Search
In the book of Revelation the writer, the apostle John, tells us four times that he was in spirit. The first time he was in spirit on the Lord’s Day and saw seven golden lampstands: “I was in spirit on the Lord’s Day and heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet...And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands” (1:10, 12).
The second time he was in spirit, he saw a throne: “After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you the things that must take place after these things. Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting” (4:1-2).
The third time, John was carried away in spirit to the wilderness and saw the great Babylon: “He carried me away in spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns...And on her forehead there was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (17:3, 5).
The fourth time, John was carried away in spirit to a high mountain and saw the New Jerusalem: “He carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (21:10).
Four times John was in spirit, and every time he saw a vision. The book of Revelation is composed of these four visions.
In the first vision the apostle John saw the seven golden lampstands, and these golden lampstands are the seven local churches. Therefore, the first vision was the vision of the local churches. This is covered in the first three chapters.
In the second vision John saw a throne, and the One who sat on the throne had a sealed scroll in His right hand. Out of this scroll there were seven seals, and out of the seven seals were seven trumpets, and included in the seven trumpets were seven bowls. The seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls are the different judgments of God upon the world. This is covered in chapters 4 through 16. In other words, these thirteen chapters contain the second vision of this book, the vision of the divine judgment of God upon this sinful and evil world.
In chapter 17 John was again in spirit; but this time he was carried away because he was to see something awful and horrible, which no human word can describe. He was carried away in spirit into the wilderness. If we would see something, we must be carried away from it a certain distance. When we are too close, we cannot see clearly, but when we are carried away, it becomes so clear.
John was carried away into the wilderness and had a clear view. There he saw a sinful woman sitting upon a beast. This is the third vision. If we read this book carefully with references from other books of the Bible, we will realize that the woman signifies religion, and the beast the political government. Strictly speaking, the beast here is the Roman Empire, while the woman signifies the Roman Catholic Church. A woman joins herself with a beast (i.e., religion joins itself with politics). On her forehead there was a name written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT. This vision of the great Babylon is covered in chapters 17 and 18.
The Lord tells us clearly that this woman, the great Babylon, is a harlot. She is also called the mother of the harlots. Who are all her daughters? I do not like to say, but I believe we all know. Every Bible student recognizes that the great Babylon signifies the Roman Catholic Church, and the Roman Catholic Church as the great harlot is the mother of many harlots.
The Roman Catholic Church is a mixture. She has the gold, the precious stone, and the pearls, the three items used for the building up of the New Jerusalem; but she has something more. Let us read Revelation 17:4: “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” Although she was gilded with gold, precious stone, and pearls, she was first clothed in purple and scarlet. These are not things for the New Jerusalem. Therefore, this woman is a real mixture. There is something of gold, precious stone, and pearls; yet these are rather superficial and outward. She was only gilded with them. The first things were the purple and the scarlet.
All the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church wear scarlet robes and a scarlet hat—everything is scarlet, and the pope wears purple. But there is nothing scarlet and purple in the New Jerusalem. There is undoubtedly something of God in the Roman Catholic Church. Even such a spiritual sister as Madame Guyon was there. She was a real precious stone, but she was under the purple and the scarlet.
What is this great Babylon? It is the mixture of Christianity. The great Babylon is a harlot mother with many harlot daughters. The Roman Catholic Church is the mother, and the denominations are the daughters.
The fourth vision is that of the New Jerusalem, which is covered from chapter 19 through chapter 22. These four visions compose the entire content of the book of Revelation. So we see that this book simply speaks about these four things: the local churches, the world under God’s judgment, the great Babylon as a harlot mother with many harlot daughters, and the New Jerusalem.
The local churches are in the beginning, and the New Jerusalem is at the end. In between are the world and the great Babylon under God’s judgment. God is going to get rid of them. The world will be judged, and Babylon will go up in smoke! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! To God, a thousand years are as one day. If we will be patient, we will see Him judge all the items of the world and the mixture of Babylon. The seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls are all for judging these two categories of things. God is going to judge them completely and thoroughly. We have the full assurance that they will be entirely eliminated by His judgment.
There are three places where we may be today; of course, the New Jerusalem as the fourth place is in the future. Where are you? Are you in the local churches, the world, or Babylon? Praise the Lord, we must be in the local churches. We should not be in the world or remain in Babylon any longer.
Where is the Roman Catholic Church? Unquestionably, it is in Babylon. Then where are the denominations? We all must answer this question before the Lord. I am not saying that there are no real believers in the denominations, and I am not saying that there is nothing of the Lord there.
