“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…” (Rev. 18:1-2).

            We know that in the symbolism of the book of Revelation this “angel” coming down from heaven is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ because of the marks that are given.  I do not mean by this that Jesus is literally an “angel,” only that the angel in his symbolism stands for our Lord.  The Lord Jesus is always pictured in the New Testament as “coming down from heaven,” and certainly He is the One who has “great power” or “great authority,” and who “lightens the earth with His glory.”  Of Him it is written, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” Rev. 5:12).  And again, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mat. 24:30).

            Without doubt this is the same “another angel” we met in Revelation 10:1-2.  “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed in a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.”  Some would make this the many-membered corporate Christ, but by the identifying characteristics it is clear that this is the glorious Head of the body, the indwelling spirit of Christ, the One who indeed fills the whole Christ body, yet remains uniquely the Head of all.  He is clothed with a cloud and the rainbow is upon His head, just where it was when we saw Him before in this book.  The only two places where we see it is here and in chapter four.  Furthermore, He is clothed with a singular cloud, denoting the firstborn Son of God; for when Christ is seen coming in all His saints it is stated that “He cometh with clouds — plural — the many clouds of glory!  Now, in the tenth chapter His face is like the sun, just as it was in the holy mount of Hermon, in His transfiguration.  His feet are as pillars of fire, just as John saw them in chapter one in the midst of the seven churches.  He has a scroll in His hand, opened.  Who opened it?  Why, He did, the Lamb did, over there in chapter five!  And now in our text we find that this “another angel” likewise comes down from heaven with great authority and the earth is lightened with His glory — the glory of that same One whose face is as the sun!  Who can deny that this is indeed THE LAMB, even Jesus.

            I would point out that in Greek grammar, when the word “another” is used with a noun before it, it is very significant. It signifies literally, “another who is the same,” and throughout the book of Revelation we find this word descriptive of our Lord.  Remember, Jesus told His disciples that when He went away He would send them “another Comforter.”  There we have the same grammatical structure in the Greek, indicating “another who is the same.”  The Lord made it clear that this “another Comforter” was truly Himself in another form!  “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you (as Jesus Christ in the flesh), and shall be in you (as Christ in the Spirit).”  And then He adds with unmistakable clarity, “I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME UNTO YOU” (Jn. 14:16-18).  Can we not see by this that the Comforter, or the Spirit of truth, was not another or different person, but another manifestation or form of the very same Christ who said “I am the Truth,” standing there before His disciples!  He was “another Comforter,” oh yes, ANOTHER WHO IS THE SAME!

            This was not just another literal angel that came down from heaven, for here he is referred to as a “mighty” or “strong” messenger.  An angel is a messenger, and the messenger stands for the message.  The angels in the book of Revelation are wonderful symbols representing the living word of God communicated by the spirit of revelation!  The spirit of Jesus Christ is the living word of God!  In the beginning of the book an “angel” came and began to show these things unto John — that is, a powerful word of the Lord came to John out of the heavenly realm of the Spirit, speaking mysteries to his heart and passing before his spiritual eyes visions of wonders to come.  The proof of this is found in John’s own statement as to how the revelation was received.  “He (Jesus) sent and signified it unto His servant John: who bare record  of the word of God, and  of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all that he saw” (Rev. 1:1-2).  Thus, this mighty angel or messenger who cries with a strong voice is a great and powerful WORD OF THE LORD whose glory lightens the earth!  Truly, IT IS THE LORD!  HE is the mighty messenger!

            The “spirit of might” is one of the seven spirits of God resting upon the sons of God.  Isaiah revealed this deep mystery when he penned these blessed words: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (Isa. 11:1-2).  The seven spirits of God rested upon the Head of this many-membered body of Christ, and it is from Him that all the sons of God receive this anointing (I John 2:27).  The Spirit of Might which belongs to the sons of God is the Spirit of Jesus, for He upon whom the seven-fold  Spirit first rested is called THE MIGHTY GOD (Isa. 9:6).  It is only “in Him” that one can become mighty!  There is a glorious company of people, who along with Jesus the Mighty God, is termed “the Mighty.”  Asaph, the song and praise leader of Israel, prophesied of this company, saying, “God standeth in the CONGREGATION OF THE MIGHTY; He judgeth among the gods (mighty ones).  I have said, YE ARE GODS; and all of you are THE CHILDREN (SONS) OF THE MOST HIGH” (Ps. 82:1,6).  This company of “the Mighty” in whose midst God stands is none else but those who are “in Christ” who is “the Mighty God” and are thus “strong in the Lord” and “in the power of HIS MIGHT.”  And the word of the Lord through Asaph declared plainly that “the Mighty” are, every one of them, the sons of the most High, truly, the manifest sons of God.  Aren’t you glad!

