KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

As we approach chapter seventeen of the Revelation the visions of John move rapidly toward a double climax. We are in the ascending foothills beyond which are the towering twin peaks of the Revelation — the fall of Mystery Babylon and the ascendancy of New Jerusalem. This seventeenth chapter has sometimes been called a “twisted rope” or a “tangled web,” for there are many ambiguous, puzzling, and somewhat perplexing and bewildering scenes which seem beyond comprehension or understanding. However, we will not find the chapter too difficult if we proceed with patience and holy waiting upon the Spirit of Truth to quicken our hearts and enlighten our minds with that wisdom which is from above. Let us pray for the spirit of understanding to understand that which is written for our blessing and edification!

No word given to a prophet from the Lord by the Holy Spirit can be truthfully understood or interpreted unless the same spiritual understanding is given to the reader by the Holy Spirit that gave it originally to the prophet. God’s elect in this hour is being given the ability to “Hear what the Spirit saith,” and it is the same anointing wherein it was spoken and written. The book of Revelation, like any other part of the scriptures and prophecies, must be “spiritually” understood. Understanding came to the disciples of Jesus when He “opened unto them the scriptures.” Before that their natural understanding was unfruitful. They didn’t have a clue! They read all the scriptures and never saw Jesus there until He “opened” the scriptures to them. And it wasn’t a doctrine that He shared with them, it was spiritual illumination that burst forth within their hearts!

We must remember that what John is writing is prophecy, and prophecy is not merely history written beforehand. The prophet’s distinguishing characteristic is not foresight but insight. He peers behind the appearance of things to the spiritual realities they represent and he announces the things that he sees in the most vivid and arresting ways as they are communicated to him in signs and symbols. This does often involve prediction as to the future yet the vindication of the truth of his message does not lie in the exact correspondence of event with prediction but in the true apprehension of the eternal principles and spiritual realities revealed therein. O that the saints of the Lord might see that the value of any prophecy of scripture does not lie in the ability of the prophet to forecast the future, but in the insight it shows into the purposes of God and the power it has to quicken discernment and understanding in the spiritual realities of the kingdom of God.

Chapters seventeen and eighteen of the Revelation present us with a description of the great harlot, Mystery Babylon, and of her fall. It is of utmost significance that we obtain a clear conception of the picture of the appearance and essential character of this harlot, as given us by the spirit of wisdom and revelation. In the first place, it is my deep conviction that this is necessary for the clear and definite understanding of the rest of the book of Revelation. But, in the second place, this clear conception of Mystery Babylon and her essential significance, is also necessary for one important reason. The voice comes to the people of God in the eighteenth chapter, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” This cry of the Spirit signifies an irresistible, effectual call unto everlasting glory, the final deliverance of the church of Christ from its captivity by the flesh and the spirit of the world. The Lord’s people are being asked to come out of a system where they have lived, dwelt, participated, and been comfortable and contented. But in this system there is more of the flesh and the world than there is of the spirit and the truth! This whorish system has captivated the minds and hearts of God’s people, causing them to bow in worship at its idolatrous shrine, binding them in slavery to a thousand activities which are religious but are not, in fact, activities which are of the spirit or the truth. These organizations, programs, creeds, philosophies, traditions, rituals, ceremonies, and efforts of the sects which to the carnal mind appear so spiritual are in truth just a repetition of the Pharisees of old. They make the word of God of none effect by their traditions. Their doctrines are full of distortions and corruption which blind men to truth and reality, preventing them from being made one with Him, or having Him come and take His royal seat upon the throne of their hearts. In order to get out of this harlot system and refuse to have fellowship with her we must be able to discern her among the many movements of our day. Hence, the clear understanding of the character and manifestation of Mystery Babylon, the great harlot, is of utmost importance for every child of God who longs to know the Lord in all His glorious and eternal reality.