The great harlot is gilded with gold, precious stone, and pearls, but she is a mixture. This harlot is the same woman mentioned in Matthew 13. In the seven parables of that chapter, there is a parable spoken by the Lord of a woman who put some leaven into fine flour. Christ is the fine flour given to us by God as our food, but here is a woman putting some leaven into the flour. Leaven in the Bible speaks of that which ruins or corrupts. A mixture of fine flour with leaven is something impure. The flour is of God, but the leaven is of this woman, the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, there is a mixture.
The denominations more or less follow in the same steps. So the great Babylon is the mother of many harlots. It is exceedingly ugly. All the bread we eat day by day is made of flour with leaven. When it is leavened, it is much easier to eat. This is just the excuse of Christianity. Christianity uses mixture so that it will be easier for people to join them.
Many times I have said that the birth of Christ, the incarnation of the Lord, is the fine flour, but Christmas is the leaven. How much pagan corruption and ruin has been brought in by the great harlot with Christmas! If we are clear about this, we will have nothing to do with Christmas and its Santa Claus, Christmas stockings, and Christmas tree. Have you ever traced the history of Christmas? All these things came from paganism. Even December 25, a date chosen by the Roman Catholic Church, is a pagan day for worshipping the sun god. All this mixture came from the mother and is followed by the daughters.
We know where the Roman Catholic Church is, and we know where the denominations are, but where are the free groups? I believe we all know. I do not like to say anything regarding this, but I have the burden to present this picture to you. This is not my interpretation or my opinion. If we are honest before the Lord and faithful to His Word, we must look at this picture to consider where we must be. I do not like to say where the free groups are, but I am certain that they are not in the local churches.
If we mean business with the Lord and sincerely go on with Him, where must we be? There is no argument; we must be in the local churches. You may say that you are one hundred percent against the great Babylon and the world, but where are you? Are you in the local churches? Simply to say something definitely negative is not enough. We must be definitely positive. Are you Mr. Smith? No. Are you Mr. Johnson? No. Are you Mr. Brown? No. Then who are you? You may say that you are nobody, but you are still somebody. You may use a lot of different terms—nondenominational, interdenominational and super-denominational—but where are you and who are you and what are you?
My burden from the Lord is to present a picture of His last book to us. Then we will know where we must be. Some may say that they do not care for this, because in time they will be in the New Jerusalem. They are not for the local churches or for the great Babylon, but for the New Jerusalem. This sounds nice, but where are they in these days? If we all could be in the New Jerusalem now, that would be wonderful! But I am afraid we must remain on the earth for some years. Then what shall we do with these years? It is very difficult to wander about without a home. If we are faithful to the Lord, we must make a decision about this matter.
My second burden is to expose the subtlety of the enemy. When we were in the denominations and began to see the light concerning the Lord’s way, the subtlety of the enemy was to condemn us by saying that we were only causing more divisions. This is a real subtlety of the evil one. Do you think we could have genuine oneness in Babylon? It is impossible. In Babylon is the false oneness. That is the oneness in the realm of division. We must not be cheated. If anyone is causing division, it is Babylon, the place of division. Even the oneness in Babylon is a divided and dividing oneness.
In the good land of Canaan, Jerusalem was the only place where all the people of Israel were united to be one. Later, they were all carried away in captivity to Syria, to Egypt, and mostly to Babylon. How could the oneness be kept in Babylon? Strictly speaking, anything in Babylon is a division. To realize the proper and unique oneness, we must go back to the ground of oneness. That is the proper realm, the proper place, the proper standing, and the proper position for the children of God to realize the real oneness. We must not be cheated by any kind of nice talk. We need spiritual discernment to see through the situation of Babylon.
There are some who say that it is rather difficult for the Lord’s people to go back to the original standing. They say, “See how many believers there are in the denominational churches. It is too difficult for them to leave.” But even in the type in the Old Testament, not many of the captives went back to Jerusalem. Only a small number returned; the majority of the captives remained in captivity. We must not be cheated. We do not care so much for the numbers as we do for the place of real oneness.
Still, there are some who say that since the church includes all the believers, and as we could not expect all the believers to come out of the denominations, then it is not possible to have the church. If we could not have all the believers, how could we have the church?
In reply, let us refer to a certain situation in the world today. We know there are at least thirteen million Hebrew people now on the earth—in New York alone, there are about three million. But of these thirteen million, only about two million have gone back to Palestine to form the nation of Israel. The number of Hebrew people in New York, then, is much greater than those who returned to Palestine; yet those in Palestine are called the nation of Israel. Suppose some of the Hebrews in New York are unhappy with this and say, “Why do you call yourselves the nation of Israel? Aren’t we Hebrews as well as you?” If I were one of those who went back, I would answer, “All right, if you would like to be the nation of Israel, come back to the right position of the nation of Israel. Do not stay in New York.” They could have no argument.