            It signifies a strong influx of the Lord out of the heavens of divine illumination, by which His elect are bathed in heavenly light and understanding.  Today we are finding our place in this corporate body, this company of the mighty.  The day of individual ministry — my ministry, your ministry,his ministry, her ministry — is over!  No more building of kingdoms around individual men, spiritual super-stars, who gather a following and make a name for themselves as though they single-handedly could save the world or bring in the kingdom.  There’s a story about a woodpecker who was persistently drilling through the bark of a tree one day, when, without warning, lightning struck and shattered the old tree into a thousand little pieces.  The woodpecker flew to another tree, and said, still shivering and shaking, “Wow!  To think I did that all by myself!”  It’s easy to start thinking that we’ve done it all by ourselves.  God gives us gifts and abilities, and we take the credit for our performances.  But in this significant hour it is the mighty voice and the great authority of THE SON WITHIN THE SONS that is speaking and performing!

BABYLON IS FALLEN!

            “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory.  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” (Rev. 18:1-2).

            We have devoted a number of months to the discussion of Babylon the Great, the Mystery, the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth.  We have noted that Babylon is both a woman-harlot and a city.  As a woman she is a symbol of the church on earth as an instrument for the building  up of the saints as the bride of Christ.  As a harlot, however, she is the apostate church, who has perverted her true character, forsaken her rightful husband, Christ, and prostituted herself to be employed as an instrument of the powers of inward carnality and the outward bestial system of the world.  Then as a city her essential character is revealed.  For even as the true church of Christ shall ultimately reveal itself as the glorious heavenly city, New Jerusalem, the capital of God’s  kingdom on earth, so the counterfeit church reveals itself as the counterfeit Jerusalem, that is, Babylon, who rules over the lives of men and calls itself the kingdom of God.  It is not difficult to discern the character of this great city Babylon as its suburbs spring up, proliferate, and spread their power and dominion across the spiritual terrain. 

            George Wylie once expressed it so very succinctly when he wrote: “While I was talking with a sister the other day about some of these things, she said something that impressed me.  She said, ‘People don’t seem to be content to allow someone to be free.  There is always someone who wants you to join them and whatever they belong to. It seems to disturb them to see someone free from the entanglements of a system.  When one has separated oneself from all the things that are not of God there will always be those who will try to get one to join them.  Come and join our group!  Why don’t you join our church!  Come and be part of our great movement!  Come and flow with our fellowship!  They just can’t seem to let a free man be free!’  This is how denominations and sects begin.  Here is an excerpt from one of Bill Britton’s writings: ‘We’ve had men come by here, and we’ve had some write us, and say, Brother Britton, now it would be a great advantage to you if you would join up with us and be  in our fellowship.  THIS, BELOVED, IS THE FIRST STAGE OF A DENOMINATION!  The way men start out in sectarianism is, they indoctrinate.  The second step is, they isolate.  The third step is, they denominate.  And the fourth step is, they dominate.  The first thing men want to do is to get their particular and peculiar doctrine in you  until you have to believe exactly what they believe that is different from anybody else. After they get you hooked, they isolate you. You are not supposed to hear any other preachers or teachers.  You’re not supposed to fellowship with any other people or groups.  You’re a peculiar people, you’re separate from anyone else, so therefore you isolate yourself from the rest of the body of Christ.  Then the next thing they do is put a name on that thing and they denominate it.  After they denominate it (and it may be a lot of churches, a fellowship, movement, or whatever) you will find that they begin to DOMINATE YOU!’”   — end quote.  And may I add — at that point you are fully enslaved within the system of Babylon! 

