAMP of Babylon’s vain worship and
pseudo-church. “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His
reproach” (Heb. 13:13), and when you have departed from all these things
and broken Babylon’s
idols from off your neck and cast their image from before you, then you will
see NO MAN BUT JESUS ONLY, and then you will understand what it means to be
JOINED UNTO HIM. When this wisdom is sweet to your
soul, then you will discover the secret place of the Most High, where the King
brings you into His chambers, a hidden place of meeting with the Lord, that
place within our own being where our Lord ever dwells, where we go in and shut
the door, where we meet Him alone in the most intimate fellowship and the most
exquisite union of soul and spirit. This
is a place which the world cannot invade.
Even should soldiers come with guns and carry you away they cannot
separate you from it, for it is within yourself. “I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:3). Where is this place? Jesus said, “Where I am.” That is sufficient! It is a place in the spirit that no man can violate. A hidden place for those who are in the
world, but not of it, in the very sanctuary of the Spirit of God. A place where we can see the countenance of the Bridegroom, and hear his voice!
Ah,
we do not arrive at this secret and sacred place with one grand leap. It is a continual leaving, leaving, leaving,
and the nearer and dearer HE becomes to us, the more rejoiced we are to leave
everybody and everything for Him. But
where are we to go? Outside the gate,
outside the city which hath played the harlot.
Do you think that we shall see Him if we stay inside the city? inside
with all those who do not love Him
enough to go out to meet Him? if we
stay with those who spurn Him and are half-hearted? NO! It
is as we “go forth” that we behold Him, the King in His beauty, and discern His
beauty as He sits upon the throne of our lives.
Let us go out to meet Him,
outside the city wall that we may behold Him; let us leave everything which is
in the city that our eyes may be anointed to behold Him who is altogether
lovely, the Bridegroom of our soul. When
earth is in our eyes, we cannot behold the Christ; when Babylon is in our eyes, we cannot discern the
Bridegroom; when anything else is before our eyes, we cannot embrace Him. Everything must be cleared away if we would see
and hear and know Him!
I
was blessed by the sweet testimony of Patricia (Gus) Savas,
a former Catholic Nun who was called out of Roman Catholicism and led into the
paths of sonship by the sovereign dealing of God. She wrote, “When the GUS book came out, I was
frequently asked to give my testimony.
Sometimes, I would look at the audience and say, ‘Some of you out here
have been delivered from drugs, from alcohol, from
pornography or sex perversion, but I have had a major deliverance.
I have been delivered
from religion.’ When you are under the control of most
addictions, during moments of sobriety or lucidity, you know you have a
problem. Religion, however, is a
blinding spirit; it’s actually like having a blindfold on. You’re following these rules, this program,
doing ‘good works,’ so you must be okay, right?
I’ve Got my religion; don’t confuse me with the truth. I am a good person” — end quote.
Some
time ago a sister in Christ shared with me a dream she was given by the
Lord. She said, “I saw a country type
brownstone church building, which
obviously was very old, and quite dirty from age and neglect. As I watched, I heard music coming from the
building. I said, ‘There is a wedding
taking place.’ The music, however, was
not wedding music and I could not see inside.
Then my eyes fell upon a young woman and a young man out front with
their backs to the church building. I
wondered why they didn’t go in. Then the scene changed, and I saw inside the
building. There I beheld the groom coming
up the outside aisle with his bride by the hand. He was very tall, clean-cut, with a prominent
nose — walking so fast his bride was almost being dragged (not unwillingly). He was hurriedly rushing out of the
building. Then I saw the outside of the
church building again and fire was shooting out from under the eaves. A force from the heat was blowing down, enveloping
the two people I had seen outside earlier.
The girl’s hair was blowing like a cyclone and my thought was, ‘Why
don’t they get away?’ But they could
not. The power of the heat and the wind simply
enveloped them. As I watched, the whole
front wall collapsed over them. I awoke,
and the power of the dream stayed with me for days. I believe it is speaking what Christ is doing
today — calling a people out unto Himself and drawing them in a quick work out
of the old systems of man” — end
quote. To which I can add a hearty, Amen! The dream speaks powerfully of our text: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partaker of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues…therefore shall her plagues come in one day,
death, and mourning, and famine; and she
shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord who judgeth her” (Rev.
18:4,8).
The
Holy Spirit imparts a revelation on how much the institutional religious system
is Babylon the Great, and then He whispers in
our heart the solemn secret that not only is Babylon judged and destroyed as a system “out
there” — it must first be judged and
destroyed right within the heart and experience of every member of God’s called
and chosen elect! The Lord is coming to deliver His creation
from every evil influence, and He deals first with the great harlot to rid the
earth of such a thing. We see this so clearly
in the Revelation! Before the marriage of the Lamb, before the One riding the white horse smites the nations, before Satan is cast into the abyss, before the holy city, New Jerusalem,
descends out of the heavenlies, before
all men stand before the great white throne, before the nations walk in the light of the city, before all things are restored and made
new — before any of these and many
other wonderful events — BABYLON IS JUDGED AND DESTROYED! Therefore, on a personal level we must begin by judging all the elements of Babylon in our own hearts! I do not believe that there is a corruption
in any of the carnal church systems of man (or any other realm of the world) of
which I could not find the germ in my own heart. That is the mystery!
In
his book Seven Lamps of Fire, George
Warnock wrote these penetrating words: “When we see One like the Son of man walking among the lampstands with Seven Eyes — God wants us to look at
Him, because He wants to change us. We
can’t look into those eyes and not be changed!
