NO. 807: THE ABIDING PRESENCE

No. 807

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16)

Things familiar to us on the natural plane often symbolically illustrate many of the deep spiritual things of God. Thus, for instance, the resurrection, both natural and spiritual, finds an illustration in the processes of vegetation (1 Cor. 15:35-38); and the processes of the beginning, development, and final perfecting of the spiritual sons of God find a remarkable illustration in the begetting, quickening, and birth of the natural man. (Jas. 1:18; Eph. 2:1; John 3:3)

When we read these illustrations, we cannot abandon and dishonor our God-given reason by accepting obviously absurd interpretations. Our Lord taught His disciples in parables and dark symbolic sayings, expecting them to use their common sense in either interpreting them themselves, or in judging of the correctness of any interpretation offered by others. When, on one occasion, the disciples asked for the interpretation of a parable instead of using their own reasoning powers to draw from it the implied lesson, Jesus reprovingly replied, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” (Mark 4:13) He would have us think, consider, and put our God-given mental faculties to their legitimate use.

“CHRIST IN YOU”

Consider the Apostle’s statement when he spoke of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) He used the same figure again in his letter to the Galatians, saying, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” (Gal. 4:19) Here the Apostle likened his care and labor for those begotten to the new nature by the Truth, to the physical endurance of a mother in nourishing and sustaining the germ of human life until the new human creature is formed and able to appropriate for itself the life-sustaining elements of nature. The Apostle thus sought to nourish and sustain those germs of spiritual being with his own spiritual life until, apart from his personal work and influence, they would be able to appropriate for themselves the God-given elements of spiritual life contained in the Word of Truth; until the Christ-character should be definitely formed in them.

In no other reasonable sense could the Apostle “birth” those Galatian Christians; and in no other reasonable sense could Christ be formed in them, or in us. The thought is that every true child of God must have a definite individual Christian character which is not dependent for its existence upon the spiritual life of any other Christian. He must from the Word of Truth, proclaimed and exemplified by other Christians, draw those principles of life, etc., which give him an established character, a spiritual individuality of his own. So positive and definite should be the spiritual individuality of every one, that should even the beloved brother or sister, whose spiritual life first nourished ours and brought us forward to completeness of character, fall away (which the Apostle showed us is not impossible – Heb. 6:4-6; Gal. 1:8), we would still live, being able to appropriate for ourselves the spirit of Truth.

Paul feared, with good reason, that the Galatian Christians had not yet come to this condition of established character – that the Christ-life was not yet definitely formed in them. He said, “I am afraid of you [I fear for you], lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” (Gal. 4:11) They were already giving heed to seducing teachers and departing from the faith, showing that they were not established in the Truth, and consequently not established in the spirit of the Truth, which is the spirit of Christ, and, hence, that Christ was not yet formed in them.

Alas, how often we see among those who bear the name of Christ, that they have not yet reached that degree of development which manifests a distinct spiritual individuality! They depend largely upon the spiritual life of others, and if the others’ spiritual life declines, these dependent ones suffer a similar decline; if the others go into error, these follow, as did many of those Galatian Christians to whom Paul wrote.

How is it with us? Let us apply the question to ourselves. Is the Christian character formed in us so fully that none of these things can move us or affect our spiritual life, even though they may grieve us at heart?

The great Adversary of the Truth and the Church has thrown a cloak of mystery and superstition around the Apostle’s words by implying that in some secret way, known only to the initiated, Christ personally comes to the consecrated and uses them simply as machines, which become almost infallible because Christ is using them. Those so possessed are considered to be merely passive agents who speak, think, act, and interpret the Scriptures for Christ. 

With this idea they generally go further, and claim that Christ personally talks with them and teaches them independently of His Word; and some go so far as to claim that they have visions and special revelations from the Lord. Some speak of this presence as Christ; some as the Holy Spirit; and some speak of them interchangeably.

There is a semblance of truth in all this. We remember that Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them . . . shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him . . . and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:21, 23) However, a more serious error could scarcely be entertained than this idea of personal infallibility because of the supposed mysterious presence of another being within.

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES

Notice that this promise of the abiding presence of the Father and the Son is to those who have and keep the commandments of the Lord Jesus. Those who ignore the Word of the Lord and follow their own imaginations and their own changing feelings (mistaking them for the voice of the Lord) are quite mistaken in claiming this promise. They are following a spirit other than the Spirit of Truth, and unless recovered from the snare they must inevitably plunge deeper and deeper into superstition and error.

If it is true that God talks with them and answers their questions through mental inspiration, dreams, or by audible sound, and not through His written Word, the Bible, then the Bible is to them a useless book, and time spent in its study is time wasted. Who would “search the scriptures” as the Lord directed, and as did all the Apostles, if they could merely shut their eyes, or kneel, and have God make a special revelation to them? Any sensible person would certainly prefer a special revelation on a subject, rather than to spend days and months and years examining and comparing the words of our Lord and the Apostles with those of the Prophets and the Book of Revelation.

None of God’s consecrated should be thus misled of the Adversary. Those who are thus deceived soon feel themselves honored of God above the Apostles, who judged of the mind of the Lord as read in His Word and in His providential leadings in harmony with His Word. (Acts 15:12-15) They fancy themselves infallible, and are separated from the anchor of Truth, the Bible. Satan can soon lead them rapidly into the outer darkness of the world, or into yet darker delusions.

The testimony of the Scriptures is quite contrary to this vaunting spirit. Paul exhorted us to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith, or whether we have rejected the faith and thus become reprobates – no longer acceptable to God. (2 Cor. 13:5) Every true child of God has respect to the commandments of God: he searches the Scriptures that he may know them, and is not left in ignorance of them; and, learning them, he endeavors to keep them, and the abiding presence of the Father and the Son is with them so long as they continue to hold and keep (obey) His commandments.

But how? To illustrate: a friend accompanies another to a railway station saying, as he is about to board the train, “Remember, I will be with you all the way.” He means that his thoughts will be with his friend and that he will be concerned for his welfare, etc. In a similar, and yet in a fuller and broader sense, the Lord is ever present with His people. He is always thinking of us, looking out for our interests, guarding us in danger, providing for us in temporal and spiritual things, reading our hearts, marking every impulse of loving devotion to Him, shaping the influences around us for our discipline and refining, and hearkening to our faintest call for aid or sympathy or fellowship with Him. And not only is the Lord Jesus thus present, but the Father also. How blessed the realization of such abiding faithfulness!

Our Lord always links the progress and development of our spiritual life with our receiving and obeying the Truth. Every child of God should beware of any teaching which claims to be in advance of the Word, or claims Christ or the Holy Spirit speaks to us independently of the Word. The snare is a most dangerous one. It cultivates spiritual pride and boastfulness, and renders powerless the teachings of the sacred Scriptures because those so deluded think they have a higher teacher dwelling in them. Satan, taking advantage of the delusion, can lead them captive at his will.

These symbolic expressions of the Scriptures must be interpreted as symbols, and to force any unreasonable interpretation upon them manifests a culpable willfulness in disregarding the divinely appointed laws of our mind, and the result is self-deception. We read, “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John. 4:16) The only reasonable interpretation of this is that we dwell in the love and favor, and in the spirit or disposition of God, and that His spirit or disposition dwells in us. Thus God, by His indwelling spirit, works in us to will and to do His good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13) Let us endeavor to have and to keep His commandments, that the abiding presence of the Father and the Son may be with us, being careful to have no theories or works of our own.

(Based on Reprint 3250.)

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FAITH THE BASIS OF TRUE REST

“For we which have believed do enter into rest.” (Heb. 4:3)

St. Paul here referred to the fact that the Law provided to the Jews a physical rest for the seventh day of the week, the seventh year, and the forty-ninth and fiftieth years. He pointed out that these Sabbaths were typical of a better rest, and that all who believe in Christ enter into rest, and thus keep a continual Sabbath. They rest all the time if they abide in the Lord and in His promises; faith is necessary to rest.

God declared His purpose to have a special, holy nation, and promised Abraham that the blessing of the world would come through his Seed, who would constitute this chosen nation. Abraham believed the promise and was glad – he rested. He did not know the way by which God would bring about the blessing, but he had the promise of God, confirmed by His Oath. He did not need to know then about the Lord Jesus or the Plan of Salvation. He had full rest in fully believing God, as did those of his posterity that exercised the same faith as Abraham.

Isaac and Jacob and many of the Prophets, including the Prophet David, thus trusted God. Their writings show that they were fully in harmony with God. They realized that He had made a gracious provision for the future, and that this provision was for the world in general; yet they knew that they were to have a “better resurrection” than that of the world. They rested in their faith in these things that God had not yet accomplished.

Our Lord Jesus declared that Abraham saw His day and was glad. (John 8:56) He did not see it with his natural eye, but with the eye of faith. He saw the day when Christ, who died for all men, will uplift the human family, raising the world up out of sin and death – first exalting His Bride, and finally causing the blessing of God to extend to every creature. This is just what God promised to Abraham: “And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14) Abraham did not see God’s Plan clearly, as we see it, but he saw enough to make him rejoice.

Coming to the present age, we see that greater light and greater privilege has brought greater tests of faith in many respects. Abraham was tested when he was told to offer his son Isaac in sacrifice. He knew that the promises were to be fulfilled through this son, but he said: It is for me to be obedient; God can raise my son from the dead. This shall not hinder my faith in the outworking of God’s Plan.

We of the Gospel Age have not heard God’s voice speaking to us directly, as did Abraham; but we live in the time of a further development of the great Plan of God. He has sent His Son into the world. He was made flesh and dwelt among us, and He died, “the just for the unjust.” Unbelief would assert that if Jesus had been the Son of God He would not have died; but there was a mortgage held on the human race by justice, and their case was hopeless unless a Redeemer should be provided. The eye of faith today is able to grasp God’s purposes in a fuller way than did Abraham. Yet we do not know that our faith is any greater than his; for even if we have more trials and difficulties, we have also greater opportunities and greater light. Abraham had full faith, full confidence in God, and no one could have more than this.

The Lord’s people of the present time believe that mankind will be rescued from sin and death. Some have more knowledge than others, and more testing; some who have less capacity cannot endure so severe testing, nor can they enjoy so fully. But all can have the same rest that Abraham had – the rest of faith in God. Each in proportion to his knowledge and faith will have rest. The most learned and the most ignorant can have this rest, if only they believe God.

REST PROPORTIONATE TO FAITH

The rest we have entered into is not our ultimate rest. If we have the faith today, we may have the rest today; if we lose the faith, we also lose the rest, but a perfect, permanent rest awaits us. God has promised us certain great and precious things. He is our Creator and our Father, and will do for us the things He has promised. And according to our faith it will be unto us – much faith, much rest; little faith, little rest. Those who are in harmony with God believe His testimony.

This does not imply that all who have been of God’s children have believed all of the divine plan; for we see that this would not be possible. Some have had greater opportunity for believing; and some have had less. We who live today have much more advantage than those who lived prior to our day. Our test does not come so much from lack of knowledge; but it is rather a test of faith in God, and obedience to the light now given us. Having this great flood of light now granted at the close of this age, our faith should be very strong, and we should seek to increase it more and more by gaining all the knowledge now due. We should grow in faith, grow in grace, grow in knowledge and grow in love. We enter into a deeper and more intelligent rest if we avail ourselves of the helps which the Lord has provided for us. If we truly believe, we will manifest our belief by works in harmony therewith.