When we come to this wonderful book of Revelation, in order to receive the message, we must first understand the symbols. Like most of the rest of scripture, the whole book of Revelation is conveyed to us in the language of signs and symbols. In the Old Testament we find that Israel celebrated two time cycles in their experience with God; they had a religious or sacred calendar and also an agricultural or farming calendar. Both of these calendars were related to one another so that the crop that was planted in late October began to come to fruition in the spring when the first month of their sacred calendar began and they celebrated the feast of Passover, at which time they waved the green sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest. Now — what does all this have to do with us? Well, my beloved, nothing in the scripture is about dirt, or seed, or about wheat or barley, or dates on the calendar! It’s all about the work of God in His people! There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that is about cows, or donkeys, or lambs, or lions, or beasts!

The law stipulated that “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn” (Deut. 25:4). The apostle Paul, in referencing this, asked the pertinent question, “For in the law of Moses it is written, You shall not muzzle an ox when he is treading out the corn. Is it only for oxen that God cares? Or does he speak certainly and entirely for our sakes? Assuredly it is written for our sakes, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher ought to thresh in expectation of partaking of the harvest. We have sown spiritual seed among you…” (I Cor. 9:9-11). Did the Holy Spirit give the law about the ox for the ox’s sake or for our sakes? Reading this passage we understand that everything in the law and the prophets is written for OUR SAKES! Then Jesus comes and begins to teach concerning the kingdom of God. He says the kingdom of God is like a sower who went forth to sow, and like seed cast into the earth, and like leaven, and like a treasure hid in a field, and like pearls, and like a net, and like fish, and so on, and so on. All these outer, natural things point to higher, spiritual things! In like manner, the book of Revelation is not about lambs, and beasts, and heads, and horns, and harlots, and altars, and incense, and thrones, and seas, and mountains, and monsters, and marks, and fires, and pits, and chains, and millenniums. Oh, no! The book of Revelation is about YOU! It’s about the revelation of Jesus Christ in His body with all the forces and powers and instruments and workings and dealings and warfares and purgings and purifications and victories that are involved in the process! Oh, yes! Aren’t you glad!

The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the Christ of God revealed! By the very nature of things, included in this revelation are negative things which are uncovered, exposed, and brought to light — things which are hindrances to His appearing and therefore must be removed, eradicated, and destroyed. This very removal is the unveiling, taking away the cover, tearing away the obstructions so that HE MAY BE SEEN! Without the removal and destruction of those things which conceal, hide, and obscure Him there can never be His revelation. The revelation of Jesus Christ is Christ appearing in fullness of life, nature, stature, power, and glory in His body, within the saints. Therefore the whole book of Revelation is about — YOU! It is not about Russia, China, Israel, the European Union, the Third World War, or a superman antichrist sitting in a temple in Jerusalem. It’s not about a city called Babylon over in Iraq. Oh, no! When we come to the judgment and destruction of the Great Whore, Mystery Babylon, we are viewing the destruction of a system which spiritually enslaves God’s people — but first and foremost the judgment and destruction of the very root and power of the Babylon spirit within each of us. That is the mystery!

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me…” So begins chapter seventeen. We first meet the seven angels with the seven vials in chapter fifteen, verse one. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath (passion) of God” (Rev. 15:1). This passage introduces the deep mystery the Holy Spirit now reveals to the called and chosen elect of the Lord. John beholds here “another sign,” that is, a similitude, something like a parable, and the sign is in contrast with the other signs he previously beheld in spirit. The sign which he now sees in the heaven of God’s Spirit is great and marvelous. It is, in other words, awe-inspiring and wonderful! And no wonder: for the sign which he now beholds is of the greatest importance. It cannot be looked upon or understood without moving us deeply and filling our hearts with the overflowing of wonder and joy.

