Daniel and
Revelation - Revelation Chapter 17 & 18
CHAPTER -- XVII --
Babylon - The Mother (Excerpt
taken from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911 Editions)
VERSE 15. And he saith
unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples,
and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16. And the ten horns
which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her
desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17.
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and
give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which
reigneth over the kings of the earth.
An Important Symbol
Defined. - In verse 15 we have a plain definition of the Scripture symbol of
waters; they denote peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The angel told
p 707 -- John, while
calling his attention to this subject, that he would show him the judgment of
this great harlot. In verse 16 that judgment is specified. This chapter has,
naturally, more especial reference to the old mother, or Catholic Babylon. The
next chapter, if we mistake not, deals with the character and destiny of
another great branch of Babylon, the harlot daughters.
CHAPTER -- XVIII --
Babylon - The Daughters
p 709 -- VERSE 1.
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great
power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 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. 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.
Some movement of
mighty power is symbolized in these verses. (See under verse 4.) The
consideration of a few facts will guide us unmistakably to the application. In
chapter 14 we had a message announcing the fall of Babylon. Babylon is a term
which embraces not only the Roman Catholic Church, but religious bodies which
have sprung from her, bringing many of her errors and traditions along with
them.
A Moral Fall. - The
fall of Babylon here spoken of cannot be literal destruction; for there are
events to take place in Babylon after her fall which utterly forbid this idea:
as, for instance, the people of God are there after her fall, and are called out
in order that they may not receive of her plagues; and in these plagues is
embraced her literal destruction. The fall is therefore a moral one; for the
result of it is that Babylon becomes the habitation of devils, and the hold of
every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. These are
terrible descriptions of apostasy, showing that, as a
p 710 -- consequence
of her fall, she piles up an accumulation of sins even to the heavens, and
becomes subject to the judgments of God, which can no longer be delayed.
And since the fall
here introduced is a moral one, it must apply to some branch of Babylon
besides, or outside of, the pagan or papal divisions; for from the beginning of
their history, paganism has been a false religion, and the papacy an apostate
one.
And further, as this fall is said to occur but
a short period before Babylon's final destruction, certainly this side of the
rise and predicted triumph of the papal church, this testimony cannot apply to
any religious organizations but such as have sprung from that church. These
started out on reform. They ran well for a season, and had the approbation of
God; but fencing themselves about with creeds, they have failed to keep pace
with the advancing light of prophetic truth, and hence have been left in a
position where they will finally develop a character as evil and odious in the
sight of God as that of the church from which they first withdrew as
dissenters, or reformers. As the point before us is to many a very sensitive
one, we will let members of these various denominations here speak for
themselves.
Alexander Campbell
says: "The worshiping establishments now in operation
throughout Christendom, incased and cemented by their respective voluminous
confessions of faith, and their ecclesiastical constitutions, are not churches of
Jesus Christ, but the legitimate daughters of that mother of harlots, the
Church of Rome."
Again he says:
"A reformation of popery was attempted in Europe full
three centuries ago. It ended in a Protestant hierarchy, and swarms of
dissenters. Protestantism has been reformed into Presbyterianism, that into
Congregationalism, and that into Baptistism, etc., etc. Methodism has attempted
to reform all, but has reformed itself into many forms of Wesleyanism. All of
them retain in their bosom - in their ecclesiastical organizations, worship,
doctrines, and observances - various relics of popery. They are at best a
reformation of popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines and
p 711 -- traditions
of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands." -
On Baptism, p. 15.
The report of the
Michigan Yearly Conference, published in the True Wesleyan of Nov. 15, 1851,
says: "The world, commercial, political, and
ecclesiastical, are alike, and are together going in the broad way that leads
to death. Politics, commerce, and nominal religion, all connive at sin,
reciprocally aid each other, and unite to crush the poor. Falsehood is
unblushingly uttered in the forum and in the pulpit; and sins that would shock
the moral sensibilities of the heathen go unrebuked in all the great
denominations of our land. These churches are like the Jewish church when the
Saviour exclaimed, 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hyprocrites.'"
Is their condition any better now than it was then?
Abundance of similar
testimony might be produced from persons in high standing in these various
denominations, written, not for the purpose of being captious and finding
fault, but from a vivid sense of the fearful condition to which these churches
have fallen. The term Babylon, as applied to them, is not a term of reproach,
but is simply expressive of the confusion and diversity of sentiment that
exists among them. Babylon need not have fallen, but might have been healed
(Jer. 51:9) by the reception of the truth; but she rejected it, and confusion
and dissensions still reign within her borders, and worldliness and pride are
fast choking out every plant of heavenly growth.
