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From Babylon to New Jerusalem
by
A T Jones
Part Five
"Come out of her, My people"
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 5
"Mystery, Babylon the Great" always [uses?] the invisible intelligent forces of the natural world. The "King of Babylon" is the king of these forces: "the ruler of the darkness of this world," "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," "the prince of this world" -- Satan.
Babylon open and manifest, is the ultimate product of the working of these forces to their utmost in all that they can do at their own will and in their own way. Babylon is always against God: as the natural mind is always enmity against God and is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be. And knowing the elements of Babylon, and knowing what only is the ultimate of the working of these elements and forces, this is sufficient warning to all who care, that it should be escaped at all stages of its manifestation. Of course these elements and forces are always working, and in that sense Babylon is always present on the earth and in the affairs of men and the world. But the Babylon that is particularly portrayed and dealt with in the Bible, is the Babylon at its height and in its glory ruling the world, with all the world, religious and civil, organized and centralized under its power.
This will be perfectly plain to any one who will carefully read Daniel 2 to 5; Isaiah 13 and 14; Jeremiah 50 and 51; and Revelation 17 and 18.
Twice in the world's course Babylon attains this position and power; and both times this height of power and glory is itself the signal of her Fall and utter ruin. And at that point of her power and glory, and of her proud and confident boasting on it and of it, her Fall is proclaimed and the people are warned and called on and urged to flee out of Babylon, that they be not partaker of her iniquities and that they perish not in her destruction for it is the vengeance of the Lord in judgment upon her.
Read Jeremiah 50:8; 41; 6; with Revelation 14: 8:15: 2-3; Daniel 5:2-5 with Revelation 17:3; 18:7-8; Isaiah 47:7-11 and Jeremiah 51:63-64 with Revelation 18:21.
What is it, then to be out of Babylon?
1. When Babylon includes all the world, with all the elements and all the power of the whole world, it is perfectly plain that to be out of Babylon is nothing less than to be out of the world.
2. When Babylon is the forces and the product of the working of the forces, of the natural mind and the natural world spiritual and intellectual, it is plain enough that to be out Babylon is nothing else than to be out of the natural: out of the realm of the natural world. It is to be completely delivered and separated from all the elements and forces of the natural mind and of the falsely spiritual that is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be.
3. When such is the realm and kingdom of Babylon, and when "the King of Babylon" is the true and appropriate king of that whole realm and is only Satan, it is conclusive that to be out of Babylon is only to be out of the realm and dominion and power of Satan.
From these items of plain truth, it is equally plain that to be in or out of Babylon is not at all dependent upon place, but is wholly dependent upon condition -- condition of spirit, of mind, and of heart.
As to place, Daniel and his three brethren were in Babylon. But as to condition --in spirit and mind and heart, of thought and wish and purpose -- they were as far out of Babylon as Heaven is from the earth. And so as to place, bodily and physically Daniel was actually in Babylon at the moment of her frightful Fall. Yet as to condition, he was so utterly out of Babylon that even in the very midst of the crash of her Fall he was so far and away out of and above it all that he was perfectly safe.
And that -- only that -- is what it is forever to be out of Babylon.
Yet as plain and true as this is, the present-day preaching of those who make much of "calling people out of Babylon" treats it as far more a matter of place than of condition: so much so indeed as to make it actually a physical thing rather than a spiritual. Holding, correctly enough, that the church of Rome is Babylon, they urgently call people out of that church and into another one that is constructed upon the same principle precisely and after the same pattern as that of Rome; and then tell them that they are "out of Babylon!"
It is ridiculous, and it would be ludicrous if it were not so pitiably blind and blundering in the things of the soul and of eternity, to see people build up a "church" in principle, in spirit, and in practice, after the very pattern of the "church" of Rome, and then vociferously call, "Come out of her, come out of her." And in the next breath cooingly murmur, "Come in here, come in here."
And it is sheer ecclesiastical cunning craftiness, first to build up a "church" structure just like all the other "churches" and teach the people that in the Scriptures a "church" is a "woman" and that Babylon is the mother and her daughters -- Rome and the other "churches", -- and call the people out of all the other "churches" and into this one and assure them that thus they are "out of Babylon:"
To call people away from all the other "churches" as "defiling" (Rev, 14:4), and into this one that is just like all the others, or worse, and then delude them with the deceitful tale that "these" -- of their "church" -- "are not defiled with woman" -- as though their "church" were not a "woman" -- is nothing short of the very trickery and confusion of Babylon itself.
The truth is that any and every humanly constructed and "organized" "church" is by the Scriptures a "woman", and is of the Babylon of "the Mother" and her daughters, and is defiling: and to be out of one of these and in another of them is not to be out of Babylon at all.
Consider the above thought in the light of "The origin of the church"
No: let it be repeated, and repeated for ever, that --
To be out of Babylon or in Babylon turns not at all upon place, but only and wholly upon condition -- condition of spirit and mind and heart: of will and wish and thought and purpose. Babylon includes, and is, "the world," the spirit and the elements of "the world" that is meant in the Scripture that says:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world."
1 John 2: 15-16.
"Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore, will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God."
James 4:4.
And thus to be out of Babylon is to be out of the world. And this is only the plain Christianity of Christ --
"Ye are not of the world: but I have chosen you out of the world."
John 15:19.
"Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
John 17: 14, 16.
"As He is, so are we, in this world," 1 John 4: 17.
[Jesus was "in" the Jewish church, and remained until He was forcibly ejected.]
Babylon is the realm and the forces, and the working of the forces, of "the world" of the natural mind. And to be out of Babylon is to be out of all of that, and in the realm and the forces and the working of the forces of the spiritual Mind -- of the Mind that was in Christ Jesus, and which He brought as the gift of God to the work, and call to all to: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" 1 John 5: 20; Philippians 2: 5-7.
Babylon is the realm and the dominion of Satan, "the King of Babylon." Isaiah 14: 1-15. And to be out of Babylon is to be out of the realm and dominion and power of Satan.
And this is only the truth of the same old everlasting Gospel that Christ sent Paul to preach: "Delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Acts 26:18.
That, all of that, and only that, is what it is to be out of Babylon.
Finally: The thought must be caught and never for a moment lost, that -- it is only the "Voice from Heaven" that calls, or that ever can call, anybody out of Babylon. Revelation 18:4.
True, through the ministry of men this Voice will be heard. But in the ministry of men, if this Voice be not heard there can not be there any call really out of Babylon. When that Voice is heard by any one, and he responds and so is truly called out of Babylon, he is called to higher ground than any to which any voice from earth can ever call. He is called only to heavenly ground, to heavenly associations, and to the heavenly Church: even
"Unto Mount Zion, and to the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem. And to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all. And to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel."
Hebrews 12: 22-24.
And that is what it is to be out of Babylon.
Listen for, and listen to, and faithfully follow, the "Voice from Heaven, saying, "Come out of her My people."
oooOooo
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