In Scriptural usage the word believe implies much more than merely to acknowledge a fact or a truth. The great Truth before us all is what the Bible calls the Gospel, the Good Tidings. The belief referred to in our text is belief in this Gospel: We who believe the Gospel do enter into rest. What is the Gospel that we believe? It includes all the features of God’s love and mercy to us as a fallen race – His proposition for eternal life through Christ, with all the blessings this involves. To the Church, the Gospel – the Good Tidings – includes also the offer to them of joint-heirship with Christ in the Kingdom.

One might have an intellectual belief in these promised blessings without entering into the rest mentioned in our text. But this form of belief is evidently not in the Apostle’s thought. To the extent that the individual recognizes those facts, accepts them and acts upon them, to that extent he enters into rest. If he believes partially, he rests partially; if he believes more, he rests more; if he believes perfectly, he has perfect rest, and will show his faith by his works. The Gospel Message is so wonderful that anyone who believes it will desire to avail himself of its blessings.

HEART CONFIDENCE ESSENTIAL

The expression of the text, “We which have believed,” implies that the belief has reached the heart, and will thus affect our course in life. And the second part of the statement, “do enter into rest,” implies that the rest is gradually coming to us because we have believed. We have first believed; and the fullness of rest is a condition to be attained gradually as our faith grows stronger, and as we learn to appreciate more fully what we have accepted.

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” (Rom. 10:10) It is not merely believing with the head – it is not a mere intellectual belief. When we accept the Gospel as a fact, and enter fully into it, we begin at once to have a measure of this rest; and as we learn by our experiences how true the Lord is to all His promises to us, the rest becomes deeper and more abiding. The belief is at first a full belief in the message of God; but as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of God, our faith becomes firmer and more established, and our rest increases proportionately.

(Based on Reprint 5433.)

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“SONGS IN THE NIGHT” (Job. 35:10)

“The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” (Psa. 126:3)

We are still in the night of weeping. Sickness, sorrow, sighing and dying continue, and will continue until the glorious morning of Messiah’s Kingdom breaks. How glad we are to learn of the glorious change that will then come to earth. The Prophet David expressed this thought saying: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psa. 30:5) St. Paul expressed the same sentiment when he declared, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now . . . the earnest expectation of the creature [creation] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19-22)

The Sons of God in glory will, with their Lord, constitute Emmanuel’s Kingdom, and at present these Sons of God are comparatively little known or recognized among men; frequently they are considered “peculiar people,” because of their zeal for righteousness and truth, and for God. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) They will share His glory, honor, and immortality and with Him scatter divine blessings to all the families of the earth.

A SONG OF DELIVERANCE

The 85th Psalm provides a lesson which may properly serve several applications. The first of these would be to Israel’s deliverance from the Babylonian captivity, when Cyrus gave permission that all who desired might return to Palestine. About fifty-three thousand – a small number – availed themselves of this privilege and of his assistance. The people rejoiced in this manifestation of the turning away of divine disfavor, and the return to them of God’s favor and blessing. The pardon of their transgressions as a nation was here evidenced in this privilege of returning to God’s favor.

A secondary application of the song is just before us. Israel has been in a far greater captivity in Christendom during the past eighteen centuries. She has the promise, nevertheless, of a mighty deliverance. The Cyrus who granted them liberty to return from literal Babylon was a type of the great Messiah who is about to give full liberty for the return of God’s ancient people to divine favor – to Palestine. [This was originally written in 1909.]

Israel’s sins have not yet been taken away, even as the world’s sins have not yet been taken away. The great Redeemer has, indeed, died for sin, and He is the sinner’s friend, but as yet He has only appeared in the presence of God for the Household of Faith – not for the world. He advocates for none except those who come to God and give Him their hearts and lives – those who love righteousness and hate iniquity.

The world is enslaved by sin and death, the twin monarchs who are now reigning and causing mankind to groan. We were born in this enslaved condition, as the Scriptures declare: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psa. 51:5) Our race, groaning under the weaknesses and imperfections we have thus inherited – mental, moral and physical – long for the promised deliverance from the bondage of sin and death. The majority of mankind undoubtedly feel the gall of their slavery, and will be glad to be free.

The great Deliverer is the antitypical Cyrus. Soon He will go forth to victory, and will establish His Kingdom under the whole heavens. Soon the Church class, the saints, “the elect,” will be glorified, and then the time will come for the blessing of the non-elect – for their restitution to human perfection and to a world-wide paradise, which Messiah’s power and Kingdom will introduce. “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:25-26) The grave (sheol, hades) will be no more; death will be destroyed by the resurrection of the dead, everyone “in his own order.” (1 Cor. 15:23)

Many of the Lord’s people who can see something of the blessings due at the Second Advent, and who appreciate in some measure the fact that the Lord comes again to bestow the great blessings secured by His death, fail to see this other proposition; viz., that those in their graves have as much interest in that glorious reign of Messiah as those who at that time will be less completely under the bondage of corruption – death. But as surely as Jesus died for all, they all must have the blessings and opportunities which He purchased with His own precious blood. Hence, we should expect blessings in the Millennial Age upon all those in the grave as well as upon those not in it; and of this we will find abundant proof, as we look further into the Lord’s testimony on the subject. It is because of God’s plan for their release that those in the tomb are called “prisoners of hope.” (Zech. 9:12)

The prevailing opinion is that death ends all probation, but there is no Scripture which so teaches. God does not purpose to save men on account of ignorance, but on the contrary: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:3-4) Since the masses of mankind have died in ignorance, and since there is neither “knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave” (Eccl. 9:10), God has therefore prepared for the awakening of the dead, in order to provide the opportunity for knowledge, faith, and salvation. Hence His plan is this: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all [all who are in Christ] be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s [those that are in Christ] at his coming.” (1 Cor. 15:22-23)

THE SECRET OF JOY

While the whole creation groans under its load of sin and sorrow, those of the Household of Faith may sing and rejoice, even in the midst of all the sorrows of life, even though they share the results of sin as fully or even more fully than do others. The secret of their joy is twofold: (1) They have experienced reconciliation to God; (2) They have submitted their wills to His will. They obtained this new relationship by way of faith in the Redeemer – faith in His blood of Atonement. They have consecrated themselves to God – surrendering their own wills and covenanting to do the divine will to the best of their ability. This submission of the will to God, and the realization that all their life’s affairs are in God’s keeping and under His supervision, give rest to the heart. They have a rest and peace in this surrendered condition which they never knew when they sought to gratify self-will, and ignored the right of their Creator to the homage of their hearts and the obedience of their lives.

They have joy and peace, and songs of thankfulness to God, because to them He grants a knowledge of His divine purposes, and shows them “things to come.” They see beyond the trials and tribulations of the present time and see the glories that will follow the present time of suffering. They see that the Church, the saintly ones of all denominations and of all nationalities, are prospective heirs of God – heirs of glory, honor and immortality, and associates with the Redeemer in His glorious Kingdom. This encourages and stimulates them.

They also see the outlines of the divine program for the blessing of all the families of the earth. When they thus perceive that God is interested in the whole human family, very few of whom are saints, it gives them cause for rejoicing. Seeing the provision God has made for the world of mankind, they are contented, and are glad to have God’s will done in themselves and in all the earth.

(Based on What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, pages 176-178.)

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NO. 806: “THE DAY OF VENGEANCE” - PART FOUR

No. 806

Part Four – Babylon Arraigned

“The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof . . . He shall call to the heavens from above [the high or ruling powers], and to the earth [the masses of the people], that he may judge his [professed] people [Christendom].” (Psa. 50:1, 4)

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel [nominal spiritual Israel – Babylon, Christendom], and I will testify against thee . . . But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother [the true saints, the wheat class]; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.” (Psa. 50:7, 16-22)

This is a continuation from our September 2024 paper on “The Day of Vengeance.”

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The civil and ecclesiastical powers of Christendom, Babylon, are now being weighed in the balances of justice, in full view of the whole world. This is the logical consequence of the great increase of knowledge on every subject in this “day of preparation” for Christ’s Millennial reign. The hour of judgment having come, the Judge is now on the bench. The witnesses – the general public – are present, and the “powers that be” are permitted to hear the charges and then to speak for themselves. Their cases are being tried in open court, and all the world looks on with intense and feverish interest.

The object of this trial is not to convince the great Judge of the actual standing of these powers, for we are already forewarned of their doom by His “sure word of prophecy.” Already men can read upon the walls of their banqueting halls the writing of the mysterious, but fateful, hand – “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin!” The present trial, involving the discussion of rights and wrongs, of doctrines, authorities, etc., is to manifest to all men the real character of Babylon. Though men have long been deceived by her vain pretensions, they may eventually, through this process of judgment, fully realize the justice of God in her final overthrow. In this trial, her claims of superior sanctity and divine authority to rule the world, as well as her many monstrous and contradictory doctrinal claims, are all being called in question.

With evident shame and confusion before such a throng of witnesses, the civil and ecclesiastical powers, through rulers and clergy as their representatives, endeavor to render up their accounts. In all the annals of history, there has never been such a condition. Never have ecclesiastics, statesmen, and civil rulers been examined, cross-questioned and criticized as now at the bar of public judgment. The heart-searching Spirit of the Lord is thus operating upon them to their great confusion. In spite of their determination and effort to avoid the examination, they are obliged to endure it, and the trial proceeds.

BABYLON WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES

The masses today are boldly challenging both the civil and ecclesiastical powers of Christendom to prove their claims of divine authority to rule. However, neither they nor the rulers see that God has permitted a lease of power to such rulers, whether good or bad, until “the Times of the Gentiles” expire. During this time, God has largely permitted the world to manage its own affairs and take its own course in self-government, so that all men might learn that, in their fallen condition, they are incapable of self-government, and that it does not pay to try to be independent either of God or of each other. (Rom. 13:1)

The rulers and the ruling classes of the world have not recognized this, but realizing their opportunity, they have taken advantage of the less fortunate masses, by whose permission and tolerance they have long been sustained in power. They have endeavored to foist upon the illiterate masses the absurd doctrine of the “divine right of kings” – both civil and ecclesiastical. They have fostered and encouraged ignorance and superstition among the masses for many centuries for the purpose of perpetuating this doctrine that is so convenient to their policy.

Only in relatively recent times have knowledge and education become general, and this has come about by providence, and not by the efforts of rulers and ecclesiastics. The printing press and steam transportation were the initial chief agencies in promoting it. Prior to these divine interpositions, the masses of men, being to a large extent isolated from one another, were unable to learn much beyond their own experiences. But these agencies have been instrumental in bringing about a wonderful increase of travel and of social and business interaction, so that all men, of whatever rank or station, may profit by the experiences of others throughout the whole world.

Now the reading, traveling, and thinking public is fast becoming the discontented and clamorous public, with little reverence left for the kings and potentates that have held together the old order of things under which they now so restlessly chafe. Light has dawned upon the minds of the masses, and they cannot be relegated to their former darkness. With the gradual increase of knowledge, republican forms of government have been demanded, and the monarchical have been of necessity greatly modified by force of their example and the demands of the people.