Chronology of This
Movement. - At what time do these verses have their application? When may this
movement be looked for? If the position here taken is correct, that these
churches, this branch of Babylon, experienced a moral fall by the rejection of
the first message of chapter 14, the announcement in the chapter under
consideration could not have gone forth previous to that time. It is, then,
either synchronous with the message of the fall of Babylon, in chapter 14, or
it is given at a later period than that. But it cannot be synonymous with that;
for that merely announces the fall of Babylon, while this adds several
particulars which at that time
p 712 -- were
neither fulfilled nor in process of fulfilment. As we are therefore to look
this side of 1844, where the previous message went forth, for the announcement
brought to view in this chapter, we inquire, Has any such message been given
from that time to the present? The answer must still be in the negative; hence
this message is yet future. But we are now having the third angel's message,
which is the last to be given before the coming of the Son of man. We are
therefore held to the conclusion that the first two verses of this chapter
constitute a feature of the third message which is to appear when this message
shall be proclaimed with power, and the whole earth be lightened with its
glory.
The work brought to
view in verse 2 is in process of accomplishment, and will soon be completed, by
the work of Spiritualism. What are called in Rev. 16:14 "spirits of
devils, working miracles," are secretly but rapidly working their way into
the religious denominations above referred to; for their creeds have been
formulated under the influence of the wine (errors) of Babylon, one of which is
that the spirits of our dead friends, conscious, intelligent, and active, are
all about us; and this renders such denominations unable to resist the approach
of evil spirits who come to them under the names and impersonations of their
dead friends.
A significant
feature in the work of Spiritualism, just now, is the religious garb it is
assuming. Keeping in the background its grosser principles, which it has
heretofore carried so largely in the front, it now assumes to appear as
respectably religious in some quarters as any other denomination in the land.
It talks of sin, repentance, the atonement, salvation through Christ, etc.,
almost as orthodoxly as the most approved standards. Under the guise of this
profession, what is to hinder it from entrenching itself in almost every
denomination in Christendom? The basis of Spiritualism is a fundamental dogma
in the creeds of almost all the churches. Its secret principles are, alas! too
commonly cherished, and its dark practices too commonly followed, to put them
at variance on that ground, so long as they seek a common concealment.
p 713 -- What, then,
can save Christendom from its seductive influence? Herein is seen another sad
result of rejecting the truths offered to the world by the messages of chapter
14. Had the churches received these messages, they would have been shielded against
this delusion; for among the great truths developed by the religious movement
there brought to view, is the important doctrine that the soul of man is not
naturally immortal; that eternal life is a gift suspended on conditions, and to
be acquired through Christ alone; that the dead are unconscious; and that the
rewards and punishments of the future world lie beyond the resurrection and the
day of judgment. This strikes a death-blow to the first and vital claim of
Spiritualism. What foothold can that doctrine secure in any mind fortified by
this truth? The spirit comes, and claims to be the disembodied soul, or spirit,
of a dead man. It is met with the fact that that is not the kind of soul, or
spirit, which man possesses; that the "dead know not anything;" that
this, its first pretension, is a lie, and that the credentials it offers, show
it to belong to the synagogue of Satan. Thus it is at once rejected, and the
evil it would do is effectually prevented. But the great mass of religionists
stand opposed to the truth which would thus shield them, and thereby expose
themselves to this last manifestation of Satanic cunning.
And while
Spiritualism is thus working, startling changes are manifesting themselves in
high places in some of the denominations. The infidelity of the present age,
under the seductive names of "science," "the higher
criticism," "evolution," etc., is making not a few notable
converts.
Public attention was
forcibly called to this situation by a writer, Mr. Harold Bolce, in The
Cosmopolitan Magazine for May, 1909. Having made an investigation into the
character of the teaching that was being imparted in some of the leading
universities of this country, he reported the results in The Cosmopolitan,
which drew forth this comment from the editor:
"What Mr. Bolce
sets down here is of the most astounding character. Out of the curricula of
American colleges, a dynamic
p 714 -- movement is
upheaving ancient foundations, and promising a way for revolutionary thought
and life. Those who are not in close touch with the great colleges of the
country will be astonished to learn the creeds being fostered by the faculties
of our great universities. In hundreds of class-rooms it is being taught daily
that the decalogue is no more sacred than a syllabus; that the home as an
institution is doomed; that there are no absolute evils; that immorality is
simply an act in contravention of society's accepted standards.... These are
some of the revolutionary and sensational teachings submitted with academic
warrant to the minds of hundreds of thousands of students in the United
States."