And although, without doubt, the sight of these seven shining heavenly messengers positioned side by side is already breathtaking — for they are glorious and beautiful, resplendent in their appearance, pure, radiant, dazzling, and powerful — yet their purpose and message is still more majestic and sublime! These are the seven messengers who have the seven last plagues. Evidently they do not have the seven plagues of themselves, but the power of these seven plagues is given them, and they now hold this power. They possess the power of pouring out these plagues into the earth-realm, the carnal and soulical religious realm of man, and completely devastating it — for the destruction implied in these plagues is complete. We have only to recall that we are dealing here with spiritual realities represented in the form of signs and symbols to understand the great truth revealed in this scene — the seven messengers in their symbolism represent a seven-fold message, ministry, and moving of God by His Spirit and by His Word to bring an end to the soulical power of man’s natural life and the soulish religious realm of man.

The messengers are seven in number, the number of completion and fullness, signifying that by their seven plagues the work of God’s wrath or passion shall be fully fulfilled, finished, completed. All the soulical operations in the lives of God’s dear people, all the self-hood, every vestige of the believer’s own mind, will, emotion, desire, and inclination to religiosity shall once and for all and forever be brought to an end! Seeing that in the order of John’s visions this wonderful work has already been accomplished in God’s called and separated elect, the manchild company, the 144,000 on mount Zion, it follows that this dealing of God is now ready to come upon the masses of the Lord’s people who still walk in a carnal realm and serve the Lord as slaves to the carnal church systems of man. Seven is the symbol of the completion and triumph of the kingdom of God in the lives of God’s own people! What anticipation this stirs in our hearts!

Furthermore we read, “And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles” (Rev. 15:6). The ministry of the symbolic “seven messengers” streams forth from the precincts of the ark within the temple — from the very throne of God — from the very heart of God — the heart-throne of mercy and judgment. The seven last plagues come out of the temple! It should be plain to any thinking mind that when we look at these seven last plagues we are not seeing something that is coming from the Russians, nor from the Red Chinese, nor from a nuclear holocaust, nor from some ecological disaster, nor from some alien attack from outer space, nor out of the bottomless pit, nor from the mouth of the great red dragon, nor from the antichrist in Israel, for these are things which proceed out from the very glory in the temple of God, that is, out from the midst of God’s called and chosen elect! The vials are indeed judgment vials — and is it not the saints who shall judge the world! Judgment is coming out of God’s temple, but keep in mind, my beloved, that nothing breaks forth out of the temple of God that has not been first inworked into that temple! Ah, yes, His judgments BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD!

COME HITHER — I WILL SHOW THEE!

The apostle John was one of the three mighty ones who walked with the Lord in the days of His flesh; he was with Him in the Mount, he lay in His bosom and, above all others, has received the distinctive title as “that disciple whom the Lord loved.” It was fitting that the man who had leaned upon the breast of God’s Son and heard the inmost beating of His heart should become the depository of His most intimate thought in respect to the course of the church in this age. And such is the case. To him the Lord gave a graphic picture of the development of the bride of Christ and the sons of God over the past two millenniums. The risen and ascended Lord descended in a vision of glory on the lonely isle of Patmos, and there meeting His startled disciple, gave him a communication concerning the church, commanding him to write it in a scroll and send it to the seven churches in Asia.

At this juncture the seven bowls of plagues have all been poured out by the seven messengers in chapter sixteen — but the end is not yet — for now with wondering eyes John stood transfixed as there came to him one of the seven messengers by whom the bowls of God’s passion had been poured out and spoke with John, saying, “COME HITHER; I will show unto thee the judgment of the GREAT WHORE that sitteth upon many waters (Rev. 17:1). What John is now shown is the final result of the pouring out of the seven bowls of God’s passion! As John beheld, however, and pondered, the scene abruptly changed and he saw an even greater wonder as the same angel came to him again, and said, “COME HITHER; I will show unto thee THE BRIDE, the Lamb’s wife” (Rev. 21:9).