            Furthermore, we discussed the judgment of the great whore, the harlot woman, the bride-imposter.  We found that her harlotry consisted in an illicit relationship with the world.  She is called to be the manifestation of the body of Christ in the world, but she gives herself to union with the beastly systems of man.  She is called to build up the saints in intimacy of fellowship and vital union with her Lord, instead she makes the inhabitants of the earth-realm, the carnal religious kingdom of the flesh, drunk with the passion of her worldly lewdness.  She is called to raise up the spiritual life, nature, and power of Christ in His called and separated people, but she abandons the spiritual reality and seeks refuge in outward means, forms, rituals, sacraments, programs, organization, creeds, and external instruments to establish the promised kingdom.  She is the harlot, the apostate woman.  And we found also that her judgment as a harlot is certain: “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come” (Rev. 18:8-10). 

            Babylon will ultimately disappear as an institution, because she has been weighed in the balances and found wanting!  Before this church age is over the whole corrupt, religious, denominationalistic, Babylonish church system of man will come to a crushing defeat.  When Mystery Babylon is judged, it will not be reformation nor will it be reconstruction: her ruin will be complete; from henceforth nothing of a like character will have any existence!  It will either be swallowed up by the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ or it will perish from the face of the earth forever.  There will also be the glorious manifestation of the sons of God in the power of HIS RESURRECTION!   Those who persist in clinging to the false systems of man shall drink of the corrective passion (wrath) of God.  It is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.  Therefore the command, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” 

            As we approach the dramatic scenes of the 18^th chapter of the Revelation there are opened up before us in highly descriptive and symbolical language the intimate details of Babylon’s judgment, desolation, and destruction.  The woman as harlot shall exist no more!  The institutional church shall come to the end of her existence!  Great is the mystery! 

            In this regard a dear sister in Christ has written these words of inspiration and admonition:  “It’s a new ball game now, with new rules.  God hasn’t changed the rules.  His rules are eternal and sure.  It’s only that men have been trying to play by their own rules, hoping God will play along with them.  It even appears that up until now God has winked at our ignorance and shown us grace and extended mercy, much as loving parents might do to their children at play.  Men have been historically deceived into thinking that their rules are somehow winning the game for them.  ‘We can do it, gang!  If we only pull together, put forth our best effort, get a good preacher, plan the right programs, get in there and work, work, work, we’ll see our church grow, grow, grow!’  That’s been the game plan until now.

            “There are two basic errors in these rules.  The first is in thinking that we can achieve anything for God in our own strength.  The second is in supposing that ‘church growth’ is the goal.  So we must ask, what are God’s rules?  What is His game plan?  What is He doing?  After all, ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it’ (Ps. 127:1).  The divine rule that is in operation today is just this: ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts’ (Zech. 4:6).  Hear the word of the Lord!  Whatever is done for God that builds up His kingdom from now on is either going to be done by His Spirit, or it won’t be done.  There will be many starts, but absolutely no finishes!

            “It may come as a shock to many, but ‘church growth’ is not God’s goal!  The flesh tends to focus on the external things.  Its interest is in numbers, membership, size, buildings, indoctrinations, programs, and visible things like that.  These are all a part of the old order, the old game plan — which is quickly passing away.  Churches that try to win by these rules will find themselves headed for the locker room in total defeat.  God wants kingdom seekers, not church members.  God desires a spiritual house for His habitation, not massive buildings made of brick and mortar.  He seeks a bride called by His name, not a harlot called by every other name in the book: Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, etc., etc.  He wants a people who are being conformed into His image, not denominational clones.  He wants a people walking in humility and holiness, not in spiritual pride and hypocrisy.  He wants a people who are led by His Spirit and living the laid-down life, one body all under one head who is Jesus Christ as Lord and God and King.

            “This day I call to repentance all you who are still playing church.  You are kidding yourselves if you, who are spiritual, imagine that you can change the ‘church’ where you go.  That old church system is harlotry, it’s Babylon, and God has never said anything but to ‘come out of her, my people!’  There are many well-meaning, born again, and even Spirit-baptized believers in the denominational churches, yet they are unable to see the abomination of that system.  All man-made religious systems are false religion.  Many church groups blaspheme the Holy Spirit by denying the baptism in the Holy Spirit and teaching against the manifestations of the Spirit.  Others operate under the law and thereby have fallen from grace (Gal. 5:4).  The Pentecostals, for the most part, are under law, bound by their own traditions and commandments of men, and harbor religious spirits.  They have a false sense of holiness.