At about the same
time The Independent, N. Y., an exponent of the higher criticism, referred to
conditions in the Baptist and Presbyterian churches, with the announcement that
"the heretics have won the day in Chicago and New York."
This was shown by the action of their ministers' meetings
in those cities, in refusing to exclude from the ministry, teachers of the most
open heresies. "It has been a bad week for the old
guard," said The Independent,
"and these occurrences give evidences of a mighty change of view on
questions of theology within the past twenty years, or even ten."
Continuing, the same
journal said: -
"The mighty
breadth of tolerance which these Baptist and Presbyterian bodies thus allow, is
hardly less than revolutionary. It began with the scientific and historical
study of the Bible. When we found that the world was more than six thousand
years old; that there was no universal flood four thousand years ago; that Adam
was not made directly from dust, and Eve from his rib; and that the tower of
Babel was not the occasion of the diversification of languages, we had gone too
far to s. The process of criticism had to go on from Genesis to Revelation,
with no fear of the curse at the end of the last chapter. It could not s with
Moses and Isaiah; it had to include Matthew and John and Paul. Every one of
them had to be sifted. They had already ceased to be taken as unquestioned
final authorities, for plenary inspiration had followed verbal
p 715 -- inspiration
just as soon as the first chapter of Genesis had ceased to be taken as true
history. The miracles of Jesus had to be tested as well as those of Elijah. The
date and purpose of the gospel of John had to be investigated historically, as
well as that of the prophecy of Isaiah; and the conclusion of historical
criticism had to be accepted with no regard to the old theologies. We have just
reached this condition; and there is repeated evidence that it marks an epoch,
a revolution in theologic thought. This is what we learn from Chicago and New
York from two such militant denominations as the Baptist and the
Presbyterian."
From the standpoint
of such a lamentable outlook, and under the leadership of such men, how long
before Babylon will become full of spirits that are foul, and birds that are
hateful and unclean? What progress has already been made in this direction! How
would the godly fathers and mothers of the generation that lived just before
the first message was given, could they rise from their graves, and comprehend
the present condition of the religious world, hearing its teaching and
beholding its practices, stand aghast at the fearful contrast between their
time and ours, and deplore the sad degeneracy! And Heaven is not to let all
this pass in silence; for a mighty proclamation is to be made, calling the
attention of all the world to the fearful counts in the indictment against
these unfaithful religious bodies, that the justice of the judgments that
follow may plainly appear.
Verse 3 shows the
wide extent of the influence of Babylon, and the evil that has resulted and
will result from her course, and hence the justness of her punishment. The
merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Who take the lead in all the extravagances of the age? Who load their tables
with the richest and choicest viands? Who are foremost in extravagance in
dress, and all costly attire? Who are the very personification of pride and
arrogance? - Are they not church-members? Where shall we look for the very
highest exhibition of the luxury, vain show, and pride of life, resulting from
the vanity and sin of the
p 716 -- race? - Is
it not to a modern church assembly on a pleasant Sunday?
But there is a
redeeming feature in this picture. Degenerate as Babylon has become as a body,
there are exceptions to the general rule; for God has still a people there, and
she must be entitled to some regard on their account until they are called from
her communion. Nor will it be necessary to wait long for this call. Soon
Babylon will become so thoroughly leavened with the influence of these evil
agents that her condition will be fully manifest to all the honest in heart,
and the way be all prepared for the work which the apostle now introduces.
*******
Truth.
Will we come out of
Babylon to believe all God's truth?
Will we stand up for
truth when spiritualism has gripped the world so tightly all around us?
Will we stand up for
truth when people say all we need is Jesus' love and nothing more, no
commandments, nothing? Will we say they are right, that all we need is Jesus'
love, and from that love we obey? We
don't obey to obtain the love, we obtain the love by choice, by choosing to
believe.
Will we stand up for
the truth when we are told none of it matters?
Standing for truth-
loving ALL- obeying ONE- Jesus Christ our Savior!
Please Father God,
please bless us! Keep us! Forgive us! Know us!
In the name of Jesus
Christ our LORD our Savior now and forever.
Amen.
