CHAPTER 18
We have seen that at all times there is lying and violence, Babylon and the beast. Satan was from the beginning a liar and a murderer. From the beginning of chapter 17 to chapter 19: to we see the contrast between Babylon and the New Jerusalem. In order to show us the judgment of the whore, the Spirit has presented to us, in chapter 17, the woman and the beast in their relations one with the other. Here, in chapter 18, Babylon is shown to us standing alone, that the judgment on her may be revealed.
The great principle seen in Babylon is worldliness, but worldliness as a position of captivity for the people of God, in connection with the prostitution of man's natural affections. In the Old Testament fornication is applied to trade, not to trade with an eye to provide for wants, but to the spirit of trade to make a gain of it. Tire is a proof of this. Idolatry was, properly speaking, the sin of adultery for Jerusalem, because the Eternal was her husband. In the church it is called prostitution, because the marriage of the Lamb has not yet taken place; but there is more moral connection than one thinks, because the heart is at a distance from God, and conscience likewise, by the allurement of gain and covetousness, which is idolatry; Eph. 5:55For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5) (see also Phil. 3:13-2013Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 17Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:13‑20)). The most abominable form of worldliness is that of those who call themselves Christians, separated unto God by the blood of the Lamb, and are living in worldliness, after the principles of the world who rejected the Lord Jesus. We are speaking of moral analogies. We have already seen how idolatry characterizes Babylon, the abominations meaning idolatry.
The Revelation is almost entirely borrowed from the Old Testament; so that we derive much light from the Old Testament for the understanding the book of Revelation. Babylon is the enemy of Jerusalem. Israel came out from Egypt. Egypt is the world in its natural state; this is not so with Babylon. Babylon was, from the beginning, the spirit of worldliness, presenting the allurements of this world to the heart come out of Egypt. It was a goodly Babylonish garment which attracted the heart of Achan; Josh. 7:2121When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. (Joshua 7:21). When the king of Babylon sent unto Hezekiah, because he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered (2 Kings 20:1212At that time Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. (2 Kings 20:12); Isa. 39:11At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. (Isaiah 39:1)), Hezekiah showed all that was found in his treasures to the men that the king of Babylon had sent him. But Isaiah said unto him, " All that which thy fathers have laid up in store shall be carried to Babylon." As soon as the church will extol herself before the world through things pertaining to it, she will, as is besides always the case, fall under the influence and under the power of the world. Later Babylon is presented in her power, and the people of Israel captive under it. There is the idolatry, the golden statue, and all kinds of riches. Babylon is the center of idolatry, and of the power of the world. She fell by the power of Cyrus, and the people of God were delivered to a certain extent. Such are, in the Old Testament, the features of Babylon. Babylon is the power of this world, which makes a traffic of everything of the world, which has been exalted because of the iniquity of the people of God, and where the people of God have been found in captivity. When the church becomes worldly, the world has always the advantage over her.
What we find in Rev. 18 is not Babylon in her glory, but in her downfall. It is the judgment of Babylon; v. 2, 3. She has for a season enjoyed the pleasures of the earth. After her downfall she becomes a habitation of demons; and, at the same time, it is said to the people of God (v. 4), " Come out of her, my people." Israel has been, through the judgment of God, captive in Babylon. When Babylon fell, Israel came out of her. If I discern Babylon, I am called to come out of her. Verse 8. The people of God are called upon to reward her, even as she rewarded them, and to double unto her double according to her works. And the church in heaven is called to rejoice over her, because the Lord God has judged her (v. 2o).
Why does the Spirit of God enumerate all these articles of luxury and commerce? (v. 11-13). It is in order to describe unto us what is the occupation of the children of Babylon. All was merchandise to her. She was the center of all those things which the inhabitants of the earth enjoy. And if the bodies and the souls of men could help in any way to this enjoyment, they also would be made a traffic of. All is made then a matter of gain, of pleasure, and of commerce of this world. This spirit is seen already, although all these details are not yet visible. To traffic and to become rich, there is the spring of all the actual politics of the world; and if the traffic of souls can serve to that end, it matters not, provided the aim be attained to make much gain and to embellish this world, of which Satan is the prince. The more facilities increase to satiate this thirst after gain and luxury, the more the souls of men will be devoured with the lust after them. The world must be everything, and the prince of this world must rule without obstacle, and everything must yield to this. Nothing is more melancholy than to see that everything is to be made a matter of selling and of buying, that this is the end of everything in this world, and that everything yields when the question is a matter of gain. This annihilation of all principle through the spirit of gain leaves an open field to the ascendancy Satan has over the hearts of men to enslave them under his dominion. It is to be feared that the hearts of Christians may be carried away by these principles; for the principles of the world take possession, to a certain point, of Christian hearts. They glory even in them.