            “While I am bound by the Spirit to expose the harlot, I am sympathetic to the difficulty we all have in adapting to these new rules and this new game plan.  Most of us were born into and raised up by the old rules.  It’s all we’ve ever known!  I grew up with football, so I know the game and can keep up with it.  But I have never been exposed to cricket.  It’s totally confusing and disinteresting to me.  We may have the same tendency to shy away from the new thing God is doing today!  Nevertheless, we had better guard our hearts very carefully.  The flesh loves it in Babylon.  We soulishly love our old traditions and doctrines and churches — so much so they are idolatrous.  The hour has come and now is when we must turn to the Lord with a whole heart and abandon everything else in our hearts.  What we do is going to be by the Spirit of God, or it will be cut down and cast into the fire.  It’s a new ball game, folks!  You’d better wake up quickly and repent.  Renounce your idolatries, your spiritual harlotries, your sins, your ungodly associations.  Come to Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith.  Where do you go when you come out of Babylon?  To Jesus.  It’s Jesus, Jesus, Jesus all the way!”   — Betty Newbold.

            The fact that Babylon “is fallen” is pictured twice in the Revelation — in the first place it is announced by “another angel” in chapter fourteen, verse eight.  “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the passion of her fornication.”  The second place is in our text.  Here, the “another angel”  descends out of the heavens of the spirit of the Lord, having great authority, that is, bearing an authoritative word with power.  The earth is lighted with His glory.  The time has come for the earth-realm, the carnal religious realm of man, to indeed be lighted, and with a glory that is not of the earth realm, not the glory of man’s religiosity, but the brighter and more transcendent glory out of the heavens of God’s Spirit!  Oh, yes!  This angel’s only weapon was what he said — he cried mightily with a strong voice — and what he cried is a piece of news — Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen!  Now I would draw your reverent attention to the fact that Babylon is denounced as fallen — not destroyed!  This is plain by what follows, for she is seen as given up to a condition which is a spiritual desolation, worse than the physical one of the Babylon of old under which she has long lain, and from which the imagery seems derived.  She is not destroyed, but is spiritually desolate, and has become the dwelling place of demons, false religious spirits, a hold of every unclean spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

            It is significant to note that in both instances the fact of Babylon’s fall is indicated in the perfect tense.  It is not, “Babylon shall fall,” nor “Babylon will fall,” nor “Babylon is about to fall,” nor “Babylon is going to fall,” but rather, “Babylon IS FALLEN!”  The angel speaks of the city as fallen already.  The truth regarding the “fall” of Babylon is one of the most important and significant truths of this present hour in which we live.  Throughout the entire history of the church, from time to time a remnant of the Lord’s people have received the revelation of the Holy Spirit that “Babylon is fallen” just as the angel declares in our text.  She is “fallen” not only because the word of scripture says so, but because the HOLY SPIRIT HAS REVEALED THAT FACT.  Now, as already mentioned, for something to be “fallen” does not mean that it no longer exists, or that it has disappeared from the earth.  A thing can be “fallen” and yet continue to exist in that fallen state.  Actually, “fallen” describes the state or condition of something that does exist!  People used to speak of a “fallen” woman as a woman who had left the purity of her life and become a prostitute.  We all know that Adam and all mankind in him is in a “fallen” state according to the scriptures and the revelation of the Holy Spirit.  Adam and mankind certainly still exist even though in  their “fallen” condition!

            So now we read about the “judgment,” the “desolation,” and the “destruction” of the fallen woman, the harlot, Babylon, and that she will be “utterly burned with fire” and symbolically “cast into the sea” to be found no more at all.  Ah, this is different!  These scenes speak of the destruction of Babylon, but not her “fall.”  Babylon remains to be judged and destroyed, but Babylon “fell” long centuries ago when the church apostatized from the spirit and the truth and became the fallen woman, the great harlot and the mother of harlots.  Can you not see the difference?  The harlot system of religious Babylon is in a fallen state as much as anything in the universe is fallen.  She doesn’t appear to men to be fallen, for she claims to be “the church” and her outward  appearance is that of the representative of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Beloved, make no mistake about it, BABYLON IS FALLEN, and the whole church system of man is religious Babylon!  She is an unclean, perverted woman!  Until we see clearly this difference between “fallen” Babylon and “destroyed” Babylon we will miss  the message of the angel come down from heaven!

