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This study may be freely posted on other bbs' and distributed to others provided this leader remains with the study text at all times. **************** WHAT IS "MYSTERY BABYLON"? ****************** Revelation 18:1-4 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. God's true people want to know what BABYLON THE GREAT is so they can "COME OUT" if they are in IT! If you are truly a child of God, you will find this to be a very important study. It may very well be one of the most important Bible truths that you ever learn. To determine the BIBLE meaning of the "Babylon" symbolism, we need to consider several major points: -(1)- "Babylon" (in Revelation 18) is NOT a reference to ancient Babylon, which had been destroyed several hundred years before Revelation was written. God had declared that ancient Babylon would never again be restored. Notice these verses of Scripture: Isaiah 13:17-20; 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and [as for] gold, they shall not delight in it. 13:18 [Their] bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 13:20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. Jeremiah 50:39-40 (speaking in context about LITERAL Babylon); 50:39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell [there], and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 50:40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour [cities] thereof, saith the LORD; [so] shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein. Jeremiah 25:11-12; 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, [that] I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. -(2)- Babylon is called a city several times in Revelation (Revelation 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21). It is also symbolized by an evil harlot woman, who is also referred to as a city (Revelation 17, especially notice verses 1-5 and verse 17). -(3)- As we studied in our last chapter, Babylon is symbolized as a "harlot" in order to contrast her with the TRUE "BRIDE OF CHRIST". This contrast helps us to realize that "she" is a COUNTERFEIT "bride of Christ", or in other words a religious system which CLAIMS TO BE CHRISTIANITY BUT IS NOT. This will become more clear as we study further. -(4)- Paul stressed in Hebrews 12:18-23 that in this NEW COVENANT age saved people do not gather to a literal mountain or a literal Jerusalem, but rather a SPIRITUAL MOUNT ZION; A SPIRITUAL CITY OF GOD; THE "HEAVENLY JERUSALEM"! Paul spoke these words in the first century A.D.; "YE ARE COME....". The saints were already IN the heavenly Jerusalem in THIS LIFE! God's true people are His SPIRITUAL "ISRAEL" who worship in the SPIRITUAL "NEW" Jerusalem; "THE CHURCH OF GOD, WHICH HE HATH PURCHASED WITH HIS OWN BLOOD" (Acts 20:28)! Romans 2:28-29; 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 2:29 But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God. When Paul says "in the spirit, and not in the letter", he uses Greek terminology which means, "SPIRITUALLY AND NOT LITERALLY". A TRUE JEW IN THE EYES OF GOD IS NOT ONE BY LITERAL BIRTH, BUT RATHER ONE WHO IS A SON OF GOD. Galatians 3:16 & 29 etc.; 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. -(5)- Since "Babylon" pictures the opposite of the true church, it symbolizes the FALSE CHURCH system that professes to be the bride of Christ, but instead it is an unfaithful HARLOT! This false church system is very deceptive. It even fooled John the Revelator when he got a vision of it (Revelation 17:6-7)! -(6)- This false church system is so deceptive that even today some TRUE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE attend these various kinds of churches. That is why God said in Revelation 18:4; "Come out of her MY people". -(7)- In the Bible, the ministers of this system of FALSE "christianity" are SYMBOLIZED as "merchants of the earth" (Revelation 18:11). The following outline will show the reasons for this fact: (a) They serve "belly gods" (Romans 16:17-18 and Philippians 3:17-19). This means that their main reason for being in the "ministry" is for a means of MATERIAL SUPPORT. Even though the Bible teaches that God's ministry is to be supported by the church, that must NEVER be one of the reasons for a person to labor in the ministry. (b) They place great emphasis on material prosperity and suppose that "gain is godliness" (I Timothy 6:5). YOU CAN ALWAYS SPOT SUCH FALSE PREACHERS BY THEIR EMPHASIS ON FALSE TEACHINGS THAT CLAIM GOD WANTS TO MAKE HIS PEOPLE