There was not only positive hatred and murder in Cain's heart, but also the character of the prince of this world. He built a city and embellished the world; Gen. 4:1616And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. (Genesis 4:16). Satan rules over the hearts of men through these means, and thus becomes the prince of this world through means of all the pleasures of life, which the world calls innocent pleasures. They say, Why, what harm is there in riches, in music, in drawing, and in so many other things? Why, that Satan, by their means, rules the world and enslaves the hearts of men for eternity. This is the character of Babylon. It is an abominable thing when a Christian can put up with Babylon's principles, and conform his taste to them.
This corruption and this system of pleasure are especially evil for us, inasmuch as all these things are done when man, having been driven from the presence of God, and gone out from before the face of the Lord, has done his best in arranging the world, in forming a polite society, in cultivating arts, and creating pleasures, etc. God has presented to the world His own Son as Heir of all things, and the world has rejected Him. But the Father receives the rejected Son, and the world is found in direct opposition to God. After having killed his brother, and being cast out of the presence of God, Cain embellishes the world. The -world had already been sinning against God; but, like Cain, it added to this the murder of Him who, in grace became man. Jesus is not of the world, but of the Father. " 0 righteous Father, the world hath not known thee," John 17:2525O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. (John 17:25). What characterizes the disciples is, that they follow the Son to heaven, are heavenly minded, and not of the world. " All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world," 1 John 2:1616For 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 2:16). The Father is opposed to the world, the Son to Satan, the Spirit to the flesh. So far as the Christian enters into the ways of the world, it is a complete prostitution. When the world is in the place of the church and holds the church in captivity, the full character of Babylon is then unfolded, although she was already Babylon before she did it and in order to do it. Whatever makes the world happy in spite of God is in the spirit and course of Babylon, and for the Christian to be there is to be in Babylon. The world may get rich without our having anything to do with it; but when a goodly Babylonish garment is found in the tent of Achan, then the whole camp is corrupted, and God judges it. When friendly associations begin to take place between Babylon and the people of God, it is an indication that all Hezekiah's riches are going to be transported there. When Hezekiah is rich enough to make a display of his treasures, the principles of the world are working in him, and judgment begins already. When Babylon becomes guilty of carrying Israel away captive, the people of God are already without power.
Verse 4. The misfortune of the people of God is to have any part in the sin of Babylon; and the only way to avoid having any part in it is to come out-to come out of her, not to be made partaker of her sins, and so not to receive of her plagues in consequence. We come out of her because of her sins and not to be partakers in them, not because her plagues have arrived. It is evident that true Christians, the church, have become worldly. God has had long patience. Babylon falls when Belshazzar is boasting, not merely of having the people of God captive, but also of having prevailed over God. When Babylon fell, the people of God were there; this is what will take place again, though the rapture of the church is to take place first.
The spirit of worldliness opposes itself to the testimony of God, and is guilty of the death of those who have borne testimony to Jesus. The more religion there is in the world, the more obstinately it is set on putting to death those who bear testimony to Jesus. When Nebuchadnezzar made the golden statue, he threw the Hebrews into the furnace. When Jesus Christ is preached, it is the Jews who go from one city to another urging the heathen to persecute the Christians. It is they who pursue to that end the apostles from town to town. That which least bears the light of God is what assumes to be the religion of God without being so. If Jesus be the Son of God in heaven, what have the Jews done? Babylon is the spirit of worldliness cast out far away from God, as guilty of the death of Christ, and which nevertheless gives itself up to embellish the world. Thus the Christ, as the light, is extinguished by the spirit of worldliness. Babylon slays the prophets and the saints. Not being the true God, and there being no possibility of her being of Him (otherwise she would no more be Babylon), she makes use of idolatry, enforcing it as a means to establish unity: that is what Nebuchadnezzar did. Such are the great principles of Babylon; and those who do not act from conscience must undergo the yoke of this prosperous worldliness, which traffics even in the souls of men. The testimony remains with us that the world is not of the Father, that Christ is not of the world, and that the world will be judged (v. 8).
Until the judgment of God falls upon the world the world will prosper more and more. This is not yet fully accomplished. But we are warned that we may flee from all those Babylonish principles by which society is embellishing and arranging itself without God, and which leads it even to make a merchandise of conscience.
May God keep our hearts from being made partakers of her sins, that we may not also receive of her plagues! All those Babylonish principles, all that your eyes may lust after for your drawing-rooms and for your pleasures, all those things separate you from heaven. All that is of the world which rejected Christ. Would you perhaps like to be of Babylon on a small scale? As the Spirit is opposed to the flesh, the Son to Satan, so is the Father likewise to the world. It is the power of heavenly affections which takes away the desire after these carnal things.