In the dawning light of the new day men begin to see that under the protection of false claims, supported by the people in their former ignorance, the ruling classes have been selfishly making merchandise of the natural rights and privileges of the rest of mankind. And, looking on and weighing the claims of those in authority, they are rapidly reaching their own conclusions. But being themselves actuated by no higher principles of righteousness and truth than the ruling classes, the judgment of the masses is as far from right on the other side of the question, their growing disposition being hastily to ignore all law and order rather than to consider coolly and dispassionately the claims of justice on all sides in the light of God’s Word.

While the present organization and order of society (Babylon, Christendom) as represented by her statesmen and her clergy is being weighed in the balances of public opinion, her many monstrous claims are seen to be foundationless and absurd. The heavy charges against her of selfishness and of nonconformity to the golden rule of Christ, whose name and authority she claims, have already over­balanced, and lifted the beam so high that, even now, the world has little patience to hear the further proofs of her really antichristian character.

Her representatives call upon the world to note the glory of their kingdoms, the triumphs of their arms, the splendor of their cities and palaces, the value and strength of their institutions, political and religious. They strive to reawaken the old-time spirit of clannish patriotism and superstition, which formerly bowed in submissive and worshipful reverence to those in authority and power; which lustily shouted, “Long live the king!” and reverently regarded the persons of those who claimed to be the representatives of God.

But those days are past: the remains of the former ignorance and superstition are fast disappearing, and with them the sentiments of clannish patriotism and blind religious reverence. In their place are found independence, suspicion and defiance, which seem likely before long to lead to world-wide strife – anarchy. The peoples of the various ships of state talk angrily and threateningly to the captains and pilots, and at times grow almost mutinous.

They claim that the present policy of those in power is to make merchandise of all their natural rights. Many insist with increasing vehemence upon displacing the present captains and pilots and letting the ships drift while they contend among themselves to gain control. But against this wild and dangerous clamor the captains and pilots, the kings and statesmen, contend and hold their places of power, shouting all the while to the people, “Hands off! you will drive the vessel onto the rocks!”

Then the religious teachers come forward and counsel submission on the part of the people. Seeking to emphasize their own authority as coming from God, they connive with the civil powers to hold the people under restraint. But they also begin to realize that their power is gone, and they are casting about for some means to re-enforce it, so they talk of union and cooperation among themselves. We hear them arguing with the state for more assistance from that source, promising in return to uphold civil institutions with their (waning) power. But all the while a storm is rising, and while the masses of the people, unable to comprehend the danger, continue to clamor, the hearts of those at the helms of the ships fail them for fear of that which they now see must surely come.

The ecclesiastical powers in particular feel it incumbent upon them to render up their accounts in order to make the best possible showing, thus to restrain, if possible, the revolutionary current of public sentiment against them. But as they attempt to apologize for the meager good results of the past centuries of their power, they only add to their own confusion and perplexity, and arouse the attention of others to the true condition of affairs.

CIVIL AND SOCIAL POWERS ARRAIGNED

This was noted in the New York Evening Post: “Among all the strange beliefs of the race, there is none stranger than that which made Almighty God select with care some of the most ordinary members of the species, often sickly, stupid and vicious, to reign over great communities under his special protection, as his representatives on earth.” The judgment of the civil powers is going against them. Not only is the press thus outspoken, but the people everywhere are loudly talking and clamoring against the powers that be. The unrest is universal, and is becoming more and more dangerous every year.

Christendom’s social system is also under scrutiny, including its monetary regulations, its financial schemes and institutions, its selfish business policy, and its class-distinctions based mainly on wealth, with all that this implies of injustice and suffering to the masses of men. These things are being as severely handled in the judgment of this hour as the civil institutions.

Witness the interminable disputes between labor and capital. The concerted mutterings of innumerable voices sound against the present social system like surging waves of the sea under a rising wind, particularly in so far as it is seen to be inconsistent with the moral code contained in the Bible, which Christendom, in a general way, claims to recognize and follow.

It is indeed a notable fact that in the judgment of Christendom, even by the world at large, the standard of judgment is the Word of God. Heathen (non-Christian) people hold up the Bible, and boldly declare, “You are not as good as your book.” They point to its blessed Christ, and say, “You do not follow your pattern.” And both the heathen and the masses of Christendom use the golden rule and the law of love to measure the doctrines, institutions, policy and general course of Christendom. All alike testify to the truth of the strange handwriting on her walls – “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” (Dan. 5:27)

The world’s testimony against the present social system is heard everywhere in every land, with all men declaring it to be a failure. The opposition is increasingly active, and is spreading alarm all over the world, terribly shaking all confidence in existing institutions, and from time-to-time paralyzing industry with panics, strikes, etc. There is not a nation in Christendom where the opposition to the present social arrangements is not pronounced, obstinate and increasingly threatening.

ECCLESIASTICAL POWERS JUDGED

The criticism of Ecclesiasticism is fully as severe as that of Monarchy and Aristocracy, for they are recognized as one in interest. In the general commotion of these times, many in the church as well as in the world are greatly perplexed and bewildered by the great confusion. Not only are the conduct and influence of the churches severely criticized, but their most prominent doctrines are as well.

For instance, the thinking public has begun to question the doctrine of eternal torment for the great majority of our race. This blasphemous doctrine has long held men in control through fear. The clergy have begun to see a very urgent necessity for emphasis on this subject in order to counteract the growing sentiments of liberalism. The clergy express often their views as if the eternal torture of their fellowmen were a matter of only trivial consequence, to be discussed with flippant jest and laughter, and declared as truth without a particle of evidence or Bible investigation. The world marks this presumptive arrogance, and draws its own conclusions in the matter.

We thus see the present order of things trembling in the balances of public opinion. The appointed time for its overthrow having come, the great Judge of all the earth lifts up the scales of human reason and points to the weights of truth and justice. Turning up the light of increasing knowledge, He invites the world to test and prove the righteousness of His decision in condemning to destruction the hollow mockery of Christendom’s false pretensions. Gradually, but rapidly, the world is applying the test, and in the end all will arrive at the same decision; and as a great millstone, Babylon, the great city of confusion, with all her boasted civil and ecclesiastical power, and with all her assumed dignity, her wealth, her titles, her influence, her honors, and all her vain glory, will be cast into the sea (the restless sea of ungovernable peoples) to rise no more. (Rev. 18:21; Jer. 51:61-64)

Her destruction had a beginning by the end of the appointed “Times of the Gentiles” – 1914. Events are rapidly progressing toward such a crisis and termination. Though the trial is not yet completed, already many can read the handwriting of her doom – “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting!” Eventually the fearful doom of Babylon, Christendom, will be realized. The old superstitions that have long upheld her are fast being removed: old religious creeds and civil codes hitherto reverenced and unhesitatingly endorsed are now boldly questioned, their inconsistencies pointed out, and their palpable errors ridiculed.

The trend of thought among the masses, however, is not toward Bible truth and sound logic, but rather toward infidelity. Infidelity is rampant, both within and outside the church nominal. In the professed Church of Christ, the Word of God is no longer the standard of faith and the guide of life. Human philosophies and theories are taking its place, and even heathen notions are beginning to flourish in places formerly beyond their pale.

Only a few in the great nominal church are sufficiently awake and sober to realize her deplorable condition, considering only her numerical and financial strength. The masses in both pews and pulpits are much too intoxicated and stupefied by the spirit of the world to even note her spiritual decline, but numerically and financially her waning condition is keenly felt. All the interests, prospects and pleasures of the present life are linked with the perpetuation of her institutions. To secure these, it is deemed necessary to keep up a fair showing of fulfilling what is believed to be her divine commission – to convert the world.

When we thus see Babylon arraigned to answer for herself in the presence of an assembled world, the Psalmist’s prophecy of this event, quoted at the beginning of this paper, comes back to mind with great force. God has kept silent during all the centuries wherein evil triumphed in His name and His true saints suffered persecution in multiplied forms; however, He has not been oblivious to those things. Now the time has come whereof He spoke by the Prophet, saying, “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” (Psa. 50:21)

Let all who would be awake and on the right side in these times of tremendous import mark well these things and see how perfectly prophecy and fulfilment correspond.

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter IV, pages 75-112, condensed and edited. Lengthy quotations have been omitted.)

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IN MEMORIAM

The Life of Pastor Russell

“He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.” (Jer. 23:28)

October 31 will mark 108 years since our beloved Brother Russell left us. Thousands all over our land, and in every land under the sun, bear witness to their gratitude to God that He raised up a man who has been the instrument in His hand of snatching them from the very brink of doubt and infidelity, placing their feet on the solid rock of Christ’s “ransom for all.” Their religious teachers kept saying: “Don’t go to hear that man Russell; he preaches dangerous doctrine.” But, by the Grace of God, they went and received the spiritual food they had been starving for, the spiritual food their religious teachers did not know how to give.

When men with a heart full of gratitude would tell him of the blessings they had received, he would simply say something like this: “Brother, I am glad you received blessings from God’s Word; His truth is very precious.” He simply ignored his part in the matter. In proof that this was his attitude, hear his own words, as found on page ten of his celebrated book, The Divine Plan of the Ages:

“Though in this work we shall endeavor, and we trust with success, to set before the interested and unbiased reader the plan of God as it relates to and explains the past, the present and the future of His dealings, in a way more harmonious, beautiful and reasonable than is generally understood, yet that this is the result of extraordinary wisdom or ability on the part of the writer, is positively disclaimed. It is the light from the Sun of Righteousness in this dawning of the Millennial Day that reveals these things as ‘present truth’ . . .”

He believed that the time was due for these truths to be made known, and if he had not written them, God would have found someone else to do so.

One of the great objects of his life was to show that the Bible, when correctly translated and rightly understood, is harmonious throughout, and gives the most exalted and uplifting conception of our Creator and our duties to Him that is possible for a human being to attain. To show this complete harmony of the Bible, of all its parts, was no easy task. It meant labor. At that time there was great indifference on the part of the people. Most of them did not seem to care whether the various texts of the Bible were in harmony with one another or not. Each seemed more interested in seeking such texts as prove or seemed to prove his particular creed, and ignored such texts as opposed it.

They were merely seeking such knowledge as they thought would save them and their friends, and seemed utterly indifferent as to what truth honors God most. In 1 Sam. 2:30 the Lord says, “Them that honour me I will honour.” This promise is not to those who carry on some great work of charity or make an attempt to convert the world, for these things are often done in such a way as to dishonor God. Many are engaged in these things; few make it the chief object of their lives to do those things and to preach those doctrines that bring most honor to God’s name. Most men seem utterly indifferent on this matter.

At a time when such indifference was widely prevalent, Pastor Russell began his work of showing the harmony of the Bible with itself and with the character of its divine Author. He saw that there is no way to bring permanent blessing to the human race except through faith in God and faith in the Bible. He therefore sought to show how worthy the Bible is of all our faith and love. That was the great motive of his life. We know that this was his motive, not because he told us so, but because the motive rings through every article that he wrote and every sermon that he preached. Therefore, it is natural for us, as thoughtful men and women, to inquire, “What were the events of his life and the various circumstances leading up to such a motive?”