I recall looking into the eyes of a prophet, whom the Lord used in
fellowship with other members of the body of Christ, to bring forth a new
prophetic movement in the middle of the last century. When I was called forward to receive prophecy with the laying on of hands, after
a brief time of waiting he said, Look at
me! As I looked up I was very much
aware of light in his eyes…as he began to prophesy. I will never
forget that moment, and I know that it was from that time that I began to see
the Word of God in a new light. I feel
strongly it is time for a new moving of God in the earth. He desires to bring His people into still
higher realms in the Spirit. We must
have the Lamb look upon us, with those seven
eyes.
“The
movement I mentioned became known as the Latter Rain — a name that people gave
it a year or two later. But in the
beginning it needed no name, and they simply referred to it as this move of the Spirit. God was graciously pouring out His gifts
on the church. These gifts are intended
for the edifying of the body…gifts of
healing and miracles and other wonderful operations of the Spirit — besides
gifts that impart spiritual wisdom
and understanding. But it was not God’s
intention to start a new denomination with this prophetic movement, and I think
it is for this reason that those in later generations wonder what it was all
about. And they ask, Where is it
now? Multitudes of people in all parts
of the earth, partook of the blessing of this movement — and the impact of it
has carried on in succeeding generations, as any real move of God should. But as far as I know, it never became a denomination known as The
Church of the Latter Rain — at least not prominent enough to make its mark
in history. And for this reason it is
considered by many to have been a little shower that soon evaporated.
“In
the beginning of the movement there was a certain emphasis on coming out of the old systems — coming out of Babylon.
But it soon became evident that many would come out of the visible Babylon,
while bringing some of the system along with them. I recall a few years later what one of the
leaders said about his own experience.
He said the Lord spoke to him one day, ‘You are trying to get the people
to come out of Babylon, but I want to get the Babylon out of you!’ I’m afraid this continues to go on in the
church, and because one has left the mainstream of the denominations, and has
set up his own organization — is no proof that he has come out of Babylon. The Babylonian
desire for greatness and enlargement, and wanting to make a name of renown, and keeping the
whole system well under control — is strong in the hearts of men. And God must deal with all those inward
desires that continue to plague the church”
— end quote.
Douglas Clark, in a little writing he sent me, shares the
following instructive remarks. “When we
hear the clarion call to come out of Babylon,
God opens our
eyes to the mixture of flesh and spirit
that exists in the religious systems of man.
For many the journey stops a few yards from the church door. We may come out and become separate, but
there is often a failure to go further. Why is that?
There was a movie out some years ago called The Sixth Sense. Bruce
Willis played the main character, a psychologist who had a patient who saw the
spirits of dead people. The psychologist
didn’t believe the boy, and so the whole movie was about him trying to help the
boy overcome his hallucinations.
Finally, at the end of the movie the psychologist realizes that the boy
is actually seeing dead people. Then
comes the interesting twist. The
psychologist begins to realize that he is
one of the dead people! What a
revelation! First the psychologist
couldn’t see the truth about the boy.
Then he finally realizes the boy does see dead people and then at the
very end he finds out that he is one of the dead people!
“Sounds
a lot like our journey. We begin as most
church folk not recognizing all the spiritual death around us. Then we begin to see it in our surroundings as the Lord calls us
out and unto Himself. Finally, if we
continue on in our journey to know Him, He shows us the death is in us!
How easy it is to see the Babylon within the Institutional Church
while overlooking what in us needs to be overcome. It is true our eyes need to be open to our
surroundings, but I declare to you that until the Babylon in us is exposed we will not grow in
our quest to know Him! The same spirit
that gave birth to the mixture of flesh and spirit within the church systems is
alive and well right within us! Right
now it is trying to figure out ways it can pervert what God is doing in this
hour so that it can escape its own demise!
The spirit I am speaking of is called Self-preservation and he is in the temple of God
seeking a way to sit on the throne of God, ruling in place of the true
King. This is why some home fellowships
encounter the same old problems we dealt with back in the system. Babylon
is in us! How often do we fail to see
that the calling of God to come out of the religious systems of man is only the
beginning of our journey? It is a much longer process removing the
spirit of Babylon
from us! That is why in our journey to
know Him He often strips us of ministry
and gifts for service. His gifts and
anointing often become diffused with our carnal reasoning and
self-efforts. This is the confusion that
is defined in the name, Babylon” — end quote.
The
good news is that the strongholds of Babylon
are surely falling within God’s elect by the omnipotent indwelling
Spirit of the Lord! God is forming a
people in this very hour who fulfill within themselves the prophecy of David
wherein he said, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the
beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning” (Ps. 110:3). Even now God is raising up a people who are
willing in this day of His power! Willing
to change their concepts, willing to give up all their old beliefs, willing to
forsake the old ways, the old associations, the old priorities, willing to
silence the demands of the flesh, willing to crucify every carnal religious
desire, willing to follow the paths of HIS LEADING, turning neither to the
right hand nor to the left, but to press forward with an eye that is single to
HIS GLORY. Oh, yes! This is not easy for many to accept, and that
is why in the Revelation such a great cry goes up for the city that is going
down! Even some among us are going to
mourn because they have built up a little kingdom that they don’t want to see
God’s fire come to!
