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From Babylon to New Jerusalem
by
A T Jones
Part Six
Two Cities
(All the emphasis has been added by the Protestors)
Section 6
We have studied the Babylon of the Bible. We have found what it is to be out of Babylon. We have found that only the "Voice from Heaven" can call anybody really out of Babylon. And when this Voice from Heaven calls any people out of Babylon, they are called only to heavenly places and heavenly things and heavenly association. And in this they are called from the earthly and worldly city of Babylon to the heavenly and divine city of Jerusalem.
In the Bible there are just two mother cities. These are --
1. "Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."
Revelation 17:5.
2. "Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."
Galatians 4:26.
[Protestor's note: This is a good study, but Jones forgets that the cities mentioned above were earthly ones as well as being spiritual entities. Therefore, we should be in an earthly Jerusalem as well as a heavenly one.]
When God anciently called His people out of Babylon, His word was -- "Flee ye out of Babylon... Remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind." Jeremiah 51:45-50.
And when now he calls His people out of modern and final Babylon, it is still to "Let Jerusalem come into your mind." For "ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Hebrews 12:22.
Jerusalem in Palestine was always only the suggestion of the "Jerusalem which is above." Its Mt. Zion with its king on his throne in his glory; its temple with its priesthood, its services and its appointments, were all only "figures" and suggestions of the heavenly Jerusalem with its Mount Zion and its King on His Throne in His glory; and its Temple with its Priesthood, its ministry and its appointments.
The old time Babylon never could rest till above all things else she had overthrown and obscured Jerusalem and what it meant in the world. And the blindness and iniquities of the people of old Jerusalem aided in accomplishing this thing. So also the spiritual Babylon never could rest till she had overthrown and utterly obscured the spiritual and heavenly Jerusalem, and till she alone should stand as "the eternal city." And again the blindness of the professed people of the New Jerusalem and true eternal city aided in accomplishing this evil thing.
Yet in the old time there were a faithful few who amidst all the desolation and captivity and persecution wrought by Babylon, and the forgetfulness of the professed people of God, never forgot Jerusalem. Daniel in captivity in Babylon "Kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks to God through his windows in his chamber opened toward Jerusalem." Daniel 6: 10.
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth; saying Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How long shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth -- if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
Psalm 137: 1-6.
In the time of the later and final Babylon it is so also. Always there have been the faithful few who have remembered Jerusalem above their chief joy and who through all the mists and fogs and miasma of swampy Babylon have never lost sight of Jerusalem which is above, the mother of us all. And both in old time and the last times, if all the professed people of God and Jerusalem had been so faithful and devout in their own land as were these few in the strange land, they never would have been in Babylon at all; and Jerusalem would have ever stood in her own place and meaning as the glory of God and the joy of the world.
And now in the time of preparation for the final forsaking of final Babylon forevermore, the time has fully come when every one who would escape Babylon must let Jerusalem come into his mind: and this so truly and so fully that he too in deepest truthfulness can say,
"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth -- if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
This Jerusalem which is above, which is free, and which is the mother of all the true children of God -- this Jerusalem is and always was the only true Jerusalem. This is the true Eternal City -- "the city of the Living God." Hebrews 12:22. This is the city of Abraham "the friend of God" and "the father of all them that be of faith," the city for which he looked," which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." Hebrews 11:10. Here is the true Mount Zion, where God hath set His King upon the hill of His holiness. Psalm 2: 6 margin.
"Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the North, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge."
Psalm 48:1-3.
And "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." Psalm 87:3. Its wall "great and high" is of jasper, "clear as crystal." Its foundations are "garnished with all manner of precious stones." Each of its gates is one solid pearl. The city itself, with all its streets, is "pure gold like unto clear and transparent glass." The Throne of God and the Lamb is in it. There is a river, "clear as crystal," proceeding out of the Throne, "the streams whereof make glad the city of God." Revelation 22: 1. The glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Revelation 21: 11, 23.
"The nations of them that are saved, shall walk in the light of it. And they shall see His face, and His Name shall be in their foreheads." Revelation 21:26; 22:4; Exodus 33:19; 34:5-7. "And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever." Revelation 22:3-5.
There is the innumerable company of angels. There is the place of the General Assembly of the Universe of holy intelligences, the Church of the high-born ones who are written in Heaven. There is God, the most kind and merciful Judge of all. There are the spirits of the just men made perfect. There is Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant. And there is the sprinkling of the blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
There are the heavenly Associates and associations offered and afforded by the heavenly Jerusalem to which all are called who, by the Voice from Heaven, are called out of Babylon the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
These are some of the glorious things that are spoken of the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And this is the Jerusalem that is to come into the mind of every one who will go out of the midst of Babylon and deliver his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord, that presently engulfs forevermore that all-surpassingly wicked city.
"Flee out of the midst of Babylon... remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind."
oooOooo
[Editor's note: This is a good study, but the earthly Jerusalem was also an organized system, a God-organized church, and Daniel was always a part of it, even when it was very far from God!!
Did you look at "The origin of the church"?
Babylon occupies one of the great places in the Bible Story. The studies in this booklet, From Babylon to New Jerusalem, reveal the Babylon of the Bible: What it is and also The Captivity and Deliverance of God's people out of Babylon unto New Jerusalem.
These studies are all preparatory for the next booklet in this series, The Greater Purpose; and this now is one of the most important studies that could be found in these days of Ecumenical [church union] activities. This because of the study itself, and also because it includes a part of the Scriptures that is very little studied, because it is "historical."
So be sure to keep in mind the facts in this booklet, From Babylon to New Jerusalem; for they will be needed, and their deeper meaning will be seen, in the next booklet after this.
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