            With keen spiritual perception Carl Schwing penned these words of exhortation: “Yesterday, we lived in the darkening shadows of Babylon’s lifeless teachings.  We were bound hand and foot by her ‘faithful servants’ …because of her ‘blind messengers’ we lived in fear and ignorance; even the gift of grace hinged upon her abominable teaching of legalism. Not attending ‘church’ became the unpardonable sin.  The truth we did have was only stifled by our loyalty to her cause.  How freely her servants wasted the Lord’s tithes and offerings, and how shameful was the abuse of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That which divided the children of the Lord we called ‘outpourings,’ and the ones who preached her distorted gospel we called ‘men of God.’  There were precious moments when the sorrowing sinners came forth and cried out to Jesus for salvation…but even those she took and robbed and bound.  If you doubt what I am saying, look at the mess they call Christianity today.  True, there are more steeplehouses, organizations, Bible schools, and outreaches than ever…but they are only factories of Babylon where she mass produces her religious robots.  I know there are people within her system that are hungry…but to be fed they must come out unto the Father…we cannot go in to them”   — end quote.

            One of the most startling facts about the “fall” of Babylon is that it is the result of her fall that she becomes the abode of demons, a confine of every unclean religious spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hated bird, or manifestations of unrighteousness and spiritual impurity.  It must be made clear to our hearts that this description  of Babylon — this uncleanness, these spirits,  these hated birds lodging within her  bespeak the doctrines of devils, the perversion of truth, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, adopting the ways and methods of the world, intermingling pagan idolatry with the gospel of Jesus, impugning the nature and character of God and His Christ, and bringing the whole into confusion until every foul spirit hides under the skirt of religion.  Because of this fallen condition the Lord’s people are admonished to “come out of her” in order that they might not “be partakers of her sins” and thus be candidates to “receive of her plagues.”  If her fallen state signified her collapse or destruction, God’s people would no longer be in her because she would no longer exist as an institution nor would they be leaving her to escape her plagues, for the plagues would already have been poured out.  But “fallen” Babylon has not yet been rewarded for her iniquities, nor has she been utterly burned with fire, nor has she received double for all her sins, nor has she been cast into the depths of the sea never to be found again!  Armed with this knowledge we can now understand the great truth the Holy Spirit would make real to our hearts, that this cry, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” refers not to the judgment and destruction of the system, but rather to the spiritual condition of that system in the present.

            When the angel delivers his message, there is a mighty move of the Spirit of God and the scales begin to fall from the eyes of masses of the Lord’s people who hunger and thirst after reality.  Now the revelation breaks powerfully within their consciousness and for the first time they are empowered to see the system  for what it really is — a corrupt, fallen whore!  Now they see clearly just how carnal, corrupt, abominable, and devilish that whole religious system is!  What a revelation that is!  Most of those who read these lines have already heard and obeyed that cry of the angel, and beloved, it takes a revelation from God to see Babylon for what it is!  That is the mystery.  As soon as all who have ears to hear have departed from the precincts of Babylon, the destruction of the Babylon system finally takes place — because it is fallen!

            The truth is just this — Babylon cannot and will not be restored.  It can only be destroyed.  The following words by Ray Prinzing bear eloquent testimony to this truth:  “‘We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies’ (Jer. 51:9).  We would have healed her — oh, how we tried to bolster her up and heal her!  We poured our strength into her, ignoring the instruction to ‘Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings’ (Prov. 31:3).  We fasted and prayed for God to revive her.  Though she reeked with abominations, traditions of men, false doctrines, and platitudes for itching ears, still we tried to heal her.  But in time the Holy Spirit speaks so loudly within, ‘Flee out of the midst of her,’ that we have to obey.  All her works, her kingdom building endeavors for self, are not sufficient — but are as filthy rags ready for burning”   — end quote.