MATERIALLY PROSPEROUS. They will usually go to the Old Testament writings and use men like Abraham and Job for examples. We need to always remember that those men were wealthy in order to represent SPIRITUAL RICHES in the allegories ("types") which they portray. While God DOES sometimes see fit to bless SOME of His people financially (if He sees that they can handle it without it becoming a spiritual hindrance), the Bible only promises that God will "SUPPLY OUR NEEDS". Don't EVER forget that some of the most SPIRITUAL MEN to ever walk this earth were NEVER wealthy. THAT INCLUDES JESUS, PAUL, PETER, JOHN, JAMES, etc. (c) These FALSE preachers are even said to (symbolically) deal in the "SOULS OF MEN" (Revelation 18:13)! In God's sight FALSE preachers are IN BUSINESS buying and selling "souls". It is no wonder that many of today's "churches" are using every type of "Madison Avenue" business technique in the books in order to gain more "CUSTOMERS". That is also why that we DO NOT use any gimmicks or social attractions in order to "attract" people to the congregation here at the Bible Study Center. WE PUBLISH AND PREACH THE WORD OF GOD AND IF THAT DOES NOT ATTRACT PEOPLE, WE DO NOT WANT THEM TO ATTEND THE STUDIES HERE !!! WE WILL NEVER USE ANYTHING ELSE TO GET PEOPLE TO BECOME A PART OF THIS CONGREGATION. -(9)- This false church system has SOME TRUTH on the outside; NOT TRUTH IN THE HEART. Revelation 17:4 shows Babylon is "decked", or decorated outwardly with gold. As we proved in the last chapters, Gold is a symbol of salvation (Revelation 3:14-18); Precious stones represent truth manifest in the lives of truly born-again people (I Peter 2:5, Malachi 3:17); and Pearls are a symbol of truth (Matthew 7:6). This lets us see that Satan will use TRULY SAVED PEOPLE and what little genuine truth they have as a "decking" to cover up the UNGODLINESS that goes on INSIDE false religion. It is no wonder that God does not want SAVED PEOPLE TO GO DOWN TO BABYLON! They help the devil pull the wool over people's eyes and deceive them. For example, let us picture a Christian who attends a false church. Some honest-hearted person visits that church searching for the truth. The genuine spirit of the true Christian reaches out to them and causes them to have confidence in the FALSE CHURCH, because they met the true Christian there. Unwittingly the child of God has provided himself as the bait for the devil to use on his "hook" of deception. Satan has actually used the child of God to fight against the cause of Christ! The Christian has been used by the devil as a decking of salvation and truth to cover over the ugly "heart" of false religion! That is why God says, "COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, THAT YE BE NOT PARTAKERS OF HER SINS, AND THAT YE RECEIVE NOT OF HER PLAGUES" (Revelation 18:4). -(10)- If we are to truly know WHAT IS BABYLON?, we must examine many areas of Bible symbolism to really identify false religion. We have already shown that Jerusalem and Babylon are pictured both by cities AND by women. It should be obvious to you that the names of those cities are used to help convey additional understanding about those two spiritual symbols. For example, since literal Jerusalem was the place where the temple was built and where God was worshipped under the OLD COVENANT, we should easily realize that the SPIRITUAL CITY, New Jerusalem, pictures the WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH (John 4:24) of the NEW COVENANT. Likewise, just as ancient literal Babylon was a world wide empire that fought against God's true people, polluted God's true religion, and finally carried away the majority of Jews into captivity, modern day spiritual Babylon has posed as TRUE RELIGION and led God's people into spiritual "captivity" under FALSE GODS (STUDY THE FOLLOWING: I Timothy 4:1-2, II Timothy 3:5 & 13, II Timothy 4:2-4, Galatians 1:6-12, II Corinthians 11:1-4 and 13-15, II Peter 2:1-3, I John 4:1-7, Matthew 7:15-23). (11) There are several PHYSICAL characteristics of ancient Babylon that portray SPIRITUAL characteristics of today's SPIRITUAL BABYLON. One of these has to do with the TYPE OF FOOD that is served. Daniel 1:8-20 shows that even though Daniel and the three other men of God had been taken captive by ancient Babylon, THEY REFUSED TO EAT BABYLONIAN FOOD! God also has true saints today who though they are captives in spiritual Babylon and may not even realize the danger, WILL STILL NOT EAT THE POLLUTED, CORRUPTED twistings of the scriptures that are served