These words take on new depth of meaning when we understand that in the book of Revelation the word “come” always signifies an invitation to revelation; the whore and the bride are two women; the invitation goes forth to come and see by the spirit how they are related and what they mean; and I do not hesitate to tell you that it requires A REVELATION FROM GOD TO SEE EITHER! Of the harlot it is written, “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy” (Rev. 17:3). Of the bride it is written, “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:10). Of the harlot it was said, “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:4-5). In contrast of which it was said of the bride, “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Rev. 19:8). The bride is described as, “…the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious” (Rev. 21:10-11).

Though there is a great gulf between the abominations of the religious harlot and the glory of the exquisite bride of the Lamb, there is a connection between the two which is divinely orchestrated. This angel, this messenger, one of the seven, who in chapter seventeen conducts John on a guided tour of that great city, Mystery Babylon, later guides him on a tour of the holy city, New Jerusalem. This reveals the important truth that the seven messengers — the full and complete revelation of God’s purpose — are the instruments both of the destruction of Babylon and the perfecting of the bride of Christ! Then follows the wonderful truth pertaining to the true nature and character of both Mystery Babylon and the Holy City Jerusalem — IT TAKES A REVELATION TO SEE EITHER! “Come hither — and I will show thee…the great whore.” “Come hither — and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” It is the voice of the same messenger revealing to our hearts two diverse realities. It is the invitation to revelation!

The church of Christ is called a MYSTERY. She is presented as a virgin. She is called a bride. Finally, she is presented as a city, the New Jerusalem, the city of peace, righteousness, glory, and divine order. The scarlet-clad woman is called a MYSTERY. She is not a virgin, she is a harlot. She is not a wife, she is the paramour and mistress of the kings of the earth. Finally, she is that great city which is called Babylon, the city of confusion, filthiness, shame, and the denial of divine order. As to Babylon, John adds, “When I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman…the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. The waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues…and the woman which thou sawest is that great city (a corporate people) which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:7,8,15,19).

These prophecies present two broadly contrasted WOMEN, identified with two broadly contrasted CITIES, one reality being in each case, doubly represented, as a WOMAN, and as a CITY. The harlot and Babylon are one; the bride and the heavenly Jerusalem are one. My prayer is that the Spirit of the Living God will enlighten the eyes of all who read these lines and give understanding, shedding forth abundantly of the spirit of wisdom and revelation that each may be able to discern and easily differentiate between the virgin church without spot or wrinkle, which Jesus Christ is preparing for Himself, and that filthy harlot system, full of names of blasphemy, who with her multiplied sects and denominations, seduces the inhabitants of the world with the unspeakable lie that she is, herself, the bride of the Lamb. One would certainly think that God’s people would respond to the invitation to revelation whereby the Spirit says, “COME HITHER, and I will show you,” and that they would look with anointed eyes and readily perceive the difference between the virgin and the harlot, but sadly such is not the case. Would God that all men could now see that this hidden mystery of the bride of Christ has nothing in common with that tradition-ridden system, that gaudy harlot, which all men everywhere believe to be THE CHURCH.

Of all the contrasts in this book of weird opposites the most remarkable one is that of the two women and the two cities. One thread of golden thought runs through the entire drama. The two women are contrasted in every particular that is mentioned about them; the one is pure as purity itself, “made ready,” clothed in heaven’s unsullied holiness. The other, foul as corruption could make her, fit only for the burning fires of judgment. The one belongs to the Lamb, who loves her as the bridegroom loves his bride; the other is associated with a wild beast, and with the kings of the earth, who ultimately hate and destroy her. The one is clothed in fine linen, clean and white, and in another place is portrayed as clothed with the dazzling brilliance of the sun, and crowned with a coronet of stars, that is, robed in divine righteousness as her state of being, and resplendent with heavenly glory and power; the other is attired in scarlet and gold, in jewels and pearls, gorgeous indeed but with earthly splendor only, who, being increased with this world’s goods and having need of nothing has made herself drunk with the blood of the saints and thrust Christ Himself outside her doors.