His father was a well-to-do merchant, and the son, when not engaged in study, spent much of his time helping his father in the store. By so doing, he rendered himself liable to the awful charge that certain ministers in various parts of the country brought against him – that in his early life he was “a seller of shirts.” In this work, however, he developed the qualities of industry, perseverance and earnestness of purpose, qualities that were such prominent characteristics of his mature years. In this work the young man manifested such business acumen that, in a few years, he was the owner of five clothing stores. In all this work he was so thoroughly honest and his goods so thoroughly reliable that his success was marvelous, so marvelous that some who then knew him believe that if he had continued in the mercantile business, he might have rivaled in the accumulation of wealth by some of the richest money kings of his day. But his great desire was not to be rich, but to be useful.

While Pastor Russell had his friends and admirers, he also had his enemies and persecutors. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12) Pastor Russell likewise had his persecutors who tried to minimize his work, burned his books, and attempted to destroy his good name.

But the more they burned the books, the more the truth spread. In the Dark Ages they sometimes sought to terrify the people by burning the Bibles in the streets, and thus compel them to submit to the prescribed forms of religion, the “Orthodox” forms. There is too much of the spirit of liberty and tolerance in free America for such an indignity to be perpetrated today without arousing a sense of justice in the minds of those who hate tyranny.

His parents were of the “orthodox” faith, and up to the age of fifteen he believed all and only such doctrines as his sectarian ministers took the trouble to teach him. The clergy as a rule discouraged questions. He simply believed the doctrines of the church he attended, especially the doctrine of the eternal torment of all except the saints. At the age of fifteen, he used to go about the city of Pittsburgh on Saturday evenings with a piece of chalk, writing on the fence boards and telling the people not to fail to attend church on Sunday, so that they might escape that terrible hell in which he so firmly believed. At about this time it seems that Providence had decreed that he should attempt to reclaim an infidel friend to Christianly. By skillful questions that neither layman or minister could answer and hold to the accepted creed, the infidel completely routed young Russell, and he became a skeptic. He saw, for instance, that with the doctrine of eternal torment in it he could not believe the Bible, though he still held to a belief in God and the hope of a future life.

As he desired to learn the truth in regard to the hereafter, the next few years were devoted to the investigation of the claims of the leading Oriental religious, all of which he found unworthy of credence. At the age of twenty he was possessed of much knowledge and voluminous data in regard to “religion” as believed and practiced in all parts of the world, but his mind was unsatisfied and unsettled. At length he decided to search the Scriptures for their own answer on hell-fire and brimstone. Here was the turning point in his life.

As he searched the Scriptures for the answer, the answer came. Not one text, merely, but texts by the hundreds showing the foolishness and unreasonableness of the doctrine of eternal torment. He read, “The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” (Psa. 145:20) It does not say “All the wicked will be roasted eternally.” Again, “He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death.” (Jas. 5:20) “The soul that sinneth, it shall die [not live in torment eternally].” (Ezek. 18:4, 20) In fact, he saw that all the comparisons and contrasts in the Bible are never between life in happiness and life in misery, but always between life and death, eternal life or eternal death, with all the wicked utterly destroyed in what the Scriptures call “the second death.” They will be completely destroyed “as though they had not been,” and even the remembrance of them “shall rot.” They will utterly pass from the memory of all forever. (Oba. 1:16; Prov. 10:7)

He saw a loving God looking down upon a sin-cursed earth with an eye of pity and love, and in order to make it possible for us to have eternal life, He must give what was dearest to Him in the whole universe. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) When he saw all this and far more, his great heart was thrilled to its very depths. It was then that he gave his heart to the Lord in full consecration, ready to do or say or be whatever the Lord might show him.

To the very ends of the earth, he told the Bible truth that “the wages of sin is death,” and not eternal torment. (Rom. 6:23) His words have been heard by many who will not admit that they have heard, believed by many who will not admit they believe.

(By E. D. Stewart. Edited excerpts from the postscript of What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, pages 435-440)

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NO. 805: "THE DAY OF VENGEANCE" - PART THREE

No. 805

Part Three – Its Necessity and Justice

“Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.” (Matt. 23:36)

This is a continuation from our July and August 2024 papers on “The Day of Vengeance.”

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To those unaccustomed to weighing principles from the standpoint of an exact moral philosophy, it may seem strange that a subsequent generation of humanity should suffer the penalty of the accumulated crimes of several preceding generations. However, since that is the expressed judgment of God, who cannot err, we should expect mature consideration to make manifest the justice of His decision. In the above words, our Lord addressed the generation of fleshly Israel in the end of the typical Jewish Age. Upon them should come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, who was slain between the temple and the altar. (Matt. 23:35)

That was a terrible prophecy, but it fell upon heedless and unbelieving ears. True to the letter, it had its fulfilment about thirty-seven years later, when civil strife and hostile invaders accomplished the fearful recompense. Of that time, we read that the inhabitants of Judea were divided by jealousies into many warring factions, and that mutual mistrust reached its highest point. Friends were alienated, families were broken up, and every man suspected his brother. Theft, impostures, and assassinations were rife, and no man’s life was secure. Even the temple was not a place of safety. The chief priest was slain while performing public worship. Then, driven to desperation by the massacre of their brethren in Caesarea, and apparently appointed everywhere else for slaughter, the whole nation united in revolt. Judea was thus brought into open rebellion against Rome, and in defiance against the whole civilized world.

Vespasian and Titus were sent to punish them, and one after another of their cities was swept away, until at last Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. In the spring of A.D. 70, when the city was crowded with the multitudes who came up to the feast of the Passover, he drew up his legions before her walls, and the imprisoned inhabitants shortly became the prey of famine, the sword of the invaders, and civil strife.

The above prophecy was thus fulfilled upon rebellious fleshly Israel in the end of their age of special favor as God’s chosen people. According to the broader significance of the prophecy, the parallel of that trouble is to come in the end of this Gospel Age upon nominal spiritual Israel, which, in its widest sense, is Christendom. It is to be “a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation,” and hence in some sense it will be even more terrible than that upon Judea and Jerusalem. We can scarcely imagine a trouble more severe, except in the sense of being more general and widespread, and more destructive. Instead of being confined to one nation or province, its sweep will be over the whole world, especially the civilized world – Christendom or Babylon.

We may therefore regard that visitation of wrath upon fleshly Israel as a foreshadowing of the greater indignation and wrath to be poured upon Christendom in the end of this age. Those who view this as unjust have failed to comprehend that perfect law of retribution, which surely, though often slowly, works out its inevitable results. The justice, the necessity, and the philosophy of it, are very manifest to the thoughtful and reverent, who, instead of being inclined to accuse God of injustice, apply their hearts to the instruction of His Word.

We stand today at the culmination of ages of experience which should be greatly to the world’s profit, especially to that part which has been favored, directly and indirectly, with the light of divine truth – Christendom, Babylon. God holds men accountable, not only for what they know, but for what they might know if they would apply their hearts unto instruction – for the lessons which experience (their own and that of others) is designed to teach. If men fail to heed the lessons of experience, or willfully neglect or spurn its precepts, they must suffer the consequences.

By giving heed to the experiences of preceding generations the world has made very commendable progress in material things. Many of the comforts and conveniences of our present civilization have come to us largely from applying the lessons observed in the experiences of past generations. The present generation in this one point alone has much advantage every way: all the accumulated wisdom and experience of the past are added to its own. But the great moral lessons which men ought also to have been studying and learning have been very generally disregarded, even when they have been emphatically forced upon public attention. History is full of such lessons to thoughtful minds inclined to righteousness, and men of the present day have more such lessons than those of any previous generation. The law of cause and effect is nowhere more prominently marked than on the pages of history. According to this law, which is God’s law, the seeds of past sowing must of necessity germinate, develop and bring forth fruitage, and a harvest at some time is therefore inevitable.

THE WARNINGS TO CHRISTENDOM

Babylon, Christendom, has had a long probation of power, and has had many opportunities both to learn and to practice righteousness, as well as many warnings of a coming judgment. All through this Gospel Age she has had in her midst the saints of God – devoted, self-sacrificing, Christlike men and women – “the salt of the earth.” She has heard the message of salvation from their lips, seen the principles of truth and righteousness exemplified in their lives, and heard them reason of righteousness and of judgment to come. But she has disregarded these living epistles of God; and not only so, but her so-called Christian nations, in their greed for gain, have brought reproach upon the name of Christ among the heathen (non-Christian) nations, following the Christian missionary with the accursed rum traffic and other “civilized” evils.

In her midst and by her authority the true embryo Kingdom of heaven (composed only of the saints, whose names are written in heaven) has suffered violence. She has hated them and persecuted them even unto death, so that thousands of them throughout the centuries have, by her decrees, sealed their testimony with their blood. Like their Master, they were hated without a cause; they were rejected as the offscouring of the earth for righteousness’ sake. Their light was again and again quenched that the preferred darkness might reign with its opportunities to work iniquity. The mother system is “drunken with the blood” of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. She and her daughters, still blind, are ready still to persecute and behead (Rev. 20:4), though in a more refined manner, all who are loyal to God and His truth, and who venture, however kindly, to point out to them plainly the Word of the Lord which reproves them.

The civil powers of Christendom have been warned frequently when, again and again, empires and kingdoms have fallen with the weight of their own corruption. And even today, if the powers that be would harken, they might hear a last warning of God’s inspired Prophet: “Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little . . . Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves [in opposition], and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” (Psa. 2:10-12, 1-5) Their resistance shall avail nothing when they persistently neglect to heed the Lord’s warnings.

Again, “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty [of those in authority]; he judgeth among the gods [the rulers]. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Psa. 82:1-4) That the import and expediency of this counsel are, by the exigencies of the present times, being forced upon the attention of those in authority, the daily press is a constant witness; and numerous are the warning voices of thoughtful men who see the danger of the general neglect of this advice. Even men of the world, who scan the future only from the standpoint of expediency, perceive the necessity for the pursuance of the course advised by the Prophets.

But do those in authority heed the warnings and the solemn lessons of this hour? No: as the Prophet foretold of them, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: [until] all the foundations of the earth [the foundations of society – the hitherto established principles of law and order] are out of course.” (Psa. 82:5) That is, they walk on until they are terribly shaken that they may be removed. (Heb. 12:27; Isa. 2:19) Thus all the nations of “Christendom” are heedlessly stumbling on in the long-preferred darkness. Even the United States, which boasts of liberty and is in many respects so richly favored above all other nations, is no exception; and it, too, has had many warnings.

The ecclesiastical powers of Christendom have also been warned by the providential dealings of God with His people in the past, and by occasional reformers. Yet few, very few, can read the handwriting on the wall, and they are powerless to overcome, or even to stay, the popular current. The warnings have gone forth but they have been unheeded. Great power has been in the hands of ecclesiastics (and to some extent it still is), but it has been, and still is, selfishly used and abused in the name of Christ and His gospel. They seek “honour one of another,” “chief seats in the synagogues,” and “to be called of men, Rabbi” (Doctor, Reverend, etc.). They seek gain, each “from his quarter” or denomination. (John 5:44; Matt. 23:6-12; Isa. 56:11) These things, along with “the fear of man” which “bringeth a snare” (Prov. 29:25) hinder even some of God’s true servants from faithfulness, while apparently many of the under-shepherds never had any interest in the Lord’s flock except to secure the golden fleece.