The
people of the Lord have long been held captive by the spirit of the world. Thank God, there has been a little light in Babylon, and there has
even been the voice of the bride and
the Bridegroom (Rev. 18:23), for the
people chained in that horrible darkness have been the Lord’s people. The Lord has,
in mercy, allowed the least faithless of the popular churches to declare enough
of the gospel to lead a few to the Saviour.
A few of these have received of His Holy Spirit and His gifts. They have in measure tasted of His reality
and drank from His fountain of life. But
from here on, practically everything that is taught and done is nought but
defilement and shame: nothing but the precepts of the elders, and the lies and
deceptions of the antichrist. Organized
religion today, while totally ignorant of the fact of there being an
antichrist, is busy teaching his doctrines, observing his forms and ceremonies,
and glorying in his shame. To His people who sit shackled in these
chains of Babylonian
bondage the voice of the Lord commands, “Come out of her, my people!” Thank God, the chains of the Babylon system are doomed
to destruction. This mysterious system
is to be finally and irrevocably destroyed.
Wherefore the Lord saith, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,
the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the
uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake
thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem:
LOOSE THYSELF FROM THE BANDS OF THY NECK, O CAPTIVE DAUGHTER OF ZION. For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold
yourselves for naught; and ye shall be
redeemed without money” (Isa. 52:1-3).
The
hour of the final deliverance of God’s people
from Babylon
and the manifestation of His glory, majesty, wisdom,
and power upon them is at hand. The King
is coming! He is coming to His
temple! He is coming within to set His
people free, that they in turn may deliver
creation. The strong walls and high
towers of Babylon
shall all come down. Her chains and shackles
upon God’s people shall be broken. Our
release from all bondage and captivity is even now under way. Once the church is cleansed from her idols
and defilement, she will be in a position to bring deliverance to a sin-sick and judgment-weary
world, when “the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters
cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9). Only when
Christ’s church is delivered from her idols
can she ever hope to bring deliverance
to the world. And that deliverance has to come. It will come through those who have given up
their all, those who have lost everything to be married to their Lord, and who
henceforth live only unto Him. The water
of life must flow from the city to bring healing to the nations. The sons of God constitute the throne in the city of God,
but the city itself is the bride of
the Lamb. It is made up of all those who
are delivered out of Babylon, released by its mighty destruction, then
cleansed, purged, refined, changed, and transformed by HIS LIFE. Before any of us can have any part in God’s
great restoration of creation we must forsake all and follow the Lord
alone. No one can deliver men from the lies of the antichrist
while continuing to preach those lies.
No one can deliver
the world from the bondages of sin, fear, carnality, limitation, and death while
himself remaining a captive of those things.
And before God’s true church can persuade men to give up their idols, and loose their
bands, she must first get rid of all her own golden calves and come to Zion with everlasting songs
of joy and praise upon her head.
Alma McClure once printed
a letter in her paper The Winnower which
she had received from a sister who had had a startling experience of the
dealing of the Lord. This sister wrote,
“I began going to a church, and after about eight or nine months, I was awakened one morning from an
ominous dream. I dreamed I had just
parked my car in a funeral-home parking lot which was filled with cars. I knew they all had a special permit to park
there, but I didn’t have one. And I thought, ‘Well, no one will catch me if I just stand behind my
car and watch it so I can drive away before the authorities arrive.’ But, as I stood there, I became off my guard, in a state of
unawareness, and first thing I knew, this policeman was standing in front of my
car writing me a ticket. I had let down
my guard, and now I was going to pay!
Heavily! I asked him how much it
would cost me, and he said, $88.00.
That’s when I awoke!
“Immediately
I knew the Lord was telling me that if I didn’t get out of that funeral-home
(dead church) parking lot, I would really lose out! I felt the number ‘88’ stood for a double
anointing, or something spiritually very, very valuable, that would be taken
away from me! If I didn’t get out of the
church of dead people, I’d really lose out!
So I didn’t go back. For more
than a month
I went nowhere. But I got so lonely! So then I began attending another
church…until He took me out of that one! It’s very dangerous to ‘let our guard down’
thinking we’re just going to ‘park’ in the parking lot of death for a few
moments. But, thank God, He warns
us in a dream to get out or we’ll lose
out! He cares for us when we’re too
much asleep to realize our unawareness.
Thank God, He truly is our Shepherd, to guard us so
well! We’re such stupid, careless sheep,
sometimes…when we get so hungry to be with other sheep, we wander from His
voice. But He does come after us, if we
are truly called and chosen. Thank God,
He really has chosen me, in spite of all my stupidity! And I will
walk alone now, whatever the cost!
I’d rather pay it down here, than
lose out in the up there high
calling! Thanks for your letter of great
encouragement, that makes it a joy for me to go on without man’s order…his
perfect order…of dry, stacked bones…so very, very neatly stacked in man’s
perfect order…of dry, bleached bones!”
— end quote.
“Come,”
said Christian, “and join me. For I am
on my way to the Celestial
City. It is a place of great delights, of everlasting joy, and wondrous
comfort.” “Indeed, it sounds good,” said Pliable, “and
methinks that I will join thee on the King’s Highway.” Thus it is that John Bunyan delineates for us
the journey of Christian and Pliable on their way from the City of Destruction
to the City Celestial, in his immortal Pilgrim’s
Progress. However, they had not gone
very far out of the City of Destruction
when unexpectedly and precipitously they plunged headlong into the Slough of
Despond. “Is this,” lamented Pliable,
“the happiness you have told me all this while of? If so, then I think that should I ever get
out of this alive, I shall return to the city from whence I came and you may
possess that brave country alone for me.”