The one is represented as a chaste virgin, as was Mary the mother of Jesus, espoused to Christ. And both are mothers; the one is the mother of the manchild caught up to God and His throne. The other is mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, that is, the corruption of the flesh. She has the rewards of whoredom; while the other feels the pangs of delivery. The place of the one is in the heavens of God’s Spirit, and there she travails; the seat of the other is in a wilderness of earth, and there she is drunken. The woman in heaven is watched by the great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. The woman of earth is supported and carried about by the scarlet colored wild beast having seven heads and ten horns. The first woman is hated by the powers on earth; the second is loved, flattered, and caressed by them. The one goes in with the Lamb to the marriage supper, amid the glad hallelujahs of celestial realms; the other is stripped, insulted, torn, destroyed, and burned by her illicit lovers. We lose sight of the bride amid the effulgence of heavenly glory and joy, and of the harlot amid the gloom and darkness of the smoke of her burning that “rose up to the ages of the ages.”

It is impossible to find in scripture a contrast more marked; and the conclusion is unavoidable, that whatever the one may represent, the other must prefigure its opposite. They are not two disconnected visions, but a pair — a pair associated, not by likeness, but by contrast. Now the word of God leaves us in no doubt as to the signification of the emblematic bride, the Lamb’s wife, the heavenly Jerusalem. We read, “For the husband is head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the church: and He is the saviour of the body. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might present it to Himself (as a bride) a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. This is a great MYSTERY: but I SPEAK CONCERNING CHRIST AND THE CHURCH” (Eph. 5:23-32). Some suppose that the bride of Christ is fleshly Israel, the many nations of Abraham’s posterity. Under the old covenant Israel was indeed made the wife of Yahwey. That, however, is an entirely different order than the new covenant bride of the Lamb. Nothing can be clearer than the words of the apostle Paul quoted above — Christ is the Head and Husband of the church, and the church is the spotless bride of the Lamb!

Armed with this understanding, what then must the contrasted symbol, the Babylonian harlot, represent? SURELY SOME FALSE AND APOSTATE CHURCH, some church which, while professing to belong to Christ, is in reality given up to fellowship with the world, and linked in closest union with the rulers of the earth-realm; a worldly church, which has left her first love, forgotten her heavenly calling, having no remembrance of her divinely appointed destiny to bring forth a manchild, the manifest sons of God, sunk into carnality and sin, and proved shamelessly and glaringly faithless to her Lord. If Babylon is indeed the false church, then the New Jerusalem bride of Christ must be the true church; the law of contrast demands that both women and both cities be a church! O that men might see that these symbols, a woman and a city, signify definite systems, corporate bodies, not merely a multitude of similar, but disconnected individuals. The true church of Christ is a body; its members are united in the closest union to their Head; one life animates them. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” One spirit dwells in them, they are one habitation of God. The link that unites them all is a spiritual union. The false church, however, can have no such spiritual link! The bond that unites it must therefore be carnal, outward, visible, and man-made; the church represented by Babylon dwells in the earthlies of the soulical nature of man, is an human organization, joined by outward ceremony, sustained by disciplines, boards, committees, creeds, rules, regulations, and conformity to her external laws and requirements. This church is visible and capable of being recognized outwardly, not in the spirit and by the spirit!

George Hawtin aptly wrote: “To see what I am saying you will have to go far beyond the edge of the crowd. You will need to go beyond the circle of that tired old thing men call the church. The word ‘church’ has become sorely desecrated, so much so that the picture of what the true church really is has faded away until men can see in the church nothing but million dollar temples standing on street corners or multitudes of people who dwell behind the high walls which they call denominations. But this, my friend, is NOT THE CHURCH. This has nothing to do with His…body. These denominations are only man made things, little self-appointed Christs who believe that they have the truth and that wisdom will die with them. I do not believe that they are divisions in the church or divisions in the body of Christ. Christ is not divided! He never can be. They are something altogether aside from the true church and something different from the body of Christ. The church which Jesus called ‘My church’ has never had a division in it. It is the habitation of God through the Spirit, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It is that wonderful habitation Jesus spoke of as ‘My Father’s house,’ saying, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions.’ The house which the Father is building is the true church, the…body of Christ. This building is rising upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ, the first Son, is the corner stone or the cap stone of it. He is the Head of the body, the church, the head stone of the corner. All other stones are living stones, built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus” — end quote.

