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Scripture Reading: Gen. 11:4, 7, 9; 2 Chron. 36:6-7; Ezra 1:11; Rev. 17:3-5; 18:2a, 4
In this chapter and the next, we want to see two cities in the Bible: Babylon and Jerusalem. We have seen that God’s intention is to have a universal, corporate vessel to contain Himself, and this vessel will be the New Jerusalem. Thus, the last city named in the Bible is Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of all God’s operation throughout all the generations.
But before Jerusalem there is a counterfeit called Babylon. In the Bible, Babel, or Babylon, is first mentioned in Genesis 11, but the name of Jerusalem is not mentioned until much later. Babel is the Hebrew word for Babylon. Babel is Babylon. Babylon came first, because the enemy of God, Satan, knows that God’s purpose is to have a living city composed of living persons to be a corporate vessel to contain Himself. Thus, the enemy of God tried his best to make a counterfeit, and this counterfeit was the city of Babel.
In Genesis 11 with Babel you can see four main points. First, man at that time was trying to do something against God by attempting to make a name for himself (v. 4). That was why man was trying to build up a city with a tower reaching to the heavens. Babylon is good for man to make a name, not for man to call on the name of the Lord. Babylon’s purpose is to make a name for man.
Second, Babylon means confusion. Of course, you may say that God came in to confuse the people there, to confound them. But you have to realize that this confounding from God was a punishment to man due to his trying to make a name for himself. He confounded them by causing them to have different languages. I speak my language, and you speak yours. I have my opinion, you have your thought, and we all are different; I do not understand you, nor do you understand me. This is a punishment from God.
Christianity is under God’s punishment. The denominations do not speak the same thing, nor do they understand one another. The Presbyterians do not understand the Baptists, nor do the Baptists understand the Presbyterians. The Methodists understand the Methodists, but they do not understand the Episcopalians. Each denomination is different from the others. This situation of division and confusion is a punishment from God. The Scriptures reveal that the local churches are not confounded or confused like Babel but are united as one Body. With Babel the second point is confounding, confusion. Those at Babel did not understand one another. This was done by God. He exercised His judgment upon the rebellious human race.
The third point with those at Babel is that all of them were scattered. Instead of being gathered, they were scattered. In the local churches we have a gathering, not a scattering. The Bible reveals that God’s people always gathered together in Jerusalem. In the ancient time all the Israelites came together three times a year (Deut. 16:16). They had the “togetherness,” the gathering. They came together at Jerusalem, but at Babel there was a scattering.
In today’s Christianity the first point is that man is going to make a name. The second point is the misunderstanding between all the Christian groups and denominations. The third point is the scattering. Each one goes his own way and direction. Man’s attempt to make a name for himself, confusion, and scattering are the significant points with Babel. All these points are still remaining with Christianity because it has become today’s Babylon.
The Bible tells us that God chose Jerusalem as the place to put His name and build up His habitation. God told His people that when they got into the good land, they had no right to choose the place in which they would worship Him. They had to go to the place of His choice. He would choose a place out of all their tribes to put His name and to build up His habitation (Deut. 12:5). They all had to come to that unique place to worship the Lord. This was for the keeping of the oneness. It was by this unique place of worship to God that the oneness of His people was kept for generations. This unique place was Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the house of God was built, and the glory of God filled that house (1 Kings 8:10-11). That was the golden age of the history of the people of Israel.
Later, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to destroy Jerusalem. He burned the house of God in Jerusalem, carried away all the vessels in God’s house for God’s worship, and put them in the temple of his idols in Babylon (2 Chron. 36:6-7). What a contradiction this was. This shows that even in Babylon, there are some of the things related to God. In the temple of idols in Babylon, there are some vessels belonging to God’s house. This brings us to the fourth point concerning Babylon: it is a mixture of the things of God with the things of the idols. The vessels used in God’s house were in the temple of the idols.
In the New Testament this mixture is enlarged. In spirit John saw a vision of the great Babylon (Rev. 17:3-5). Babylon is decorated, gilded, with all the things of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is built with three precious materials: gold, precious stones, and pearls (21:18-21). The great Babylon is gilded with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She gives people the appearance that she is the same as the New Jerusalem, but she is not built in a solid way with these precious things; she is only gilded with these treasures as ornaments for outward display. This is a deception intending to entice people. It is the harlot’s false appearance.