as spiritual food in various false religions. We need to remember that Babylon also has its "deckings" of "pearls" of TRUTH. God's true ministry will preach (along with the milk of the word), MUCH DEEPER SPIRITUAL WISDOM than can be obtained in various false churches (I Corinthians 2:7-14). (12) One of the most detailed "types" (spiritual pictures) of SPIRITUAL BABYLON is given to us in Genesis 10 & 11. Genesis 10:9- 10 shows us a brief description of the kind of leadership that Babylon has. Babel (Hebrew says Babylon) was ruled by NIMROD whose name means REBEL. Not only does Nimrod picture the spirit of rebellion which is so prevalent among false professors of Christianity, but he is also described as a "MIGHTY HUNTER BEFORE THE LORD." The meaning of this passage can be determined when we realize that God is "FAR from the wicked" (Proverbs 15:29). God was not keeping a "close eye" on Nimrod's doings, or He would not have had to come down to check on the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5). In Genesis 10:9, the word that is translated "BEFORE" from the Hebrew can also be translated "AGAINST". The Biblical context, as well as historical accounts of Nimrod, show us that he was A GREAT HUNTER WHO WAS AGAINST THE LORD. False religion today is a GREAT HUNTER running to and fro seeking after souls to deceive! God's true church realizes that only honest hearts can be truly saved, so it is not God's way to try to hunt and capture ALL men. God's foreknowledge lets Him know that MOST MEN will not be saved (Matthew 7:13-14, Acts 13:48, Ephesians 1:4, I Peter 1:2, Revelation 17:8). Most false religions are constantly out "beating the bushes" trying to hunt and capture EVERYONE, regardless of honesty of heart. God's people strive to let the Holy Spirit lead them to honest hearts or bring honest-hearted people to them. GOD DOES NOT WANT TO FILL HIS CHURCH WITH HYPOCRITES AND FALSE PROFESSORS JUST FOR THE SAKE OF LARGER NUMBERS! This is one of the great dangers of using BUS MINISTRIES and the many other modern means of enticement. Modern spiritual Babylon is a "mighty hunter" who opposes God's true churches by HUNTING down truly saved people and trying to spiritually KILL them by "caging" them in deceptive religious systems (Revelation 18:2). Even true Christians are led to believe that the main work of the church is primarily involved with SOCIAL functions. This is why it is so popular in "Babylonian" churches to raise money by appealing to the world. They use Bingo games, soup suppers, ice-cream socials, car washes, lotteries, fairs, carnivals, magic shows, famous athletes, bake sales, or any other means that Satan can dream up to try to drag money out of his world (II Corinthians 4:4) to support HIS DEVILISH CHURCHES. (13) Genesis 11 begins to give us a spiritual type of the falling away of the true church and the beginnings of spiritual Babylon: Genesis 11 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. Spiritually speaking this is a good picture of the TRUE CHURCH when it is measured up to the will of God. Paul taught in I Corinthians 1:10; 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. See how the type in Genesis 11 pictures the first century church at her very best. It shows a condition of fulfilling the very teaching that Paul was presenting to the church of God at Corinth. In the "type" in Genesis 11, we see that the people LITERALLY spoke the same LITERAL languages. That pictures the doctrine that Paul was presenting; THAT ALL OF GOD'S PEOPLE SHOULD BELIEVE AND TEACH THE SAME THINGS AND THERE SHOULD BE NO DIFFERENCES OF TEACHING. John 17 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. This scripture shows us that Jesus was greatly concerned to keep His church IN UNITY. He wanted them to all preach and teach the same TRUTH, even as Paul later declared to the church of God at Corinth. The early church did not believe in having a congregation in every little town or several in the big cities. They realized that a body cannot function very well without enough members to make it a complete body (The church is the body of Christ - 1 Corinthians 12:27.). They knew that there is greater power in larger numbers of God's true people gathering together (NOT JUST LARGE RELIGIOUS GATHERINGS IN GENERAL). As a result, the Lord led them to have only a few LARGE congregations in the first century rather than many small ones. Babylon's method is generally to have a lot of churches scattered here and there. The main cause of having so many churches is the