            The called and separated elect of the Lord, who are the sons of God, are those who now have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying; and hearing, they have obeyed the Lord, forsaking Babylon.  These are the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb!  And as the elect of God forsakes Babylon, we then come to Zion, according to the word of the Lord.  ‘In those days, and in that time saith the Lord, the children of Israel shall come…and weeping they shall go, and seek the Lord their God, THEY SHALL ASK THE WAY TO ZION with their faces thitherward (or toward the presence of the Lord), saying, Come, and let us join ourselves TO THE LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.  My people hath been LOST SHEEP: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and they have turned away on the mountains (the kingdoms of men): they have gone from mountain to hill, THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR RESTING PLACE.  All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the Lord…the hope of their fathers.  REMOVE OUT OF THE MIDST OF BABYLON…” (Jer. 50:5-8).

            Why have the Lord’s people gone astray as lost sheep, running from mountain to hill, from church to church, from revival to revival, from move to move?  Because their shepherds have caused them to go astray, and they all have forgotten their resting place in God and in His habitation of Zion!  Why have the enemies of the Lord’s people “devoured them” and troubled them among the religious kingdoms of men?  Because God’s people have “sinned against the Lord” in finding a counterfeit habitation by the rivers of Babylon.  And what is God’s answer to this sad condition?  “FLEE YE OUT OF THE MIDST OF BABYLON!”  And inasmuch as the Lord has been calling His firstfruits company out of religious Babylon, we know from this that He is restoring His elect in a right and proper relationship with Him in preparation for the manifestation of the sons of God.  And we know also by this that there is always a great HARVEST that follows the gathering of the firstfruits!  This reveals to us the great truth that in coming days, not so far distant, GOD WILL DELIVER ALL HIS PEOPLE OUT OF BABYLON!  As the system collapses around them, out from the smoke and the ruins of the great city Babylon He will now lead them with tears of repentance and great brokenness and weeping back to Zion!  Aren’t you glad!

            Where do we go, when we come out of Babylon?  The sister I quoted earlier said we go to Jesus, and that is true.  Yet — where is HIS dwelling place?  His dwelling place is in Zion, and in the Revelation the Lamb is seen standing upon the mount Zion!  And standing with Him are the 144,000 elect sons of God!  Ah, yes, we go to Zion, the holy and blessed hill of the Lord’s habitation!  Every generation has its seers.  They have eyes that see, ears that hear, minds that perceive, and hearts that understand.  They know their own times thoroughly well.  They do not confuse the wisdom of this world with the wisdom of God, nor do they confuse the doctrines of men and traditions of the elders with the truth and purpose of God.  By the spirit of wisdom and revelation from God they grasp the plan of the Omnipotent Father for their day, and discern the drifts, the tendencies, the currents and counter currents of the time.  By  the wisdom which comes from above and the understanding of the mind of Christ they understand the true nature of all things, they foresee the unfolding of God’s purpose in all things, and prepare themselves through repentance, purging, obedience, and transformation to be the instrument in His mighty hand to bring God’s kingdom to pass in the earth.  There are such seers at this present time!  They are seers because they know, discern and see by the spirit.  The angel’s cry has fallen upon their anointed ears and they have seen Babylon for just what it is, and they likewise have, by the “seeing eye,” beheld the glory of the Lamb upon mount Zion.  These are they who have stalked out of the confusion and bondage of Babylon, before its destruction has begun, and are now marching determinedly and triumphantly unto the heights of the holy mountZion!  Oh, the wonder of it!

             It is my conviction that all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship will agree that the manifestation of the sons of God, the next great move of God in the earth, must be one hundred percent the work of God.  But it cannot be one hundred percent God’s work when there is still ninety percent of us, or eighty, forty, ten, or even one percent of us.  If the expression of God that is coming will be “Jesus and me,” then you will also give the glory to “Jesus and me.”  But if it is Christ alone, I may be the vessel, you may be the vessel, but the manifestation and the excellency of the power shall be of God and not of us.  So much manifestation has been “God and us.”  Our drive, our holiness, our spirituality, our faith, our commitment, our dedication, our prayer, our fasting, our ability, our wisdom, our strength, has been mingled with SELF.  But today the Spirit is saying, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power, the glory, the authority, and the majesty may be of GOD” — Christ in us become the totality of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, power, and glory — and not of us.  How can it be of us, when we have become nothing?  That is the mystery of Babylon — mixture and confusion.  It is always human wisdom and the strength of the flesh trying to work for God!  But God shall now be glorified in us and through us, by Jesus Christ.  Truly coming out of Babylon means asking the Holy Spirit to enable us to make the ultimate commitment to become totally nothing, that HIS FULLNESS be found in us!

            The Spirit has been poured out in the denominational churches for a number of decades now, but that move of God has drawn to a close and will not produce more fruit.  God did not move in the churches to bless or bolster or empower Babylon.  Oh, no!  He moved only to “call out a people for His name.”  The purpose has not been to either condone or confirm Babylon, but to weaken it in preparation  for judgment. Everything is coming to a climax, a culminating.  The ending of the age is upon us.  What more does God need to tell us?  Not that there will not be a fresh opening up of the Word, not that the spirit of wisdom and revelation will not increase, but is it not time that that expression and manifestation of the fullness of God’s glory that we have so long looked forward to, should come?  I feel it in my spirit and we are seeking God and praying, crying out mightily unto Him and waiting on God until that full manifestation of all that God has purposed will come.  All over the world, in every nation under the heavens, there are people who are seeking God like this.  Many have been drawn away and separated from all their former involvements and religious exercises, the church system, and the old ways of thinking and doing things, to wait for His NEW ORDERS.  God is making choices among us and among all of His people, among the nations of the world, among the churches of the world, reaching down in this hour and sovereignly choosing those whom He has brought to weakness, predestined for this hour.

            Ah, He does not have to use us.  We have heard His call and now present ourselves before Him for His choosing.  But let us leave the choosing to God!  And if God is pleased to choose us, we will give Him all the glory.  And if He is pleased to bypass us and choose others, there will be no recrimination in our spirit.  We will say, “Lord, Thou art altogether righteous in all things.”  In previous moves of the Spirit God picked me up and used me and He said, “I am not using you because of anything in yourself, but out of my sovereign  choice.”  And I knew that it was altogether His ordination!  I saw other people that were more ready to be used than I was, not used, and my spirit wondered why, and He answered, “Out of my sovereign purposes I am not using them.”  That is why I do not criticize anybody who was not in the previous visitations, or in the word God is giving us today.  God knows what He is doing!  We cannot second-guess God!  I know it was God who kept many people out, who shut them up and hedged them in to a lesser thing in God, and God brought other people in.  God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts!  God’s ways are higher than our ways!  But He is going to use people.  People just like you and me!  This is not daydreaming or wishful thinking, neither are we deluded.  God is ready to manifest Himself in all the glory and power of HIS RESURRECTION throughout all the earth until every knee bows and every tongue confesses His Lordship. So let us say, “Lord, let us be among those.  We are available.”  That heartfelt cry is the evidence of our call.  Yet we must understand that many are called, but few are chosen!

            Do we truly understand the new order that is about to be established in the earth and the new ministry that God shall raise up unto the nations?  The present order is the church.  The new order is the kingdom.  Concerning the church age ministry we find that the ascended Christ “…gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till…” (Eph. 4:11-13).  For two thousand years the order has been the church and the only God-ordained ministries have been those of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.  The carnal church systems of Babylon have added to these various other “ministries” that the Christ never gave!  But notice, my beloved, none of the above listed ministries are to last forever.  None are permanent.  All are to pass away.  All are to be replaced by a new and greater ministry!  Plainly the apostle tells us that the five-fold ministry has been given for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ… until!  Until what?   Until when?   “…till we all come…unto a PERFECT MAN (sonship), unto the measure of the stature of the FULLNESS OF CHRIST” (Eph. 4:13).  O blessed mystery!  The five-fold ministry is given to build up and perfect the saints.  Perfected and matured saints become sons of God, a perfect man, in the full stature of Jesus Christ the firstborn Son of God!  Nothing can be plainer than that.

            When we move from the old order of the church into the new order of the kingdom, we move from the five-fold ministry of the church into the new and greater ministry of the kingdom of God.  This ministry is revealed in the Revelation when the beloved John beheld in the midst of the throne a people who sang a new song, saying, “Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God KINGS AND PRIESTS: and we shall REIGN ON THE EARTH” (Rev. 5:9-10).  While I have referred to “kings and priests” as a ministry, that is not entirely correct.  Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers minister — kings and priests, however, reign.  The manifest sons of God are neither apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers.  They are kings and priests!  They are not in the church.  They are in the midst of the throne!  The ministry of the body of Christ is the five-fold ministry.  The ministry of manifest sonship is that of kings and priests.  The five-fold ministry is given to build up and perfect the SAINTS.  Kings and priests are given to REIGN OVER THE EARTH!  That is the mystery.

            Under the typical arrangement of the Old Testament the first divine essential for either kingship or priesthood was divine appointment.  The honor of being king or priest was not open to man’s ambition.  No man could take it for himself.  No man could volunteer for the office, or assume it out of his own fancy or self-will.  The king and priest minister in such high and holy matters that only God can appoint him.  Thus it was that Aaron was called of God to be the high priest of Israel.  He did not take it to himself; nor did Moses or the elders of Israel make him high priest.  God called him to this work, and no one else could have done so.  And so we read, “And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.  So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest; but He that said unto Him, THOU ART MY SON, TODAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE…THOU ART A PRIEST FOREVER AFTER THE ORDER  OF MELCHIZEDEK” (Heb. 5:4-6).

            And what was true of Aaron was also true of his sons, they also were “taken” or called and appointed by God unto the priesthood.  And what is true of Christ as our great high priest, is also true of His priestly house — they must first be sons and then they are appointed priests — in both cases they are called of God.  “And we know that all things work together  for good to them that love God, to them who are CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.  For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified:  and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30).   “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Heb. 3:1).  “THOU…HAS MADE US UNTO OUR GOD KINGS AND PRIESTS…” (Rev. 5:9-10).

            There are no counterfeits in this realm, when God manifests reality.  When God’s kings and priests arise to bless the nations either you will “have it” or you won’t “have it.”  As long as we remain in the preparatory stage, experiencing the deep inward processings of the Lord, while this condition remains, I say, there is opportunity for men to proclaim themselves, to jump on the bandwagon, to mouth all the right words, to use the same terminology the Spirit has inspired among the apprehended ones, and  appear as those chosen to kingship and priesthood.  These “clouds without water” (Jude 12) “profess themselves to be wise” (Rom. 1:22), and some even lay claim to already being manifested as sons of God.  Carried about by every wind of doctrine, presumptuously claiming that which they do not possess, they make their boasts, and many are deceived by their “great swelling words  of vanity” (II Pet. 2:18).

            But the day of manifestation approaches!  There is a kingly people, a priestly people, a remnant in whom the Spirit of God is working a transformation.  In due time God shall manifest this kingship and this priesthood and their NEW STATE OF BEING shall utterly silence all the false claims of carnal men.  Conformed to HIS IMAGE, filled with His Spirit, the embodiment and personification of His wisdom, nature, grace, and power — no man will be able to counterfeit the reality of this new state of being in the power of His resurrection, and these shall redound to the glory of God.  Obviously, “no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God.”  It is an inworked transformation that is God wrought, for God starts it, God works it out, and God brings it to its consummation, it is ALL OF HIM and that is why  the flesh and all the craftsmen  of Babylon cannot duplicate such glorious, divine handiwork!

            I do not hesitate to add that only those who receive the call, who come to realize that they are, beyond any shadow of doubt, apprehended to the Melchizedekian Order, will be FULLY PROCESSED AND POSITIONED AND BIRTHED INTO THE NEW ORDER FOR THE NEW AGE.  Many come to this realization through a personal and supernatural encounter with the Lord.  Each son must receive the call and each must come to fully know Him  for themselves.  In order to be a king-priest after the order  of Melchizedek our existence must spring from our heavenly origin and not from our earthly one.  The New Creation Life we have in Him becomes a super-charged power that lifts us above the law  of sin and death into the power of HIS ENDLESS LIFE!  This is the glory of mount Zion, and only such as flee out of the midst of great Babylon are enabled to turn their faces thither and commence the journey to these lofty heights!

To be continued...                                                                                                                             J. Preston Eby