So, with several strenuous exertions, he made his way back to the side
of the slough from which he entered and, dripping mud and muck behind him,
hastened himself back to the City of Destruction. Thus we have the profile of this
unforgettable character, Pliable, drawn for us by Bunyan.
Now,
what is this City of Destruction,
what is this City Celestial, and just who is this character called
Pliable? I am certain most Christians
would identity the City of Destruction
as the world, or man’s lost state, or perhaps even hell itself. They would in turn view the City Celestial as
heaven. In the Revelation, however, the
City of Destruction
is Babylon, the
great harlot, and the City Celestial is New Jerusalem, the bride of
Christ! And the character,
Pliable — why his name is legion and his descendants multitudinous. Through the age vast numbers of saints have
heard the call to “Come out of her,” to flee Babylon
lest they be partakers of her sins and receive of her plagues, to depart the
City of Destruction
before her judgment falls. Many make
their professions and they start on the journey out of the harlot city in
search of the Holy
City, the
bride of the Lamb. But alas, it is only
a short while till many of them, staggering out of the loneliness, pressures,
trials, testings, and tribulations of their own Slough of Despond, are hurrying
back to the comfortable City of Destruction,
even though they have been told that God intends to destroy that city and judge
all who remain therein. Yes, my beloved,
there have been many who for a season have treasured the beautiful hope of the
high calling of God, but despairing of the aloneness of the walk, the dealings,
the provings, and refining fires encountered upon the journey, they soon make
their way back to Babylon. Their eye is
upon the crown and not upon the cross!
Their eye is upon the glory and not upon the processing that qualifies
for the glory! The idea that one must
truly suffer with Christ in order to reign with Him is exceedingly repugnant
to them. There is no place in their soul
for a Slough of Despond! The gifts, the blessings, the excitement, the
comfortableness, the prosperity, and the busy-ness of Babylon are much more to their liking. So they have turned back to the City of Destruction!
The
following admonition from the anointed pen of the late Carl Schwing still
speaks powerfully to us even today.
“When we were ‘taken’ from the camps of the fun, food, and fellowship
crowd, the Holy Spirit led us into the ‘Wilderness of Aloneness.’ In our aloneness, we found our Beloved…and He
freed us from the doctrines and religious notions of human thought. He gave us freedom…freedom to be all He would have us to be…freedom to
become all that He is…freedom to sit with Him in heavenly places and to have
fellowship with the Father. It was then
that our ‘Wilderness of Aloneness’ became our ‘Fortress of Aloneness’…closed in
with our Elder Brother and our Everlasting Father. A Fortress to ‘keep out’ those who would
‘gaze’ and to ‘keep in’ the sons that would be prepared for the Day of the
Lord…sons that would regain His presence
and the knowledge and experience of His life, joy, and glory, they shared with
Him in their beginning.
“There
are those who say that we are part of the occult. Others call us spiritualists, mystics,
isolationists, and even heretics. They
say these things because we will not seek the Living One among the dead
ones; because we will not worship in temples built with hands. The liberty
of the sons of God will not be found among those who are bound hand and
foot to the ideologies and programs of men.
It seems strange to those that worship in religious shrines that we
would worship in our home, or in the mountains, or forest, or at the water’s
edge…or worship in the house of grief and sorrow, or upon a bed of pain and
suffering, or in the shadows of heartache and disappointment. It seems even stranger to them that we should
glory in our cross, rejoice in our rejection, and find life in our
aloneness…and to receive the overwhelming power of His Presence and Love here
within our ‘Fortress.’ Oh! What great gifts the Father has given to us…with
Him in the vast family of God’s sons!
Ten thousand hallelujahs!
Now, in the light of this glorious
dawn, He is gently and lovingly gathering the Lillies of the Field…to bind them
together with the cords of love and give them to their Everlasting Father. Oh!
Sons of the morning, be still and know that our God is a ‘Mighty
Fortress’!
“Alas, there are those
among us that are turning back to the
old ways, the old order, thinking they will find life in the steeple-houses of
the fun, food, and fellowship crowd.
Though our Elder Brother has done wondrous works; though He has taught
them wondrous truths; and though He has shown man how to have spirit converse
with our Father, there are those who have gone back to the temple of flesh, to
the blind leaders of the blind, back to the bondage of ordinances, holy days,
and numberless religious practices, praying the prayers of their fathers of
old, eating once again of the wilderness manna.
However, it was the very ‘turning back’ of the multitude which brought
forth the living words of truth from the depths of Peter’s heart: ‘To whom shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life. And
we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God!’ Therefore, may the ‘turning back’ of others
stir the truth within us, reminding us of all the wondrous things the Lord has
done for us, reminding us of all the words of life He has revealed to us,
reminding us of the still small voice that
speaks within, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ Let us slay the giant of religion that would
take us captive and return us to the rulers and children of the house of
divisions and bondage…slaying him with the Stone that the builders rejected…the
living Stone that is so precious to us…the Rock of our salvation! And we, also, are living stones, fitly joined
together to form the City of the
Living God!
“Our
Elder Brother said that when we pray (worship or praise), we should go into our
closet (our secret place) and close the door — that we might have private and
intimate converse with our Father — assuring us that our Father would hear us
and answer us, that He would come into the secret place of our heart, and would
close the door, to be alone with us, to commune with us, to shed His life and
light upon us, to assure us of His abiding presence, faithfulness, and love,
for He sees and hears and speaks in this
secret place, and therefore is He there.
There is no room for forms or rituals within our secret place. It is the place where the Spirit of God comes
as a ‘rushing mighty wind’ to fill our inner son with the fire of the Father’s
matchless love, to prepare our inner son for the time of divine worship, for
the time of the communion of the saints, the time to consciously sit with Christ
in the heavenly places, the time to eat of the Manna of Life.
“The
outer man has no part in this worship!
This is when the hand of our inner son reaches out to touch the hand of
God. This is the assembling of the
firstborn (the first to come forth from the Father in that most glorious
beginning of beginnings). This is when
the Holy Spirit lifts the veil of the Holy of holies for us to enter, that we
might worship the Father, who is spirit, in
spirit and in the beauty of holiness.
This is the holy time of the renewing of our inner man; the hour of remembering our place in Him in ages
past. My beloved, as you know, the
secret place of which I write is where we walk in the liberty of the sons of
God! It is the holy ground upon which
mighty angels fear to tread! It is the
place where flesh and blood cannot enter!
It is the assembling we must not forsake…as is the manner of some who
have returned to the assembly houses of brick and stone. Let us enter our ‘secret place’ even more, as we see the day of our manifestation
approaching. In the preciousness of our
aloneness…in the beauty of our secret place…in the glory of His presence…let
all that is within us, praise His holy Name!” — end quote.
THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON
“For
her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and
double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled
fill to her double. How much she hath
glorified herself, and lived deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen,
and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with
fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Rev. 18:5-8).
“For her sins have reached unto
heaven…” The meaning is not that the
sins of Babylon
are like a mass or pile so high as to reach to heaven, to pollute even the
realm of the spirit, but that they had become so prominent and offensive as to
attract the attention of God and move Him to action.
“…God hath remembered her iniquities…” That God “remembered” Babylon’s unrighteousness does not mean God
had forgotten it. The phrase “God
remembered” is a Hebrew expression meaning God had been remembering it all
along and now was about to go into action to do something about it. The same phrase is found in Genesis 8:1 where
God “remembered Noah” and caused the rain to stop and the waters of the flood
to recede. It is found in Genesis 19:29
where God “remembered Abraham” and sent Lot out of Sodom, for God knew of Abraham’s loving
concern for his nephew. Genesis 30:22
states that “God remembered Rachel” and answered her prayers by opening her
womb so she conceived and bore a son.
Thus, God’s remembering Babylon’s
unrighteousness means He had been considering it all along and now was about to
bring His righteous divine judgment on it.
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and
double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled
fill to her double.” The scene
changes now with a call for the agents of God’s judgment to do their work on Babylon. Some think this call is a response to the
angel’s call for the people of God to leave Babylon.
As they leave, they call for retribution for what Babylon has done to them and to multitudes of
others who have been deceived, or suffered, and even died at her hand. It is my conviction, however, that the voice
here is still the voice of the same
“angel” mentioned in verse four — indeed,
it is the voice of the Lord Himself who says, “Come out of her, my
people…” The call is for God’s
agents to act in divine justice and render or recompense to Babylon as she herself has rendered to the
Lord’s people. True saints of God will
not try to avenge themselves on any adversary.
The love of Christ will cause them to forgive those who mistreat, malign, and enslave
them. But the time must come when those
who have been the masters of Babylon’s
deception and bondage must face God’s righteous judgment. The Voice tells us plainly that those who
willfully partake in her sins will
also receive of her plagues. Babylon
will be judged “double the double” according to her works. This does not mean that her punishment will
be double what she deserves. The
judgment will still be according to her
works. “ Double the double” is a cryptic way of saying that she will
receive a full measure of all she
deserves. That is, she deserves
punishment in two categories — not
only for the harm, damage and suffering she has caused the Lord’s people, but
also for the corruption of the ways and truth of God, and the greed and
immorality behind what she did to them.
In this way she receives “double the double.” She will drink the passion of God against her
from the same cup she used to pour out her corruption upon the people of the
Lord!
“How much she hath glorified herself, and
lived deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall
see no sorrow.” Part of the
reason given for her judgment is that she is always thinking in her heart that
she is sitting a queen, not a widow — that is, she sincerely thinks that she
herself is the true church, the actual
Bride of Christ, well favored of the Lord, the very kingdom of God
on earth with authority to rule! She positions herself for leadership,
sitting on the throne as queen, as did Jezebel in the days of Elijah, and her
counterpart in the church at Thyatira, the Jezebel who called herself a prophetess
and a teacher, seducing God’s people to commit fornication. She expects always to rule, to be in
control. She loudly professes that she shall “see no sorrow” or tribulation. So she continues on in her abominable
lifestyle, “living deliciously,” foolishly justifying her lust and greed and
travesties, “naming and claiming” whatever appeals to her at the moment, not
knowing what her end shall be. In her
drunken, deluded stupor, she is blind to the impending judgment God has
appointed for her! She does not believe
the plagues of God’s judgment will ever come upon her. Babylon of Isaiah’s day felt the same way,
but in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy it was leveled to the ground and made a
swamp, “pools of water” (Isa. 14:22-23), as archaeological records of
Sennacherib confirm. It is also just as
sure that the present Babylonian
world system will come to a total end!
“Therefore shall her plagues come in one
day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with
fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Because of Babylon’s self-exaltation, taking glory to
herself that belongs only to God and His called and chosen elect, and because of
her greedy, sensual luxury, the plagues of divine judgment will come on her
suddenly, swiftly, and powerfully. In
“one hour” the prophecy says! It’s not
talking about 60 minutes. Spiritually,
it signifies that her judgment comes swiftly,
and in the day, the hour, the time, the season of God’s
dealing. Death, mourning, and famine
will be part of the judgment. Consuming
fire will complete it!
The
scriptures specifically foretell a number of judgments which are destructive in their nature. Here the Revelation points to the time when “Babylon the Great” or
“Mystery Babylon” will be judged — and consequently destroyed. Mystery Babylon is not limited to any single
ecclesiastical body, but is composed of
many, indeed of ALL
who are walking apart from the LIFE OF
THE SPIRIT and the HEADSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST.
For two thousand years God has been calling out and forming a heavenly people,
born from above, filled with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, led by the
Spirit, growing up in the life and power
of the Spirit, the workmanship of GOD BY THE SPIRIT, the true church of the firstborn whose names are written in
heaven. Along side this glorious company
of the Spirit-born and Spirit-led the enemy has planted the tares: the doctors
of the law, the bishops, theologians, ministers and priests organizing carnal
systems, legislating laws and commandments, writing static creeds, instituting
ordinances and sacraments, performing empty ceremonies and powerless rituals, and teachers poring over
the dead letter of the Word, but never being quickened by the Spirit of
Truth.
These
blind leaders of the blind are the lords of a vast and powerful system
which calls itself “the church,” but is not the church at all, but a blinding,
restricting, abyss of incomprehensible darkness and confusion that holds men’s
spirits in such bondage to lifeless traditions that they can never see the
glory of God nor His transcendent purpose
in their lives. It is only when
the blazing fire of the Omnipotent Spirit sovereignly penetrates the dankness
and death of Babylon’s
walls that men first catch a glimpse of the living Christ of God and rise up to
FOLLOW HIM. The chains fall
off, the prison doors swing open on their rusty hinges and these followers
of the Lamb behold a world of freedom
and revelation and reality and life and glory beyond the constricting walls of
denominationalism, ritualism, tradition, and the kingdoms of men.
Rather than continuing to call a few souls here and there out of the
City of Destruction,
God has now decreed HIS JUDGMENT against this idolatrous system of Babylon, and
has already established by His immutable counsel just HOW THE JUDGMENT SHALL BE
EXECUTED.
“And the kings of the earth, who have
committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and
lament for her, when they shall see the
smoke of her burning…and they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping
and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all
that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate” (Rev. 18:9,19).
Let
me share some spiritually poignant words written by David Wilkerson many years
ago. “Babylon is not a physical city; it
is a spiritual condition — even as Zion is not just a city in Israel, but also
a spiritual representation of the true church of Jesus Christ. Babylon is the harlot church! It really is not complicated. Forget about the seven heads and the ten
horns — those are only symbols that signify the worldwide influence of the
harlot. What we have is a vivid picture
of the apostate, sensual, rich church of today!
A famous, influential harlot, in possession of great wealth and prestige
— but polluted with nakedness, fornication, and filth! God has decreed ‘Enough! I’m going to put a sudden end to all
spiritual foolishness!’ What does it
mean to us — right now, in our day? So much, in fact, that God says it will
tingle the ears and astonish the whole world!
We are going to witness the fall of some highly esteemed ministries! Multimillion dollar projects are going to
come crashing down! It will be headline
news! Some churches that have strapped
themselves with monstrous debt will go bankrupt! Liberal denominations will suffer an even
greater loss of revenue! God is going to
shut down every TV program that uses ungodly men and methods! There is coming a great purge! Only the spiritual ministries will
remain! Those who hear the call of the
Spirit to purge their ministry, God will bless and increase. Those in league with the world will only grow
more unspiritual and worldly. The
spiritual man of God will fill the breach!
“God
is getting ready to do a new thing! He
is going to bring down the proud, the famous, the ambitious — and lift up
humble, unknown prophets to bring the church back to repentance and
holiness! Friends, the days of superstar
evangelists are all over! No more
one-man shows! No more stealing God’s honor! No more glamour! No more showmanship! No more world-directed choreography in God’s
holy place! No more big-time
religion! The Holy Ghost is going to
shut down corporate religion! God has
declared He will not finance the ego of any preacher of the gospel! The Holy Spirit is already wooing the
children of the Lord away from bigness, brightness, and sensationalism. Even sinners are fed up with all the pitiful
appeals for money! A revived, sanctified
people are going to discern between the
clean and the unclean! Those in the
middle of building their little empires will weep and despair — as God brings it all
down! He is going to write
‘Ichabod’ over their doors! His glory will
depart from them! God is going to cause
the hustle and bustle — the busy pace — to burn out and wear down all who have wasted
so much time at building — instead of seeking the face of God! ‘I am against you Babylon…I will lift up my hand against you
and roll you down from your heights and leave you a burnt-out mountain…you
shall be desolate…you shall be completely wiped out…’ (Jer. 51:25-26,
L.B.). The scripture commands — ‘Flee
out of the midst of Babylon,
and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off
in her iniquities; for this is the time
of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense’ (Jer.
51:6)” — end quote.
The
following dream was given to Richard L. Jones, a pastor
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A in March, 2006. “In this dream I was in the downtown area of
a large city and there was a lot of activity going on around me. The next thing I knew, I was on the top of a
tall structure that was being dismantled.
