It has always been our burden to show all our doctrines
directly from the Scriptures. It is not
that I do not love and appreciate the works of the pioneers, particularly Ellen
White, and I often find them helpful in enhancing my own understanding of
Yahweh’s word. At the same time, I
believe that the Church of Christ will have no true “standard,” no basis for
its doctrines, than the Bible itself.
When it comes to a discussion of the Second
Angel’s message, which proclaims the “fall” of Babylon, we can most easily
speak of these things by referring to Adventist writings, because they have
covered the topic of this fallen Babylon so well. And yet, we cannot go to the Baptists and
Methodists with a copy of The Great
Controversy and try to show them the truth from this. You can take that from me; in my early days
in the mainstream Adventist Church, I tried to convince someone that the
Biblical diet was still an obligation of the Christian from one of Ellen White’s
books. I thought that since this new
knowledge made so much sense to me, and was so obviously inspired by the same
Spirit that was at work in the pages of the New Testament, anyone else would
also receive it with joy. That didn’t
turn out so well.
Regarding Babylon Fallen, the SDA pioneers
(not so much the more recent theologians) have done a very good job of
outlining the steps for its creation. We
can, however, find the main detours from the Highway of Holiness in the Bible…
we just have to let Yahweh guide our search. First, in Revelation we find that there is
something called “Babylon” that is declared to be fallen. What is it?
To verify this, we must understand how the
Scriptures, particularly the Book of Revelation (in which we find the primary
reference to this condition and process) uses the term “Babylon.” In some places it is called a great
city. In another place we read, “So [the
angel] carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sit
upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads
and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written,
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with
the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Yahshua; and when
I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.” (Rev 17:3-6)
By the way, that word “admiration” at the end
is not necessarily a complimentary term; it simply means “with great amazement.”
But here we have a “woman,” and we have established in numerous studies and
with numerous verses that a woman in symbolic prophecy, as Luke mentioned, is
always a Church. (Jer 6:2, Hos 3:1-5, Eph 5:25-32)
In one specific place where Yahweh’s people
are collectively referred to as a “woman” we read this interesting passage: “And
the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden
of cucumbers, as a besieged city. How is
the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness
lodged in it; but now murderers.” (Isa 1:8, 21)
Here we have the very same imagery as John recorded in Revelation. Here
we have a “city” that is also a “woman,” and that a “harlot” because she has
engaged in unlawful congress with sin.
In Revelation, we get a more specific
indictment of the “woman,” in that she has committed blasphemy, which is
speaking evil of Yahweh, and she is also guilty of persecuting the saints, “the
martyrs of Yahshua.” As we read through
Revelation 17 we find also this in the verse just before the ones quoted above:
“With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
(Rev 17:2)
So this woman, Babylon, is identified by the
following features: she is a spiritual organization (a church) that is called a
“harlot” because, like the “daughter of Zion,” she has committed sins with the “kings
of the earth.” In the process, she has spoken evil of divinity, and ultimately
persecuted the saints. As we look over
history from a Protestant perspective, what Church has there been that has, in
conjunction with civil power, become rich (decked with gold and precious stones
and pearls) through the abuse of doctrine, and those who would worship God?
It can only be the Church of Rome. In fact, even the Bible tells us this
explicitly. Peter, writing from Rome
(according to various Church historians like Eusebius and Tertullian), actually
says, “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you;
and so doth Marcus my son.” (1Pet 5:13)
At that time, of course, this congregation was merely “at” Babylon, or
Rome, and was not yet united with
it. The union of the Christian Church
with pagan Rome came much later on, but it is interesting that even back then
the identification of Rome with Babylon was already in place. But now, Babylon has “fallen,” and the Angel
in Revelation 14 tells us exactly how and why: “because she made all nations
drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” (Rev 14:8b) Babylon sharing her “wine,” the wrath of her
fornication with the nations of the earth is not merely a characteristic of the
Babylon condition. Instead, it is the
specific reason given for why Babylon, already evil, world-wealthy and proud, “falls”
to an even greater degree of spiritual depravity, one so notable that it calls
forth an angel to testify against that fall.
The steps then, directly from the Bible, to
get to the condition of “Babylon fallen” are these:
1) A Church must exist, accepting of the
doctrines taught by Yahweh.
2) That Church must become worldly in nature,
taking on pagan characteristics. As a
result, this Church will experience a degree of “success” in terms of secular
benefits: gold, silver, precious clothing.
This stage can happen quickly, or over a long period of time.
3) The state of the Church degenerates to the
point where it becomes guilty of “blasphemy,” of speaking ill of the
Creator. At this point it is fully “Babylon”
in nature.
4) In this state of confusion and wickedness,
this Church commits “fornication” with the nations and kings of the earth. When this takes place, when this unholy union
occurs, the Angel announces that this “Babylon” has “fallen.” This fallen condition is characterized by the
Church becoming a persecuting power; this is necessarily the order, since
before it acquires civil power it cannot actively “persecute” the saints of
God. All it can do (and all the Bible
says a Church CAN do) is to remove rebellious individuals from membership. After a Church acquires that civil power,
however, it inevitably does descend into actual and active persecution.
There may be, and have been, other specifics
added in to help identify these various stages. For example, in Adventist
writings the observation is made that when she has been separated from God, a
Babylonian Church will codify its doctrines into a “creed” and use this to
identify heretics and dissenters. When
the union with the world is complete, the secular power it obtains is used as a
weapon against those who will not conform to its requirements.
In general, however, the four steps listed
above – taken directly from the Bible – are sufficient to show the stages
through which a Church falls to become the wicked entity described in
Revelation 14.
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