Many times people have asked me, “Why do you call yourselves the church in Los Angeles? Are we not the church?” I answered by saying, “You are if you come back to the right position.” Do not remain in the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, or some other denomination. Do not remain in any kind of denomination. As long as you remain in a denomination, you simply lose your position. In other words, in the setting of the illustration we have used, you are Hebrews, but you are in New York. You are not in the right place to be the nation of Israel. If you claim to be the nation of Israel, you must come back to the place where the nation of Israel should be.
There are others who say that we should not say we are the church in a certain place because we are so small a number. This sounds good, but it is also in the realm of the subtlety of the enemy.
Let me illustrate it in this way. Suppose the Smith family has twenty-two members, yet due to certain reasons, they gradually leave until only one remains. Later, one or two realize that they are the members of the Smith family, and they return. But they are still short of nineteen, and the others will not come back. So these three say, “By the Lord’s mercy, we are the Smith family.” But those who left begin to argue with them by saying, “Why do you call yourselves the Smith family? You cannot represent us. Although we will not come back, please do not say that you are the Smith family.” Then those who came back will say, “If we are not the Smith family, then what are we?”
Some time ago in a certain meeting I was asked, “Would you explain why you call yourselves the church in Los Angeles? Since the church in Los Angeles should include all the believers in Los Angeles, how can a small number there call themselves the church in Los Angeles?” I answered by saying that we all know that the church in a city includes all the saints in that city. But today’s situation is abnormal, and so many have left to join the different denominations. Now only a small number of us in Los Angeles realize that we must be in the local church and that we should not join any denomination. We realize that we are a small number, but if we do not call ourselves the church in Los Angeles, and yet we are in the city of Los Angeles, what should we call ourselves? The brother who asked the question nodded his head.
We realize that we are only three members of the Smith family, and we also realize that we cannot represent all the members of the Smith family; yet we are still here. If we are not the Smith family, then what are we? We have no other name but Smith. Some say that since we cannot represent the entire Smith family, we had better call ourselves the Smith Center. But what is this? Is this something according to its kind? There is not such a “kind” for us to be after. Genesis 1 tells us that in God’s creation all things are “according to their kind.” If we say that we are not the Smith family but the Smith Center, then we are not according to our kind.
Some think they should not call themselves the church in order to avoid trouble, but they do not realize that they cause more trouble than they avoid. What are we then? Are we the great Babylon? Are we the denominations or the free groups? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We are the local churches. If we do not admit it, we had better call ourselves a free group. Everything must be according to its kind. The hybrid of an apple and a peach cannot survive in the second generation. An apple must be an apple, and a peach must be a peach. God does not like anything of mixture. If you are the denominations or the free groups, you are the denominations or the free groups. If you are the local churches, then you are the local churches. There is no neutral ground. We all must be according to our kind.
There is too much confusion today. Some say that today’s situation is so confused that no one can clarify it; therefore, we should not speak about the local church, for the more we do, the more trouble we will create. As long as we have two or three coming together in the name of the Lord, Matthew 18:20 tells us that the Lord is in our midst. This sounds very nice, but it simply causes more confusion. Suppose we have a group of brothers and sisters meeting together. If we say that two or three meeting together is all right, after a time some brothers will not feel happy meeting with us and will start another meeting of two or three on the next street. They will say that they are not divided from others but are one with all the Lord’s people. Then after a certain time, these brothers will have the same kind of experience, and some among them will start another meeting in another brother’s home. I think we can realize that this kind of division will be endless. Yet all these little groups claim that they are not narrow but open to everyone. Yet regardless of how open they are, they are divided. Is this the way God ordained? If so, where is the impact, and where is the limitation?
God’s way is very wise: it is the way of one church in one city. Whether you are happy with me or not, you must be one with me. Whether I like you or not, I must be one with you. There is no escape. We have to stay on the proper ground where we are to keep the unique oneness. In this way, our natural man is crossed out, and the church is built up.
There is one thing more. The local churches are also the present steppingstones to the New Jerusalem. I believe that all the local churches are today’s entrances to the New Jerusalem. Could we get to the end without passing through the beginning? The local churches are in the first three chapters of Revelation, and the New Jerusalem is in the last two chapters. It is impossible to skip over the beginning. We must be in the local churches in order to be built up, to be disciplined, to learn the lessons, and to grow in life. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! He has shown us the local churches.