While we gladly acknowledge that many who are educated, cultivated, refined and pious have been and are now included among the clergy in all the various denominations of the nominal church, which all through the age has included both wheat and tares (Matt. 13:30), we are forced to admit that many who belong to the “tare” class have found their way into the pulpits as well as into the pews. Indeed, the temptations to pride and vainglory, and in many cases to ease and affluence, have guaranteed it to be so to a large extent.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHRISTENDOM

The responsibility of those who have undertaken the gospel ministry in the name of Christ is very great. They stand very prominently before the people as the representatives of Christ – as special exponents of His spirit, and expounders of His truth. As a class, they have had advantages above other men for coming to a knowledge of the truth and for freely declaring it. They have been relieved from the burdens of toil and care in earning a livelihood which fetter others, and with their temporal wants supplied, have been granted time, quiet leisure, special education, and numerous helps of association, etc., for this very purpose.

On the one hand, there have been great opportunities for pious zeal and devoted self-sacrifice for the cause of truth and righteousness. On the other hand, there have been great temptations, either to indolent ease, or to ambition for fame, wealth or power. Alas! the vast majority of the clergy have evidently succumbed to the temptations, rather than embraced and used the opportunities of their positions. As a result, they are today “blind leaders of the blind,” and together they and their flocks are fast stumbling into the ditch of skepticism. They have hidden the truth (because it is unpopular), advanced error (because it is popular) and taught for doctrine the precepts of men (because paid to do so). They have, in effect, and sometimes in so many words, said to the people, “Believe what we tell you on our authority,” instead of directing them to “prove all things” by the divinely inspired words of the Apostles and Prophets, and “hold fast” only “that which is good.”

For long centuries the clergy of the Church of Rome kept the Word of God buried in dead languages, and would not permit its translation into the vernacular tongues, lest the people might search the Scriptures and thus prove the vanity of her pretensions. In the course of time a few godly reformers arose from the midst of her corruption, rescued the Bible from oblivion and brought it forth to the people. The result was a great protestant movement – protesting against the false doctrines and evil practices of the Church of Rome.

But before long Protestantism also became corrupt, and her clergy began to formulate creeds and teach the people to look upon them as epitomized doctrines of the Bible, and of paramount importance. They have lulled the people to sleep, leading them to believe that their safe course in religious matters is to commit all questions of doctrine to the clergy, and to follow their instructions. They have insinuated that they alone had the education, etc., necessary to the comprehension of divine truth, and that they, therefore, should be considered authorities in all such matters without further appeal to God’s Word. When any presumed to question this assumed authority and to think differently, they were regarded as heretics and schismatics. In this way generation after generation of the “clergy” has followed the beaten track of traditional error, and only occasionally has one been sufficiently awake and loyal to the truth to discover error and cry out for reform. It has been so much easier to drift with the popular current, especially when great men led the way.

The power and superior advantages of the clergy as a class have thus been misused, although in their ranks there have been (and still are) some earnest, devout souls who thought they were doing God service in upholding the false systems into which they had been led, and by whose errors they also had been in a great measure blinded.

While these reflections will doubtless seem offensive to many of the clergy, especially to the proud and self-seeking, we have no fear that their candid presentation will give offense to any of the meek who, if they recognize the truth, will be blessed by a humble confession of the same and a full determination to walk in the light of God as it shines from His Word, regardless of human traditions. But unfortunately, the majority of the clergy are not of the meek class, and again we are obliged to realize the force of the Master’s words – “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:23) This is true whether those riches be of reputation, fame, learning, money, or even common ease.

It is significant that in the end of the Jewish Age the religious leaders asked the people, “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” (John 7:48) In accepting their suggestion and blindly submitting to their leading, some missed their privilege, and failed to enter into the blessings of the new dispensation. It will be so with a similar class in these last days of the Gospel dispensation. Those who blindly follow the leading of the clergy will fall with them into the ditch of skepticism. Only those who faithfully walk with God, partaking of His spirit, and humbly relying upon all the testimonies of His precious Word, shall be able to discern and discard the “stubble” of error which has long been mixed with the truth, and boldly to stand fast in the faith of the gospel and in loyalty of heart to God. The masses will drift off in the popular current toward infidelity in its various forms – Evolution, Higher Criticism, Theosophy, Christian Science, Spiritism, or other theories denying the necessity and merit of the great Calvary sacrifice.

But those who successfully stand in this “evil day” (Eph. 6:13) will, in so doing, prove the metal of their Christian character. So strong will be the current against them, that only true Christian devotion to God, zeal, courage and fortitude will be able to endure to the end. These oncoming waves of infidelity will surely carry all others before them. It is written: “He that dwelleth in the secret place [of consecration, communion and fellowship] of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust . . . He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler . . . A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” (Psa. 91)

Individual Christians cannot shirk their personal responsibility, placing it upon pastors and teachers, nor upon councils and creeds. It is by the Word of the Lord that we are judged (John 12:48-50; Rev. 20:12), and not by the opinions or precedents of our fellowmen in any capacity. Therefore, all should imitate the noble Bereans who “searched the scriptures daily” to see if the things taught them were true. (Acts 17:11) It is our duty as Christians individually to prove all things before we accept them, and to hold fast to that which is good. (1 Thess. 5:21) “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa. 8:20)

The same principle holds in temporal, as well as in spiritual things. While the various ships of state are drifting onward to destruction, those who see the breakers ahead, while they cannot alter the course of events in general, can to some extent seize present opportunities to wisely regulate their own conduct in view of the inevitable catastrophe. They can make ready the lifeboats and the life preservers, so that when the ships of state are wrecked in the surging sea of anarchy, they may keep their heads above the waves and find a rest beyond. In other words, the wise policy and principle in these days is to deal justly, generously and kindly with our fellowmen in every rank and condition of life.

The great trouble will spring from the intense wrath of the angry nations – from the dissatisfaction and indignation of the enlightened masses of the people against the more fortunate, aristocratic and ruling classes. The subjects of dissatisfaction are at present being widely discussed; and now, before the storm of wrath bursts, is the time for individuals to make known their principles, not only by their words, but by their conduct in all their relations with their fellowmen. Now is the time to study and apply the principles of the golden rule – to learn to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to act accordingly. If men were wise enough to consider what, in the very near future, must be the outcome of the present course of things, they would do this from policy, if not from principle.

In the coming trouble it is but reasonable to presume that, even in the midst of the wildest confusion, those who have shown themselves just, generous and kind will be favored and those who have practiced and defended oppression will suffer extreme wrath. It was so in the midst of the horrors of the French Revolution, and that it will be so again is intimated by the counsel of the Word of the Lord: “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteous­ness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3) “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.” (Psa. 34:14-16)

These words of wisdom and warning are to the world in general. As for the “saints,” the “little flock,” the “overcomers,” they are promised that they shall be accounted worthy to escape all those things coming upon the world. (Luke 21:36)

HEATHEN NATIONS NOT WITHOUT RESPONSIBILITY

While the fierce anger of the Lord is to be visited especially upon the nations of Christendom because they have sinned against much light and privilege, the Scriptures clearly show that the heathen nations have not been without responsibility, and will not go unpunished. For many generations and through many centuries, they have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.

The Apostle Paul plainly tells us the responsibility borne by these nations who have suppressed the truth by their wickedness. They have no excuse because nature attests to the existence, power and goodness of God, and their own consciences should indicate what is right and wrong: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unright­eousness of men, who hold the truth in unright­eousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:18-20)

The heathen nations long ago suppressed what truth was known in the early ages of the world concerning God and His righteousness. Out of their evil and vain imaginations, they invented false religions which justified their evil ways. Succeeding generations have endorsed and justified the evil course of their forefathers, thus assuming their guilt and condemnation, on the very same principle that the present nations of Christendom also assume the obligations of their preceding generations.

Yet the heathen nations have not been wholly oblivious to the fact that a great light has come into the world through Jesus Christ. Here and there a few individuals have heeded the truth, but in general the nations have disregarded it, and walked on in darkness. Therefore “the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations.” (Isa. 34:2) The heathen nations are now, without the gospel and its advantages, judged unworthy of a continued lease of power, while the so-called Christian nations, with the gospel light and privileges of which they have not been proven worthy, are by its standard of truth and righteousness also judged unworthy of continued power. Thus, all the world stands guilty before God. “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:11-12)

The justice of God in punishing all nations is manifest, and while the heathen nations will receive the just reward of their doings, let not the greater responsibility of Christendom be forgotten. For if the Jews had advantage “much every way” over the Gentile nations, chiefly in “that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1-2), what shall we say of the nations of Christendom, with their still greater advantages of both the Law and the Gospel? Yet it is true today of Christendom, as it was then of the Jewish nation, that the name of God is blasphemed among the heathen through them. (Rom. 2:24) For instance, note the liquor and opium traffics imposed upon the heathen nations by the greed of the Christian nations for gold.

It is even said that some among the heathen are holding up the Christian’s Bible before them, and saying, “Your practices do not correspond with the teachings of your sacred book.” (See Ezek. 22:4) Truly, if the men of Nineveh and the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against the generation of Israel which the Lord directly addressed (Matt. 12:41-42), then Israel and every previous generation, and the heathen nations shall rise up against this generation of Christendom; for where much has been given, much will be required. (Luke 12:48)

But dropping the morally retributive aspect of the question, we see how, in the very nature of the case, the heathen nations must suffer in the fall of Christendom, Babylon. Through the influences of the Word of God, direct and indirect, the Christian nations have made great advancements in civilization and material prosperity along every line, so that in wealth, comfort, intellectual development, education, civil government, science, art, manufacture, commerce and every branch of human industry, they are far in advance of the heathen nations which have not been so favored with the civilizing influences of the oracles of God, but which, on the contrary, have experienced a steady decline, so that today they exhibit only the wrecks of their former prosperity. Compare for example, the Greece of today with ancient Greece, which was once the seat of learning and affluence. Mark, too, the present ruins of the glory of ancient Egypt, once the chief nation of the whole earth.

As a result of the decline of the heathen nations and the civilization and prosperity of the Christian nations, the former are all more or less indebted to the latter for many advantages received – for the benefits of commerce, of international communication and a consequent enlargement of ideas, etc. The march of progress in recent years has linked all the nations in various common interests, which, if seriously unsettled in one or more of the nations, soon affects all. Hence when Babylon, Christendom, goes down suddenly, the effects will be most serious upon all the more or less dependent nations, which, in the symbolic language of Revelation, are therefore represented as greatly bewailing the fall of that great city Babylon. (Rev. 18:9-19)

But the heathen nations will not suffer alone in Babylon’s fall, for the swelling waves of social and political commotion will quickly spread and involve and engulf them all. Thus, the whole earth will be swept with the “besom of destruction” and the “haughtiness of men” will be brought low. (Isa. 14:23; Isa. 2:11) For it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32:35) And the judgment of the Lord upon both Christendom and Heathendom will be on the strictest lines of equity.

To be continued in our October 2024 paper.

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter III, pages 47-73, condensed and edited. Lengthy quotations have been omitted.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

NO. 804: "THE DAY OF VENGEANCE - PART TWO

No. 804

Part Two – Mother and Daughters

“And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” (Rev. 17:5)

This is a continuation from our July 2024 paper on “The Day of Vengeance.”