There are still in Babylon other principles which I have not yet brought under notice. Genesis to and II give us the enumeration of all the families of the earth, and their divisions. We find therein two great principles which characterize the natural energy of the human heart in doing its own will, viz., the spirit of despotism, and the spirit of association. Nimrod, the first example of individual supremacy, begins to be mighty in the earth; Genesis to: 8. Nebuchadnezzar, the first chief among the four monarchies, exercises by a strong will dominion over his fellow men. On the other hand man does not like to be governed, and he associates himself with others in order to make himself entirely independent of God. Associated with others, he thinks himself capable of everything. " Union," he says, " is strength." And this is true until God intervenes. Men associate together to make themselves a name upon earth; that is the spirit of association. But, when God had scattered men, Nimrod took possession of all they had done. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel; Gen. 10:1010And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10:10). God recognizes (Gen. 11:66And 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. (Genesis 11:6)) the power of the principle of association; but this is the proper principle of Babylon. Man will associate, and, by his own will united to that of others, get some reputation. This spirit of union has no other object than man's glory.
For the church there is true unity-" one Spirit and one body." This unity has the Holy Spirit as the power of life, and Christ as the center of all. Christianity alone could give great force to individuality and to conscience, and at the same time unite men under the direction of Christ towards one center, which is Christ. This could only be possible by the Holy Spirit, which takes away selfishness, while it gives power to the conscience; giving, by faith, an object to the heart outside of itself-an object which acts on the individual conscience, and unites us all through one predominant affection to one center of affection, by one life, and one only power of the Spirit.
The unity of Babylon is of quite another nature. It tends to the glory of man, who desires to gather men around one system, which the wisdom and the prudence of man have invented. Babylon will always have a chief. After God had scattered Babel, one man took into his own possession all those scattered wills, united them under his own will, and made them obey. Under the two forms of association and of despotism, it is man who will make himself a name. Conscience is not exercised; there is neither root nor fruit. Conscience does not admit of anything between God and itself. All that man can do, as an instrument, is to put the conscience or the heart in relationship with God. During a long period the spirit of this false Babylonish unity has been outwardly religious; it is none the less for all that the spirit of Babylon.
The spirit of association is very powerful in these times. Commercial association governs everything, and a desire for union is everywhere proclaimed. Man will succeed in a wonderful manner; but all this will only end in the confusion of the will of man, and in his submission to Antichrist, as the last chief. The remedy to all this is conscience. The Holy Spirit acts as the spirit of union in the children of God: but conscience cannot be in society and reject its own individual responsibility. It is individual: otherwise God could not be the Master of conscience. The Holy Spirit directs it towards Jesus. If we will avoid the principles of evil, it must be through conscience; there is no other way. Through it we are rendered wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning evil. The Christian who acts from conscience will avoid a thousand snares of which he is not at all aware.
This Babylon, of which we have seen the glory, will be the object of the judgment of God. When this takes place, every enemy will not yet be destroyed. The eighth head of the beast still remains. God still exercises the patience of His children. Babylon is a harlot, not an adulteress. Israel was an adulteress, when unfaithful; but the church corrupted is a harlot, because the marriage of the Lamb has not yet taken place. Jehovah was the Husband of Israel. His presence was there, and earthly blessings flowed from it. However, man's folly threw him into idolatry. The bride of the Lamb is not yet formed in its heavenly completeness. The assembling of the universality of the church is not yet completed, neither is it yet risen. The church has still to be in a waiting posture. And as it is not agreeable to wait without possessing, the church would have, like Judaism, some enjoyments in the earth. But the more there is of the Spirit, the more on the contrary there will be suffering, and the more we shall be put in front of the battle. The church, having ceased to look for the return of the Bridegroom, would have pleasure and enjoyment in the world, and has corrupted herself. It is because the system of earthly blessing has failed in Israel that the church has been introduced. The church has only the earnest of her future possessions. Hers is a waiting position. Satan has confounded all this, and has lowered the thought of devotedness in the church. In the beginning no one said that what he had belonged to him. Later one sees, through the epistles, warnings given to the rich; 1 Tim. 6:17-1917Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. (1 Timothy 6:17‑19). Afterward the church would be rich. The wise virgins slumbered. Satan came in, and the prince of this world has become a prince in the church, even her true members being almost all lost in the corruption. And it is in this corrupted church that Satan is found, and that souls of men even have been sold. At last the kings will not have anything more to do with the harlot.
The beast itself having put away the harlot, and she herself being destroyed, the beast will itself make war with the Lamb. It is the Roman empire brought to life again, the eighth head of the beast, which makes war openly with the Lamb. It is no more simply corruption; it is violence. Isa. 14:12-1712How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? (Isaiah 14:12‑17) shows us the king of Babylon taking all the titles and the characters of Christ. He would seat himself on the mount of the congregation (at Jerusalem) in the palace of the great king on the sides of the north. He claims all that belongs to Jesus, and assumes to be made like Jesus. He will raise his throne above the stars, ascend above the clouds, be like the Most High. This is a recapitulation of the titles of Jesus, and the boldest form of the pride of the earth. In one sense it is a blessing that this happens, because then God must judge it and destroy it. But the church must before this be united to Jesus, in order to enter into this glory; and we are introduced to the marriage supper of the Lamb.