Some Types Used in the Word of God - Egypt and Babylon

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This renders our “days” what the Holy Spirit has termed “perilous” (2 Tim. 3:11This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)). It demands a special energy of the Spirit of God, and complete subjection to the authority of the Word, to enable one to meet the combined influence of the realities of Egypt and the spirit and principles of Babylon. The former meet the natural desires of the heart, while the latter connect themselves with, and address themselves to, the religiousness of nature, which gives them a peculiar hold upon the heart. Man is a religious being, and peculiarly susceptible to the influences which arise from music, sculpture, painting, and pompous rites and ceremonies. When these things stand connected with the full supply of all his natural desires — with all the ease and luxury of life, nothing but the mighty power of God’s Word and Spirit can keep one true to Christ.
Their Destinies
We should also remark that there is a vast difference between the destinies of Egypt and those of Babylon. Isaiah 19 sets before us the blessings that are in store for Egypt. It concludes thus: “And the Lord shall smite Egypt: He shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” (Isa. 19:22-2522And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. 23In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. 24In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: 25Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. (Isaiah 19:22‑25)).
Very different is the close of Babylon’s history, whether viewed as a literal city or a spiritual system. “I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts” (Isa. 14:2323I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 14:23)). “It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation” (Isa. 13:2020It 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. (Isaiah 13:20)). So much for Babylon literally. Looking at it from a spiritual point of view, we read its destiny in Revelation 18. The entire chapter is a description of Babylon, and it concludes thus: “A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all” (Rev. 18:2121And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. (Revelation 18:21)).
With what immense solemnity should those words fall upon the ears of all who are in any wise connected with Babylon; that is to say, with the false, professing church. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:44And 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. (Revelation 18:4)). The power of the Holy Spirit will necessarily express itself in a certain form, and the enemy’s aim has ever been to rob the professing church of the power, while he leads her to stereotype the form when all the spirit and life have passed away. Thus he builds the spiritual Babylon. The stones of which this city is built are lifeless professors; and the mortar which binds these stones together is a “form of godliness” without the “power.” Let us see to it that we fully understand these things.
Christian Truth (adapted)