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VI.
The Sure Word of
Prophecy
»
Chapter 57
:
The Fall of Modern Babylon
1. WHAT announcement immediately follows the
judgment-hour message of Rev. 14:6,7?
"And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great
city." Rev. 14:8, first part.
2. What reason is assigned for the fall of
Babylon?
"Because she made all nations drink of the
wine of the wrath of her fornication." Same
verse, last part.
3.
How was the overthrow of ancient Babylon foretold?
"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah." Isa. 13:19.
4.
What call was made to come out of Babylon?
"Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every
man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for
this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He will render
unto her a recompense." Jer. 51:6.
5.
What did ancient Babylon do to all the nations?
"Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that
made all the earth drunken: the nations have
drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are
mad." Verse 7.
6.
What was the effect of this apostasy?
"Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl
for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be
healed." Verse 8.
7. Just before the fall of
Babylon, what did her king do?
"Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a
thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the
thousand." Dan. 5:1.
8.
By what command did the king repudiate the religion
taught in Babylon by Daniel and others who feared God?
"Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to
bring the golden and silver vessels which his father
Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in
Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives,
and his concubines, might drink therein." Verse 2.
9.
What marked the climax of Babylon's apostasy?
"Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken
out of the temple of the house of God which was at
Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and
his concubines, drank in them." Verse 3.
10. While drinking the wine, what gods did they honor?
"They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and
of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of
stone." Verse 4.
11. What immediately followed this complete apostasy?
"In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans
slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being
about threescore and two years old." Verses 30,31.
NOTE.-The gospel of the kingdom was preached in
Babylon (see reading on "The Gospel of the Kingdom,"
chapter 49), and Nebuchadnezzar was brought to
acknowledge and to worship the true God. But after
the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon relapsed into
idolatry again, and this apostasy was rendered
hopeless when Belshazzar used the sacred vessels
from the house of God, dedicated to the worship of
God, in which to drink the wine of Babylon while
worship was offered to the false gods. Then came the
handwriting on the wall, and the fall of ancient
Babylon.
12. In the visions of John, what interpretation is given
to the woman who sat upon many waters?
"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city,
which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Rev.
17:18.
NOTE.-The great city which reigned over the kings of
the earth in John's time was Rome, and that city has
given its name to the church which is represented by
the woman, the Church of Rome, or the Papacy.
13. In this same prophecy, how is the Church of Rome,
the Papacy, designated as the antitype of ancient
Babylon?
"And upon
her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH." Verse 5.
14. What specific statement
emphasizes this identification?
"With whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."
Verse 2. See verse 4.
NOTES.-The Church of Rome is called Babylon, and its
religion is a revival of the religion of ancient
Babylon. She claims a priesthood with exceptional
powers and privileges, just as did ancient Babylon.
Through the dogma of the immaculate conception of
the Virgin Mary, she denies that God in Christ dwelt
in the same flesh as fallen man has, just as ancient
Babylon did. See Dan. 2:11. She claims universal
spiritual jurisdiction and demands submission under
pains and penalties, just as ancient Babylon did.
See Daniel 3. She repudiates the fundamental gospel
truth of justification by faith, and boasts of
works, just as ancient Babylon did. See Dan. 4:30. A
careful comparison of the ritual of ancient and
modern Babylon shows that the latter is copied from
the former; and it is easy to trace the connection
historically through the paganism of political Rome.
On the overthrow of Babylon by the Persians who
nourished a traditional hatred for its idolatry, the
Chaldean priesthood fled to Pergamos, in Asia Minor,
and made it the headquarters of their religion. . .
. The last pontiff king of Pergamos was Attalus III,
who at his death bequeathed his dominions and
authority to the Roman people, 133 B.C., and from
that time the two lines of Pontifex Maximus were
merged in the Roman one.-"The False Christ," J.
Garnier, London, George Allen, 1900, Vol. II pages
94, 95. Thus did the religion of ancient Babylon
become the religion of modern Babylon.
15. What did Jesus say of the
sacramental wine?
"This cup is the new covenant in My blood."
Luke 22:20, R.V.
16. What is the essential teaching of the new covenant?
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I
will put My laws into their mind, and write them in
their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they
shall be to Me a people." Heb. 8:10.