The New Jerusalem and Babylon are, to use common language, rivals to each other. In the one there is nothing of man, it is all Christ; in the other there is nothing of Christ, it is all man. The one is the expression and the exhibition of the beauty seen in Christ Jesus; it is His fullness. The great lesson for us is that in the true church there is nothing that is not of Christ. This comes home very practically to us for we may decide as to everything by the question: Is it Babylon, or is it New Jerusalem? Which is it of? Which is it for? Is it for man’s interests or Christ’s? Babylon is the aggregation or collection, the bringing together of everything that suits and appeals to man, while New Jerusalem is the exhibition of the divine beauty and the excellencies and virtues of Christ by the Spirit.

What dreadful thoughts and feelings are awakened in the soul by the very sound of the name MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT! It is a terrible name. Babylon is called “the great city,” Babylon, “that mighty city.” Ah, man always wants something “great,” but God does not call His church great. No, another adjective suits her better — “holy.” Beware when Christians, especially preachers, tell you of their “great” churches, their “great” meetings, their “great” programs, their “great” pastors, evangelists, teachers, apostles, prophets, and bishops, their “great” outreaches, their “great” crusades, their “great” congregations, and their “great” revivals. Babylon loves greatness, but we read of “the HOLY CITY, NEW JERUSALEM” descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Oh, that God’s people could realize once and for all that it is “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4:6). The might and power here spoken of refer to man’s might and power — not to God’s! To the natural and not to the supernatural.

May we open the eyes of our understanding to the truth that there are two sources of power. Many “great” church organizations today boast of their “power,” “influence,” or “popularity” in the world. Their power and influence are derived from the magnificence of their huge church plants, their vast numbers of followers, their immense bank accounts, their grandiose programs to indoctrinate and entertain the people and, supposedly, to convert and change the world, and their connection with the “right” people — those with wealth and influence in this present world. Their accomplished talent, and soothing worship services, their beautiful forms, elaborate pageantry and cherished traditions, all help to make them popular — to give them prestige and power in a world of religious, respectable sinners! It is from such as these that Paul by inspiration has warned us that we must separate ourselves. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away” (II Tim. 3:5).

One would certainly think that the Lord’s people would readily respond to this invitation to revelation whereby the Spirit says, “COME HITHER, and I will show you…,” and that they would look with anointed eyes and quickly see the difference between the virgin and the harlot, but such is not the case. Would God that all men could see the hidden mystery of Christ and the church! Would God that all men could see the hidden mystery of the virgin sun-clad woman who delivers the manchild! Would God that all men could see that this hidden mystery has nothing to do with that monstrous, organized, man-made and man-controlled system which everywhere calls itself THE CHURCH and CHRISTIANITY! The glory of the sun-clad woman represents the pure, unadulterated spirit and truth of God permeating, overshadowing, and overwhelming the soul. When the soul is truly overwhelmed and overcome and subdued by the spirit and the truth, the seed of Christ begins to take form within. Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sackcloth from your eyes, and you will behold the white-winged dove of spiritual reality descending upon you!