fact that the devil so often succeeds in getting people to either leave a true congregation, or else he causes them to not be willing for one reason or another to attend the TRUE congregation of God's people in town. As a result, Satan makes it handy for the excuse to be used, "LET US BUILD A CHURCH SO WE CAN RUN IT THE WAY WE WANT TO!" This is exactly what happened to the people in Genesis 11! They WERE all united, but that did not last long when they began to build THEMSELVES a "means of reaching to heaven"! Whenever God sees people trying to build congregations in different parts of the country where there are already true congregations, He is not at all pleased! There are too many large areas in the world WITH NO TRUE CHURCHES for God to allow any one area to be congested with genuine GOD APPROVED congregations! Philip did not have to build a church in the desert to win the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8), and God is still working in the same manner today! Many times false preachers use the excuse, "but I may be able to win someone who the other pastor cannot win". THAT IS SO CONTRARY TO GOD'S TRUE WAY OF DOING THINGS. WHO IN THE WORLD EVER CAME UP WITH THE IDEA THAT IF YOU WIN SOMEONE TO THE LORD, THAT YOU ARE THEREFORE CALLED TO BE THEIR PASTOR? GOD'S PEOPLE ARE ALL SUPPOSE TO BE A PART OF THE "BRIDE", AND THEREFORE ARE ALL SUPPOSE TO HELP IN THE "BEARING" OF CHILDREN. HOWEVER, WE ARE SUPPOSE TO ALL WORK TOGETHER TO DO SO, AND CERTAINLY WE ARE NOT TO "START OUR OWN CHURCH" JUST BECAUSE WE HAPPEN TO BE ABLE TO HELP TO BRING IN NEW CONVERTS. God is trying to bring His people together and JESUS" prayer WILL BE ANSWERED. The sad part is that many people will never be a part of the work of God because they want to "make themselves a name" and therefore will not unite together with God's TRUE PEOPLE. Babylon usually follows one of two routes down the road to destruction. One, they strive to build HUGE congregations by dragging in just anyone who will attend (whether honest-hearted or not). Two, they break into many little congregations so that the pastor's job will be easier AND people can have plenty of variety offered them when they go CHURCH SHOPPING. This last category makes it especially easy for people to become disgruntled and upset at someone in one congregation and instead of making things right and working things out God's way (which is hard on one's PRIDE), they can simply "HOP" over to another church. GOD DEFINITELY DOES NOT WANT LARGE NUMBERS OF CHURCHES BUT HE DOES WANT A GREAT DEGREE OF UNITY AMONG HIS PEOPLE! We live in a day when people are so insistent on having their own way (NOT WILLING to go God's way), that they go out and start more churches. As a result, Babylon grows and grows and multitudes go into deception! In Genesis 11:1 everyone spoke the same thing (good spiritual example and a definite picture of the circumstances of the maturing first century church). However, all it took to destroy this UNITY was for some people to want to build their OWN way to Heaven (their own high tower of Babel or BABYLON)! Genesis 11 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. We know where this "plain" was at, because this became the site for the capitol of the kingdom of Babylon, where many years later the Jewish people were taken into 70 years of captivity. I will not spend a lot of time on the symbolism portrayed by this "plain". I think it should be sufficient for now to mention one other "plain" that appears in a well known "type". In Genesis 13:10, Lot chooses the "plain" for his own possession and leaves the hills and mountains of Canaan for Abraham. Lot thinks he has made a wise decision, but in the end he loses everything because the "plain" is the sight of God's destructive works. God destroys Sodom (which is a symbolic picture of spiritual BABYLON THE GREAT---the "great city"; Revelation 11:8) and Lot not only LOSES nearly all of his possessions, the only thing he doesn't lose is his daughters who then proceed to make him drunk, sleep with him, and thus produce TWO nations who become enemies of God's people (compare Deuteronomy 23:3-4 with Genesis 19:36-38). With that brief "typical" picture in mind, we can now determine the symbolic meaning of the "plain" where Lot chose to keep his "flocks". Lot obviously chose the place that looked the easiest to prosper (read the whole story in Genesis). The "plain" appeared to be an easier place to pasture his flock. Even so, the people in the first century church began to seek an EASIER