It was not being torn down, but dismantled and carried away on flatbed trucks. I was directing heavy equipment, like huge
cranes and such, that were being used to dismantle the many structures of the
city. These structures were made of
stone, or cast concrete facades, with steel beams used as supports for the
structures. Again, I was having the
cranes and other heavy equipment lower large pieces of these structures and
facades to the ground so they could be moved and taken away on heavy trucks.
“I
awoke from my dream and inquired of the Lord what this meant. The Lord said to me, ‘I am dismantling the old
religious structures that have been erected by men. I am clearing the way to build what I desire
to be raised up in this place and at this time!
There is a large city to be dismantled, but I will raise up a new city built upon
foundations of Divine Truth which support pillars of Righteousness and
Justice. But first there will be a great
dismantling and many will be exposed to
the winds and the rain, to the hail and the hot sun, to the snow and the
darkness. I am their Strong Tower. Oh, how I so desire for them to run to Me in
that day of the great dismantling! For I
am raising up a New City
for those who will.’ I knew then
that my dream was about the ‘dis-mantling’ of the old church structure as we
know it and that God was going to raise up a new church, one that is built
according to His divine providence and not built on the plans and ambitions of
men” —
end quote.
The
picture given us in chapter eighteen of the Revelation, of the judgment of Babylon, is a picture of
utter desolation that is drawn before our eyes.
Instead of the joyful light and illumination of her festive streets,
there is now absolute (spiritual) darkness: for even the light of a candle
shall shine no more. Instead of the
bustle of machinery (her programs and promotions), the joyful sound of music,
the glad voice of bride (God’s true people) and bridegroom (Christ the Head),
there is now a doleful and gloomy
silence. She is set on fire and
her fire burns so brightly that all the world beholds it together in awe and
somber wonder. Then with great steaming
convulsions she sinks into the depths of the sea to be seen never again. Babylon
is turned into a region of death and destruction! All her glory is gone in one hour, and that
forever. God has sent judgments upon
that system throughout the age, as in the days of the Reformation, and in the
days of the French Revolution, but this is the final and complete judgment upon
Babylon. She has committed fornication with the kings
and the princes of the world. She has
made the nations drunk with the wine of her
fornication. She has deceived
them with all her sorceries. In her was
found the blood of the saints and prophets.
She has made war with the Lamb throughout the ages. Her iniquity rises to heaven. Therefore, in one hour has her final and
complete destruction come!
I
recently quoted some words from Ray Prinzing’s wonderful book, Revelation — A Positive Book, and I will
quote a small portion of that again as it is so vital to the present
message. “Particularly we are led to
emphasize coming out of religious Babylon. ‘We
would have healed Babylon,
but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own
country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the
skies’ (Jer. 51:9). We would have
healed her — oh, how we tried to bolster her up and heal her! We poured our strength into her, ignoring the
instruction to ‘Give not thy strength
unto women…’ (Prov. 31:3). We fasted
and prayed for God to revive her! Though
she reeked with abominations, traditions of men, false doctrines, and
platitudes for itching ears, still we tried to heal her. But in time the holy Spirit speaks so loudly,
‘flee out of the midst of her,’ that
we have to obey. All her works, her
kingdom building endeavors for self, are not sufficient — but are as filthy
rags ready for the burning” — end
quote.
There
are many sincere, good people who are trying to reform and heal the old church
systems. But they cannot be reformed,
revived, or healed — they must one and all be destroyed — just as the Lord has revealed! “The
Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God…for His device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the
vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of His temple” (Jer.
51:10-11). Even those within the church
systems who truly love the Lord must be thrown into the melting pot, melted up,
refined, and reconstructed. No healing
is possible! No reform is possible! John Wesley found out that it was not
possible to get the people saved in the Church of England,
therefore he was led to form a society
for the salvation of souls. But John
Wesley himself prophesied that his new society would depart from the faith and
decline. He prophesied that one day Ichabod would have to be written over the Methodist societies, for
“the glory would depart,” as they themselves apostatized. And today “the glory has departed,” except in
flashes here
and there where a truly consecrated preacher and people rise, for a brief
season, above the level of the dead sea of formalism, hypocrisy, and moral and
spiritual corruption. The movement as a
whole has gone all the way from being a society for the salvation of souls, to becoming a society for the damnation of souls!
Fear
not, saints of the Most High God, for your Father is in control of all these
things and is directing all these events.
He concludes none of these ominous judgments until first He brings His sons to mount Zion
with authority and power to fill the earth with His glory. Notice the scripture I quoted in the
paragraph above — “The Lord hath brought
forth our righteousness: come, and let
us declare IN ZION
the work of the Lord our God…” Then
the prophet goes on to tell how God is against Babylon, to destroy it. Oh, yes! The Lord will bring forth His righteous
people, His holy sons upon mount
Zion,
those who sing the new song, those who are virgins, undefiled by women (harlot
churches), those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (all the way into
the fullness of God), those who are redeemed from among men (out of the Adamic
nature), those in whose mouths is found no guile (deceit, false doctrines),
those who have ascended into the throne
zone! The pattern, the order, the
sequence is clearly seen in the Revelation — the manchild is birthed and caught
up to the throne in chapter 12, the 144,000 sons of God are seen standing in
righteousness, glory, and power upon the mount Zion in chapter 14 — then Great Babylon is judged and
destroyed in chapters 17 and 18! The
Lord will bring forth the righteousness of His Zion company and reveal to them
His purpose before moving in mighty
power to judge the harlot and destroy her kingdom from the face of the
earth. That is God’s order! It will, at long last, be the hour of the
exaltation and ministry of those humble followers of the Lamb to whom shall be
committed the rule and reign of the kingdom
of God
under all the unbounded heavens! Isn’t
it wonderful!