There are two calls of the Spirit in relation to Babylon. The first is, “COME HITHER, and I will show you…the great whore.” The second is, “COME OUT OF HER, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” “Come out!” Simple to say, but much harder to understand and do. It is impossible to do it in the flesh or by any human decision or self-effort. If you attempt it, you will only bring the spirit of Babylon away with you and raise it up again in your new endeavor. You must rise up in the spirit, as John, just to see her. “Come hither!” Arise from the lowlands of ignorance, deception, fraud, cunning, and trickery of man; from the harlot Babylon, the soul encumbered with lies, misconceptions, misrepresentations, falsehoods, error, sense-knowledge, tradition, and static creeds and doctrines of men. Arise until you ascend the mount of God from whose majestic peak you behold the Holy City, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, the city of truth and life and reality built into a living form and expression through a people who live out of the heavens of the spirit. Ascend until you become conscious of THE TRUTH AS IT IS IN JESUS, THE ETERNAL AND GLORIOUS REALITY OF THE SPIRIT, THE OMNISCIENCE AND OMNIPOTENCE OF THE CHRIST WITHIN!

When one ceases to live out of the blindness of the carnal mind and commences to live and move and have his being in the reality of Christ within his spirit he has been transported, as was John, from the glitter and tinsel of Babylon to the glory of the holy city of God. O glorious City of God! City of Celestial reality! The description of the city as “foursquare” has a profound meaning. The four sides of our city are: Life, Light, Love, and Truth, “…and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.” All who would bring forth the manchild, the expression and manifestation of the Son of God, must dwell there, and walk in this Life and Light and Love and Truth. Its gates open towards Light and Glory both within and without, for nothing can enter that city, which “defileth…or maketh a lie.”

There are four companies. The scarlet-clad woman (harlot), her many daughters (the church systems of man), the sun-clad woman (virgin bride of Christ), and the manchild (manifest sons of God). Some precious people, because they have separated from some Babylonish denomination and come out of the church systems assume that this was the “mother church” birthing them into sonship. This, my beloved, is a grievous error! The “mother” of the manchild is not the harlot church system but that virgin church made up exclusively of a people clothed with the living glory of Christ (sun), crowned with the twelve stars of God’s governmental authority, and having the cold, imitative, reflective light (moon) of ceremony, ritual, tradition, program, and creed put under foot. When the Spirit calls, “Come out of her my people,” this is not His call to sons. This is His call urging a people to come out of the defilements of Babylon and be cleansed — that they might by the washing of regeneration and the miracle of sanctification become an entirely new creation — a virgin — unto Christ. And it is this virgin company that shall deliver to this sin-cursed world a manchild, a male child, a full redemption company of saints, overcomers, partakers of the divine nature, fully developed unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, transformed in His pure and holy nature, imbued with His glorious mind, invested with His omnipotent power and authority, the many-membered “seed” of the many-membered “woman” which shall “bruise the head of the serpent” as he conquers sin and death, dethrones satan, blesses and rules the nations, and liberates the whole vast groaning creation from the bondage of sin, sorrow, corruption, and death. O how wonderful are these things! And should some unenlightened reader still entertain the mistaken notion that our Lord Jesus Christ alone is the “seed of the woman” who “bruises the head of the serpent,” I would point you to the wonderful promise of the Lord Jesus Himself through His apostle Paul, “And the God of peace shall bruise satan under YOUR FEET shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Jesus is the Head of that promised seed, even as we are the body. Isn’t it wonderful!

The sons of God shall be born of a chaste, virgin church, just as the daughters of the harlot are born of a defiled, false church. Both churches bear an offspring! Oh, yes! Without contradiction, this virgin church is the greatest mother that God has planted on the face of the earth, the Jerusalem which is from above. This church is not going out with a whimper or a limp. Nor is it going to be evacuated off the planet (raptured) while the devil runs rampant through the earth. Oh, no! The virgin church and her glorious son shall conclude this age victorious, with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and riding a river of peace, power, wisdom, blessing, life, and redeeming love. It shall arise in freedom from all bondage and limitation, with its feet on the neck of every enemy, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. The tempter’s power shall be broken. God’s people shall be holy, strong, anointed, transformed — glorious conquerors. Yes — she will be a great WONDER IN HEAVEN as she brings forth this manchild who shall rule all nations with a rod of iron! That is the mystery.

To be continued…                                                                                                                                                                                                                   J. PRESTON EBY