PASTURE after the martyrdoms of so many of their leaders and fellow Christians. God's TRUE CHURCH is symbolized again and again in the scriptures as a (spiritual) MOUNTAIN. We have already shown in previous chapters of this book that the TRUE CHURCH is called the "heavenly Jerusalem" and "Mount Zion" in Hebrews 12:22-23. This is because a person truly living for the Lord will find some difficult "climbing" at times as they strive to "grow up" spiritually. However, other than the normal processes of "sowing and reaping" which ALL of mankind must face, most people in false religion will find that it is a "plain" and generally EASY WALKING. As we can see from the symbolism, the early church began to look for an easier place to build a "way to heaven". The plain was AWAY from the east, as the text says they "journeyed FROM the east". The significance of this should be easy to see. The "east" is the direction in which the SUN RISES. Since the SUN is a type of Jesus Christ and the light which he gives through the WORD OF GOD (Malachi 4:2), then it should be clear to the reader that in "type", these people symbolize the early church LEAVING the source of early "LIGHT", and going AWAY from the rising of the "sun". This may be clearer if we read Malachi 4:2: 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. All Bible students who read this will realize that the context of this verse describes events to occur in the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus. The entire chapter deals with those events. The symbolism of journeying "FROM THE EAST" shows the departure of the early Christians from the true FAITH, as they began to yield to pagan influences rather than to face death by martyrdom as had so many of their brethren. The story in Genesis 11 took place in order that God might reveal symbolically the events that would occur in the spiritual KINGDOM many years later after Jesus would come. Genesis 11 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Why would God want to confound the language of a people who were in UNITY? It is easy to see the answer is because of what the people were attempting to accomplish. God is FOR unity, unless it helps evil works to be accomplished. These people were using the unity that they had to try to build their own WAY TO HEAVEN (symbolically speaking). That made it necessary for God to destroy the unity amongst the people. Notice how church history shows the same events happening in the "church". In the first century the preaching of Paul was used by God to unite Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, male and female, etc. in order to unite the church. However, as the persecutions continued against the people of God, many people gradually began to lose hope and the church as a whole began to spiritually "journey from the east". The people began to spiritually "walk away" from the earliest source of spiritual light (GOD"S TRUE MINISTRY PREACHING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST AS QUICKLY AS HE WOULD REVEAL IT). The Bible admonishment to God's people was that they should "walk IN the light" (1 John 1), which pictures a spiritual "walk" towards the light and not away from it. Surely we are to "walk" towards Jesus, and not away from HIM. When God saw this happening, and saw that the people still CLAIMED to be building a way to heaven, He began to CONFOUND their language. The early efforts to build their OWN way to heaven were the works of the Roman Catholic Church. God could not allow such to continue, as they were becoming too powerful and God hated what they were doing. Therefore, God confounded their language so they began to teach with MANY DIFFERENT "sounds" in the form of what became known as PROTESTANTISM. Even though there were really not very many changes in the ideas and principles by which PROTESTANTISM (the many different systems or "languages") began to operate, and even though they were STILL attempting to build their own LITTLE TOWERS to HEAVEN, at least they were speaking their theories in many different ways ("languages"), and therefore they did not accomplish as much as they would have had all of false religion been in perfect UNITY. If you are still finding it difficult to understand what we are picturing, perhaps the following illustration will help: 11:1 And the whole earth was of one 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose the whole earth. 11:5 And the LORD came down to the children of men builded. 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold,