“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 18th 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!