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The various Protestant sects (with all due respect to the comparatively few devout souls among them) are the true daughters of that degenerate system of nominal Christianity, the Papacy. Both Catholics and Protestants now freely own the relationship of mother and daughters, the former continually styling themselves as the Holy Mother Church, and the latter, with pleased complacency, endorsing the idea. Thus their “glory is in their shame.” (Phil. 3:19)

They are unmindful of the brand which they thus accept from the Word of God, which designates the Papacy as “the mother of harlots.” Nor does the Papacy ever seem to have questioned her right to the office of motherhood or to have considered its incompatibility with her assertion to be the only true Church, which the Scriptures designate to be a “virgin” espoused to Christ. Her acknowledged claims of motherhood are to the everlasting shame of both herself and her offspring. The true Church is still a chaste virgin, true to Christ, and dear to Him as the apple of His eye. (Zech. 2:8; Psa. 17:6, 8)

Since Papacy, the mother, is not a single individual, but a great religious system, in keeping with the symbol we should expect to see other religious systems answering to the illustration of daughters of similar character – not, of course, so old, nor necessarily so depraved, as Papacy – but nevertheless, “harlots” in the same sense; i.e., religious systems claiming to be either the espoused virgin or the bride of Christ, and yet courting the favor and receiving the support of the world, at the price of disloyalty to Christ. To this description the various Protestant organizations fully correspond. They are the great daughter systems.

The birth of these various daughter systems came in connection with reforms from the corruptions of the mother Church. When the daughter systems parted from the mother, they contained more than true reformers. They also contained many who still had the spirit of the mother, and they inherited many of her false doctrines and theories. It was not long until they fell into many of her bad practices and proved their characters true to the prophetic stigma – “harlots.”

While the various reformation movements did valuable work in the “cleansing of the sanctuary,” only the temple class, the sanctuary class, has ever been the true Church in God’s reckoning. The great human systems called churches have never been more than nominally the Church. They all belong to a false system which counterfeits, misrepresents and hides from the world the true Church, which is composed only of fully consecrated and faithful believers, who trust in the merit of the one great sacrifice for sins. These are to be found scattered here and there within and outside of these human systems, yet always separate from their worldly spirit. They are the “wheat” class of our Lord’s parable, clearly distinguished by Him from the “tares.”

Not comprehending the real character of these systems, as individuals they have humbly walked with God, taking His Word as their counselor and His spirit as their guide. Nor have they ever been at ease in nominal Zion, where they have often painfully observed that the spirit of the world, operating through the unrecognized “tare” element, endangered spiritual prosperity. They are the blessed mourners in Zion, to whom God appointed “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning.” (Matt. 5:4; Isa. 61:3) It is only in this “harvest” time that the separation of this class from the “tare” element is due; for it was the Lord’s purpose to “let both grow together until the harvest.” (Matt. 13:30)

As predicted by the Prophet, the various reform movements were corrupted by “flatteries.” (Dan. 11:32-35) After accomplishing a measure of cleansing, each one stopped short, and, so far as they found it practicable, they imitated the example of the Church of Rome in courting and receiving the favor of the world at the expense of their virtue – their fidelity to Christ, the true Head of the Church. Church and state again made common cause, in a measure uniting their worldly interests at the expense of the true spiritual interests of the Church. Progress and reform in the Church were again at a standstill. Indeed, a retrograde movement set in, so that today many of them are much farther from the proper standard, both of faith and practice, than in the days of their founders.

Some of the reformed churches were even admitted to share in authority and power with earthly rulers; as, for instance, the Church of England, and the Lutheran Church in Germany. And those who have not succeeded to that extent have (as in the United States, for instance) made many compromising overtures to the world for smaller favors. It is also true that while the world powers have advanced the worldly ambitions of the unfaithful church, the church has also freely admitted the world to her communion and fellowship; and so freely, that the baptized worldlings now form the large majority of her membership, filling nearly every important position, and thus dominating her.

This was the disposition which degraded the church in the beginning of the age, which brought about the great “falling away” (2 Thess. 2:3, 7-10), and which gradually, but rapidly, developed the Papal system. This loose character, early assumed by the various reform movements, and which gradually developed sectarian organizations, continues to the present day. The more these organizations grow in wealth, numbers and influence, the further they fall from Christian virtue and develop the arrogance of their mother.

A few earnest Christians in the various sects observe this to some extent, and with shame and sorrow confess and lament it. They see that every possible effort is made by the various sectarian organizations to please the world and to court its favor and secure its patronage. Elegant and costly church edifices, lofty spires, chiming bells, grand organs, fine furnishments, artistic choirs, polished orators, fairs, festivals, concerts, plays, lotteries and questionable amusements and pastimes are all arranged with a view to securing the world’s approval and support. The grand and wholesome doctrines of Christ are thrust to the background, while false doctrines and sensational topics take their place in the pulpit, the truth is ignored and forgotten, and the spirit of it lost. In these particulars how truly the daughters resemble the mother organization!

Nearly all the doctrinal errors so tenaciously held by Protestants were brought with them from Rome, although considerable progress was made by each of the reform movements beyond the gross errors of Papacy, such as the sacrifice of the mass, saint worship, worship of the virgin Mary, the granting of indulgences, etc. But unfortunately, Protestants of today are not only willing, but anxious, to make almost any compromise to secure the favor and assistance of the old “mother” from whose tyranny and villainy their fathers fled three centuries ago. Even those principles of truth which at first formed the ground of protest are being gradually forgotten or openly repudiated. The very foundation doctrine of “justification by faith” in the “continual sacrifice” is rapidly giving way to the old Papal dogma of justification by works and by the sacrilegious sacrifice of the mass (as among Anglicans and Episcopalians). In both pulpits and pews, numbers now openly declare that they have no faith in the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ as the ransom-price for sinners.

The claims of apostolic succession and clerical authority are almost as presumptuously set forth by some of the Protestant clergy as by the Papal priesthood. And the right of individual private judgment – the very fundamental principle which led to the Great Reformation – is now almost as strenuously opposed by Protestants as by Papists. Protestants are fully aware that it was in the exercise of the right of private judgment that the Reformation was begun and for a short time carried forward, although later a presumptuous domination of recognized leaders retarded the wheels of progress, and has, ever since, kept them strictly within the traditional lines and put a ban upon all who fearlessly step beyond them.

Thus viewed, Protestantism is no longer a “protest” against the mother church, as it was at first. As one writer remarked, “The ism is still with us, but what has become of the protest?” Protestants seem to have forgotten the very grounds of the original protest, and as systems they are fast drifting back toward the open arms of the so-called “Holy Mother Church,” where they are freely invited and assured of a cordial reception.

It is clear, therefore, that while many faithful souls, ignorant of the real state of the case, have reverently and devoutly worshiped God within these Babylon systems, nevertheless, this does not alter the fact that they are, one and all, “harlot” systems. Confusion reigns in them all; and the name Babylon aptly fits the entire family – mother, daughters and accomplices, the nations styled Christendom. (Rev. 18:7; Rev. 17:2-6, 18)

Let it be borne in mind then, that in the great politico-ecclesiastical systems which men call Christendom, but which God calls Babylon, we have not only the foundation but also the superstructure and the crowning pinnacle of the present social order. This is implied in the generally accepted term, Christendom, which of late is applied, not only to those nations which support Christian sects by legislation and taxation, but also to all nations which show tolerance to Christianity without in any definite manner favoring or supporting it, as, for instance, these United States.

The doctrine of “the divine right of kings,” taught or supported by almost every sect, is the foundation of the old civil system, and has long given authority, dignity and stability to the kingdoms of Europe. The doctrine of the divine appointment and authority of the clergy has hindered God’s children from progressing in divine things and bound them by the chains of superstition and ignorance to the veneration and adoration of fallible fellow-beings, and to their doctrines, traditions and interpretations of God’s Word.

It is this entire order of things that is to fall and pass away in the battle of this great day – the order of things which for centuries has held the people docile under the ruling powers, civil, social, and religious. All this has been by God’s permission (not by His appointment and approval, as they claim). But though an evil in itself, it has served a good, temporary purpose in preventing anarchy, which is immeasurably worse, because men were not prepared to do better for themselves, and because the time for Christ’s Millennial Kingdom had not yet come. Hence God permitted the various delusions to gain credence in order to hold men in check until “The Time of the End” – the end of “The Times of the Gentiles.”

BABYLON’S DOOM

Upon the prophetic page we may clearly read the doom of Babylon – Christendom – and it is no less clearly expressed in the signs of the times. That Babylon’s destruction will be sudden, violent and complete is forcibly stated: “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 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.” (Rev. 18:8, 21; Jer. 51:63-64, 42, 24-26) And yet that it was to undergo a gradual consuming process was shown by Daniel: “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” (Dan. (7:26)

The Papal dominion (and much of the abject reverence of the people for ecclesiasticism in general), was broken down at the beginning of the Time of the End – 1799 (see Studies in the Scriptures, Volume III, Chapter II, page 40). Although the subsequent process of consumption has been slow, and there have been occasional signs of apparent recovery, which never seemed more flattering than at present, the assurance of Papacy’s final destruction is positive, and its death-struggle will be violent. First, however, she must attain more of her old-time prestige, which will be shared with a confederated association of her daughters. Together they will be lifted up, that together they may be violently thrown down.

That the punishment of Babylon will be great is assured. Read the prophetic writings:

“And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.” (Rev. 16:19)

“For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” (Rev. 19:2)

“For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” (Rev. 18:5-7)

While the broadest application of this language is, of course, to Papacy, it also involves all who are in any degree in confederation or sympathy with her. All such will be sharers in her plagues. (Rev. 18:4) Although the kings of the earth have hated the harlot and cast her off (Rev. 17:16), still she loudly boasts of her right to rule the nations, and claims that her former power will soon be regained.

As the day of trouble draws on, ecclesiasticism will endeavor to use its power and influence more and more to secure its own political welfare, by its control of the turbulent elements of society; but in the crisis of the near future the lawless element will spurn all conservative influence and break over all restraints, the red hand of Anarchy will do its dreadful work, and Babylon, Christendom, social, political and ecclesiastical, shall fall.

“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.” (Rev. 18:8)

“Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me [all in sympathy with Babylon], a destroying wind; And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about . . . destroy ye utterly all her host.” (Jer. 51:1-3)

“And I will render unto Babylon [to the Papacy specially] and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea [or Babylonia – Christendom – to all the nations of the so-called Christian world] all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 51:24)

As we call to mind the long train of evils by which Babylon has oppressed and worn out the saints of the most High (the true Zion), and how it is written that God will avenge His own elect (Luke 18:7-8; Isa. 59:18; Jer. 51:6), we begin to realize that some fearful calamity awaits her. The horrible decrees of Papacy – the reproach and reward of which Protestantism also is incurring by her present compromising association with her – for the burning, butchering, banishing, imprisoning and torturing of the saints in every conceivable way, await the full measure of just retribution; for she is to receive “double for all her sins.” And the nations (of Christendom) which have participated in her crimes and guilt must drink with her to the dregs that bitter cup.

“And I will punish Bel in Babylon [the god of Babylon – the Pope], and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up [he will retract the blasphemous titles he has appropriated to himself]: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon [the civil power that has defended it] shall fall . . . Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire [destroyed].” (Jer. 51:44, 58) Babylon shall go down, never again to rise; “for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Only then will the people realize their wonderful deliverance, and that her overthrow was by the hand of God. (Rev. 19:1-2)

Such is the doom of Babylon, Christendom, which Isaiah and other Prophets foresaw and foretold. It is in view of the fact that within Babylon’s borders are many of His own dear people that the Lord, through His Prophet, commands His sanctified ones to earnestly and widely proclaim the truth to the bewildered sheep still in Babylon: “Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.” (Isa. 13:2)

The warning voice goes forth to those with “an ear to hear.” We are in the time of the last or Laodicean stage of the great nominal gospel church of wheat and tares. (Rev. 3:14-22) She is upbraided for her lukewarmness, pride, spiritual poverty, blindness and nakedness, and counseled to forsake quickly her evil ways before it is too late. But the Lord knew that only a few would hearken to the warning and call; and so the promise of reward is given, not to the whole mass of those addressed, but to the few who still have an ear for the truth, and who overcome the general disposition and spirit of Babylon: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” But upon those who have no ear, no disposition to hear, the Lord will pour His indignation.

It is manifest to the most casual observer that, with a few individual exceptions, the attitude of all Christendom is that of pride, self-righteousness and self-complacency. She still says in her heart, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” She still glorifies herself, lives deliciously, claims to have need of nothing. and does not realize that she is miserable, poor, blind, and naked. (Rev. 3:17) Nor does she heed the counsel of the Lord: “I counsel thee to buy of me [at cost of self-sacrifice] gold tried in the fire [true, heavenly riches], that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment [the robe of Christ’s imputed righteousness], that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes [of understanding] with eyesalve [of truth], that thou mayest see.” (Rev. 3:18)

The spirit of the world has so fully taken possession of the ecclesiastical powers of Christendom, that their reformation is impossible. Individuals can escape their fate only by a prompt and timely withdrawal from them. The hour of judgment is come, and even now upon her walls the warning hand of divine providence is tracing the mysterious words, “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.” They have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. And the Prophet Isaiah now speaks, saying:

“Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.” (Isa. 47:1) This is said in derision of Babylon’s claim to purity.

“Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” (Isa. 47:3)

“Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms . . . And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.” (Isa. 47:5, 7)

“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.” (Isa. 47:8-9; compare Rev. 18:7-8)

“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy [worldly] wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.” (Isa. 47:10-11)

Given these solemn declarations against Babylon, well will it be for all who heed the warning voice and the instruction of the Lord to His people yet within her borders: “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 . . . Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed . . . We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her . . . for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies . . . My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord.” (Jer. 51:6, 8, 9, 45; compare Rev. 17:3-6; Rev. 18:1-5)

For those who would obey this command to come out of Babylon, there is but one place of refuge; and that is, not in a new sect and bondage, but in “the secret place of the most High” – the place or condition of entire consecration, typified by the Most Holy of the Tabernacle and Temple. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” (Psa. 91:1-2)

To come out of Babylon cannot mean a physical emigration from the midst of the nations of Christendom; for not only Christendom, but all the earth, is to be devoured with the fiery trouble of the Lord’s anger, though the fiercest of His wrath will be against the enlightened nations of Christendom, who knew, or at least had abundant opportunity to know, the Lord’s will. The idea of the command is to separate from all the binding yokes of Christendom – to have no part nor lot in her civil, social or religious organizations; and this, both from principle and from a wise and divinely directed policy.

On principle, as soon as the increased light of harvest truth illuminates our minds and makes manifest the deformities of error, we must be loyal to the former and discard the latter by withdrawing all our influence and support from it. This implies the withdrawal from the various religious organizations, whose doctrines misrepresent and make void the Word of God. It places us in the position of aliens toward all existing civil powers; not opposing aliens, however, but peaceable and law-abiding aliens, who render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.

Principle in some cases, and policy in others, would separate us from the various social arrangements among men. As we come closer and closer to the great crisis of this “evil day” it will doubtless be manifest to those who view the situation from the standpoint of “the sure word of prophecy,” that, even if there be cases where principle is not involved, it will be the part of wisdom to withdraw from the various social and financial bondages which must inevitably succumb to the ravages of world-wide revolution and anarchy. These caves and rocks of the mountains will not furnish the desired protection from the wrath of this “evil day,” when the great waves of popular discontent are lashing and foaming against the mountains (kingdoms – see Rev. 6:15-17; Psa. 46:3). The time will come when: “They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.” (Ezek. 7:19; compare also verses 12-18, 21, 25-27) Thus will the Lord make a man’s life more precious than fine gold, even the “golden wedge of Ophir.” (Isa. 13:12)

Those who have made the Most High their refuge need not fear the approach of such times. He shall cover them with His feathers, and under His wings shall they trust; yea, He will show them His salvation. (Psa. 91) As the wildest confusion approaches, they may comfort their hearts with the blessed assurance that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed [the present social order overthrown], and though the mountains [kingdoms] be carried into the midst of the sea [overthrown in anarchy]; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” God will be in the midst of His faithful saints, who make Him their refuge, and they shall not be moved. God will help Zion early in the Millennial morning. (Psa. 46)

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36)

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapter II, pages 28-46, condensed and edited.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

NO. 803: “THE DAY OF VENGEANCE” - PART ONE

No. 803

Part One – Edom and Babylon

“For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” (Isa. 63:4) “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” (Isa. 34:8)

This is how the Prophet Isaiah referred to that period described by Daniel as “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) Malachi said of this period, “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.” (Mal. 4:1) The Apostle James said of it that the rich shall weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon them. (Jas. 5:1-6) Joel described it as “a day of clouds and of thick darkness.” (Joel 2:2) Amos described it as a “very dark” day with “no brightness in it.” (Amos 5:20) The Lord Jesus referred to it as a time of “great tribulation,” so ruinous in its character that, if it were not cut short, no flesh would survive its ravages. (Matt. 24:21-22)

Many scriptures make clear that the dark and gloomy day described by the Prophets is a day of judgment upon mankind socially and nationally – a day of national recompenses. Note that there is a difference between national judgment and individual judgment. While nations are composed of individuals who are largely responsible for the conduct of the nations, and those individuals suffer greatly in the calamities which befall the nations, nevertheless, the judgment of the world as individuals will be distinct from its judgment as nations.

The day of individual judgment for the world will be the Millennial Age. (See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume I, Chapter VIII) Under the favorable conditions of the New Covenant, and with a clear knowledge of the truth and every possible assistance and incentive to righteousness, all men will then be on trial for eternal life individually. The judgment of nations, now imminent, is a judgment of men in their collective (religious and civil) capacities. The civil institutions of the world have had a long lease of power; and now, as the “Times of the Gentiles” come to a close, they must render up their accounts. The Lord’s judgment, expressed beforehand by the Prophets, is that not one of those institutions will be found worthy of a renewal of that lease or a continuance of life. The decree is that the dominion shall be taken from them, and that He “whose right it is” shall take the Kingdom, and the nations shall be given to Him for an inheritance. (Ezek. 21:27; Dan. 7:27; Psa. 2:8; Rev. 2:26-27)

Hear the Word of the Lord to the nations assembled before Him for judgment:

“Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies.” (Isa. 34:1-2)

“But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.” (Jer. 10:10)

“A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations . . . Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind [intense trouble and commotion] shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth.” (Jer. 25:31-33)

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth [present social order] shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:8-9)

It is not our purpose to cause a sensation or to arouse idle curiosity. Nor can we hope to prompt the hearts of men to penitence or change the present social, political and religious order, thus averting the impending calamity. No hand but the hand of God could stay the progress of the present current of events; and His hand will not do so until the bitter experiences of this conflict have sealed their instruction upon the hearts of men. Our main object is not, therefore, to enlighten the world, but to forewarn, forearm, comfort, encourage and strengthen “the household of faith,” so that they may see by faith the glorious outcome – the permanent establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, under Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Taking his standpoint at the end of the harvest of the Gospel Age, the Prophet Isaiah beheld a mighty Conqueror, glorious in His apparel (clothed with authority and power), and riding forth victoriously over all His enemies, with whose blood all His garments are stained. He inquired who the wonderful stranger was: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?” (Isa. 63:1)

EDOM SOLD HIS BIRTHRIGHT

Edom was the name given to Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, after he sold his birthright for a mess of “red pottage.” (Gen. 25:30-34) The name was also subsequently applied both to the people descended from him and to the country in which they settled. (See Gen. 25:30; Gen. 36:1; Num. 20:18, 20-21; Jer. 49:17) Consequently, the name Edom is an appropriate symbol for a class who, in this age, have similarly sold their birthright for a trifling consideration.

The Prophets frequently used the name Edom to represent that great company of professed Christians sometimes called “the Christian World,” and “Christendom” (i.e., Christ’s Kingdom). These names show a great lack of understanding of the true object and character of Christ’s Kingdom, and the appointed time and manner of its establishment. They are simply boastful appellations which belie the truth presented by the groans of the oppressed and the mutterings of the angry nations. Do these constitute Christ’s Kingdom – a true Christendom? The fallacy of the boastful claim is plain to see.

The fitness of the symbolic name “Edom” in its application to Christendom is very marked. The nations of so-called Christendom have had privileges above all the other nations. To them, as to the Israelites of the previous age, have been committed “the oracles of God.” (Rom. 3:2) Both directly and indirectly, all the blessings of civilization have come to these nations as a result of the enlightening influences of the Word of God. The presence in their midst of a few saints (a “little flock”), developed under its influence, has been as “the salt of the earth,” preserving it to some extent from utter moral corruption. By their godly examples and their energy in holding forth the Word of life, they have been “the light of the world,” showing men the way back to God and righteousness. However, only a few in these favored nations have made proper use of their advantages, which have come to them by reason of their birth in the lands so blessed with the direct and indirect influences of the Word of God.

Like Esau, the masses of Christendom have sold their birthright. By the masses, we mean not only the agnostic portion, but also the great majority of worldly professors of the religion of Christ. They are Christians in name only. They lack the life of Christ in them. They have preferred present earthly advantage to all the blessings of communion and fellowship with God and Christ, and to the glorious inheritance with Christ promised to those who faithfully follow in His footsteps of sacrifice. They are the nominal spiritual Israel of the Gospel Age, of which “Israel after the flesh” in the Jewish Age was a type. They really have little or no respect for the promises of God.

They are indeed a mighty host, bearing the name of Christ and posing before the world as the Church of Christ. They have built up great organizations representing various schisms in the professed body of Christ. They have written massive volumes of so-called “systematic theology,” and have founded numerous colleges and seminaries to teach that theology. They have done “many wonderful works” in the name of Christ, which were often, nevertheless, contrary to the teachings of His Word. (Matt. 7:22) The Edom class who have sold their birthright includes almost all of “Christendom.”

As all of the land of Edom symbolizes all of “Christendom,” so its capital city, Bozrah, represents ecclesiasticism, the chief citadel of Christendom. The name Bozrah signifies “sheepfold,” and the slaughter of the day of vengeance is said to be of the “lambs and goats.” (Isa. 34:6) The reply to the Prophet’s inquiry about who came from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah is this: “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” (Isa. 63:1 ) It is the same mighty one described by the Revelator (Rev. 19:11-16), the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” Jehovah’s Anointed, our blessed Redeemer and Lord Jesus.