17. When Christ thus ministers the law in the heart,
what does it become?
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Rom. 8:2-4.
18. In what other statement is this same truth
expressed?
"It
is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit, and they are life." John 6:63.
19. What kind of teaching have men substituted for the
words which are spirit and life?
"Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men. . . . And He said
unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God,
that ye may keep your own tradition." Mark 7:7-9.
NOTES.-There are two cups, the cup of the Lord and
the cup of Babylon. The Wine in the Lord's cup
represents the living truth, ''as the truth is in
Jesus;" the wine in the cup of Babylon represents
her false doctrines, her substitution of human
tradition for the living word and law of God, and
the illicit connection which she has made between
the church and the secular power, depending upon
political power to enforce her teachings, rather
than upon the power of God. By this very thing,
while maintaining a form of godliness, she denies
the power thereof. 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
The following quotation states the position of that
church in regard to tradition: "Though these two
divine streams [the Bible and tradition] are in
themselves, on account of their divine origin, of
equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed
truths, still, of the two, tradition is to us more
clear and safe."-"Catholic Belief," Rev. Joseph
Faa Di Bruno, D. D. (Roman Catholic), page 45.
The substitution of the law of the church for
the law of God, in fulfilment of the prophecy in
Dan. 7:25, testifies to the complete subordination
of the Word of God to the authority of the church.
The world-wide teaching of these doctrines in place
of the pure gospel has led the world astray, and has
made all the nations drink of the wine of her
fornication. The Reformation of the sixteenth
century was an effort to return to the pure truths
of God's Word. In this the Reformers denied the
supremacy of tradition over the Bible.
20. What relation does the Church
of Rome sustain to other apostate churches?
"And upon her forehead was a name written,
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Rev. 17:5.
NOTES.-In the creed of Pope Pius IV, an
authoritative statement of Roman Catholic belief, is
found this statement: "I acknowledge the Holy
Catholic Apostolic Church for the mother and
mistress of all churches."-Article 10. When the
professed Protestant churches repudiate the
fundamental principle of Protestantism by setting
aside the authority of God's Word, and accepting
tradition and human speculation in its place, they
adopt the fundamental principle of modern Babylon,
and may be regarded as the daughters of Babylon.
Their fall is then included in the fall of Babylon,
and calls for a proclamation of the fall of modern
Babylon.
Many representatives of modern Protestantism have,
in one way or another, rejected many fundamental
doctrines of the Bible, such as,-
The fall of man.
The Bible doctrine of sin.
The infallibility of the Scriptures.
The sufficiency of the Scriptures as a rule of faith
and practise.
The Deity of Christ, and His consequent headship
over the church.
The miraculous conception and the virgin birth of
our Lord.
The resurrection of Christ from the grave.
The vicarious, expiatory, and propitiatory atonement
of Christ.
Salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost.
The efficacy of the all-prevailing name of Christ in
prayer.
The ministration and guardianship of holy angels.
Miracles as the direct manifestation and
interposition of God's power.
Although many leaders of modem Protestantism known
as higher critics have not formally adopted the
creed of the Church of Rome, and have not become an
organic part of that body, yet they belong to the
same class in rejecting the authority of God's Word,
and accepting in its place the product of their own
reasonings. There is just as much apostasy in the
one case as in the other, and both must therefore be
included in Babylon, and both will go down in the
fall of Babylon. The warning message applies with
equal force to both classes.
21. To what extent is the
apostasy, or fall, of modern Babylon, the mother, and of
her daughters, to be carried?
"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, and is become the habitation of devils, and
the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the
kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through
the abundance of her delicacies." Rev. 18:1-3.
NOTE.-In its largest sense, Babylon includes all
false religions- all apostasy. The gospel message
announcing her final overthrow should be a cause of
rejoicing to every lover of truth and righteousness.
22. What final call to come out of
Babylon is to go forth?
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come
out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye
receive not of her
plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath
remembered her iniquities." Verses 4,5.
23. How complete is to be the fall of modern Babylon?
"And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great
millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down,
and shall be found no more at all. . . . And in her
was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of
all that were slain upon the earth." Verses 21-24.
24. What song of triumph follows
the overthrow of Babylon?
"Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to
Him." Rev. 19:6,7. |