The difference between apostate Christendom and the genuine church is that one is a mixture, but the other is pure. In the New Jerusalem there is no mixture. Everything is pure. Revelation 21:18 says the city is pure gold. Also, the river of water of life is bright as crystal (22:1). It is absolutely pure, without mixture.
The description in Revelation 17 says that this evil woman, the evil Babylon, holds a golden cup in her hand. But this golden cup is “full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication” (v. 4). Outwardly it is golden, but inwardly there are evil things. It is a mixture. It has spiritual persons, some precious stones, like Madame Guyon, Father Fenelon, and Brother Lawrence, who give some outward appearance. But inwardly it is full of all kinds of evil.
The local churches have to be clear as crystal, with no mixture. Those of us who were in Christianity can testify concerning its hypocrisy and falsehood. Many good things are there to give a good appearance, but when you get into it, you see the evil mixture. We should not be deceived by the outward appearance of Babylon. It has an outward gilding, an outward decoration, but inwardly the situation is different.
Eventually, Babylon is called “the great harlot” (v. 1) and “THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS” (v. 5). Out of her, many harlots were produced. She is the harlot-mother with her harlot-daughters. A harlot is a woman having contact with males without a governing principle. A proper wife is one who keeps the governing principle, which is the principle of one wife for one husband.
One day the Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and tried to argue with Him about the matter of divorce. They told the Lord Jesus that Moses gave them permission to divorce their wives. But the Lord Jesus told them that Moses did this because of their hardness of heart, but it was not so in the beginning (Matt. 19:3-9). What is the recovery? The recovery means to go back to the beginning. You have to go back to Genesis 2 where there was only one wife for one husband. This is the governing principle without any confusion.
A woman with many men has no governing principle. Today she is with this man, and the next day she is with another man. This is confusion. In a sense, a number of Christians are like this. This month they are in a certain denomination. Two months later they will be in another denomination. They travel from denomination to denomination. This is confusion. There is no governing principle. Confusion causes division, and division produces confusion. Division and confusion are very close sisters. They always go together. This is the character of a harlot!
We have to see that there is only one Christ. There is only one church. There is only one Head. There is only one Body! Regardless of where we are, we must be in that unique church. The unique church may be likened to the one moon around the earth. The moon we see in Chicago is the same moon we see in Los Angeles. Just as the one moon appears in different localities, the one church appears in different localities, such as the church in Chicago and the church in Los Angeles. The church is locally and universally one.
According to the New Testament, there should be only one church for one city and one city with only one church (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11). This is the governing principle of one wife with one husband. But the situation today is that of one woman with many men. This woman is Babylon, a harlot without a governing principle. Some people say that we are too narrow. But is it too narrow for a wife to have only one husband? We have to reject the principle of the harlot. A proper wife should always be narrow; she should have only one husband.
Some of you may say that you are meeting with the church because the church is full of life. But later you may decide to leave because you do not like some of the brothers. This is the principle of a harlot. She stays with one man because she likes him. Later, she finds someone she likes more and stays with him. Whether a wife likes her husband or not, he is still her husband. It is her destiny to always be with him. In the same way, whether you like the local church or not, you have no choice.
We need to see that Babylon is confusion out of division. The principle of Babylon is the principle of a harlot. In the eyes of the Lord, today’s Christianity is a great harlot. This is not my saying. This is the vision our brother John saw in the book of Revelation. When the Lord Jesus asked the Samaritan woman to call her husband, she said that she had no husband. Then He said that she spoke the truth, because she had had five husbands, and the one she now had was not her husband. This describes a woman who is a harlot (John 4:16-18).
The Lord has opened our eyes, and we have seen the principle of oneness: one Head, one Body; one husband, one wife; one Christ, one church. Wherever we go, wherever we are, there is only one church. In a small village, there is one church; in the biggest city, there is also one church. When we get into the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth, there is still one church! There will be no more confusion, no more division.
We do admit that there are gold, precious stones, and pearls in Christianity. The cup is golden, and there are many vessels from the house of God. But these things are utilized by Babylon to make a show in order to appeal to the real Christians. Today’s Christianity appeals to the real Christians by all the outward gilding. But our eyes have to be open to see through the outward appearance to the real situation. We have to see that within the golden cup are many abominations with confusion, division, and idolatry. Babylon is a great mixture.
What shall we do? The Lord’s call in the book of Revelation is for His people to come out of her (18:4). In the eyes of God, Babylon is fallen (v. 2). The whole of Christianity today is the great Babylon in the principle of a harlot. We must obey the Lord’s call to come out of her.