We
used to wonder who was going to judge Babylon,
but we have found out. In Revelation
18:20 we read, first from the King James Bible, “Rejoice over her thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for
God hath avenged you on her.” Those
words appear to indicate that God is going to
judge Babylon
with HIS OWN JUDGMENT. But we will read
the literal translation from the
Diaglott, “Exult over her, O Heaven! and
you saints, and you apostles, and you prophets; BECAUSE GOD JUDGED YOUR JUDGMENT ON
HER.” The actual word by word
translation from the Greek text
reads thus: “…because judged the God the judgment of you on her.” What a word that is! So we see it is first of all the judgment of heaven. “Exult over her, O heaven, and you
saints…” “Heaven” denotes the
realm of sonship, throneship — kings and priests. Then it is the judgment of saints, of
holy ones, that is brought upon
her. Paul said the saints are to judge the world! How my heart rejoices that God has declared
that the judgment that He shall bring upon
this Babylon,
shall be the judgment of sons and of saints, the apostles and the prophets. We will pronounce the judgment and God will
enforce it! But it will not be a
vindictive or retaliatory judgment, for it is the judgment of THE MANCHILD IN
THE THRONE AND OF THE HOLY ONES! We will
not be as we have been, mixtures of flesh and spirit, of truth and error, of
carnality and spirituality, of Adam
and Christ. Oh, no! As of now we have no desire for any of God’s
people to pronounce judgment upon us, neither do we want to pronounce judgment
on anyone else. There must come a mighty
change in all of us for this, until we have fully PUT ON THE MIND OF CHRIST! Jesus said that He judged righteous judgment,
because
He sought not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. All the holy sons of God must come to
this before being able to judge Babylon
in the spirit of RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT!
This
great truth was first revealed to John the beloved in chapter seven of the Revelation. “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of
the earth, holding the four winds of the
earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any
tree. And I saw another angel
ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a
loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the
sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God
in their foreheads” (Rev. 7:1-3).
There
are many beautiful truths and deep mysteries hidden in the symbolisms of this
passage, but I am sure the reader can discern in the action of the four angels
the ministry of judgment. Four is the number of that which is
world-wide or universal, and the winds which blow with devastating force are
the symbol of judgment. Everywhere in
scripture the winds are revealed as divine agents and used either for blessings
or for judgments. Here, the four winds
are significant of judgments which for the time, the four angels are holding
back in order to permit the Seer to have a vision of something that must be
brought forth and established before the
winds are permitted to blow!
Let
not the winds blow — until! He holds the winds back — hold everything
in restraint for a season — endure the corruption, UNTIL THE SONS OF GOD ARE
SEALED IN THEIR FOREHEADS! Bring no
judgment upon the earth realm, or the sea realm, nor upon the trees,
representing those activities, works, creations, and institutions of men which
grow and are produced out of the carnal mind (earth) — let there be no judgment
upon any of these things until the
sons of God have put on the mind of Christ!
As I write these things and meditate upon them it becomes crystal clear
within my spirit that there can be no righteous
judgment out from God’s elect until
we all have been imbued with the nature
of the Father and the mind of Christ. Any
man, apart from the mind of Christ, is unqualified to render any kind of
judgment — and he will never
be able to judge even his own soul, or his body, or the trees that grow out of
his earth, apart from the understanding
and wisdom of the mind of Christ. Much
less is he prepared to administer righteous judgments to those realms outside
himself — the world of mankind and the harlot systems of Babylon.
Righteous judgment comes only out of the heavens of the spirit of the
Lord! Thus the divine fiat issued by the
word of the Lord that the four winds be
restrained from blowing upon the earth, the sea, or any tree, until the mind of
Christ has been fully formed in God’s kings and
priests!
The
fruit of this judgment will be glorious indeed! The long dispensations of apostasy and
backsliding and faithlessness will be ended.
We shall have come to the most blessed age of all: to the time when God
is introducing yet one more provision, a new, incorruptible, and eternal order
and arrangement which shall never go down to defeat as have all the provisions
of the past. Great Babylon shall have fallen to rise no more! “And a mighty angel took up a stone like
a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall
that great city Babylon
be thrown down, AND SHALL BE FOUND NO MORE AT ALL!” (Rev. 18:21). “Remember
ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing: now it shall
spring forth; shall ye not know it? I
will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert (that all men
may seek the Lord and be refreshed). The
beast of the field (natural man) shall honor me, the dragons and the owls (men
of unclean natures): because I give waters (or life) in the wilderness, and
rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praises” (Isa.
43:18-21).
In
this glorious Day apostasy has raised her ugly head in God’s church for the
last time! The adversary, with all his
lies and deception and ignorance, is now a vanquished foe! God’s new thing, God’s new
order must now triumph as Great Babylon sinks into the sea never to be found
anymore! God’s manchild company ascends
the throne. God’s holy city, New
Jerusalem, descends out of the heavens of the spirit. The nations of them that are saved shall walk
in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor
into it. And there shall be no more
curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants
shall serve Him. And they shall see His
face; and His name shall be in their foreheads…and they shall reign for the ages
of the ages. Oh, the wonder of it! Oh, the mystery of it!
To
be continued… J. PRESTON EBY