THE TREADING OF THE WINEPRESS

The Prophet inquired further: “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?” Hear the reply: “I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” (Isa. 63:2-4) The Revelator added, “And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev. 19:15)

The treading of the winepress is the last feature of harvest work. The reaping and gathering is all done first. (See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume III, Chapter VI) The fact that the King of kings is represented as treading the winepress “alone” indicates that the power exerted for the overthrow of the nations will be divine power, and not mere human energy. It will be God’s power that will punish the nations: “And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips [the force and spirit of His truth] shall he slay the wicked.” (Isa. 11:4; Rev. 19:15; Psa. 98:1)

The honors of the coming victory for truth and righteousness can be ascribed to no human generalship. Wild will be the conflict of the angry nations, and world-wide will be the battlefield and the distress of nations; and no human Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon will be found to bring order out of the dreadful confusion. But in the end, it will be known that the grand victory of justice and truth, and the punishment of iniquity with its just deserts, was brought about by the mighty power of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

All of these things are to be accomplished in the closing days of the Gospel Age, because, as the Lord states through the Prophet, “For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” (Isa. 34:8) All through the Gospel Age the Lord has taken cognizance of the controversy, the strife and contention in nominal Zion. He has observed how His faithful saints have had to contend for truth and righteousness, and even to suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake at the hands of those who opposed them in the name of the Lord. For wise purposes the Lord has hitherto refrained from interfering; but now the day of recompenses has come, and the Lord has a controversy with them.

As it is written, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish.” (Hos. 4:1-3) This prophecy, so true in its fulfilment upon fleshly Israel, is doubly so in its fuller application to nominal spiritual Israel – Christendom.

“A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 25:31) “Hear ye now what the Lord saith . . . Hear ye, O mountains [kingdoms], the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.” (Micah 6:1-2)

Hear again the Prophet Isaiah speak (from the future standpoint) concerning this controversy: “Come near, ye nations, to hear; and harken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.” (Isa. 34:1-2)

The Lord will thus smite the nations and cause them to know His power, and He will deliver His faithful people who go not with the multitudes in the way of evil, but who wholly follow the Lord their God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And even this terrible judgment upon the world, as nations, thus dashing them to pieces as a potter’s vessel, will prove a valuable lesson to them when they come forth to an individual judgment under the Millennial reign of Christ. Thus, in His wrath, the Lord will remember mercy.

THE DOOM OF BABYLON

“The burden [doom] of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see . . . Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them . . . Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it . . . And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible . . . I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.” (Isa. 13:1-13; compare Rev. 16:14; Heb. 12:26-29)

The symbolic Edom of Isaiah’s prophecy corresponds to the symbolic Babylon of the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation. These various prophecies concerning Babylon are all in full accord, and manifestly refer to the same great city. And since these prophecies had but a very limited fulfilment upon the ancient, literal city, and those of Revelation were written centuries after the literal Babylon was laid in ruins, it is clear that the special reference of all the Prophets is to something of which the ancient literal Babylon was an illustration. It is clear also that, in so far as the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning its downfall were accom­plished upon the literal city, it became in its downfall, as well as in its character, an illustration of the great city to which the Revelator points in the symbolic language of the Apocalypse (Chapters 17 and 18), and to which chiefly the other Prophets refer.

What is today known as Christendom is the antitype of ancient Babylon; and therefore, the solemn warnings and predictions of the Prophets against Babylon – Christendom – are matters of deepest concern to the present generation. Would that men were wise enough to consider them! Though various other symbolic names, such as Edom, Ephraim, Ariel, etc., are applied to Christendom in the Scriptures, this term, “Babylon,” is the one most frequently used, and its significance, confusion, is remarkably appropriate.

The Revelator intimated that it would not be difficult to discover this great mystical city, because her name is in her forehead; that is, she is prominently marked, so that we cannot fail to see her unless we shut our eyes and refuse to look: “And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” (Rev. 17:5) But before looking for this Mystical Babylon, let us first observe the typical Babylon, and then, with its prominent features in mind, look for the antitype.

The name Babylon was applied, not only to the capital city of the Babylonian empire, but also to the empire itself. Babylon, the capital, was the most magnificent, and probably the largest, city of the ancient world. It was built in the form of a square on both sides of the Euphrates river; and, for protection against invaders, it was surrounded by a deep moat filled with water and enclosed within a vast system of double walls, from thirty-two to eighty-five feet thick, and from seventy-five to three hundred feet high. On the summit were low towers, said to have been two hundred and fifty in number, placed along the outer and inner edges of the wall, tower facing tower; and in these walls were a hundred brazen gates, twenty-five on each side, corresponding to the number of streets which intersected each other at right angles. The city was adorned with splendid palaces and temples and the spoils of conquest.

Nebuchadnezzar was the great monarch of the Babylonian empire, whose long reign covered nearly half the period of its existence, and its grandeur and military glory were chiefly due to him. The city was noted for its wealth and magnificence, which brought a corresponding moral degradation, the sure precursor of its decline and fall. It was wholly given to idolatry, and was full of iniquity. The people were worshipers of Baal, to whom they offered human sacrifices. The deep degradation of their idolatry may be understood from God’s reproof of the Israelites when they became corrupted by contact with them. (Jer. 7:9; Jer. 19:5)

The name originated with the frustrating of the plan for the great tower, called Babel (confusion), because God there confounded human speech; but the native etymology made the name Babil, which, instead of being reproachful, and a reminder of the Lord’s displeasure, signified to them “the gate of God.” The city of Babylon attained a position of prominence and affluence as the capital of the great Babylonian empire, and was called “the golden city,” “the glory of kingdoms,” and “the beauty of Chaldees’ excellency.” (Isa. 14:4; Isa. 13:19)

Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded in the dominion by his grandson Belshazzar, under whose reign came the collapse which pride, fullness of bread and abundance of idleness always ensure and hasten. While the people were abandoning themselves to demoralizing excesses, all uncon­scious of impending danger and following the example of their king, the Persian army, under Cyrus, stealthily crept in through the channel of the Euphrates (from which they had turned aside the water), massacred the revelers, and captured the city. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of that strange handwriting on the wall: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin,” which Daniel interpreted to mean: “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it . . . Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting . . . Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Dan. 5:25-28) And so complete was the destruction of that great city that even its site was forgotten and was for a long time uncertain.

Such was the typical city; and, like a great millstone cast into the sea, it was sunken centuries ago, never again to rise; even the memory of it has become a reproach and a byword. Now let us look for its antitype, first observing that the Scriptures clearly point it out, and then noting the aptness of the symbolism.

In symbolic prophecy a “city” signifies a religious government backed by power and influence. Thus, for instance, the “holy city, the new Jerusalem,” is the symbol used to represent the established Kingdom of God, the overcomers of the Gospel Church exalted and reigning in glory. The Church is also, and in the same connection, represented as a woman, “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” in power and glory, and backed by the power and authority of Christ, her husband. “And there came unto me one of the seven angels . . . saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he . . . showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” (Rev. 21:9-10)

This same method of interpretation applies to mystical Babylon, the great ecclesiastical kingdom, “that great city,” which is described as a harlot, a fallen woman (an apostate church – for the true Church is a virgin), exalted to power and dominion, and backed, to a considerable degree, by the kings of the earth, the civil powers, which are all more or less intoxicated with her spirit and doctrine. (Rev. 17:1-6) The apostate church lost her virgin purity. Instead of waiting, as an espoused and chaste virgin, for exaltation with the heavenly Bridegroom, she associated herself with the kings of the earth and prostituted her virgin purity – both of doctrine and character – to suit the world’s ideas.

In return she received, and now to some extent exercises, a present dominion, in large measure by the direct and indirect support of the civil powers. This unfaith­fulness to the Lord, whose name she claims, and to her high privilege to be the “chaste virgin” espoused to Christ, is the occasion of the symbolic appellation, “harlot,” while her influence as a sacerdotal empire, full of inconsistency and confusion, is symbolically represented under the name Babylon, which, in its widest sense, as symbolized by the Babylonian empire, we promptly recognize to be Christendom; while in its more restricted sense, as symbolized by the ancient city Babylon, we recognize to be the nominal Christian Church.

The fact that Christendom does not accept the Bible term “Babylon” and its significance – confusion – as being applicable to her, is no proof that it is not so; ancient Babylon also did not recognize the Bible significance – confusion. Ancient Babylon presumed itself to be the very “gate of God” but God labeled it Confusion (Gen. 11:9), and so it is with her antitype today. She calls herself Christendom, the gateway to God and everlasting life, while God calls her Babylon – confusion.

It has been very generally and very properly claimed by Protestants that the name “Babylon” and the prophetic description are applicable to Papacy, though recently a more compromising disposition is less inclined so to apply it. On the contrary, every effort is now made on the part of the sects of Protestantism to conciliate and imitate the Church of Rome, and to affiliate and cooperate with her. In so doing they become part and parcel with her, while they justify her course and fill up the measure of her iniquities, just as surely as did the scribes and Pharisees fill up the measure of their fathers who killed the Prophets. (Matt. 23:31-32)

All this, of course, neither Protestants nor Papists are ready to admit, because in so doing they would be condemning themselves. And this fact is recognized by the Revelator, who shows that all who would get a true view of Babylon must, in spirit, take their position with the true people of God “in the wilderness” – in the condition of separation from the world and worldly ideas and mere forms of godliness, and in the condition of entire consecration and faith­fulness to and dependence upon God alone. “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman . . . And upon her forehead was a name written . . . babylon.” (Rev. 17:3-5)

And since the kingdoms of the civilized world have submitted to be largely dominated by the influence of the great ecclesiastical systems, especially Papacy, accepting from them the label “Christian nations” and “Christendom,” and accepting on their authority the doctrine of the divine right of kings, etc., they also link themselves in with great Babylon, and become part of it, so that, as in the type, the name Babylon applied, not only to the city, but also to the whole empire, here also the symbolic term “Babylon” applies, not only to the great religious organi­zations, Papal and Protestant, but also, in its widest sense, to all Christendom.

Hence this day of judgment upon mystic Babylon is the day of judgment upon all the nations of Christendom; its calamities will involve the entire structure – civil, social and religious; and individuals will be affected by it to the extent of their interest in, and dependence upon, its various organizations and arrangements.

The nations beyond Christendom will also feel the weight of the heavy hand of recompense in that they also are to some extent bound in with the nations of Christendom by various interests, commercial and others; and justly, too, in that they also have failed to appreciate what light they have seen, and have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19) Thus, as God declared through the Prophet, “For all the earth [society] shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” (Zeph. 3:8) But because of her greater responsibility and her misuse of favors received, the fierceness of His wrath and indignation will burn against Babylon – Christendom. (Jer. 51:49) “At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.” (Jer. 50:46)

Some sincere Christians, perceiving the unrest and the doctrinal upheavals in all the religious systems, may still be anxiously inquiring: “If all Christendom is to be involved in the doom of Babylon, what will become of Protestantism, the result of The Great Refor­mation?” This is an important question, but Protestantism, as it exists today, is not the result of the Great Reformation, but of its decline. Protestantism now partakes to a large degree of the disposition and character of the Church of Rome, from which its various branches sprang.

To be continued in our August 2024 paper.

(Excerpt from Studies in the Scriptures, Volume IV, Chapters I and II, pages 11-28, condensed and edited.)

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